Latest News + Info
The latest information relating to the health insurance industry.
Implementing Health Reform: Contraceptive Coverage Final Regulations
Heath Affairs Blog reports: "The most controversial single issue presented by the Affordable Care Act is arguably the regulatory requirement that group health plans and insurers cover contraceptive services. The ACA requires non-grandfathered group health plans and...
Meet the woman tasked with selling PPACA
Benefits Pro reports: "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act isn’t as old as you think, but its history has already been long and arduous. Three years after President Obama signed it into law, it’s still overwhelmingly confusing — not to mention unpopular —...
Health Insurance Exchanges and SHOP Exchanges for Small Businesses
Small Business Trends reports: "As health care reform mandates take effect in 2014, small employers with fewer than 50 full time employees face more changes than large and medium-sized businesses. Several provisions in the new law means small businesses must not only...
Are employers that don’t provide health insurance required to send exchange notices?
Issue: Your company does not offer health insurance coverage. Does it need to provide notice to employees about the health insurance exchanges created under the health reform law? Answer: If your company is covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), it does....
Higher Medicaid reimbursement for state’s primary care docs
Crains reports: "Doctors providing primary care in Illinois can get higher Medicaid reimbursement rates through the end of 2014. Illinois officials are reminding doctors to sign up online for the higher rates, which are expected to increase by an average of 93...
Employer Based Coverage Or Obamacare Plan? Which Is Better?
Forbes reports: "A common theme of the email I receive concerns the cost of employer based coverage versus buying health insurance on the new exchanges. Employer based coverage is considered too expensive by many people and they hope policies through Obamacare will...
Risky Health Insurance Bets Could Backfire for Small Employers
Bloomberg Businessweek reports: "A growing number of small businesses have tried to reduce their health-care costs in recent years by replacing traditional insurance with self-insured plans. That means that instead of buying policies from big insurers such as Aetna or...
Early Filings For ‘Bronze Plans’ Signal Higher Out-of-Pocket Costs
Insurance News Net reports: "A new analysis fromHealthPocket, Inc. of early health insurancerate filings finds that the least expensive plans under the Affordable Care Act(ACA) have higher out-of-pocket costs for consumers compared to current plans in the individual...
Gov’t report: Smooth launch unsure for health law
Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports: "There's no guarantee that President Barack Obama's health care law will launch smoothly and on time, congressional investigators say in the first in-depth independent look at its progress. But in a report to be released Wednesday, the...
Choice of Health Plans to Vary Sharply From State to State
The New York Times reports: "When a typical 40-year-old uninsured woman in Maine goes to the new state exchange to buy health insurance this fall, she may have just two companies to choose from: the one that already sells most individual policies in the state, and a...