Latest News + Info
The latest information relating to the health insurance industry.
Defined Contributions Define Health-Care Future: Peter Orszag
Bloomburg reports: "Over the next decade, we are likely to see a shift in health insurance in the U.S.: So-called defined-contribution plans will gradually take over the market, shifting the residual risk of incurring high health-care costs from employers to workers....
Key Findings From The Kaiser Family Foundation’s November Health Tracking Poll
The Kaiser Family Foundation reports: "* After taking a negative turn in October, the public’s overall views on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) returned to a more mixed status this month. Still, Americans remain somewhat more likely to have an...
NAIFA Survey Shows Federal Health Care Rule Harming Agents and Consumers
Small Business Trends reports: "Falls Church, VA (Press Release – November 23, 2011) - A new survey by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) shows the federal health care law’s medical loss ratio (MLR) provision is threatening the...
OPINION: Good, bad news on health costs
Business Insurance reports: "THERE IS GOOD NEWS and there is bad news in the latest Mercer L.L.C. analysis of group health care plan costs. The bad news: Even in a down economy, group health care costs continue to rise, climbing by an average of 6.1% in 2011. For the...
Both Sides Lobbying Over Health Care Supreme Court Case
Gather.com reports: "Next year, one of the central tenets of the health care reform law--the individual mandate--will either be upheld or overturned by the Supreme Court. The Affordable Care Act has been deeply partisan since it first came into existence, and the...
Employees paying more for worse health care
Report shows health care costs outpaces income growth Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010, and the annual amount that employees pay toward their insurance increased by 63 percent as businesses required...
2012 HSA and FSA cheat sheet
Benefitspro reports: "Everything you need to know about health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts in 2012. Health Savings Accounts What are they? HSAs are tax-advantaged medical savings accounts available to taxpayers who are enrolled in an HSA-qualified...
Health Reform Subsidy Calculator
Kaiser Family Foundation reports: "This tool illustrates premiums and government assistance under the health reform law signed by the President. Beginning in 2014, tax credits will be available for people under age 65 who purchase coverage on their own in a health...
Why Few Employers Use Health-Care Tax Credits
Low exploitation rates for tax breaks intended to encourage small business owners to provide health insurance are prompting complaints that the credits aren't practical. Small business health insurance tax credits went into effect in March 2010 as part of the Patient...
Justices unlikely to have last word on health care
Benifits Pro reports: "WASHINGTON (AP) — The weight of a Supreme Court decision isn't likely to settle the contentious debate over health care in America, a nation disdainful of big government and historically unable to guarantee affordable basic coverage to all its...