Latest News + Info
The latest information relating to the health insurance industry.
COBRA Subsidies to End This Month
Insurance News Network reports: "Subsidies to help unemployed workers continue their employer-provided health insurance coverage will expire at the end of August. The subsidy for COBRA coverage paid for 65% of premiums for the involuntarily unemployed. Part of the...
Walgreens to sell health insurance
The Chicago Sun Times reports: "Walgreen Co. is planning to sell health insurance through a private exchange set up to help consumers find insurance coverage under the health-reform law, according to a report on CNNMoney.com. A spokesman for the Deerfield-based...
Debt Deal May Hit Medicare
The Wall Street Journal reports: "Medicare beneficiaries escaped direct cuts in Washington's debt deal, but the agreement could eventually hit seniors and disabled Americans who rely on the program for medical coverage. Health-industry lobbyists and policy experts say...
Million-Dollar Claims Grow More Frequent
Insurance News Net reports: Medical claim limits phase out under the new health care law as the size of individual claims continues to rise. Thousands of health care claims reach or exceed $ 1 million each year, and industry research and our own experience at RGA show...
Medicare prescription drug premiums to fall
Reuters reports: Medicare participants enrolled in the health insurance program's prescription drug benefit should see their premium cost decline slightly next year. The Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday the average monthly premium for Medicare...
The Budget Trigger and Health Reform
KFF.org reports: No doubt it will take some time to sort out how elements of the debt deal (formally “The Budget Control Act of 2011”) will all work. Delving into the details of how it affects subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to make insurance more...
Aetna drops individual policies in Indiana
This article shows a possible trend for insurance companies to consolidate into their own home regions. The new 80% rule is the law making them do this. This means less competition and possibly higher prices for consumers now in Indiana. Benefits Pro reports: The...
A weekly compilation from Aetna of health care-related developments in Washington, D.C. and state legislatures across the country
Atena reports: "U.S. health care spending in recent years has grown by historically modest rates thanks largely to the effects of the recession, but all that is expected to change by 2014 when major coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) begin. In a...
Healthcare law could leave families with high insurance costs
The Hill reports: "A major provision of the healthcare reform law designed to prevent businesses from dropping coverage for their workers could inadvertently leave families without access to subsidized health insurance. The problem is a huge headache for the Obama...
Theory to practice: Health care reform
Politico reports: "Critics and supporters of the health reform law have one thing in common: Neither group knows what the most wide-reaching changes of the law look like in the real world. Those changes — to the insurance market, to patient care and to control of...