Latest News + Info
The latest information relating to the health insurance industry.
U.S. Plans Stealth Survey on Access to Doctors
The New York Times reports: "WASHINGTON — Alarmed by a shortage of primary care doctors, Obama administration officials are recruiting a team of “mystery shoppers” to pose as patients, call doctors’ offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for...
How the Affordable Care Act Helps Young Adults
In 2014, when all of the Affordable Care Act provisions are fully implemented, an estimated 13 million young adults could gain health insurance coverage, most of it subsidized Some of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act that will help young adults include: *...
How Familiar are you with Health Care Reform?
There is a great quiz put together by Kaiser Family Foundation. It will test your familiarity with insurance reform. According to the kff.org website, the 10 question pop quiz had the following results: Less than 1% answered all questions correctly 40% answered 5 or...
Joe Lieberman Tackles Medicare Reform
Forbes reports: "Joe Lieberman, the retiring, formerly Democratic Senator from Connecticut, has come up with his own plan for Medicare reform. As he put it last week in the Washington Post, “Democrats are right when they say the public wants to keep Medicare as a...
What a grand bargain on health care would look like
The Washington Post reports: "I don’t agree with everything in Marc Goldwein’s full-throated defense of raising the Medicare retirement age, but he’s right that the Affordable Care Act substantially blunts concerns about adults between 65 and 67 being able to access...
Oops: a twist in Obama’s health care law
Benifits Pro reports: "WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was...
Appeals court judges skeptical of government’s health care case
CNN reports: "A federal appeals court in Atlanta was openly skeptical Wednesday that the sweeping health care reform law championed by President Barack Obama would survive constitutional scrutiny. A three-judge panel heard arguments in a massive lawsuit brought by...
Judges Offer Mixed View on Health Law
The Wall Street Journal reports: "ATLANTA—A federal appeals court Wednesday took up the most significant legal challenge to last year's health law, with judges giving mixed signals on the central issue of whether it was constitutional to require people to carry...
News from the Blues
Blue Cross and Blue Shield reports: "Coming Aug. 1: New Member ID Cards with Bar Code Technology As you may recall, we last changed the format of our member ID cards in 2008, as part of a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association ID card standardization initiative. At...
Maximum HSA Contribution to Rise Slightly in 2012
Business Insurnace.com reports: "The maximum contributions that can be made to health savings accounts in 2012 will rise slightly, the Internal Revenue Service said on May 16. Under IRS Revenue Procedure 2011-32, the maximum contribution that can be made to an HSA in...