College graduation is a time to reassess health insurance

College seniors need to add one item to their "to-do" list as graduation approaches: check out their insurance options, the Los Angeles Times reports. Also, KHN examines California Latinos' interest in getting health care in Mexico--even if they have purchased U.S. insurance.

Los Angeles Times: College Graduates Should Consider Options For Health Insurance 
Devyn Bisson is a 22-year-old Orange resident about to graduate from Chapman University with a degree in film. She knows she'll need to think about health insurance after graduation, but not just yet. "It's the last thing I'm looking at," she says. "I'm way more preoccupied with how I'm going to make money." With graduation looming, college students have many big issues to face in the coming months. They may include signing up for health insurance, and facing deadlines and even fines for laggards (Zamosky, 5/4).

Kaiser Health News: Even With Obamacare, Many Latinos Still Seek Treatment In Mexico
Irma Montalvo signed up for a health plan through California's new insurance exchange last month, getting coverage for the first time in eight years. But when she needed treatment for a painful skin rash, Montalvo didn't go to a doctor near her home in Chula Vista. Instead she drove to Mexico, about 16 miles south. Her doctor, Cecilia Espinoza, diagnosed her with shingles and prescribed medication to relieve pain and head off complications (Gorman, 5/5).

The Fiscal Times examines the legislative language setting up insurance risk corridors and the question of how many enrollees have actually paid their first month's premiums -

The Fiscal Times: A Little-Noticed Glitch Could Derail Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act's risk corridor program has drawn plenty of criticism from Republicans who have dubbed it a "bailout for insurance companies." Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) even introduced a bill to entirely scrap the program, which is intended to offset insurance company losses for selling policies on new exchanges. Now, it turns out, a little-known technical flaw in the law's language might do that for him. In a blog post, The Incidental Economist's Nicholas Bagley points out that the law's vague language regarding the risk corridors may not give the Department of Health and Human Services the legal authority to fund the program (Ehley, 5/2).

The Fiscal Times: Obamacare Update: Lots Of Unanswered Questions
[W]e know that more than 8 million people signed up for health insurance on the state and federal exchanges between October and April 15...This number is significant primarily because it shows demand for the new plans. However, it does not represent how many people will actually have insurance through the exchanges, since people may drop their plans throughout the year. The figure also doesn't account for how many people have paid their premiums. This data point is huge and will need nailed down in order to find out how many people are actually covered by these plans (Ehley, 5/4).