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State highlights: Insurer drop-out to affect 22,000 on N.Y. Medicaid managed care; Texas slow to recover misspent Medicaid funds

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield says it's dropping out of public health insurance programs for the poor and disabled. The insurer has notified doctors and other providers it's withdrawing from the Medicaid managed care and Family Health Plus programs because it expects to lose about $100 million on those programs this year. The move will affect more than 22,000 central New Yorkers (10/15).

16 Oct 2013

Senate leaders close in on deal that leaves health law intact

The agreement could include a one-year delay in the health law's reinsurance tax, as well as a measure to tighten income verification standards for qualifying for health insurance subsidies.

16 Oct 2013

Forms not ready for those seeking exemption from health law mandate

News outlets also report that e-brokers cannot offer exchange plans right away, and that some people may try to use the online marketplaces to mislead consumers.

16 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 15, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how the budget deal taking shape in the Senate would not derail the health law, but would include some tweaks.

15 Oct 2013

Health law's success hinges on whether the goal of enrolling 7 million is met -- making outreach strategies key

News outlets examine the work of navigators and other efforts to enroll people without health insurance into new coverage under the health law.

15 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Marketplaces' 'technical foibles' may keep young people from coming back; health law may be ushering in era of narrow networks

The encouraging view is that the overwhelming number of visitors to the site indicates high demand for insurance in the new system. That's critical, because the more people who participate, the better the system works. The danger is that the technical foibles since Oct. 1 will discourage people from coming back, particularly the young and healthy customers the system needs to keep rates reasonable. With some big deadlines approaching, the Obama administration needs to fix the bugs, and fast. People who need insurance from the federal marketplace have until mid-December to buy coverage that begins Jan. 1. If enrollment figures aren't robust by then, the new health-care system will have a problem even bigger than a frustrating Web (10/11).

15 Oct 2013

Medicare open enrollment starts Tuesday

Beneficiaries are encouraged to take a close look at their options during their upcoming enrollment period, which is separate from the sign-up in the health law's marketplaces.

15 Oct 2013

Health law impact: Some consumers likely to run into penalties; Va. marketplace pricing reflects unusual add-on; American Indians' tough choice

News outlets look at a variety of policy issues surrounding the health overhaul, including what might lead people to not sign up and face a fine, how Virginia insurers priced their plans based on bariatric surgery costs and the campaign to sign up Native Americans.

15 Oct 2013

Ohio Gov. needs one more vote to expand Medicaid

After trying unsuccessfully to get Medicaid expansion through the state legislature, Ohio Gov. John Kasich is asking a bipartisan board to expand the program under the federal health law.

15 Oct 2013

State-run marketplaces rebounding from opening snags

Politico Pro examines how the marketplaces operated by states compare to the federally run operation. Other outlets look at some of the individual issues in states.

15 Oct 2013

GOP lawmakers probe marketplace bugs

Republicans on both sides of the Capitol are investigating technical problems with the health law's online health insurance marketplaces -- with one senator going so far as to call for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Others bemoan the lost opportunity to publicize the balky rollout because public attention was focused instead on the government shutdown.

15 Oct 2013

Experts worry about other trouble spots with health law marketplaces

Politico reports that other steps in the online enrollment process, including computing subsidies and transferring signup information to insurers may also have bugs. The Associated Press reports that some insiders predicted the problems well before the website launch, while The Washington Post notes that paper applications are increasingly popular because of the problems.

15 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 14, 2013

Today's headlines include the latest on the budget negotiations as well as examinations of what's happening with the health law's online insurance marketplaces.

14 Oct 2013

Rutgers getting ready to launch solution to deliver more effective care at lower cost

During nearly three decades as a primary care physician, Alfred Tallia has identified a daunting list of flaws with the nation's health care.

13 Oct 2013

Blame for Healthcare.gov's problems placed on key design element

As outside experts offered opinions about the reasons for the glitches in the federal health insurance exchange, administration officials asked consumers for patience while the system undergoes repairs. Meanwhile, House and Senate Republicans launched investigations into the difficulties.

12 Oct 2013

State highlights: Calif. gov. OK's extension of autism treatment coverage; Kansas tries to improve billing, Medicaid flap in N.C.

Gov. Jerry Brown has approved a 2 1/2-year extension of a program that requires insurance coverage for early autism treatment. Since its creation in 2011, the program has helped more than 12,500 Californians, according to Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), the author of the bills creating and extending the program (McGreevy, 10/10).

12 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Health law's threat to privacy; 'catastrophic' debut of marketplaces should signal need for delay; in budget impasse can either side accept a compromise?

Every day, personal information is the subject of hundreds of thousands of hacking attempts from all over the world. From nation states to crime rings, knowing and exploiting your information is big business. On October 1, a major component of Obamacare made you even more vulnerable to devastating attacks on your personal information and the administration is doing too little about it (Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., 10/10).

12 Oct 2013

Unlike the federal exchange, state online insurance marketplaces have had more luck addressing issues

News outlets report on how the exchanges are working and how consumers are responding in Pennsylvania, Florida, Mississippi, Hawaii, Minnesota and California.

12 Oct 2013

Research roundup: Medicare Part D in 2014; barriers to mental health care; scattered patterns of ACOs

Medicare Part D continues to be a marketplace with an array of competing plans offered at a wide range of premiums and benefit designs. In 2014, Medicare beneficiaries will have a choice of 35 stand-alone PDPs, on average, up by four from 2013. ... Beneficiaries receiving Low-Income Subsidies will have access to a modestly higher number of plans for no monthly premium in 2014 compared to 2013 ... Notable trends for 2014 include a growing share of PDPs using preferred pharmacy networks and adopting more formulary cost-sharing tiers.

12 Oct 2013

No deal yet, but GOP offer on debt limit raises hopes

Speaker John Boehner's offer represented give on the part of Republicans, who had been insisting on cuts to the federal health care law as the price for reopening government and extending the debt limit. While Boehner proposed moving only to raise the debt limit, discussions broadened to include efforts to reopen the government in exchange for entitlement cuts. In the past, President Barack Obama has refused to consider those unless Republicans agree to raise revenues.

12 Oct 2013

Health Insurance News and Research

State highlights: Insurer drop-out to affect 22,000 on N.Y. Medicaid managed care; Texas slow to recover misspent Medicaid funds

Senate leaders close in on deal that leaves health law intact

Forms not ready for those seeking exemption from health law mandate

First Edition: October 15, 2013

Health law's success hinges on whether the goal of enrolling 7 million is met -- making outreach strategies key

Viewpoints: Marketplaces' 'technical foibles' may keep young people from coming back; health law may be ushering in era of narrow networks

Medicare open enrollment starts Tuesday

Health law impact: Some consumers likely to run into penalties; Va. marketplace pricing reflects unusual add-on; American Indians' tough choice

Ohio Gov. needs one more vote to expand Medicaid

State-run marketplaces rebounding from opening snags

GOP lawmakers probe marketplace bugs

Experts worry about other trouble spots with health law marketplaces

First Edition: October 14, 2013

Rutgers getting ready to launch solution to deliver more effective care at lower cost

Blame for Healthcare.gov's problems placed on key design element

State highlights: Calif. gov. OK's extension of autism treatment coverage; Kansas tries to improve billing, Medicaid flap in N.C.

Viewpoints: Health law's threat to privacy; 'catastrophic' debut of marketplaces should signal need for delay; in budget impasse can either side accept a compromise?

Unlike the federal exchange, state online insurance marketplaces have had more luck addressing issues

Research roundup: Medicare Part D in 2014; barriers to mental health care; scattered patterns of ACOs

No deal yet, but GOP offer on debt limit raises hopes

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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