Health Insurance News and Research

RSS

Administration defends Obamacare, employer mandate delay decision

Sebelius is on the defensive more than ever now that the White House has delayed a major provision of the law that requires larger employers to offer health insurance to full-time employees. Republicans say she has given a far too rosy picture of progress in carrying out the law. And they are demanding that she explain why people should be required to carry insurance next year if employers are not required to offer it. In her zeal to make the health care law work, Ms. Sebelius has tested the limits of her authority. After Congress refused to provide as much as she wanted for a nationwide campaign publicizing the new insurance options, she shuffled money between government accounts and sought cash from outside groups (Pear, 7/8).

10 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 9, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a look at HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' challenges and a delay in implementing insurance penalties on smokers.

9 Jul 2013

Viewpoints: Health care's hidden consensus; Examining the fee-for-service payment system; Alternative medicine's allure

The politicians' consensus is that health care reform shouldn't alter or disrupt the way the majority of Americans get their insurance today. ... The policy consensus, though, is that the status quo is actually the problem, and that it deserves to be threatened, undermined and replaced as expeditiously as possible. Wonks of the left and right disagree on what that replacement should look like. But they're united in regarding employer-provided coverage as an unsustainable relic (Ross Douthat, 7/6).

9 Jul 2013

Marketplace falls behind schedule in Conn.; How dental plans for kids will be sold in Calif.

With the Oct. 1 deadline for launching markeplaces approaching, states struggle with health law implementation issues.

9 Jul 2013

Delay of employer mandate: 'Astonishing decision;' 'No bearing' on much of health law; Implementation turning into 'fiasco for the ages'

Commentators both for and against the health overhaul offered assessments of the administration's move, and the politics that surround it.

9 Jul 2013

Conservative group plans $1 million ad campaign to oppose health law

The effort will counter advocates' campaigns to get people to sign up for online insurance marketplaces. In other health law news, a Clinton administration veteran is joining the Obama health team.

9 Jul 2013

State highlights: Ore. nonprofit hospitals see increased revenue, but lower charity care; Calif. shift means lost autism treatment

A new state report shows the average Oregon hospital more than doubled its margin, or profit, between 2009 and 2011, even as its provision of charity care went down. The findings trace the hospital sector rebound from recessionary lows in 2008, and how expanded Medicaid enrollment in Oregon has helped boost hospitals' bottom line even as many continue to expand to some assessors' dismay (Budnick, 7/5).

9 Jul 2013

HHS awards contract to British company to run Obamacare exchanges; challenges for health law implementation persist

The New York Times: British Company Is Awarded Contract To Administer Health Rollout Racing to meet an October deadline, Obama administration officials said Thursday that they had awarded a contract worth as much as $1.2 billion to a British company to help them sift applications for health insurance and tax credits under the new health care law.

9 Jul 2013

For a year, consumers will be on the honor system for health law subsidies

With the delay in the employer mandate, the administration announced Friday that it would scale back verification rules on enrollees' income and health status.

9 Jul 2013

Advocates raise concerns about how states handle Medicaid managed care

Patient advocates are urging greater oversight of the private programs. In other news, a Philadelphia couple details their struggle to get health insurance for their son.

9 Jul 2013

A few clinics are focused on helping pregnant women with prescription drug addictions

The Wall Street Journal examines the growing number of women addicted to pain killers and efforts to help them through pregnancies.

9 Jul 2013

Washington area hospital group launches its own health insurance plan

In other industry news, the growth of jobs in the health care sector could be a double-edged sword and hospitals seek solution to "alarm fatigue."

9 Jul 2013

First Edition: July 8, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including news about a new ad campaign against the health law, more reaction to the administration's delay of the employer mandate provision and states efforts to restrict abortions.

8 Jul 2013

Affordable Care Act employer mandate requirement postponed for a year

The Administration announced on Tuesday, July 2, that it is postponing for one year the requirement that employers with 50 or more full-time employees provide health insurance to such employees or face significant monetary penalties.

5 Jul 2013

Announcement of delay in health law's employer mandate sparks heated -- and contrary -- views

Among range of perspectives offered by commentators: It is "the right thing to do" but the wrong way; "administration has undermined its sole claim to greatness;" "doesn't have much effect."

4 Jul 2013

AMA president says docs group will do 'whatever we can' on the health law

In an interview, Ardis Dee Hoven, the American Medical Association's new president, says that there is no formal role, but that the organization has been in touch with the Obama administration about how physicians can help patients get the information they need. Meanwhile, The Hill reports on a consumer survey that finds the health overhaul is not a consistent topic of conversation between doctors and patients.

4 Jul 2013

State exchanges largely unaffected by delay in employer mandate

Officials in California and Minnesota say that neither the timing, nor the content of insurance coverage offered in their new online insurance marketplaces will be affected by the administration's decision to suspend enforcement of penalties on large employers until 2015.

4 Jul 2013

Employers get extra year to carry out health law coverage mandate

The Obama administration's surprise announcement will delay penalties for one year -- until after the mid-term elections -- and raises doubts about the implementation process at a crucial moment. Officials said the extension was a response to business requests for more time to navigate complex regulations.

4 Jul 2013

Political responses swirl around administration's announcement

As GOP lawmakers and health law critics gloat, administration officials say they are listening to concerns from business and being flexible.

4 Jul 2013

Study: Happy marriages keep you in good health over years

New BYU research finds that people in happy marriages live less "in sickness" but enjoy more of life "in health." In a 20-year longitudinal study tracking health and marriage quality, BYU family life researcher Rick Miller found that as the quality of marriage holds up over the years, physical health holds up too.

4 Jul 2013