Oct 7 2014
The state's regulators didn't raise concerns about premium increases for the 10 plans in California's online marketplace. In addition, enrollment efforts make news in Missouri and Minnesota.
Los Angeles Times: California Regulators Clear Obamacare Rates, Hold Off On Networks
California regulators won't challenge the next round of health insurance rate increases in the state exchange, but insurers' narrow networks of doctors and hospitals are drawing tougher scrutiny. The state's two insurance regulators didn't find proposed premiums for 2015 individual coverage to be unreasonable among the 10 health plans in the Covered California exchange. These rates also apply to individual coverage outside the state's Obamacare marketplace (Terhune, 10/3).
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Area Brokers, Counselors Gear Up For Launch Of Small Business Health Insurance Marketplace
St. Louis-area health insurance brokers and counselors are gearing up for the launch of the online marketplace for small businesses. Brokers and counselors attended a closed-door briefing with federal health officials Thursday to learn about the online features of the Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, before its anticipated launch later this month. Missouri and Illinois are two of five states that were selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs the online marketplaces, to have an early peek at the SHOP site before open enrollment begins Nov. 15. SHOP plans were offered last year but only by paper application (Shapiro, 10/3).
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MNsure: Twin Cities' Rates Still Look Cheaper, But Gap Is Shrinking In Minnesota
Figures released last week by MNsure, the state's health insurance exchange, suggest that rates in southeast Minnesota will continue to be the state's highest next year. But, as the second year of enrollment approaches, the gap with much lower prices in the Twin Cities is shrinking (Snowbeck, 10/4).
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 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Worried about health insurance costs? There may be cheaper options — but with trade-offs