Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Kansas, Oklahoma insurers won’t get a break on rebate rule

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Kansas and Oklahoma are the seventh and eighth states to get the thumbs down from the federal government on their requests to phase in new regulations that could result in health insurance rebates to consumers. Under the Affordable Care Act, companies that sell individual insurance policies must spend at [...]

Despite Deep Opposition, Georgia. Contemplates Healthcare Exchange

Atlanta, GA, United States (KaiserHealth) – ATLANTA—In Georgia, like many other Southern states, opposition to the federal health overhaul runs deep. Yet an overwhelmingly conservative committee of experts carefully, and without rancor, has outlined a plan to give the state a health insurance exchange, a cornerstone of the sweeping health care law passed by Democrats [...]

Premiums, Deductibles And Cost Sharing In Employer Health Plans Keep Rising

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – Signing up for health insurance during your company’s annual enrollment period, which for many plans is right now, may feel like taking a nasty dose of medicine: You know it’s good for you, but it sure doesn’t go down easy. On the plus side, nearly two-thirds of companies are [...]

Vermont Edges Toward Single Payer Health Care System

Montpelier, VT, United States (KaiserHealth) – Starting now, Vermont begins building a single-payer health system that will move many state residents into a publicly financed insurance program and pay hospitals, doctors and other providers a set fee to care for patients. Proposed by the governor and passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature, the new program will [...]

HHS Pushes Federal-State Partnerships For Insurance Exchanges

United States (KaiserHealth) – Worried that the federal government could end up running new insurance marketplaces for dozens of states, the Obama administration is making a new pitch for cooperation to 46 states and the District of Columbia today. Health officials from the states are meeting in the District of Columbia with the administration, which [...]

Changes To Medigap Plans Meet Resistance

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – A provision of the 2010 federal health law seeking to increase Medicare beneficiaries’ share of health care costs is meeting resistance from an unlikely group of 33 state insurance regulators, health insurers and consumer advocates charged with revising Medigap insurance policies that cover most out-of-pocket expenses. The National Association [...]

Workers Squeezed As Employers Pass Along High Costs Of Specialty Drugs

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – For Judy Ariba, one of the most harrowing moments in her battle against a rare form of leukemia occurred after she had already endured a long hospital stay and grueling chemotherapy: Her bill for a prescription cancer drug jumped from $10 to $1,700 a month. After Judy Ariba’s former [...]

States Face Challenges In Controlling Health Insurance Premiums

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – For many consumers, the ultimate test for the embattled health-care law is simple: Will it push down insurance premiums — or at least slow their relentless rise? It’s a pressing question for the Obama administration, which is hoping its signature domestic policy achievement doesn’t end up as an election [...]

Kaiser Permanente CEO Sees Openings For Accountable Care Organizations

Washington, D.C., United States (KaiserHealth) – Long before the sweeping health law was even a notion on Capitol Hill, HMOs were a force in American medicine. The business model of patients having a primary care doctor, who coordinated care with specialists and hospitals in an established network, was designed to apply best and most effective [...]

Utah Health Exchange Is Geared To Small Business Employees-The KHN Interview

Salt Lake City, UT, United States (KaiserHealth) – With the release of federal health exchange regulations expected very soon, states are starting to feel pressure to make decisions about these online insurance marketplaces for consumers and small businesses that the 2010 health law mandates. States can opt not to operate an exchange and the federal [...]