Category: Health Care Reform

America’s health care system is undergoing many changes – it’s hard for insurance professionals to keep updated let alone consumers. Here we make it easy and publish daily articles on the changes and challenges that health care reform has ahead.

India aligns itself for largest health care overhaul the world has ever seen

Marc
India health care overhaul - Flag of India

The country is completely reforming its medical care quality, availability and reduce mortality. India is in the midst of a massive health care overhaul that will become the largest in the world once complete. The goal is to help to ensure health care is available to everyone in the country, not just the wealthy. At the moment, the richest people across the country have ready access to health care. In fact, they can even experience the medical care they need in a luxury resort-style facility. The goal of the health…

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State health care study ranks insurance coverage across the country

Julie Campbell
State health care study - Book with pages shaped like a heart

A new data analysis has revealed the best and worst performing states for U.S. health insurance. Vermont currently boasts the best state health care system, whereas Louisiana’s is the very worst, according to a new study conducted by WalletHub.com. CDC data shows that 88.1 percent of Americans have access to regular medical care. That said, despite the availability of state health care for most Americans, the quality and cost of those services varies greatly across the country. Depending on the individual state, there is a significant difference in the population’s…

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New York single payer health care gets Cynthia Nixon’s Nod

Marc
Single-Player Health Care in NY - Cynthia Nixon - YouTube Screencap

The state governor candidate has endorsed it as a component of her challenge against Gov. Cuomo. Candidate for New York Governor, Cynthia Nixon, has added her endorsement to a state-wide single payer health care system. This strategy is meant to build her challenge against Governor Andrew Cuomo (D). Nixon released a video in which she described the health care system and why she believes in it. “Health care should be a human right, not a privilege for those who can afford it,” said Nixon in her video discussing single payer…

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Thousands in Arkansas fear lost health insurance benefits under new rules

Marc
Health Insurance Benefits - Time For Change - chalkboard

Medicaid changes in Republican led states are often aligning with Trump’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare. One state at a time, health insurance benefits are changing for those reliant on Medicaid and whose governors are Republican. As the GOP works to take Obamacare apart, many states now have stricter Medicaid regulations. Arkansas has become the first state to push the new health insurance benefits rule. It will require state residents to have to provide proof of their employment or volunteer status in order to keep their Medicaid coverage. As the law…

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Men taking Truvada often rejected for disability insurance policy

H. Cutner
Disability insurance policy - Men rejected for HIV prevention drug

Instances men turned down for coverage based on HIV prevention use are increasingly common. Americans taking the prescription drug Truvada are finding it harder to purchase a disability insurance policy. Truvada is an HIV prevention drug meant to help protect a user from becoming infected. The Affordable Care Act bans health insurance companies from discriminating based on sexual orientation. That said, the states themselves each have their own regulations for what is allowed to determine eligibility for certain specific types of coverage such as life, long-term care, or a disability…

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Individual mandate repeal causes health insurance gap in many states

Nordstrom
Health Insurance Gap - Mind the Gap platform

Several states are now scrambling to come up with a way to make coverage more affordable. After the individual mandate penalties were removed for failing to purchase coverage, a health insurance gap has formed in many states across the country. This has left some states struggling to make their health care affordable. As people drop their coverage health care in the states will become increasingly expensive. The only state in the country that required coverage after last year’s dismantling of the Affordable Care Act was Massachusetts. Increasingly unfavorable markets caused…

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Health insurance trends may be driving opioid epidemic

G. Turner
Health insurance trends - Pills - pain killers - drugs

A recent Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Study measured this effect. Health insurance trends toward greater popularity of coverage may be pushing along the opioid epidemic. The reason, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study, the reason is that the majority of private insurers as well as Medicare and Medicaid aren’t doing enough to stop it. The study examined coverage policies from major health insurance companies in 2017. The researchers looked into what the policies offered in terms of coverage for treating chronic lower…

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Colorado health insurance will continue to protect those with pre-existing conditions

G. Turner
Colorado health insurance continues to protect those with pre-existing conditions - man in wheelchair

As Americans across the country return to struggling for coverage, Coloradans will be spared. Colorado health insurance will maintain its coverage of individuals with pre-existing conditions, despite the Trump administration’s recent moves. The president shocked the health care industry earlier this month when the Department of Justice announced it wouldn’t be defending certain central components in the Affordable Care Act. This announcement may mean that Americans with pre-existing conditions could once again lose coverage. That said, Colorado health insurance law will make certain that residents of the state will continue…

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95 percent of US healthcare groups opposed Trump’s new health insurance rules

H. Cutner
US Healthcare Groups - Opposed to Changes - Hand stopping dominoes

Nearly every group that submitted formal comments officially panned the strategy the president proposed. Over 95 percent of the US healthcare groups that submitted formal comments regarding President Trump’s strategy to dismantle the Affordable Care Act were opposed to his efforts. They either criticized the new health insurance rule strategy or flat-out opposed it. The health insurance industry isn’t impressed with the president’s efforts to cut apart Obamacare. A new L.A. Times review of the thousands of comments formally submitted by US healthcare groups to federal agencies showed heavy criticism…

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Could health food insurance support preventative medicine and natural treatments?

G. Turner
Health food insurance - fruits and vegetables

Doctors and healthcare providers are increasingly pursuing food-based interventions. Health food insurance could one day be on its way to American plans. Just as health plans currently cover some prevention, prescriptions, procedures and doctor visits, they may one day cover certain foods. The idea is that food-based interventions can effectively prevent or treat certain conditions. The food-based intervention trend is rapidly expanding across the United States. In this way, doctors are recommending that patients prevent conditions by eating right. Similarly, some conditions can be treated more effectively when a patient…

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