Arkansas’ Insurance Commissioner is attempting to rally support from state lawmakers to help establish a health insurance exchange. Commissioner Jay Bradford is urging legislators to back a grant application that, if approved, would bring $3.8 million in federal funding to the state. Arkansas lawmakers have been leery of the federally mandated insurance exchanges due to their association with the controversial Affordable Care Act, which the state opposes. Governor Mike Beebe has said that he will not seek out federal funding unless the state’s Legislature shows support for an exchange. The…
Read MoreTag: health care reform news
New Hampshire regulators to receive federal grants to improve state’s insurance system
New Hampshire insurance regulators are set to receive $3.56 million in federal grants over the next three years in accordance with the federal health care law. The state’s Insurance Department is welcoming the money with open arms, hoping to utilize the funds to help some of the regulatory shortfalls that have befallen the state in recent years. While regulators have yet to determine the breadth of their plans for the funds, officials have noted that some of the money will be used to instill more transparency in the state’s insurance…
Read MoreObama’s healthcare reforms cause tricky debate among federal judges
A federal appellate judge panel with conservative inclinations has expressed apprehension regarding the Obama administration’s healthcare laws, but has also indicated that it may be premature to challenge the overhaul. The case before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington involves a lawsuit that is arguing whether or not Obama’s massive healthcare reforms have caused Congress to step outside its authority in giving people the choice starting in 2014 to either purchase health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Former top George W. Bush aide, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who received…
Read MoreState representatives gather to discuss the coming of insurance exchanges
This week saw the gathering of representatives from 46 states and the District of Columbia at a hotel in Virginia. Representatives met with officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to discuss the topic of health insurance exchanges. While many states have shown support for the concept of insurance exchanges, most have been slow to adopt the system. The problem may lie in the lack of guidance provided by the federal government for a system that is to be established…
Read MoreMissouri postpones further health insurance exchange efforts
Following the voicing of concerns by several Republican senators, insurance officials from Missouri have taken a step back away from intentions to begin spending millions of dollars from the federal government on an investment into the computer technology that would be required to put a central element of the new federal health care law into place. In August, Missouri had been awarded a federal grant of $21 million to be applied to the preparation for the health insurance exchange to be created and run by the state and would allow…
Read More