New health insurance legislation passed in Texas

Texas Health Insurance Program

Health insurance cards for policies sold through state exchange will have a QHP label New legislation in Texas will place a special label on all health insurance cards for those that have purchased plans through the state’s exchange. This label — QHP — will be affixed to insurance cards to denote that policyholders have purchased coverage through the state’s exchange. The label stands for “qualified health plans,” which are policies that are approved to be sold through the health insurance exchange marketplace. This may serve as a “teachable” moment for…

Read More

91% of Texans to be insured by 2014, thanks to the Affordable Care Act

The Texas Medicaid Director, Billy Millwee, spoke to the House Public Health and Insurance committees this week regarding the Affordable Care Act. The director has been tracking the trends and effects that the federal health care law has birthed in the state and has come to a promising conclusion. Currently, 74% of the state’s residents have some form of health insurance coverage. Millwee claims that when the Affordable Care Act is fully enacted in 2014, this will jump to 91%. By that time, only 2.3 million Texans will have no…

Read More

Perry may repeal healthcare reforms without alternative in state with highest rate of uninsured

Texas has been named the state with the largest number of residents who do not have health insurance, so they should also be one of the states that could receive the most benefit from the health care reforms made by the Obama administration. However, Governor Rick Perry has halted attempts to lay the foundation for the coverage expansion. That said, one of the solutions that Perry is supporting as an alternative to the overhaul is an untested regional effort that may make individual states responsible for Medicare; a method that…

Read More