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.

Employer sponsored health insurance costs are up 4 percent this year

H. Cutner
Employer sponsored health insurance - health insurance costs

The Kaiser Family Foundation data also showed that they have risen by 55 percent in 10 years. Employer sponsored health insurance costs have been rising steadily for Americans, having increased by 4 percent to $21,342 this year, according to a recently published Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) study. The annual KFF survey found that workers are paying almost $5,600 for their coverage this year. KFF’s annual survey determined that American workers are paying almost $5,600 int their employer sponsored health insurance for family coverage. In 2010, that figure had been closer…

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Walmart health plans for seniors available in time for 2021 open enrollment

Marc
Walmart health plans - Front of Walmart Store

The retail giant is selling the policies for Medicare medical and drug benefits that will begin next year. Walmart health plans are launching through a new brokerage that will make the policies available in time for seniors to enroll during the Medicare medical and drug benefit open enrollment for 2021. Seniors will be able to enroll in this coverage this fall throughout the open enrollment period. The retailer announced the move earlier this week, bringing Walmart health plans into heavy competition within an industry facing a rapidly increasing number of…

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Delaware dental insurance plan begins for low-income adults

Logan B.
Dental insurance plan - Dentist with Patient

October 1 marked the start of the additional coverage as a part of Medicaid across the state. Starting yesterday, adults in Delaware who receive Medicaid will automatically receive a dental insurance plan as a part of their coverage. Governor John Carney signed the legislation to make this possible back in August 2019. The dental insurance plan was originally scheduled to be added to Delaware’s Medicaid in April 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed things until October 1, instead. Therefore, as of yesterday, people aged 19 through 65 years old who…

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Pennsylvania health insurance exchange launched for consumers in the state

Julie Campbell
Pennsylvania health insurance exchange - health - heart - hand

The state has opened its own Pennie.com marketplace for individuals who need to buy plans. The new Pennsylvania health insurance exchange launched this week, debuting the Pennie.com site where residents of the state can purchase individual plans. This gives state residents a lot more time to shop for the coverage they want for 2021. The new Pennsylvania health insurance exchange opened its doors on Tuesday. Residents of the state who start using Pennie.com right away will have an additional four weeks to compare plans and shop for the coverage they…

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Nearly all nonprofit health insurance co-ops are shutting down

G. Turner
Nonprofit health insurance co-ops - Stethoscope

Of the approximately two dozen that existed during the first few years of ACA, only 3 will soon remain. In the early days of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there were about two dozen nonprofit healthy insurance co-ops. However, now that New Mexico Health Connections announced it will be shutting down at the close of 2020, that number will fall to only 3. Among the three remaining, one is in Maine, one is in Wisconsin and one is in Idaho and Montana. That last of the nonprofit health insurance co-ops…

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NY Gov Cuomo announces insurance fraud action against opioid manufacturers

G. Turner
Insurance fraud action - Pills - drugs

The state department of financial services filed the charges against internationals Allergan and Teva. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has filed insurance fraud action against international opioid manufacturers Teva and Allergan. The DFS’ filing claims that the firms engaged in dubious marketing strategies for their drugs. The insurance fraud action alleges that Teva and Allergan had engaged in fraudulent marketing and promotional campaigns. Those campaigns, said the filing, misrepresented the effectiveness and safety of opioid drugs in order to broaden the opioid…

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Reproductive health care coverage is shrinking due to widespread job losses

Nordstrom
Reproductive health care - pregnant woman

The pandemic crisis job losses are especially hard on younger women and women of color. The immediate economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis is clearer to see than issues such as shrinking access to reproductive health care coverage. Young women and women of color are being hit hardest by job losses and therefore coverage loss. Health plans are linked to employment for approximately half of Americans. This means that any of those 160 million people who lose their jobs also risk losing their health plans and, therefore, their reproductive health…

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