Tag: cost of health insurance

Skyrocketing health insurance rates blamed on higher price of medical care

Health insurance plan

Rising costs from hospitals and other providers increase spending throughout downturn. Recent research is now showing that the heightened prices that were charged by outpatient centers, hospitals, and other healthcare providers were responsible for sending the cost of health insurance upward at twice the rate of inflation throughout the recession and economic struggle to recover. This was the case even as there was less consumption overall of medical care by patients. According to a Health Care Cost Institute report, In the case of outpatient surgery, emergency room visits, substance abuse…

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Health insurance rates to rise by an average of 8% in New York

Nordstrom

Data from the New York Department of Financial Services, which succeeds the state’s Insurance Department, shows that New Yorkers can expect to pay at least an average of 8% more on health insurance next year. In other, more populated areas of the state, such as New York City, the rates could get double-digit increases. Regulators have approved rate proposals from several insurance companies. The rate increases will affect more than 2 million policyholders throughout the state. Regulators approved the sleuth of rate increases in the hopes that the move would…

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Study shows cost for employees for health insurance is set to rise

The findings of an Aon Hewitt study are showing that the average per-employee cost for health insurance will increase beyond the $10,000 mark in 2012, regardless of the fact that costs are rising more slowly than the current 2011 rate of 7.5 percent. The rate for healthcare premiums is expected to increase by 7 percent, but the actual cost of premiums for each employee is forecasted to be over $10,400. When compared to the 2010 figure of less than $9,800, the 2012 is notably higher. Workers will be responsible for…

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COBRA loses federal subsidy, future of the program questioned

S.Vagus

The end is nigh for one of the federal government’s most popular and well-used insurance plans. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, more famously known as COBRA, will no longer be subsidized by the government beginning next week. The demise of the subsidy, which has provided insurance coverage to millions of unemployed citizens throughout the nation by lowering the cost of COBRA, has been met with little fanfare. After the subsidy ends, the options for those unable to afford conventional insurance coverage will become slimmer. Despite being designed to help…

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The criteria that states must meet for health insurance exchange marketplace

Julie Campbell

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is awarding 13 states as well as Washington D.C. a total of $185 million to help to fund the planning and creation of the state-based insurance exchanges that are required by the federal healthcare overhaul. Each will receive a different amount as their portion of the total. For example, California will receive $38 million in order to create its exchange. The governors of the recipient states received a letter from secretary Kathleen Sebelius of HHS, which described the various options and resources…

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