Report shows interest increasing for individual and group health insurance exchanges

JD Power and Associates has released its 2012 U.S. Member Health Plan Study and it revealed that in the face of the impact of the reforms to healthcare, almost four in every ten members of an employee sponsored health plan have said that they would use a health insurance exchange to shop for their insurance coverage if the opportunity was available. This is now the sixth study of its kind, which measures the satisfaction among the members of 141 different health plans within 17 American regions by looking into seven…

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Obama administration issues new rules for state healthcare exchanges

The Obama administration has released a new set of rules for the states that involve broad new operating regulations for their healthcare exchanges. These state-run health insurance exchanges make up the heart of the system’s overhaul from 2010, which will be facing hearings in the Supreme Court before the end of the month. These rules, which were issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, have been long awaited by the states, and are designed to provide their officials and lawmakers with greater flexibility on the federal deadlines that…

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White House to use upcoming Supreme Court healthcare law arguments to shape public opinion

The White House has started the use of an aggressive campaign that it hopes will help to shape the opinion of the public about the healthcare law that is the heart of the debates for the White House and Congress, by using arguments that will come up very soon in the Supreme Court. Last week, officials from the White House summoned the leaders of dozens of different nonprofit organizations that are firm backers of the healthcare reforms, in order to help them to develop their strategy for press conferences, a…

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Washington is one step closer to building its own health insurance exchange

Washington lawmakers have passed a bill that opens the way for a health insurance exchange to take root in the state. The bill will set up rules that will help the state prepare for the construction of the exchange and govern its operation for the foreseeable future. Legislators believe that this will help the state fully comply with the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and will help it adhere to federal deadlines. Currently, the exchange is expected to be fully operational by January 2014. The rules established by the bill…

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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…

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