California enrollment period for Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan coming to a premature end

In California, enrollment in the federal Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan may be coming to a premature end. The plan is an offshoot of the Affordable Care Act and aims to bring affordable insurance coverage to those with chronic illnesses and other pre-existing conditions that kept private insurers away for years. Lawmakers had originally set the enrollment limit in California to 23,000 people. The costs of running the program, however, seem to be much more than first estimated, and California legislators have lowered the enrollment limit to a scant 6,800. With…

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Subsidized California health insurance program fails to meet enrollment goals

A subsidized program for health insurance in California that offers consumers an affordable form of protection when they have pre-existing medical conditions, has managed to break the 5,000 member level at its first birthday, but this was notably lower than the anticipated enrollment. The state had received $761 million from the federal government in order to operate the program until the 2014 start of the new healthcare insurance requirements for state-run insurance exchanges as a part of the Obama Administration’s healthcare overhaul. At the start of this subsidized insurance program,…

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Legislation to give California insurance regulators more power is pulled from the Legislature

For the past several months, California legislators have been toiling over a bill that would give the state’s insurance regulators expansive new powers. The bill would have expanded upon regulator’s authority and enabled them to reject or revive insurance rate proposals from the state’s insurance companies. The bill has generated a fair amount of opposition, especially from insurers who are loathe to see regulators wielding more authority. Now the future of the bill is uncertain, as its author, Assemblyman Mike Feuer of Los Angeles, pulls it from consideration. Feuer’s legislation…

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California regulators are one step closer to more authority over the state’s insurance industry

California lawmakers have been inching closer to passing new legislation that would give the state’s insurance regulators the authority to reject changes to health insurance premiums. On Wednesday, the proposal passed an important test and earned approval from the Senate Health Committee. Earlier in the year, many Californian health insurers instituted steep rate hikes, much to the chagrin of Dave Jones, the state’s Insurance Commissioner. Jones led the protest against the insurers and petitioned each company to stymie its rate hikes. He has been adamant in the belief that if…

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California health insurer holds off on rate increase

WellPoint Inc., one of the nation’s top health insurers based in California, announced earlier this year that it would be raising premiums on individual policies by 16.4%. After increased pressure from state legislators and insurance commissioner Dave Jones, however, the insurer has proposed a new increase of no more than 9.8%. Furthermore, the company has heeded Jones’ call for delays on rate hikes and has announced that the increases will not take effect until July. According to Jones, the rate increases will affect more than 600,000 policyholders in the state.…

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