Live Insurance News

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Chaney finds a way to build a health insurance exchange

September 17, 2012 S.Vagus

Commissioner Chaney faces down political disparities Per the Affordable Care Act, all states in the U.S. are required to build health insurance exchanges. For the majority of the country, this is no longer an issue of politics, but one of finance. For the 26 states that sought to dismantle the federal health care law, however, building a health insurance exchange will be a difficult issue to deal with. Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Chaney, for example, is facing the problems of establishing an exchange in a state that continues to oppose the…

Florida Insurance News – Wrestling with health care reform

September 4, 2012September 3, 2012 S.Vagus

Florida Insurance News Headline: Officials concerned of losing control of health insurance industry When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, several states banded together to overthrow what they considered to be an unconstitutional law. Earlier this year, the matter went before the Supreme Court, where the law was upheld. Florida was one of the state’s leading the charge in dismantling the Affordable Care Act and, despite the Supreme Court ruling, continues to oppose the law due to its controversial provisions. Florida, along with other stats, have expressed concern that…

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

September 1, 2011September 1, 2011 S.Vagus

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…

Department of Health and Human Services approves full coverage of birth control

August 2, 2011May 14, 2013

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a statement that included new guidelines regarding the required full coverage of a number of women’s preventative services – such as voluntary sterilization and birth control – by health insurance companies from August 1, 2012 onward. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from the HHS explained that the department’s decision was made as a part of the strategy from the Affordable Care Act to halt problems before they occur. In a press release, she said that the new coverage guidelines “are based…

Debate continues over bill allowing consumers to purchase insurance across state lines

June 2, 2011 Nordstrom

Congress is considering a bill that would allow insurance companies to sell policies across state lines. The bill has been before Congress for some time, but legislators have yet been unable to determine the necessity or viability of such a law. Now, Congress is calling upon witnesses to testify whether or not the law will actually help lower the number of uninsured people in the nation and entice insurers to provide more affordable coverage. These witnesses have begun appearing before the Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and…