The Minnesota and Massachusetts health insurance coverage rates are currently drawing attention as they have achieved rates of 98 percent and officials try to determine whether or not they have reached their highest possible levels. A Minnesota survey published in an article called “Many Minnesotans Still Without Insurance” has indicated that the segment of people within the state who are currently uninsured has not entirely returned to the levels that had been reached by the end of 2009. The uninsured rate last year had kept stable at 9.1 percent, regardless…
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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…
Read MoreDental problems force uninsured Tennessee residents into ERs
A report issued by The Pew Center on the States has shown that residents of Tennessee suffering from toothaches and other dental problems are finding themselves in hospital emergency rooms as many of them cannot afford preventive care and are not covered by dental insurance. Residents of that state have made over 55,000 visits to emergency rooms since 2009 due to issues with their teeth or because of jaw disorders. Adults do not receive dental coverage by TennCare, and many employers within Tennessee do not include dental coverage in their…
Read MoreEmployees look to cancer insurance to fill the gap left by employers’ high deductible health coverage
Employers in California, as well as across the country, are attempting to cut the costs… associated with the skyrocketing medical insurance premiums by choosing higher deductible health coverage that shifts some of the expense to the employees. In response, many of those employees are looking to supplemental health plans like cancer insurance as a way to fill in the gaps that are being left behind by that employer sponsored insurance. Though these efforts were not very common as recently as two years ago, they are increasingly becoming the norm. That…
Read MoreOregon Legislature convenes to determine the course for the last days of the legislative session of February
February is quickly coming to an end, but the Oregon Legislature still has much to discuss. State lawmakers met in the city of Salem this week to map out their plans for what remains of this month’s legislative session. The topics that will receive their attention in these latter days are education initiatives, construction bonds, logging and use of water, and the state’s plans to build its own health insurance exchange. Notably, Governor John Kitzhaber’s plans to reform the state’s Medicaid program have been cut from the current session. Though…
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