Tag: us healthcare system

Cigna health insurance sued over use of software to deny claims

Marc
Health insurance - Sue - Law

The insurer was sued in California for alleged unlawful claims reviewing software use. Cigna is now facing a lawsuit in California over allegedly unlawfully reviewing health insurance claims using software that does it automatically instead of having human employees complete the work. When a claim is submitted to an insurer, certain steps must be taken to determine if it will be accepted or denied. The healthcare system in the United States involves certain steps when it comes to determining payment through health insurance coverage. First, the patient heads to a…

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American Medical Association seeks open market-style health insurance exchanges

The American Medical Association has started to apply pressure to the states in order to send the system in a direction that would permit all health insurance companies of meeting the minimum standards to take part in the insurance exchanges that will be created by 2014 as a part of the healthcare overhaul. This significant doctors organization has announced that it will be putting its full support behind the health insurance exchange structure that allows for an open marketplace instead of the “active purchaser” style alternative. That latter technique would…

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Healthcare work force receives $1 billion from Obama administration to boost its size

H. Cutner

The Obama administration has announced that it will be offering a grant program worth $1 billion to provide medical organizations with the opportunity to hire, train, and implementation of new workers. According to an announcement from the administration, the grant program has been named the Health Care Innovation Challenge and has been created in order to discover “the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.” Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen…

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Meeting of lawmakers and insurance officials highlights the importance of simplicity in national insurance exchange program

Health insurance exchanges were a popular subject during a recent gathering of federal lawmakers and insurance officials this week in Washington, D.C. Exchanges have been growing in popularity throughout the nation, gaining support in some states while finding opposition in others. The overall aim of the exchange initiative is to present consumers with a way to find and purchase affordable insurance policies. Much of the effort concerning exchanges centers around the concept of affordability, but consumers are far more interested in understanding what they are buying than how much policies…

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As people lose their health insurance, the number of emergency room visits skyrocket

New figures about hospital use have shown that there has been a sharp increase in the number of visits to emergency rooms, and that – according to physicians – the rising numbers are the result of an intensifying demand for improvements and services that would permit emergency departments to provide patients with faster treatment. Early estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown that in 2009, the number of emergency room visits increased by nearly 10 percent, which was the most significant rise in visits since…

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