Jay Hancock joined Kaiser Health News in 2012 from The Baltimore Sun, where he wrote a column on business and finance. Previously he covered the State Department and the economics beat for The Sun and healthcare for The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk and the Daily Press of Newport News.
Congratulations. You bought insurance through one of the online Affordable Care Act exchanges, possibly after days or weeks of trying to get the site to work. Don’t relax. Joining the plan is only the first challenge. Now you have to understand it. Policies sold through the online portals — to more than 3 million people […]
Lizzie Bunnen’s medical insurance ran out this fall. She had every intention of buying new, subsidized coverage under the health law in October. “Then obviously I heard all the coverage about how terrible the website was,” said Bunnen, 26, a George Washington University grad student who lives in Virginia. “And I said, OK I’ll wait. […]
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Officials in at least a half dozen states are pushing back against health plans in the new insurance markets that limit choice of doctors and hospitals in a bid to control medical costs. The plans don’t start offering coverage until January but they’re facing regulatory action, possible legislation, and in at least one case involving […]
Despite numerous problems with the health law rollout, WellPoint CEO Joseph Swedish told analysts last week he was still “confident” in the company’s bet to be the biggest seller of Obamacare insurance. President Barack Obama meetin...
Weeks after denying labor’s request to give union members access to health-law subsidies, the Obama administration is signaling it intends to exempt some union plans from one of the law’s substantial taxes. Buried in rules issued last week is the disclosure that the administration will propose exempting “certain self-insured, self-administered plans” from the law’s temporary reinsurance fee […]
This week the Department of Health and Human Services released a ton of information about how insurance sold in 36 states under the Affordable Care Act will work. Most of it came in the form of data showing the number of carriers and their premium pric...
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
Health-law provisions taking effect next year could save U.S. employers billions of dollars in expenses now paid for workers who continue medical coverage after they leave the company, benefits experts say. Insurance marketplaces created by the Afforda...
As community groups, brokers and insurers prepare to recruit members for medical plans that go on sale in October under the health law, nobody has a bigger financial stake in their success than hospitals. And few may work harder to sign consumers...
They have rented offices and zero customers. All their capital is borrowed. They’re trying to sign the kind of expensive, chronically ill individuals that insurers have avoided for decades. In three weeks they face mighty competitors with a...
Corporate America is taking a hard look at moving retirees and part-time workers into health insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, suggests a survey by the National Business Group on Health. To a lesser extent large companies also ...
We will highlight Build My Health's revenue practice management tools, which could help physician practices add up to $250,000 to their practices.
Partly blaming the health law, United Parcel Service is set to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere. Many analysts downplay the Affordable Care Act’s effect on companies such as UPS, n...
Citing what they called flawed data and unreasonable assumptions, Maryland insurance regulators on Friday sharply reduced prices for health plans that will be sold to individuals and families through the state's insurance marketplace starting Oct. 1. ...
At a closed White House meeting in April, President Barack Obama told corporate insurance bosses “we’re all in this together” on implementing his signature health law. But some insurance companies seem to be more in than others. At least five Blue Cross and Blue Shield executives sat at the table of about a dozen CEOs […]
Like hospital leaders everywhere, the people running Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash., talk frequently about the need to control soaring medical costs. “We are working to reduce the overall cost of health care and to transform health care delivery,” Lisa Jensen, chairwoman of the hospital’s board of trustees, said last year. Experts believe that’s […]
Should hospitals award CEOs bonuses for growth and profits or for quality and efficiency? That’s the wrong question, some authorities believe. They think hospital bosses shouldn’t get any bonus pay. “I don’t think there’s a role today for hospital CEOs to have a bonus program,” said Dr. James Weinstein, CEO of Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system in […]