Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In The Midst Of Uncertainty, States Proceed With Obamacare Enrollment Efforts
As Republicans talk of dismantling the Affordable Care Act at the earliest opportunity, outgoing U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell came to town Tuesday to say the law is far from dead, at least for 2017. (McGrory, 12/13)
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell visited Tampa Tuesday to remind Floridians they鈥檙e in the final days to enroll in the federal marketplace for health insurance. (Miller, 12/13)
If you're signing up for Obamacare and want your health insurance coverage to kick in on Jan. 1, you need to sign up for a plan by Thursday. The future of the health law is uncertain, but federal officials say that consumers' insurance coverage most likely won't be affected in 2017. (Miller, 12/13)
Ignore the political uncertainty swirling around Obamacare: If you want health insurance coverage in California starting Jan. 1, sign up this week. That鈥檚 the message Tuesday from officials at Covered California, the state鈥檚 official marketplace for the Affordable Care Act. They said about 139,000 new enrollees have signed up during the current open enrollment season, roughly the same as last year. In addition, 1.2 million who were previously enrolled have reupped their health coverage. (Buck, 12/13)
Arizona residents who buy their own health insurance face a deadline this week to聽maintain their coverage in 2017. Those who already are enrolled in an Affordable Care Act plan automatically will be enrolled in a comparable plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona or Ambetter from Health Net. Consumers who want to review their options and choose a plan must act by the end of the day Thursday. (Alltucker, 12/13)
In light of national uncertainty over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released data to highlight the improvements Virginians have experienced in their health care since the law鈥檚 inception. Since the ACA was enacted in 2010, 327,000 Virginians have gained coverage. (Demeria, 12/13)
The percentage of Kentuckians without health insurance fell to 6 percent in 2015 from 15 percent in 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Only Nevada, Oregon and California posted larger percentage declines in uninsured. Kentucky now ranks below the national average of 9.4 percent. The department reported that 404,000 Kentuckians gained coverage between 2010 and last year. (Tate, 12/13)
In almost every county across California, regardless of its political leaning, at least one in ten people has health coverage because of Obamacare. And in some counties, almost one fifth of the population is eligible for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, either through the expansion of Medi-Cal or Covered California, the state-run health insurance marketplace that offers subsidized private coverage. (Bartolone and Zuraw, 12/14)
