Wait For Obamacare Price Tags Could Be Months
Last week Vermont became the first state to provide a glimpse of how expensive individual health insurance might be under the Affordable Care Act. Proposed rates there, while of questionable relevance to the rest of the country because of the state’s unusual insurance market, showed little change from current prices and reassured health law supporters […]
Study: States Lag On Tracking Potential Obamacare Loophole
What if there were a way for even small employers to escape some Affordable Care Act rules blamed for driving up costs? Some see self-insurance for medical care, which is exempt from聽the law’s聽taxes, benefit rules and price restrictions taking effect next year, as just such an opportunity. Self-insured firms finance most worker health costs and […]
Maryland’s Tough New Hospital Spending Proposal Seen As ‘Nationally Significant’
State officials want to limit hospital spending to the growth rate of the state’s economy, a huge challenge for hospitals.
FAQ On The Latest Study: Obamacare’s Impact On Insurance Claim Costs
The Society of Actuaries is predicting that because of the health law, on average, insurers will have to pay 32 percent more for claims by 2017. What does that mean for consumers?
Temp Agencies See Opportunity In Health Law
Some employers — worried about the cost of health coverage — are eyeing staffing agencies to fill jobs. But these arrangements could leave gaps in the health law’s expanded coverage.
Small Businesses Pursue Health Law ‘Loophole’
Self-insurance, once the purview of only large companies, is becoming popular with small employers, too. But it could be a threat to the Affordable Care Act, since self-insured companies are exempt from many of the health law’s requirements.
Expert: Hospitals’ ‘Humongous Monopoly’ Drives Prices High
The American Enterprise Institute didn’t plan its panel last week on hospital consolidation to聽coincide with Steve Brill’s much-talked-about Time magazine article on hospital prices. But the Friday session聽could have taken the piece, Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us, as its text. Participants mentioned it several times. The basic message, delivered at the pro-markets […]
Tenet Shows Hospitals Will Cut Prices For Exchange Patients — But Only So Much
How much will hospitals reduce聽prices in an effort to win what are expected to be聽millions of newly insured patients聽under the Affordable Care Act? A little, not a lot,聽if聽deals disclosed this week by Tenet Healthcare are any indication. The Dallas-based聽hospital chain told聽analysts that its first contracts to treat patients buying policies in the ACA’s online marketplaces […]
Health Technology’s ‘Essential Critic’ Warns Of Medical Mistakes
“We’re in the midst of a mania right now,” Dr. Scot Silverstein warns, speaking of the race to adopt electronic health records. “We know it causes harm, and we don’t even know the level of magnitude. That statement alone should be the basis for the greatest of caution and slowing down.”
As Hospital Challenges Rise, Their Bond Ratings Fall
Nonprofit hospitals don’t issue stock, so you can’t track their financial health by the ups and downs of share prices. But many sell聽bonds, and it’s fair to say that hospital bonds haven’t fared as well recently聽as the Dow Jones聽average. Last year set a record for hospital-bond downgrades, as debt levels rose and hospitals faced the […]
Not Too Early To Plan For Health Taxes, H&R Block Says
Even if you owe Affordable Care Act taxes, you probably won’t have to start paying them until next year.聽But聽H&R Block wants you to聽come in and talk about them now. “The Affordable Care Act means big changes this year when you file your taxes,”聽a chipper聽Block employee says聽in a new television聽ad. She says the company offers聽a free […]
Who Knew? Patients’ Share Of Health Spending Is Shrinking
Despite rapid growth in high-deductible health plans and rising employee contributions for insurance premiums, consumers’ share of national health spending continued to fall in 2011 — slipping to its lowest level in decades.
Under Tight Budgets, Public Health Spending Falls For First Time
Policymakers took heart from聽another year of聽relatively slow聽health-spending growth聽in 2011, documented by government statisticians聽and disclosed in a report Monday. But one aspect of moderating health expenditures — and the only category showing聽outright decline — could cost more than it saves. Hit by recession and tight budgets, spending on public health by federal, state and local governments […]
HHS Stops Short Of Calling For Safety Regulation Of Digital Records
The Obama administration Friday urged cooperation between software companies and caregivers to prevent patient harm caused by faulty electronic records. But it stopped short of calling for regulation or a federal requirement to report computer mistakes that pose a risk to patients. 鈥淲e are saying to the vendors: Step up and prove your ability to […]
The Gun Lobby’s Favorite Part Of The Health Law
Updated at 12:00 noon. Did you know the Affordable Care Act stands up for gun rights?聽 The “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights” section (page 19 in this PDF) says the health law’s wellness programs can’t require participants to give information about guns in the house. It also keeps the Department of Health and Human […]
Health Cost Bite To Family Budgets Sinks Deeper
Medical聽costs aren’t just breaking聽government budgets. The price of commercial health聽insurance聽has risen聽five times faster than family incomes since 2003 even as the聽financial security it offers has shrunk,聽says a new Commonwealth Fund report that underscores how medicine is聽consuming聽bigger and bigger parts of the private economy. “Wherever you live in the United States, health insurance is expensive, and […]
Patients Often Don’t Realize Preventive Care Is Free, Study Says
Researchers have known that members of聽high-deductible health plans, a rapidly growing type of coverage, seem to get聽less preventive care than people who pay lower out-of-pocket costs. But evidence for why was scanty.聽After all, under the 2010 Affordable Care Act many聽preventive screenings and treatments are covered with no out-of-pocket cost at all, even for high-deductible insurance. […]
Administration Releases New Health Law Rules For Insurers, Employers
The proposed regulations deal with several key issues, such as how plans structure their health benefits, the variations on premiums based on age and requirements for wellness programs.
Employer Health Costs Rise 4 Percent, Lowest Increase Since 1997
Furnishing new evidence of聽slower growth in health costs,聽consulting firm聽Mercer said Wednesday that employers spent 4.1 percent more on health benefits this year than in 2011. It was the smallest increase in 15 years. One reason, but聽probably not the only one:聽Employers shifted costs聽to workers through higher deductibles. Nearly 60聽percent of very large聽employers (more than 20,000 workers) […]
President’s Win Is Reprieve For ‘Obamacare’
The president’s victory cements the Affordable Care Act, expanding coverage to millions but leaving weighty questions about how to pay for it.
