Health insurance exchanges

Most of the 13 state-run public health insurance have collectively spent $4.8 billion in federal funding during their first 17 months of operations and face serious cash-flow problems.

A legislation proposal by 32 Republicans that would temporarily preserve federal premium subsidies for Healthcare.gov enrollees through August 2017 if the Supreme Court rules them unconstitutional in King v. Burwell would simply bandage a festering wound. That’s the conclusion of a recent American Academy of Actuaries analysis.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ internal controls did not effectively ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in financial assistance payments to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act during the first four months that the payments were made, according to a new government report.

New consumer tools are in the works for Healthcare.gov, as the federal government focuses on the exchange’s long-term success.

HHS Secretary Burwell says a Supreme Court ruling upholding the legality of subsidies on the federal exchange should shift the conversation about the ACA away from politics and toward improving access to affordable quality health care.

The Internal Revenue Service did not receive much of the information it needed early this tax season from health insurance exchanges to verify taxpayers’ qualifications to claim tax credits to subsidize buying health coverage, according to a new report.

A Supreme Court ruling in favor of the plaintiff in King v. Burwell would most affect Florida exchange subsides, although the impact would be far reaching, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds.

The countdown is on for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act and the legality of subsidies – with a decision that could have looming political implications leading into a heated primary election cycle.

Too many barriers currently exist for data to be shared between government agencies and within the medical field, a group of top public officials said Wednesday in Washington.

Despite nearly 9-in-10 enrollees through California’s state-run public exchange receiving a subsidy to help pay for their insurance, almost half say it is difficult to afford the monthly premium.

Nearly half of the 17 state-run public health insurance exchanges are suffering financial difficulties with the chief culprits being high expenses and tepid enrollment, which rose just 12% compared with compared to a 61% increase for Healthcare.gov.

The Affordable Care Act is here to stay until at least the next presidential inauguration, but there are some fixes that can be made to make the law work better today, the former head of the Massachusetts Health Connector, often called the template for the ACA, says.

After two years of health plan enrollments in the emerging online marketplace, it’s possible that public and private exchanges are finally converging.

Covered California’s Small Employer Health Options Program (SHOP) is growing, but a private-sector competitor to the state-run HIX is growing even faster.

What happens if the U.S. Supreme Court decides next month to eliminate federal subsidies for as many as 10 million consumers in 37 states and carriers are unable to cover claims based on rates they've already submitted to Healthcare.gov?

Highlights of the expected legislation include limiting tax exclusions on employer-provided health insurance to $12,000 for individual coverage and $30,000 for family coverage and dismantling Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act in favor of state grants.

The head of a Senate investigative subcommittee said he plans to look into problems with the health insurance marketplaces set up for the Affordable Care Act that forced many taxpayers to owe some of the tax credit money they had received for buying health insurance.

With year three open enrollment on the horizon, state-run health care exchanges are busy building out systems and processes while renegotiating contracts, all to improve the customer experience, data flow and costs.

Great technology tools may help a public exchange grow in the short term, but knowing the customer base and business well enough to make the right investments is critical to an exchange becoming sustainable and successful in the long run.

Healthcare.gov runs the risk of offering too many health plan choices and the opportunity exists to be able to make it easier for consumers to compare coverage, the website’s CEO, Kevin Counihan, said Monday.