Healthcare plans

People from Maryland will have 13 insurance companies to choose from on their health insurance exchange, state officials announced this morning. The insurance options for California residents on the state’s exchange were also announced late last week amid reports that higher premiums may await those individuals.

Aflac Inc., the largest seller of supplemental health insurance, says President Paul Amos II will have expanded duties for Japan operations and investments as the company prepares for the eventual departure of his father, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Amos, 61.

Willis North America announces the creation of its own private exchange and InsureXSolutions adds ancillary benefits to its existing product list.

Meanwhile, doctors are protesting new guidance for the diagnosis of some mental disorders, including autism, contained in the revised edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Sixty-nine percent of employers tells the IFEBP that they definitely plan to provide employer-sponsored health care when exchanges begin in 2014; in 2012, only 46% of companies were willing to commit to that.

A 65-year-old couple exiting the workforce in 2013 is estimated to need $220,000 to cover health care costs throughout their retirement, an 8% decrease from last year’s $240,000.

With 15 U.S. states opting out of President Barack Obama’s Medicaid expansion, hospitals that treat poor and uninsured patients are asking the government to delay $64 billion in planned funding cuts.

Recent data released by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers looks at how employers were impacted by the health law that took effect in Massachusetts seven years ago. While it’s no true indicator of what will happen in the future, it could nod to some overall trends.

Three of WellPoint Inc.’s 11 board members have stepped down, citing personal reasons for their decision to depart about six weeks after a new chief executive officer took over at the second-largest U.S. health insurer.

On average, employees with both 401(k)s and health savings accounts tend to save more of their annual salaries (8.5% average annual deferral rate) in their DC accounts than employees with just a DC plan (8.1%).

The data from more than 3,000 hospitals that take Medicare, the government’s health program for the elderly, showed that in some cases costs can drastically vary for hip replacements, bone fractures and treatments for kidney failure. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it released the data for the first time to make the overall health system “more affordable and accountable.”

Ninety percent of Americans lack confidence that they have enough savings to cover emergencies and the long-term implications of serious illnesses, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s or heart disease, reports the National Institute for Wellness Solutions.

Health Management was thrown into the spotlight in December when the CBS Corp. television program “60 Minutes” aired a report criticizing the company’s emergency room practices. The company at the time called the report inaccurate.

People with health insurance saw increases in their medical costs slow from 2009 to 2011, signaling potential structural changes in the industry that could cut health care inflation and save the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two studies.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is taking a firm stand on the discussion about how the navigators' role varies from brokers and agents - they're different. After testifying before an April hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, part of CMS, told EBA that navigators will be supplying objective information, while brokers will continue in their role of advising. "They are not making recommendations, they're not selling," Cohen said about navigators.

David Goldhill, CEO of the game show network takes on U.S. health care system spurred by death of his father.

The federal government is doing everything it can to ensure public health insurance exchanges are ready to begin enrollment on October 1. However, the head of the agency that is building the marketplace warned it will be a close call to the finish and everyone must work together to ensure that happens.

StayWell Health Management and Towers Watson study takes multi-year look to understand the potential payoff of prevention and risk education.

Although the Supreme Court only recently took up the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, the issue has been around since the early 2000s, when large employers began to voluntarily offer health coverage to same-sex domestic partners.

Thirty-six states received either a D or an F in a report card, issued by two nonprofit organizations, measuring the strength of health care price transparency laws.