Healthcare reform

Rules for the six state insurance exchanges that won conditional approval from the Obama administration Dec. 10 are split evenly between those with strict criteria for companies that want to participate and states that have opened their exchanges to all comers, a scenario supported by the insurance industry. A high bar for inclusion could limit the number of insurers offering health plans in some states.

Many states led by Republican governors have already said they won’t build their own insurance exchanges. That puts the onus on the Obama administration.

Of the six states that have won HHS approval to run their health care exchanges, some, like Maryland, have opened theirs to all comers, while others, such as Connecticut, plan strict criteria. Insurers will have to twist and contort to play by the irregular rules.

Health insurance premiums may double for some small businesses and individual buyers in the U.S. when the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions start in 2014, Aetna’s chief executive officer said.

The Department of Health and Human Services says six states – all led by Democrats – have earned conditional approval to begin enrolling members in their health-insurance exchanges.

Before the election last month, 59% of employers surveyed were in “wait and see” mode regarding post-2014 health care plans. Now, 84% are very likely to or definitely will offer health insurance after state exchanges open.

With health reform moving full steam ahead, most employers will continue to offer employee coverage, but will make alterations to how they provide it, said a speaker at the Workplace Benefits Transitions conference Tuesday.

Health care reform means that many patients can no longer be denied health insurance because of preexisting conditions. But there’s a big catch: Coverage for many Americans without insurance will come at a potentially unaffordable cost.

Benefits Barometer is a comprehensive and convenient benchmarking guide to everything from average annual premiums for health coverage to the number of investment options in 401(k) plans.

Less than one week after Obama won a second term in office, dozens of employers already were setting about the business of offsetting the impending business costs of implementing health care reform or other Obama policies they view as unfriendly to their industry.

Aetna and other insurers that initially fought President Obama’s health care overhaul are reversing course and supporting the effort by funding a group planning to spend $100 million to help the uninsured get coverage.

As PPACA is implemented, the number of IT, software and service jobs created could easily boom into the hundreds of thousands.

The Supreme Court gave a university founded by Jerry Falwell a new chance to argue in a lower court that President Obama’s health care law doesn’t give religious objectors a broad enough exemption.

Provisions associated with PPACA increase the amount an employer can offer for tobacco cessation from 20% of the total cost of health coverage to 50%.

HHS outlines various conditions and services insurers must cover, and rules to let companies expand employee wellness programs in new proposed regulations of the ACA posted Tuesday.

The health care reform law imposes billions of taxes and fees on insurers and companies that provide the highest level of overage, and Stop the HIT, a new coalition of trade groups, will be petitioning to lessen the levy.

Equity Healthcare CEO Robert Galvin last week told the National Business Coalition on Health that Congress, even PPACA supporters, want employer-sponsored insurance in the game for the long haul.

States received an extra month from the Obama administration to decide whether to build online marketplaces for medical insurance after Republican governors pressed their resistant to the president’s health care law.

Several Republican leaders have either confirmed that they’ll be letting the federal government handle their states’ health care exchanges, or have yet to say, and the deadline is Friday.

In a letter to the nation’s governors, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius eased a tight deadline for the states to declare whether and how they will build health insurance exchanges mandated and funded under the Affordable Care Act.