Healthcare reform

An advisory group urged U.S. officials to formulate a set of essential health benefits under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that is in line with cost of insurance in a typical small employer plan.

President Obama's sweeping health care overhaul will top the agenda in the new Supreme Court term that opened on Monday and could be the most momentous in decades.

After several years of relatively modest premium increases, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage increased to $15,073 this year, up 9% from last year. On average, workers pay $4,129 and employers pay $10,944 toward those annual premiums.

Let me begin with a two-part confession: First, I do not claim to be a health reform expert. I have not read through the massive regulation and rely heavily on the interpretation of other, smarter people. Second, I am fairly apolitical. I don't find politics at the local, national and state levels particularly engaging.

A key recommendation for medical coverage standards under president Barack Obama's health care overhaul will be released on October 7, according to the organization preparing the report.

The Obama administration on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to back the centerpiece of Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare overhaul —the requirement that all Americans have health insurance.

The Department of Health and Human Services has extended public comment on two proposed rules published on July 15 to establish state insurance exchanges and implement standards related to reinsurance and risk adjustment.

Republican Representative Paul Ryan, an outspoken opponent of President Barack Obama's health care reform, proposed a plan on Tuesday that could effectively dismantle the way most Americans get health insurance by reducing incentives to join employer-sponsored plans.

The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a total of $109 million in grants to 28 states and the District of Columbia to increase resources for conducting health insurance premium rate reviews.

New data reflect an increase in the number of uninsured Americans, prompting some benefit industry representatives to question the impact of federal health care reform.

If you’re a customer of WellPoint, Inc., your employees’ records soon will come under the guidance of a computer. Granted, a very smart computer, but a computer nonetheless.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are asking for public input on a proposed health care reform rule that would make it easier for employers to determine whether the health insurance coverage they offer is considered “affordable” for employees.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued proposed regulations under the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The proposed regulations address the changes to the accounting requirement under the HIPAA privacy rule, pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. The regulations also create a new requirement that covered entities - health plans, health care clearinghouses and health care providers - provide an access report to individuals upon request.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania says the insurance-buying mandate in President Obama's health care overhaul in unconstitutional, the latest ruling over an issue likely to be taken up by the Supreme Court.

A U.S. appeals court handed President Barack Obama a victory for his signature health care law on Thursday, ruling against challenges by the state of Virginia and others seeking to invalidate the law as unconstitutional.

South Carolina does not want any more federal money to set up an insurance exchange, the state's health regulator said on Thursday, citing fears about the strings attached to the funds.

Starting Sept. 1, health insurance rates for the individual and small group markets will face stricter scrutiny to determine whether they are reasonable under new rules required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will review rates in nine states that lack the authority to adequately do so. The remaining 41 states will conduct their own reviews.

South Carolina does not want any more federal money to set up an insurance exchange, the state's health regulator said on Thursday, citing fears about the strings attached to the funds.

I always have had an ear for conspiracy theories. I still watch Oliver Stone’s “JFK” almost religiously and freeze frame during the shooting incidence. But when it comes to the health care exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even I cannot start to consider a deep-seated conspiracy. The more I look at it, the more obvious the answer becomes: It's simple economics, that greatest leveler of them all.

The clock is ticking. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges are targeted to come online in 2014, which means open enrollment must begin in the fall of 2013. Every state is determining its approach, and everyone in the industry is strategizing on how to tap into a projected market of 25 million enrollees by 2016. The states will take different approaches, but the common denominator is technology. This month we'll look at how technology will be utilized in exchanges and identify other corresponding services that will be necessary to make the exchanges a success.