Archive for the ‘Health Insurance News’ Category.

On February 9, 2012, the Obama administration announced that private health insurance plans will now have to produce a clearly worded summary for consumers of exactly what the policy covers along with concise deals on all costs like deductibles and copays. The summary must be no longer than six pages in length and contain no fine print.

Benefits Summary Akin to Nutritional Labels

Likening the Summary of Benefits and Coverage form to nutritional labels on food products, the administration said the provided information will not include data on premiums, which will be available elsewhere, but will otherwise be a valuable resource for insurance policy holders to derive the full benefit of the coverage for which they are paying. A common complaint is that health care policies are so confusing, and the policy language is so difficult, consumers often pay too much or do not get benefits to which they are entitled.

Medicare Chief Marilyn Tavenner, who is in charge of spearheading the implementation of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for the administration said, “These documents will allow consumers to compare plans on an apples-apples basis.”

“For too many Americans today, choosing a health plan means reading through a human resources book usually the size of a small phone book, and important information about eligibility and benefits is often buried in the fine print,” said Tavenner. “With these new rules, we’re making it easier for consumers to find the plan that is right for them.”

Summaries Will Be Available This Fall

The summaries will begin to appear with insurance policies offered this fall during the open enrollment period since the provision in the health care law direction their including becomes effective on September 23. The requirement applies to all private insurance including individually purchased employer coverage. The change will affect approximately 150 million Americans.

The complete overhaul of the health care system is a divisive one with Americans, especially in the 2012 election year. The proposed requirement, for instance, for all citizens to carry health insurance by 2014 is greatly disliked and its constitutionality will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in March. Conversely, this provision, for simplified benefits explanations, is viewed favorably by 84% of consumers surveyed.

Forms will Facilitate Comparison Shopping

In particular the summaries should be useful to consumers shopping for new coverage since they will have a standardized means of side-by-side comparison. Although many employers currently give out these kinds of documents when workers join health plans, the government versions will include “coverage examples.” These sections will provide cost estimate scenarios for a common condition, for instance diabetes, in a typical individual. In the future, as many as six of these examples may be included in the summary forms.

Both insurers and employers have complained that generating this paper summaries will add substantially to their costs. The administration will allow for compliance with an online version, but consumers must be given instructions on how to receive a paper copy and those requests must be promptly fulfilled.

A recent study conducted at the University of Memphis looked at the effect of federal health care reform on residents of the state. Approximately 558,044 Tennesseans age 65 and under will benefit from new health care insurance coverage as a consequence of the federal reform measures.

These individuals will either qualify to buy insurance through the state-run health care exchange, will remain on their parents’ coverage through age 26, or will be covered by TennCare (the state’s Medicaid program.)

The effect of this increased level of insurance cover will cut the number of uninsured state residents by 50 percent, and will reduce state debt for uncompensated medical care by approximately $2.3 billion.
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On Friday, January 20, 2012, the Obama administration announced that it would not expand exemptions for religious institutions under the guidelines of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that require health insurance benefits to cover contraceptives.

In its statement, however, the Department of Health and Human Services did grant an extra year for compliance to become mandatory for nonprofit employers, pushing their deadline from August 1 of this year to August 1, 2013.
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As the political debate surrounding the 2012 presidential elections begins to heat up, various measurements are being applied to President Obama’s health care reform package. An analysis by the Associated Press now shows that three out of four Americans who have no health insurance live in states that do not know how they will implement the required provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Currently, only 13 states have plans in place to fully enact health care reform, with 17 making “headway” and 20 lagging seriously behind. Of those, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Ohio have the most work to do. The non-partisan Urban Institute estimates that 7 million people in those states need health insurance. When that happens, total charity care will be reduced by $10.7 billion.

Some states with Republican governments are waiting for the Supreme Court ruling this spring on the constitutionality of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act requiring all citizens to carry health insurance by 2014. The court is set to hear arguments in March. The decision will directly affect whether or not states should proceed with the implementation of health insurance exchanges.

The Obama administration insists that the different rates at which the states are moving forward does not create disparities in America’s uninsured population. Health care reform, however, is set to be one of the hottest points of debate in the coming presidential election and on this, and other aspects of its implementation, detractors say the president’s supporters are on the defensive.

With the issue of health care reform poised to once-again move front and center in the national political debate thanks to both the 2012 presidential election and the scheduled Supreme Court review of the Affordable Care Act in March, some nasty facts about the state of health care in the U.S. are once again in the spotlight. Increasingly Americans are opting to go abroad for medical procedures to combat the outrageous price of care in their own country and because medical error is a rising problem in America.

Medical Error a Serious Cause for Concern

In 2006, the Institute of Medicine determined that 1.5 million Americans are harmed each year by medication errors alone. Corollary studies place the value of the additional medical care required by such errors at $887 million in 2000, a figure that has undoubtedly climbed right along with the cost of health care. Estimates vary widely, but it is likely that 100,000 or more patients die each year as a result of medical error, with more than a million injured in non-drug related mistakes including surgical error.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is set to review the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in March 2012, the legislative health care reform package many opponents refer to as “Obamacare.” From the 2008 election forward, President Barak Obama’s efforts to address rocketing medical and insurance costs have been the subject of contentious public debate. Now, with the law’s constitutionality set to be debated in the nation’s highest court just three months into the coming presidential election season, health care will be at the forefront of an even more politically explosive climate.

Opponents Target Mandatory Health Insurance Requirement

Conservatives are pulling out all stops to regain the White House in 2012. The provision of the health care law on which they focus much of their ire, is the requirement for all Americans to carry health insurance by 2014. By its design, the law bases the constitutionality of the coverage stipulation on the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. That portion of the document reads, in part:

“The Congress shall have power … to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states and with the Indian tribes.”

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act’s provision mandating personal medical insurance contend that while Congress has both the power and the responsibility to regulate interstate commerce, the Constitution does not give it the authority to compel citizens in a free marketplace to buy a particular product like insurance coverage.
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As the only nation in the world without universal health care, the United States is working to come up with a solution to keep its citizens healthier. Many Americans go without health insurance because they cannot afford it, and their illnesses and injuries go untreated as a result. However, since the Health Care Reform Act remains so controversial, it has proved to be near impossible to find a solution that is both viable and acceptable to everyone.

People Who are for Health Care Reform

People who support the Health Care Reform bill believe that health care should be made more affordable, especially for people living in low-income households, and those who make more money should be taxed to make up for it.  Being taxed more money is acceptable to them, because of the positive changes that will come from it, and believe that everyone should be required to have health insurance so no one goes without.
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Going into the 2012 election season many critics of President Barack Obama are lashing out at the Chief Executive’s recent claim that he has achieved 60 percent of his campaign promises. According to a report by ABC News, during a private fundraising event in Los Angeles on October 24, 2011, the president said, “I keep a checklist in my desk, and I kind of see, all right, I made a bunch of these promises during the campaign . . . we’ve got about 60 percent done in three years.” A recent study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation would indicate, however, that at least in the area of health care reform, the presidential math is lacking.
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While the purpose of the Health Care Reform Act is to make health insurance more affordable for everyone, there are certain downsides that will affect many Americans under this new legislature. Changes will be made slowly as each stage of the law goes into effect, and while some are very subtle, some could have a dramatic affect on you and your family. Be aware of what these disadvantages are and how they could affect you.

Negative Affects on Older Citizens

The Health Care Reform Act caters  more toward younger people who may have healthier lifestyles than those who are old and suffer from many illnesses. These younger people will be able to receive the benefits of the new health care laws for much longer than those who are old and unhealthy. Additionally, insurance companies will no longer be able to charge lower prices for healthier habits, therefore affecting older, sicker citizens negatively.
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The major aim of the Health Reform Act is to make health insurance more widely available, but especially to make it more available to the poor. With new regulations on rates and health care and developments with new maximums and tax credits, health insurance is becoming more affordable. Through the Health Reform Act, many changes are being implemented to bring a higher quality of health insurance to the poor.

Insurance Will Become More Affordable

With the help of the Health Reform Act, people who have incomes at 400 percent for the federal poverty level will be able to receive credits that will limit the percent of their income used to pay for insurance. People who receive these subsidies will not have to pay any more than 12 percent of their income, even if their insurance is through their employers, with the poorest percentage paying no more than 1.5 percent of their income.
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