Month: September 2015
Hillary Rodham Clinton is outlining a sweeping plan to hold down the rising cost of prescription drugs and target drug companies that flood the airwaves with ads. The Democratic presidential candidate says at a forum in Iowa that she wants to protect consumers while promoting innovation and putting an end to profiteering in the pharmaceutical ...
Prime Healthcare, which backed out of its proposed bid to buy six Daughters of Charity Health System hospitals, including two in the Southland, after disagreeing with conditions imposed on the sale sued the state’s attorney general Monday for allegedly abusing her constitutional powers. In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Prime Healthcare ...
Menlo Park, Calif. – Single and family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 4 percent this year, continuing a decade-long period of moderate growth, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) 2015 Employer Health Benefits Surveyreleased today. Since 2005, premiums have grown an average of 5 percent each year, compared ...
The Obama administration is injecting another half-billion dollars into community health centers across the country, which are facing growing demands under ObamaCare. The government-backed health centers, which have expanded massively under the Affordable Care Act, have been put into a new political context this summer as Republicans in Congress try to defund Planned Parenthood. Republicans ...
Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans is up by 7.3% from this time last year, and more beneficiaries are expected to sign up when the program’s annual open enrollment period begins next month,Modern Healthcare reports. CMS data show that about 17.7 million people are enrolled in an MA plan, up from nearly 16.5 million individuals at ...
On Monday, CMS announced that the average monthly premium for Medicare Advantage plans in 2016 will drop by about 31 cents,Modern Healthcare reports (Herman, Modern Healthcare, 9/21). According to CMS, average MA premiums will likely decrease from an average of $32.91 this year to $32.60 next year (Young, CQ HealthBeat, 9/21). MA premiums are expected ...
The Obama administration moved Monday to appeal a court decision this month that allows the House to pursue a lawsuit over the 2010 health care overhaul and the appropriations process. Government attorneys took a procedural step to have a federal appeals court review the decision by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court ...
Members of Congress from both parties, as well as some employers, insurers and state insurance commissioners, are calling for changes in the Affordable Care Act to prevent premium increases that are expected to affect workers at many small and midsize companies next year. Lawmakers see the potential for a rare bipartisan agreement on the issue, ...
In a significant yardstick of how health care coverage has blanketed the country under the Affordable Care Act, California ranked among states recording the biggest drop – 4.7 percent – in uninsured residents from 2013 to 2014, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday. The new data confirm California has seen “one of the ...
On Tuesday, CMS said it will enforce the Affordable Care Act’s cap on annual out-of-pocket health care spending for individuals, regardless of whether consumers have an individual or family health plan, Modern Healthcare reports. Background In February, CMS released a wide-ranging final rule for the health insurance exchanges that finalized several consumer and insurer protections. ...