Industry Updates
This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.
Two years ago, Aaron LeBato of Katy, Texas, bought an 11-month, short-term health plan for himself, his wife and three children after getting dropped from an Affordable Care Act plan due to a payment system error.
The Trump administration proposed new rules on Thursday to make it easier for small businesses and individuals to buy a type of health plan long favored by conservatives that could bypass some of the insurance protections built into the Affordable Care Act.
Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, employers in the small group health insurance market (generally, employers with 50 employees or less) have faced rising costs and limited coverage options. This is because, under the ACA, the small group and individual markets require plans to include essential health benefits and community rating.
Democrats are shifting to offense on health care, emboldened by successes in defending the Affordable Care Act. They say their ultimate goal is a government guarantee of affordable coverage for all.
Some states are facing a mid-January loss of funding for their Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) despite spending approved by Congress in late December that was expected to keep the program running for three months, federal health officials said Friday.
In recent years Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has created a financial fault line in American health care. Hospitals in states that enacted the expansion got a wave of newly insured patients, while those in states that rejected it were left with large numbers of uninsured individuals.
The Trump administration is preparing to release guidelines soon for requiring Medicaid recipients to work, according to sources familiar with the plans, a major shift in the 50-year-old program.
In a bid to expand access to affordable healthcare coverage, the Trump administration early Thursday rolled out proposed rules that would allow more small businesses and self-employed workers to band together to buy insurance.
The ObamaCare insurance markets will be relatively stable through 2018, analysts predicted Wednesday.
Hospital groups are vowing to push forward with a fight against the Trump administration over changes to a federal drug discount program following a setback last week.