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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.

California Gives No-Bid Health Pacts

California's health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency's executive director.

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Health Insurers Spending Millions to Beat Pro-Consumer Ballot Measures

The latest campaign spending figures on California's two big healthcare ballot initiatives are just in, courtesy of the watchdog group MapLight, and they're mind-boggling.

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HHS is Hiding Health Insurance Rate Hikes, Former Official Charges

The Department of Health and Human Services is improperly hiding health insurers' requested rate increases from the public -- in violation of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new lawsuit from a former administration health official.

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Obamacare Enrollment: Second Year An Even Tougher Challenge

As states gear up for round two of Obamacare enrollment next month, they have their sights set on people like Miles Alva.

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Obamacare Signups Return With More Plans But Concerns About Software, Cost, Care Options

The ObamaCare exchanges that opened for business last fall to disastrous consequence are expected to be largely improved with better technology and more insurance plans when they re-open next month, but critics are still raising concerns about consumer costs and choices.

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Covered California Users Grateful but Keenly Aware of Shortcomings

Alain Datcher knows there's a sad truth about the newly minted Medi-Cal card he carries in his wallet. It opens a few doors, but only takes him so far.

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Regulators Clear Covered California Rates, Hold Off On Narrow Networks

California regulators won't challenge the next round of health insurance rate increases in the state exchange, but insurers' narrow networks of doctors and hospitals are drawing tougher scrutiny.

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U.S. Cannot Subsidize Health Plans in States With No Marketplace, a Judge Rules

A federal district judge in Oklahoma dealt a blow to the Affordable Care Act on Tuesday, ruling that the federal government could not subsidize health insurance in three dozen states that refused to establish their own marketplaces. This appears to increase the likelihood that the Supreme Court will ultimately resolve the issue.

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Bosses Face Affordable Care Act Deadline

The clock is ticking for Tommy Cain and thousands of other U.S. employers facing deadlines to make changes to the health insurance they offer their employees under the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Cain has already met one of the law's key requirements: offer health insurance to at least 70% of full-time staffers by 2015, or face penalties.

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Hundreds of Thousands Face Health Law Subsidy

Lance Shnider is confident Obamacare regulators knew exactly what they were doing when they created an online calculator that gives a green light to new employer coverage without hospital benefits. “There’s not a glitch in this system,” said Shnider, president of Voluntary Benefits Agency, an Ohio firm working with some 100 employers to implement such plans. “This is the way the calculator was designed.”

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