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.
While the official deadline to enroll in health insurance plans for 2018 has passed, many Nevadans may qualify for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) that enables them to get coverage outside the normal Open Enrollment window, which closed on December 15, 2017. The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange (Exchange), Nevada’s state agency that helps people get affordable health coverage through the online marketplace, Nevada Health Link, is encouraging consumers to contact an enrollment professional to find out if their circumstances make them eligible to enroll at any time during the year.
Having wiped out the requirement for people to have health insurance, Republicans in Congress are taking aim at a new target: the mandate in the Affordable Care Act that employers offer coverage to employees.
Many business and employer trade associations—such as chambers of commerce or farm bureaus—have long offered health insurance to their members, which often include self-employed individuals, small businesses, and large businesses. These associations often claimed ERISA preemption from state insurance regulation, identifying themselves as employers or employee organizations under ERISA. A number of these associations defrauded their members and left millions in unpaid claims when they became insolvent.
Despite a projected $6.1 billion surplus, Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget calls for only a modest increase in heath care spending.
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.