As the open enrollment season for employer-sponsored health insurance gets underway this fall, experts say there’s one group that should definitely consider changing plans: people who have coverage through their former employer under the federal law known as COBRA. COBRA allows people who leave their jobs to keep their job-based group coverage for 18 months, ...
The White House is calling for a “more aggressive strategy” to reduce improper payments made by Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a letter made public to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Center for Public Integrity obtained the February letter — written by Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun ...
BOSTON — President Obama rallied union workers here Monday, unveiling a new executive order that will require federal contractors to offer employees up to seven days of paid sick leave, a move he sought to contrast with Republican economic policies. Obama announced the new directive, which the White House said could benefit more than 300,000 ...
On Tuesday, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS announced a new pilot program that will allow Medicare Advantage insurers to lower beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs as a way to encourage them to use high-quality services and potentially reduce overall costs in the long term, Modern Healthcare reports. The five-year program begins Jan. 1, ...
A new test within the Medicare Advantage program will lower out-of-pocket costs for chronically ill patients who seek high-value services and providers. Supporters hope the project will lead to changes in federal law and become a template for all health plans with sizable cost-sharing, which have become the standard offering from employers and insurers. But ...
California legislators passed a bill postponing a controversial plan that would have shifted tens of thousands of medically fragile children into Medi-Cal managed care plans. The bill, AB 187, passed both houses Thursday and will be sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. At issue was the fate of the California Children’s Services program, ...