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Maryland Sees Savings In Federal Health Law, For A While At Least

17 hours 36 min ago
Maryland could spend $829 million less than expected on health care between next year and 2020 because of the federal health overhaul law, according to an analysis by a state-convened committee, The Associated Press/Washington Post reports. "The savings, however, last only until the end of the decade, when the federal ...

Insurers, Young, Uninsured All Prepare For Different Changes Under Health Reform

Wed, 07/28/2010
Insurers, the young, the uninsured and lawmakers are just a few of the groups sorting out what the implementation of health reform means for them as details emerge on changes to the system. The New York Times: Insurers are fighting over the details of how much of the premiums ...

25 House Members Go To Bat For Agents On Future Health Care Role

Wed, 07/28/2010
Twenty-five members of the House have asked federal health regulators to ensure a role for licensed insurance agents in the web portal that will be used to aid consumers in comparing coverage options. The Department of Health and Human Services unveiled the web portal July 1 on a trial ...

People With Diabetes Guaranteed Health Insurance Claims Rights

Mon, 07/26/2010
The American Diabetes Association applauds the new White House rule which will help people with diabetes and other chronic diseases appeal the denials of health insurance claims. This rule comes under the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The rules will help simplify the denial process and ...

California Workers' comp insurers lost $1.5B in 2009 in underwriting

Thu, 07/08/2010
California’s workers’ compensation insurers lost more than $1.5 billion in their underwriting in 2009 due to a battered economy and lower workers’ compensation rates, according to a summary of recently released workers’ comp data. Workers’ comp insurance companies earned premium of $9.1 billion in 2009, a 16.5 percent decrease ...

Republicans Keep Up Health Overhaul Repeal Pressure, Critic Questions Commitment

Wed, 07/07/2010
Republicans continue their push to win support to repeal the health overhaul, even as parts of the legislation take effect, The Washington Times reports. "Rep. Steve King, [an] Iowa Republican, is circulating a petition that would force an up-or-down vote in the House of Representatives on repealing the ...

How Health Reform Will Impact Existing Plans

Mon, 06/28/2010
 "If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan." Throughout the long health care reform debate, that promise from President Obama was one of the few constants, made to reassure the bulk of Americans who already have insurance that the sweeping ...

Number Of Uninsured Grew By 3 Million In 2009

Wed, 06/23/2010
Help from the new health law may not come soon enough for many Americans, according to a report. The Chicago Tribune: "[T]he nation's health system is continuing to fray, raising the prospect that the country could experience a crisis before the law establishes a health care safety net in ...

Study Shows Medical Cost Shifts Onto Auto Insurers

Wed, 06/23/2010
President Obama’s health care  package will affect auto insurers—that much is certain, though no one is quite sure how much the new law will affect them, according to the Insurance Research Council (IRC). An IRC report this year found a link between low Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates and ...

Doctors limit new Medicare patients

Mon, 06/21/2010
WASHINGTON — The number of doctors refusing new Medicare patients because of low government payment rates is setting a new high, just six months before millions of Baby Boomers begin enrolling in the government health care program. Recent surveys by national and state medical societies have found more doctors ...

Feds To Issue Rules On 'Grandfathered' Health Plans And New Law

Wed, 06/16/2010
The Wall Street Journal reports that draft regulations "being developed by the Obama administration say more than half of employer health care plans may lose their grandfathered status and be required to comply with the health overhaul bill approved March 23. The guidelines are likely to touch off fresh ...

Cancer Survivors Skipping Care Because Of Money Worries

Tue, 06/15/2010
A new nationwide study in the US found that worry about costs is preventing many cancer survivors from getting the medical care they need: the researchers said the study raises concerns about the long-term health and wellbeing of cancer survivors. You can read about the study, led by Dr ...

Thomson Reuters Paper Charts Course to Eliminating $3.6 Trillion in Healthcare Waste in a Decade

Mon, 06/14/2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich./PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. healthcare industry can eliminate $3.6 trillion in healthcare waste over the next 10 years by addressing a series of operational inefficiencies, according to a white paper published today by Thomson Reuters. The report analyzes the country's leading public and private sector efforts to ...

Study Finds Few Health Reform Options Would Have Covered More People At Lower Cost Than New Law

Mon, 06/14/2010
The recently enacted federal health care reform law provides health insurance coverage to the largest number of Americans while keeping federal costs as low as reasonably possible, according to a new analysis from the RAND Corporation. The only alternatives that would have covered more Americans at a lower cost ...

Uninsured Americans Have 50 Percent Higher Odds Of Dying In Hospital From Heart Attack Or Stroke

Mon, 06/14/2010
An analysis of over 150,000 hospital discharges has revealed that there are significant insurance related differences in hospital mortality, length of stay, and costs among working-age Americans (age 18-64 years) hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, or pneumonia. These three conditions are among the leading causes of non-cancer in-patient ...

DOJ Warns Hospitals, Insurers: Mergers Will Be Scrutinized

Wed, 05/26/2010
The Obama administration warned the health care industry Monday that it "won't hesitate to block mergers that threaten to stifle competition," The Associated Press reports. "Justice Department antitrust chief Christine Varney told a lawyers' conference that vigorous enforcement of anti-monopoly laws is vital to the success ...

Study Finds Results Of Physician Cost Profiling Can Vary Widely

Wed, 05/19/2010
Profiles created for physicians based on the cost of the care they provide can vary widely depending upon the methods used by insurance companies to create the profiles, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Researchers say the findings add to the concern about the accuracy of physician cost ...

Study: ICU Patients Without Insurance Coverage More Likely To Die

Wed, 05/19/2010
 A study released Monday has found that intensive care patients who didn't have insurance were 21 percent more likely to die than those with insurance in Pennsylvania, Reuters reports. The University of Pennsylvania researchers' "study of intensive care units or ICUs in Pennsylvania adds to arguments that a lack ...

Staying Healthy Does Not Reduce Post-Retirement Health Care Costs

Fri, 05/14/2010
NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Healthy retirees actually face higher total health care costs over their remaining lifetime than the unhealthy, according to new research conducted by the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College and underwritten by Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU - News). “Does Staying Healthy Reduce Your Lifetime Health ...

Aflac Expands Group Insurance Products to Companies With 100 or More Employees

Fri, 05/14/2010
COLUMBUS, Ga. /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aflac, (NYSE:AFL - News) today announced that it now offers voluntary group benefits to companies with as few as 100 employees. The move allows Aflac, which recently acquired group benefits provider Continental American Insurance Company, now operating under the Aflac brand, to offer both individual and ...

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