insurance

Wade Morgen

5 Things Experts Say You Should Know About Obamacare Open Enrollment

If anything is true of 2017, it is this: Confusion reigns. And nowhere do we see that more than in healthcare, where failed repeal attempts, executive orders, sudden, out-of-the-blue policy changes, and general unpredictable chaos have dominated the news.

But the fact remains that Americans still need access to medical care, and for those who don’t have insurance through their employer or the government, the 2018 Open Enrollment period for individual insurance plans officially begins on Nov. 1. So what are the things everyone should know, but which may have been overlooked amid the maelstrom? [More]

afagen

CVS Reportedly Looking To Buy Aetna Insurance For $66 Billion

Earlier this year, health insurance giant Aetna was left broken-hearted when its $37 billion merger with Humana fell through because federal antitrust regulators apparently hate to see two mammoth insurers so in love with each other. But in this autumn season, there’s a rare bloom of corporate romance peeking out, as Aetna has reportedly found itself a suitor in the form of CVS Health. [More]

Joe Gratz

Judge Won’t Block Trump’s Plan To Halt Billions In Cost-Sharing Payments To Health Insurers

The federal judge overseeing a lawsuit filed by more than a dozen states to stop President Trump’s plan to cut off billions of dollars in payments to health insurance providers has decided to not issue a preliminary injunction preventing the White House from halting the subsidies. [More]

Mike Silva

Senators Propose Bipartisan Compromise To Restore Insurance Subsidies

President Trump recently announced that he was pulling the plug on $7 billion a year in federal cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies selling individual policies to lower-income Americans, but today a pair of influential senators announced a bipartisan compromise that, if approved, would restore those payments for two years, while also giving states more flexibility with rules under the current law. [More]

States Sue Trump Administration For Halting $7 Billion In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers

States Sue Trump Administration For Halting $7 Billion In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers

With a one-paragraph statement released late in the evening on Thursday, President Trump announced he was pulling the plug on $7 billion a year in payments from the federal government to insurance companies who sell individual policies through the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act. Today, at least five states say they are suing to keep these subsidies in place. [More]

Trump Cuts Off Billions Of Dollars In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers, Putting Obamacare Marketplaces At Risk

Trump Cuts Off Billions Of Dollars In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers, Putting Obamacare Marketplaces At Risk

Only hours after signing an executive order that undermines several key aspects of the current health care law, President Trump has made good on his repeated threat to pull the plug on billions of dollars in subsidies provided by the federal government to insurers in the individual plan market. [More]

Nate Grigg

California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement

Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [More]

Nate Grigg

Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]

4 Things The Trump Administration Has Done To Ensure Obamacare Enrollment Is More Difficult This Year

4 Things The Trump Administration Has Done To Ensure Obamacare Enrollment Is More Difficult This Year

Tom Price failed to get the Affordable Care Act repealed and replaced during his brief tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary, but the surgeon-turned-congressman did manage to do some real damage to the annual ACA enrollment process before he left — making sure people have less time to sign up, less help getting through the process, and fewer reminders that the process has gotten more difficult this year. [More]

GOP Leadership Says There Will Be No Senate Vote On Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill

GOP Leadership Says There Will Be No Senate Vote On Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill

Facing implacable opposition and a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a bill to repeal and replace large chunks of the Affordable Care Act, the Republican leadership in the Senate has decided not to vote on a measure that seemed destined to come up short of passage. [More]

Senate May Vote On Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill Without Knowing How Many People It Will Affect

Senate May Vote On Latest Obamacare Repeal Bill Without Knowing How Many People It Will Affect

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have only a short window of time to vote on the latest Republican legislation to gut and replace the Affordable Care Act, and if the GOP is going to push forward with a vote on this bill they will likely have to do so without having an idea of how many Americans will be affected, or what impact it might have on insurance rates. [More]

Many Insurance Plans Cover Opioid Painkillers But Restrict Access To Less-Addictive Drugs

Many Insurance Plans Cover Opioid Painkillers But Restrict Access To Less-Addictive Drugs

With an opioid addiction epidemic ravaging the nation, physicians are being asked to consider non-opioid treatments or opioids that are less addictive than the widely abused drugs on the market. But there’s a big problem with that suggestion: Many insurance companies won’t cover, or heavily restrict access to, a number of less-addictive painkillers. [More]

NOAA

Shortage Of Insurance Adjusters May Delay Claims For Hurricane Irma Victims

If your home sustained damage from Hurricane Irma, you might have to wait just to get the insurance company to look at your property to see what repairs will and won’t be covered. Why? Because there aren’t enough claims adjusters to go around right now. [More]

FEMA

4 Things To Look Out For When Returning Home After A Hurricane

As residents in Texas head back to their homes following Hurricane Harvey and those in Florida prepare for Irma to make landfall, federal safety regulators are warning them about potential dangers lurking in their storm-ravaged homes. [More]

zeorb

Federal Disaster Loans Could Be Difficult To Obtain After Harvey

Around 80% of homeowners in areas devastated by flooding from Hurricane Harvey don’t have insurance policies that will cover much of the damage done to their properties. Federal disaster loans offer victims one pathway toward recovery, but obtaining that financing could be a difficult, drawn-out endeavor. [More]

Paul McCarthy

Insurance Won’t Cover Damage To 80% Of Homes Flooded By Hurricane Harvey

When the flood waters left behind by Hurricane Harvey eventually recede, they will leave behind billions of dollars in property damage. However, a large majority of homeowners will likely have to spend their own money to make their homes livable again. [More]

Freaktography

More Than 1-In-4 Nursing Home Abuse Cases May Go Unreported To Police

Just as the Trump administration is attempting to prevent nursing home residents or their families from ever being able to sue longterm care facilities for neglect or fraud, a federal audit claims that an alarming percentage of physical and sexual abuse cases at nursing homes may be going unreported to law enforcement. [More]

Xavier J. Peg

Health Insurers Looking To Charge Higher Individual Premiums In 2018. Which Americans Will Be Hit Hardest?

Health insurance companies that sell individual coverage plans through state exchanges are currently in the process of setting the rates they will charge customers for 2018. And the uncertainty over the state of America’s health care laws and President Trump’s repeated threats to summarily cut off billions of dollars in federal subsidies to insurers has many of these companies asking for significant increases. But not everyone would have to pay those higher prices, and some could actually end up with slightly lower premiums than they pay now. [More]