Aetna CEO Answers Burwell’s Call, Vows Support For Exchanges Amid Losses
But Mark Bertolini wants the country’s marketplaces to better serve young people, who define
healthy as “looking good in their underwear.â€
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But Mark Bertolini wants the country’s marketplaces to better serve young people, who define
healthy as “looking good in their underwear.â€
Feds propose taking a page out of Covered California’s book and moving to a simplified health insurance marketplace.
Some experts say the 86 percent increase in psychiatric hospitalizations since 2007 means preventive care is seriously lacking; others believe reduced stigma has led more kids to accept help.
Covered California’s Executive Director Peter Lee said the measure is needed to keep insurers from slicing commissions to avoid enrolling the sickest patients.
Proponents hail the change in policy but say it doesn’t go far enough because federal dollars cannot be used to buy syringes.
The federal health law is putting farmers in a tough spot. Many contractors supplying workers have to offer health coverage. Insurance is costly, and contractors worry about immigration fallout.
Anthem sign-ups are trailing, and UnitedHealth and newcomer Oscar are playing a minor role in coverage thus far, according to unofficial reports.
Researchers say tests could be faster, cheaper, more accurate.
Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, says the giant insurer’s complaints about ACA exchanges are “total spin and unanchored in reality.â€
Congress left it to states to determine whether private Medigap plans are sold to the more than 9 million disabled people younger than 65 who qualify for Medicare. The result: rules vary across the country.
California cities increasingly are billing patients for paramedic services that they say were not covered by insurers. One 85-year-old woman took on city hall.
Health law requirements that small employers offer insurance to full-time workers prompted some fast-food restaurants to convert more employees to part time. Now owners are rethinking that approach.
A better way to communicate with patients and track their progress?
Faced with the possibility of a tax penalty, many people scrambled to enroll, and the exchange extended the deadline for those who officially started the process as of Jan. 31. Â
Columnist Emily Bazar answers a consumer's question: "You could get one of these plans, pay the uninsured tax penalty and still pay less."
Forty-nine states now take Medicaid applications by phone and 49 also accept online applications, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation.
About 300,000 Hispanic children gained insurance in 2014 from 2013, dropping the number of uninsured to 1.7 million, researchers said, and two-thirds of 1.7 million uninsured Hispanic kids live in five states.
KHN’s consumer columnist answers questions about how people can handle moving between the government health plan for low-income residents and the private plans offered on the federal health law’s exchanges.
The website Infórmate offers resources and information to help dispel cultural myths that may keep Latinos from becoming live kidney donors.
The proposed compromise would avert $1 billion in budget cuts but still must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the legislature.
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