Washington Report Articles
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reversed its decision to cut Medicare Advantage payments to insurers by 2.2 percent in 2014 and instead agreed to give them a 3.3 percent increase.
With only 17 states and Washington, D.C., currently signed up to run their own health insurance exchanges beginning in October, the majority of states will participate in federal government-run partnerships with the help of a grant program.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA),the health insurance sales tax and age-rating restrictions will increase premiums for many, according to a report by Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm.
As part of the fiscal cliff legislation enacted prior to the end of 2012, $10.5 billion in Medicare overpayments to hospitals will be recovered over the next few years.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has approved $1.5 billion in new Exchange Establishment Grants to ensure states have the required resources to build marketplaces that meet the needs of residents.
The U.S. Department of Health andHuman Services has relaunched its website to attract the 43 million uninsuredAmericans needed to make the healthcare law work when open enrollment in state and federal healthcare exchanges begins in October 2013.
Under the Affordable Care Act’s “10essential health benefits,” individual and small group health plans sold under state-based health insurance exchanges and outside them on the private market will be required to cover pediatric dental services beginning in 2014.
Insurance companies and employers are now required to provide consumers in the private health insurance market with tools to help improve and clarify the insurance policy selection process.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a new program to help care for mental and behavioral illnesses.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs have developed a demonstration of the standards to permit sensitive health information to be shared responsibly among providers using electronic health records, while abiding by confidentiality rules and guidelines.
The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee has approved H.R. 1206, the Access to Professional Health Insurance Advisors Act, with a 26-14 vote.
Beginning in 2014, nearly six million U.S. citizens are expected to purchase health insurance or face an average tax penalty of $1,200, following a Supreme Court 5-4 decision this past summer that upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.