Health Care Quality in Health Insurance Exchanges: CMS Request for...
To help determine the value of health care provided by qualified health plans (QHPs) that will contract with Health Insurance Exchanges, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking...
View ArticleBasic Health Plans: Lessons on Risk Selection from Massachusetts CommCare
Two thirds of people who become newly insured on state health insurance exchanges (HIX) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will not have had coverage. More than one third of them will have had no...
View ArticleComplexity of Health Insurance Exchange Implementation
Implementation of a Health Insurance Exchange (HIX) is a colossal task, presenting an array of complex challenges for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and states. Regardless of...
View ArticleEssential Health Benefits: Most State Benchmark Plan Options Cover Similar...
Essential health benefits (EHB) will play a fundamental role in shaping health plans after 2014. Part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), EHBs define a baseline of 10 types of services those plans must...
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Health Insurance Exchanges: CMS Guidance for State Partnership Exchanges
State Partnership Exchanges are a hybrid model for operation of a Health Insurance Exchange (HIX) under the Affordable Care Act. In this model, responsibility for Exchange functions is shared between...
View Article10 Considerations for Health Insurers Deciding on Health Insurance Exchange...
A year from now, in January 2014, new health insurance exchanges (HIX) will offer coverage to individuals and small-business employees. Part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the exchanges present vast...
View ArticlePreventive Care Use in Urban and Rural Areas
Prevention and wellness care are widely recognized as means to reduce health costs and spending, while also improving outcomes for patients. Preventive services typically include screenings for...
View ArticleHealth Coverage Tax Credit: Effect of ACA on HCTC Enrollees
The Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) program is tiny compared to better-known public health coverage programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. Only about 500,000 Americans in 2010 were eligible...
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Health Insurance Exchange Implementation: Timeline and CMS Progress Report
In recent testimony to the Senate Finance Committee, Gary Cohen of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave an update of progress on Health Insurance Exchanges (HIX) implementation,...
View ArticleHealth Costs and ACA Uncertainty Affecting Employment, Business Spending:...
The Federal Reserve Beige Book is the central bank’s version of a routine check-up from a physician. Published eight times each year, the Beige Book compiles reports about how the economy is doing from...
View Article22 Proven Patient Safety Strategies
Poor quality of care and preventable medical errors are a major cause of high costs and patient suffering. The opportunities for improvement are considerable. In addition, as states and health plans...
View ArticleStrategic Approach to Qualified Health Plans in Health Insurance Exchanges:...
The qualified health plan contracting process in Health Insurance Exchanges present many opportunities and challenges for states and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Success in...
View ArticleImpact of ACA on Health Premiums and Enrollment: Society of Actuaries...
Love it or hate it, the Affordable Care Act is unprecedented in size, scope, complexity, and uncertainty. To project its impact, numerous policy, economic, competitive, and behavioral factors must be...
View ArticleImpact of ACA on Employer-Sponsored Insurance: Costs, Taxes, and Enrollment...
Employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) has been central to the U.S. health care system. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) adds many requirements and imposes many costs on employers that could change how – and...
View ArticleMedicaid Expansion Through Health Insurance Marketplaces: Unresolved Questions
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has answered some questions about how Arkansas’s creative plan to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The plan, which Gov. Mike...
View ArticleHealth Insurance Exchange Premiums: Adverse Selection Possibly Mitigated with...
Fears abound that health insurance premium increases because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will discourage young, healthy people from participating in the Health Insurance Exchanges. But most young...
View ArticleMulti-State Health Plans in Health Insurance Exchanges: OPM Final Rules
The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had a tricky job in setting rules for multi-state health plans (MSP), which eventually will be offered in all states through Health Insurance Exchanges...
View ArticleHealth Insurance Exchanges: Progress in Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New York,...
Much about the Health Insurance Exchanges is uncertain, even as the October 1 deadline to make them operational approaches. Many states running their own or partnership exchanges have yet to decide on...
View ArticleHealth Insurance Exchanges: Progress Report on State-Based Exchanges
States and the federal government are doing all they can to make sure the Health Insurance Exchanges – also called Health Insurance Marketplaces – open on time, on October 1 this year. The rush to make...
View ArticleSmoking Cessation Coverage for Pregnant Women in Medicaid and Health...
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage expansions to childless adults, through Medicaid and Health Insurance Exchanges, could have broad effects on public health. A recent study gives us one good...
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