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As the pandemic wanes, many companies are asking their employees to return to the office. However, a majority of remote U.S. workers who went virtual during the pandemic have no desire to return to the office and may move to a new job if work from home policies are revoked. Additionally, many would consider permanently relocating to a new city or community if they…

Jul. 9— JEFFERSON CITY— Leaders of the Republican-controlled Missouri House have joined the court battle over their refusal to expand Medicaid to 275,000 low-income people. In a brief filed this week, the House called on the Missouri Supreme Court to uphold a decision last month by a Cole County judge striking down a citizen-led effort to expand the…

Jul. 7— JEFFERSON CITY— A dozen health clinics have joined the push to convince Missouri's highest court to force the Legislature and Gov. In a brief filed Friday, the 12 federally qualified health centers, including CareSTL Health in St. Louis, sided with a coalition of business groups and health care organizations in urging the Missouri Supreme Court to sign off…

Jul. 5— A provision in Ohio's new two year budget will allow health care workers, hospitals and health insurance providers to deny services that violate their moral or religious beliefs. While talking Thursday about the budget he signed Wednesday night, Ohio Gov. Todd Kepler, southwest medical director of Equitas Health, a nonprofit health care system serving…

Jul. 3— The coronavirus pandemic and the economic upheaval it produced last year both trimmed the rolls of those insured by Tennessee's biggest health insurer and forced some costlier treatments and prevention measures. As a result, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee ended up earning $355 million in net income on just under $18.4 billion in revenues in 2020,…

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri, July 1– The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network issued the following news release on June 30, 2021:. Health and patient advocacy groups submitted an amicus curiae brief today, supported by Missouri- based health economists and law professors, in the Missouri Supreme Court, noting the vital role that the implementation of…

–Today, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America released its 10th Annual Workplace Benefits Study, which uncovered how COVID-19 has reshaped employee benefits and workplace culture. The data shows how the pandemic prompted rapid change in areas that had already been gathering momentum pre-pandemic, including flexible work arrangements, employee…

Embracing flexibility is the key to a more productive workforce in the post-pandemic world. That was the word from Stephanie Berger, Centered Insurance Solutions, who shared the lessons her benefits brokerage firm learned after more than a year of remote working. Berger spoke at Monday’s National Association of Health Underwriter virtual annual convention.

When this happens in two consecutive years, the president and Congress are required- by law- to act. And Congress must then consider the legislation on an expedited basis. Yet neither the White House nor Congress has moved to slow the cost increase and decrease Medicare's growing dependence on general revenue financing.
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Employers are reopening their offices and transitioning their workers back to either an in-person or a hybrid workplace. So what does this mean for human resource teams? David Pearson, senior vice president with ExtensisHR, gave some advice to health insurance and benefits brokers during the National Association of Health Underwriters virtual annual convention.

Compared to people who have low-deductible health care insurance plans, those enrolled in high-deductible insurance plans were less likely to seek care in the emergency room for chest pain. Low-income patients were less likely to visit the ER for chest pain and were nearly one-third more likely to have a heart attack during a subsequent hospitalization 30…

Debbie Dingell, D- Dearborn, wants Congress to provide states more funding in the future to expand home and community-based care to Medicaid recipients and to make sure the people providing those services are better paid. Home and community-based programs in Michigan and other states allow people who otherwise might need to be moved into nursing facilities…

Medicaid expansion has been a top priority for Kansas Democrats, notably Gov. A bill introduced in Congress last week to let cities and counties opt in to expand Medicaid is gaining attention from advocates in Kansas, who have long pushed for increase eligibility in the program statewide, a plan which has been thwarted by legislative Republicans.
Hospitals are not complying with new price transparency rules, a study finds.

A new University of Minnesota study finds that U.S. hospitals have been slow to fully comply with a new federal rule that was designed to bring more price transparency to health care.

Expansion supporters had hoped he would order the state to implement the program beginning July 1, even though the Republican-controlled General Assembly refused to fund it. “If the Court allows them to spend other state revenues by initiative, such action would deprive the General Assembly of its constitutional right to appropriate revenues in all other…

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act breathed a sigh of relief heard coast to coast last week, when the Supreme Court turned away what looks like the last federal challenge seeking to overturn the law on constitutional grounds. “The Supreme Court decision really does mark the end to the broadside challenge into the Affordable Care Act,” says Nicholas Bagley of…

AMY G OLDSTEIN The Washington Post. From February 2020 through January, Medicaid enrollment climbed nationwide by 9.7 million, according to a report based on the most recent available data and expected to be released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But according to federal health officials and other Medicaid experts, much of the…

Missouri faces a budget shortfall of $1.4 billion over the next two years without the tax, the Republican governor said in an afternoon news conference, where he outlined a raft of draconian reductions he said would begin July 1 unless lawmakers act quickly. Parson's ultimatum came as Republicans remain divided over renewing a tax on hospitals that provides…

Jun. 21— More than 114,000 New Hampshire residents have enrolled in Obamacare for 2021, program advocates said Monday. Jayme Simoes, New Hampshire director of Protect Our Care, noted that national enrollment numbers for Obamacare are at record highs. “These New Hampshire enrollment numbers are further proof that the ACA works, is resilient, and that Americans…

In 2030, when the youngest of the baby boom generation will have reached the age of eligibility, the total number of Medicare enrollees is expected to reach 81.5 million, up 27% from 2020' s 64.3 million. Dave Rich, CEO of Ensurem, a Florida- based insurance technology and product distribution firm, says, “This wave of baby boomers, whose needs and expectations are…

Pennsylvania is trying for the third time since 2015 to replace its Medicaid contracts— worth a total of $65 billion over the last five years— with companies that manage physical health benefits for 2.6 million Pennsylvanians. “The plans see this as really big business,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the…

Thus ended the third attempt by Republicans to use the Supreme Court to sabotage the ACA, all unsuccessful. Of course, in 2016, Republicans won control of the House, Senate and presidency on a platform that included the promise to repeal and replace “Obamacare” with “something terrific,” in the words of former President Trump. The Republicans failed and should stop…

The Maine House voted to advance a measure Thursday sponsored by Rep. Heidi Brooks, D- Lewiston, that would allow Maine to adopt a single-payer health care model contingent on federal law. “This legislation sends a signal to our federal delegation that Maine is ready to adopt a healthcare system that is accessible, affordable and equitable.

The Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on three different occasions, and each time the court rules in favor of the law, one expert says, the law is strengthened and more stability is created around the ACA marketplace.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in a 7-2 ruling handed down today, knocking down the law’s latest Republican challenge and preserving the ACA and the ability for millions of people with preexisting conditions.
UnitedHealthcare does not want its insureds going to the emergency room.

UnitedHealthcare has decided to delay the implementation of a new policy that would reduce coverage, or stop payment, for patients’ non-emergency visits to an emergency room.

—President Joe Biden turned to his old boss, former President Barack Obama, on Saturday to help him encourage Americans to sign up for “Obamacare” health care coverage during an expanded special enrollment period in the pandemic.

Mike Parson's administration is facing a new lawsuit in the fight over Medicaid expansion in Missouri. Two St. Louis- area residents, in a suit filed Friday, are asking a Cole County judge to include their litigation with a previously filed lawsuit set to get underway on June 18. The duo include Luke Barber, 26, who is an autistic grocery store worker from St. Louis…

—The Biden administration is reevaluating a plan by Georgia officials to overhaul how state residents buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act as federal officials try to boost former President Barack Obama’ s signature health care law. “In its application, Georgia neither quantified the size of the expected investment by the private sector nor…

When I sit down with a patient for that important conversation about which medication he or she should take, both of us are focused on getting the best results possible. That's what patient-centered care is all about. But in reality, these companies run a $400 billion a year market by routinely delaying, denying or switching patients' medications to maximize…

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a longtime Democratic state lawmaker, comes to his new role well known for pursuing an unabashedly progressive agenda on criminal justice issues. Bonta, 49, was an infant when his family, in 1971, moved to California from the Philippines, where his parents worked as mis. In the weeks since, Bonta has beefed up the number of…

Tarek Abou-Khatwa, of the District of Columbia, was involved in a scheme to defraud CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield by creating fictitious employees and altering years of birth of actual employees by as much as 40 years.

Some voices are sounding more positive, given the availability of vaccines in most parts of the country and the substantial number of people who have already been vaccinated in the United States. A recent report projects U.S. hospital revenue in 2021 will fall somewhere between $53 billion and $122 billion short of where it had been prior to the pandemic.b The…

The Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority— or Pennie— is the state's health insurance marketplace. It helps accessibility and affordability of individual health coverage for individuals and families by connecting them with coverage providers, Scott Yeager, Pennie's outreach manager, said. Due to COVID-19, Pennie has extended its enrollment…

Dear Editor: In response to your May 24th article, “CT Lawmakers Drop Plan to Expand State Health Insurance,” we have…

With one-fifth of the nation's medically uninsured, Texas has by far the largest healthcare insurance problem in the U.S.. It also stated that the cost of uncompensated care to Texas hospitals/MDs would rise to over $12 billion by 2040 from $3.5 billion in 2019. Of course, to offset these loses, costs to insured Texas patients will rise.

—Two leading congressional Democrats issued a call Wednesday for ideas on a“ public option” health insurance plan, a campaign promise of President Joe Biden's that faces long odds politically. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Critics call the public option a step toward a government-run plan for all, which could open Democrats to GOP accusations of“ socialism”…

Assessing the true nature of the HI trust fund's current financial status is time sensitive as Congress is expected to consider additional changes to the Medicare program this year. “Either through reconciliation or regular order, there is every expectation that Congress will consider additional health care related legislation this year…
Connecticut legislators will not take up a "public option" plan after Gov. Ned Lamont announced opposition.

Legislation known as the “public option” that would have created a state-sponsored insurance plan for small businesses and nonprofits will not be taken up by the General Assembly following opposition from Gov. Ned Lamont.

A settlement has been reached between the Connecticut Insurance Department, Michael Scheinman, a state licensed insurance producer, and Accu-Health Insurance Advisors, LLC, to settle an investigation into selling a medical discount plan as an insurance product.

Screening and the HPV vaccine have led to drops in cervical cancers over the last two decades in the U.S., a new study finds, but the gains are offset by a rise in other tumors caused by the virus. Maura Gillison of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study. Results were released Wednesday by the American Society of Clinical…
A new study finds that expanding Medicare might not be as great as supporter think.

President Joe Biden and progressive Democrats have proposed to lower Medicare’ s eligibility age to 60, to help older adults get affordable coverage. But in Congress the proposal has little support from Republicans.

As the IRS scrambles to get the new program up and running, the tax agency has deployed hundreds of people to reprogram computers, write new rules and prepare to answer an expected deluge of questions from taxpayers. And the vast IRS bureaucracy will need to convert from a focus on collecting money to an equal commitment to distributing it. “The IRS' core mission is…

India is the new epicenter of the global pandemic, recording some 400,000 new cases per day by May 2021. Many Indians blame one man for the country’ s tragedy: Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In January 2021, Modi declared at a global forum that India had“ saved humanity… by containing corona effectively.” In March, his health minister proclaimed that the pandemic was…