Medicaid Expansion On Ballots Across U.S. In Midterm Vote

After years of trying to demolish former President Barack Obama’s prized health care law, GOP leaders still lack the votes to succeed. They are also confronting the law’s growing popularity and easing premium increases.

The Affordable Care Act is headed back to court. On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act is scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. hearing before U.S. Paxton is leading the charge in this case for 20 states, including Alabama, Florida, North Dakota and South Carolina, to end the ACA.

It’s wages vs. health benefits. As Labor Day passes, just about everything seems to be going right for typical American workers, with the glaring and puzzling exception of wage stagnation. Corrected for inflation, wages are up a scant 2 percent since January 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

About 58 million people were enrolled in Medicare at the end of 2017 and more than 75 million people are expected to be enrolled in the program by 2027. That’s a lot of Medigap coverage for agents to sell.

New Jersey residents who purchase their health insurance on the individual market could pay significantly less next year now that the state has received the go-ahead to create a reinsurance program to help cover high-risk residents and their costliest claims.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services moved to bail out the Affordable Care Act markets today with $8.6 million in funding to 30 states and the District of Columbia. The funding will help state insurance regulators put in place plans to stabilize the markets.

A recent survey from the Employee Benefits Research Institute showed 31 percent think health care is the most critical issue in the country, far outpacing terrorism at 21 percent and nearly double the number who thought so five years ago. Critical illness insurance can alleviate your clients’ concerns on health care.

The case centers on payments to health plans mandated under the Affordable Care Act’s ‘risk corridor’ program, which was intended to mitigate the financial risk borne by health plans entering health insurance marketplaces. Congress passed appropriations riders barring the full funding of the risk corridor program.

Falling unemployment, fatter payrolls, tax reform, rising interest rates and the unsettled future of the Affordable Care Act are boosting benefit lines. More consumers are relying on voluntary benefits to fill in the gaps with medical and retirement needs.

If you’re like most people getting ready to retire, you’re probably counting on Social Security benefits to cover a big portion of your living expenses. Unfortunately, many future retirees significantly underestimate how much of their Social Security check will go to healthcare.

While more than 90% of Americans now have health insurance, what they often don’t have is peace of mind about their health care. These fears arise in part from political uncertainty, as the parties skirmish over how the Affordable Care Act is implemented, with the current administration and Congress making changes that have led to higher premiums.

Drugstore chain Rite Aid and grocer Albertsons say they have called off their merger deal. Rite Aid CEO John Standley says that after hearing the views of shareholders, the company is “committed to moving forward and executing our strategic plan as a standalone company.”

President Donald Trump says insurers are “going wild” about his new health care options and “millions and millions” of people will be signing up. But insurance companies say it will take time to design new plans and get approval from state regulators.

The Long-Term Care Insurance Task Force tabled a request to form a subgroup to study the idea of a uniform long-term care insurance rate review process.

Democrats will try forcing a Senate vote on overturning President Donald Trump’s rule allowing insurers to sell short-term coverage that is cheaper but skimpier than policies allowed under the “Obamacare” health care law.

Aetna is posting strong profit numbers, easily beating second-quarter expectations on Wall Street. The Hartford, Conn., health insurer on Thursday reported earnings of $1.21 billion, or $3.67 per share. Adjusted for non-recurring gains, profit was $3.43 per share, way above industry analyst projections for $3.07 per share, according to Zacks Investment Research. Revenue was $15.6 billion, also topping expectations for $15.5 billion.

The Trump administration says it’s clearing the way for health insurers to sell short-term plans as a low-cost alternative to pricey Obama-law policies for people struggling with high premiums. But the policies for individuals have no guarantees of coverage for existing medical conditions and come with limited benefits.

Nothing frustrated California’s politically dominant liberal Democrats more this year than having to live with the reality that their holy grail of single-payer health care won’t happen here for years to come. So single-payer advocates have plumped since early spring for the next best thing: Moving toward universal health insurance coverage.

The Trump administration’s decision to undo a three-week-old policy that threatened to drive up health insurance premiums for individuals came with a sigh of relief for insurance companies.

The Trump administration says it will restore Affordable Care Act payments to insurers that it had recently frozen, leading to concerns about higher premiums next year. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made the announcement Tuesday evening in an email.

Small businesses could find it easier to offer 401(k) plans under bills in both houses of Congress. The bills, each called the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act, would allow companies to jointly offer what are called multiple employer retirement plans.

Congress is considering a variety of changes to make it easier for Americans to set aside money for retirement, including allowing annuities to be sold inside 401(k) plans. Auto-enrollment and multi-employer plans are some other ideas on the table.

A single-payer health plan to cover all Marylanders, as proposed by gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous, would boost the state’s $44 billion budget by $24 billion, analysts say. The Jealous campaign disputes the numbers, but the analysis demonstrates the political issues with single-payer.

July 15–Though retirement should be an exciting period of life in theory, for plenty of seniors, it’s a stressful one…

The Trump administration took another punch at the Affordable Care Act by slashing funding for the navigator program that provides…

July 11–As health insurers prepare to file their rate requests today for individual plans in Tennessee next year, the Trump…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, citing a federal court decision invalidating a statewide average premium, halted a program for individual and small group commercial markets that called for collections and payments of $10.4 billion for 2017.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said state health insurance marketplaces are increasingly failing to cover people who do not qualify for federal subsidies even as the exchanges remain relatively stable.

A new Nationwide Retirement Institute survey reveals that 67 percent of older adults plan to use or currently use Medicare and 63 percent plan to use or currently use Social Security to pay for their health care costs in retirement. Even affluent adults say they fear health costs in retirement.

Traditional benefits brokers are doing substantially more business writing voluntary benefits. The change in the business is setting up a market competition between traditional and voluntary benefits brokers.

Health insurance and benefits’ brokers can help their group clients save money by finding ways to cut the cost of their employees’ care. That might be the way forward amid health care uncertainty.