health insurance

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Major Health Care Reforms Kick in
Major Health Care
Reforms Kick in
Jan 1, 2011 10:34 AM CST

Major Health Care Reforms Kick in

Insurers now required to spend 80% of premiums on customers

(Newser) - A rule requiring health insurers to spend at least 80% of premiums on customers and a $2.5 billion tax on drug makers are among the health care reform provisions taking effect today. The new rules also plug the "doughnut hole" in Medicare drug benefits and provide free preventive...

Holder, Sebelius: Health Care Mandate Must Stand
Holder, Sebelius: Health Care Mandate Must Stand
OPINION
Dec 14, 2010 10:56 AM CST

Holder, Sebelius: Health Care Mandate Must Stand

Forcing people to buy insurance will keep costs down, they argue

(Newser) - The health care reform law’s mandate forcing individuals to buy insurance is necessary and constitutional, Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius argue today in an op-ed piece for the Washington Post , defending a provision struck down in federal court yesterday. Opponents of the law “have sought to invent new...

New GOP Rep: I Have to Wait to Get Health Care?

Maryland's Andy Harris can't understand why benefits don't kick in for a month

(Newser) - For a Republican who campaigned on repealing ObamaCare, Andy Harris had a rather unusual question at a meeting on congressional benefits yesterday: Dude, where's my health care? Harris, an anesthesiologist and newly elected Maryland rep, demanded to know why his federal health insurance takes a month to kick in. “...

On Health Care, Dems Are 'Alice in Wonderland': Judge

He allows part of lawsuit to continue

(Newser) - A federal judge gave a green light to parts of a lawsuit challenging the health care reform law, Politico reports. Judge Roger Vinson slammed Democrats and the administration for taking an "Alice-in-Wonderland tack" of calling the mandate to buy insurance either a "penalty" or a "tax,"...

Feds Handing Out Waivers to Health Insurers

Providers threaten to leave markets, stop offering coverage

(Newser) - The Obama administration has issued a host of waivers in recent weeks, exempting insurers and companies from new health care rules after they threatened to drop coverage, abandon markets, and refuse to sell various policies. So far, they’ve doled out one-year waivers to about 30 companies to allow them...

Health Care Reform Law Kicks In Today

No more refusing to insure sick kids, limiting lifetime benefits

(Newser) - Some of the central provisions of the health care reform bill passed 6 months ago go into effect today, and despite the partisan rancor that’s surrounded the law, they’re sure to help hundreds of thousands of Americans. As of today, the New York Times explains, insurers will no...

Record 50.7M Americans Have No Insurance

It's the first time the figure has risen above 50M

(Newser) - The number of Americans without health insurance topped 50 million for the first time last year, according to new Census Bureau data. (The poverty aspect of the report generated the most headlines.) The number of uninsured surged 16.7% to 50.7 million in 2009 as workers lost their...

Companies Shift Health Costs to Employees

Even as insurance premium growth slows

(Newser) - Employers foisted a lot more health insurance costs onto their employees this year than last, even though premiums only inched upwards, according to an annual survey. Though premiums for businesses rose just 3% this year—their lowest increase in a decade—the cost the average employee was paying jumped 14%,...

Health Insurance Execs Cash In, Jack Premiums

Those heading 5 biggest companies took home $200M

(Newser) - As their companies slammed policyholders with double-digit rate increases, top executives at the nation's five largest insurance companies gave themselves hefty raises last year, pulling in a total of almost $200 million. Of the heads of Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint, and Aetna, only one took a paycut—Aetna's CEO...

Why My Company Isn't Hiring
 Why My Company Isn't Hiring 
opinion
Aug 9, 2010 1:10 PM CDT

Why My Company Isn't Hiring

Taxes are driving up unemployment

(Newser) - Why is unemployment so high? Blame the government, writes Michael Fleischer in the Wall Street Journal . Using the employee who has his company's median salary as an example, the head of Bogen Communications explains that though she makes $59,000 on paper, she actually takes home only $44,000 after...

Missouri Votes to Block Health Care Reform

State won't require people to buy insurance

(Newser) - Missouri residents have voted to block a portion of President Obama's health care reform. In a vote seen as largely symbolic, 73% of voters approved a state law saying Missouri can't penalize people for not having health insurance. The law is unlikely to have any practical effect because the relevant...

Wrestling's Dark Side Dogs McMahon Run
 Wrestling's Dark Side 
 Dogs McMahon Run 
not a pretty business
Jul 16, 2010 6:51 AM CDT

Wrestling's Dark Side Dogs McMahon Run

Did McMahons cut too many corners in building WWE?

(Newser) - Linda McMahon, GOP Senate hopeful in Connecticut , vows to bring the "real world experience" of running the wrestling powerhouse WWE to the political arena. Though politics and stunt fighting may seem an amusingly apt fit, the New York Times reports that McMahon's spectacularly successful empire has a seriously dark...

Obama to Insurers: Don't You Dare Jack Premiums

Parts of health care reform kick in

(Newser) - With parts of the health care reform law about to go into effect, President Obama has called executives from 13 leading insurers to Washington for a stern lecture about rate gouging. Obama is afraid the insurers will use the law as an excuse to jack up premiums. “Our message...

Health Reform Bill Won't Stop Premium Hikes

Action on curbs didn't make final cut, leaving 'very big loophole'

(Newser) - Turns out the big health care reform bill doesn't actually rein in those out-of-control premium rate hikes. The Democrats used outrage over whopping increases to corral support for the overhaul, but the bill doesn't deliver, finds the Los Angeles Times , because it doesn't give the government the regulatory authority. "...

Oops: Congress Might Have Killed Its Own Health Care

Health bill error may leave lawmakers, aides without coverage

(Newser) - If you know exactly how the health care reform bill will impact your coverage, you may be a step ahead of your member of Congress, according to the New York Times . A report from the Congressional Research Service found that—because of imprecise language and a possible drafting error in...

Stop Calling It the Slacker Mandate!
Stop Calling It the Slacker Mandate!
OPINION
Apr 8, 2010 12:05 PM CDT

Stop Calling It the Slacker Mandate!

It's insulting to both young Americans and their parents

(Newser) - Conservatives have found a new punching bag in the health care reform legislation: the so-called “slacker mandate,” which allows parents to keep their kids under their health insurance until age 26. Michelle Malkin has railed against it as an example of the “Nanny state gone wild,”...

Insurers Cave on Covering Sick Kids Now

Industry argued for narrow interpretation of health bill

(Newser) - The insurance industry, faced with an outraged administration, has retreated from efforts to deny sick children with pre-existing conditions coverage until 2014. Health secretary Kathleen Sebelius plans to issue regulations in the coming weeks making it clear that sick children must be given access to their parents' insurance plans by...

Insurers Find Ways to Deny Kids Coverage
Insurers Find Ways to Deny Kids Coverage
Not So Reformed
Mar 29, 2010 9:16 AM CDT

Insurers Find Ways to Deny Kids Coverage

Firms say loophole lets them exclude youths, hike prices

(Newser) - Insurance companies say there’s a loophole in the health care reform legislation that will allow them to keep denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions for years. President Obama had promised that such denials would be “banned forever” this year. But “the fine print differs from the...

Anti-Reformers, We Dare You to Pledge:
Anti-Reformers, We Dare You
to Pledge: 
OPINION
Mar 25, 2010 1:01 PM CDT

Anti-Reformers, We Dare You to Pledge:

'Neither I nor anyone in my family' will use bill's protections

(Newser) - If Republicans hate health care reform so much, they shouldn't benefit from it, writes Matt Millen. He suggests a pledge: “I hereby vow that neither I nor anyone in my family will take advantage of the protections offered by this law.” He can hear the whining already. "...

'Repeal, Replace, Reform' Should Be GOP's Rallying Cry

Dems' morale boost will be short-lived, predicts Karl Rove

(Newser) - The Democrats may be in good spirits now, but passing health care reform won't help them politically any more than the stimulus package helped them in New Jersey's 2009 gubernatorial elections, argues Karl Rove. The public remains mostly opposed to "ObamaCare," and Republicans can ride that sentiment to...

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