Reimbursement

So far this in this year, 2.78 million consumers have signed up for health plans.

Despite growth of these plans, price shopping, cost discussions with doctors are rarely happening, researchers find.

But study suggests the U.S. as a whole is not doing particularly well when it comes to pulling back on outdated procedures.

Integration with providers, narrow network ACO models, speaking members' languages and improving patient experience all key to earning, and keeping, an overall 5-star rating.

In 25 states starting in 2019, plans will be able to provide Medicare beneficiaries with more choices and lower cost, CMS says.

One patient got a $3,660 bill for a 4-mile ride. Another was charged $8,460 for a trip from one hospital that could not handle his case to another that could. Still another found herself marooned at an out-of-network hospital, where she'd been taken by ambulance without her consent.

Consumers coping with the high cost of health insurance are the target market for new plans claiming to be lower-cost alternatives to the Affordable Care Act that fulfill the law's requirement for health coverage.

A total of 30 rural hospitals are taking part in the budget neutral program that pays higher Medicare rates.

New proposed rule offers insurers more plan flexibility and eases regulations.

Some would pay as much as $1,000 for genomic sequencing offered through employer health plans.