Healthcare Finance Staff
The opening of the health insurance exchanges may be anticlimactic after all the waiting and noise from supporters and critics of the Affordable Care Act. Health insurers and exchanges are expected to be ready, at least with minimal processes, to be able to enroll customers Oct. 1.
American healthcare needs a trillion dollar disruption, and the Affordable Care Act may end up supporting quite a bit of it -- while also slowing innovation in some areas, according to innovation researchers.
Coming just ahead of the opening of health insurance exchanges, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care topped the list of the National Committee for Quality Assurance annual rankings of 2013 health plans, followed by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest.
The idea of Medicare bundled payments for post-acute care has a ways to go before it could be used widely, according to a study in CMS' Medicare and Medicaid Research Review.
Some healthcare organizations are beginning to disclose their prices in a bid towards transparency, but most still have not. However, that may change with continued cost pressures in an era of reform. And a new line of business may help push them.
Health plans will face a new competitive environment when health insurance exchanges open for business Oct.1, along with a new focus on efforts to attract and retain consumers.
My expectations for how I interact with the health sector are shaped by my experiences as a retail shopper, and my shopping habits have changed over the past few years. Just as I've become more resourceful and savvy and have ended up with retail products that are better for me, I'm confident this will hold true as I shop for health care and health insurance.
President Obama and health leaders trying to convince Americans to enroll in health insurance are relying on a message of affordability: After the federal government's tax credits apply, Obama said Tuesday that individuals can get health insurance "for less than their cell phone bill."
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is taking its outreach about open enrollment directly to where the people are at sporting, entertainment and community events in and outside the Beltway.
As the federal government prepares for one of the largest health campaigns in history, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new portrait of Americans' insurance status, with one demographic of middle class workers especially struggling.