Kaiser Health News

Under the Affordable Care Act, state agencies largely retain the right to regulate premiums in their states, but so far only a handful have finalized premiums for the coming year, for which enrollment begins in November.

Among taxpayers who claimed a subsidy, about 1.6 million, or half of taxpayers who claimed or received a subsidy, had to pay money back to the government because their actual income was higher than projected when they applied for the subsidy.

Medicare applied the new quality measure to more than 9,000 agencies based on how quickly visits began and how often patients improved while under their care.

Under the New York law, patients are generally protected from owing more than their in-network copayment, coinsurance or deductible on bills they receive for out-of-network emergency services or on surprise bills.

New law prohibits insurers -- when they cover other types of fertility treatments -- from applying those conditions to same-sex couples.

The proposed regulations include a section on electronic health records and measures to better ensure that patients or their families are involved in care planning and in the discharge process.

The study, in the July issue of the policy journal Health Affairs, found that the average birth control pill user saved $255 in the year after the requirement took effect.

Gynecologists ordered fewer preventive services for women who were insured by Medicaid than for those with private coverage, the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey found.

The law also requires that clinics meet the same standards as outpatient surgery centers, upgrades that can cost $1 million or more.

The study labeled 11 percent of plans "extra small" because they covered fewer than 10 percent of physicians in a plan's region. Another 30 percent were "small," meaning they covered between 10 and 25 percent of physicians.