As we approach the Winter Olympics, I was thinking about how the world’s elite athletes achieve such high standards of performance. It’s a rarity that such athletes emerge from the unknown at the top of their fields. It takes training, coaching, assessing, testing new techniques, making adjustments and, over time with lots of practice, top […]
By Joe Touschner Now that 2014 is here, the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is in effect to encourage individuals and families to maintain health coverage. This year, though, will be a transition year for many when they won’t face any penalty for reasonable gaps in coverage. We’ve learned more about how the individual mandate […]
By Edwin Park, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) unveiled a new plan to repeal all of health reform (the Affordable Care Act or ACA) except for certain provisions related to Medicare, cap federal Medicaid funding, and create a new tax credit for people […]
Senator Marco Rubio has introduced a bill to repeal the risk corridors that offer protections for both insurers and consumers who participate in the new insurance Marketplaces, while referring to these corridors as a bailout for the insurance industry. Ironically, one of the models for these risk corridors is the Medicare Part D drug benefit that was enacted when Republicans […]
A federal district court ruling yesterday regarding Missouri’s navigator law has the health coverage community abuzz. As I noted in this Say Ahhh! blog, a number of states have proposed or passed legislation to require additional training and licensing for navigators, and sometimes other assisters, and restrict the activities they are required to perform by […]
January 1st was the first day of coverage for those who enrolled in health plans through a health insurance marketplace. All eyes were watching to see how successful the transition from enrollment to the use of new coverage would be. The good news? Unlike the first few days of the Medicare Part D program, the first […]
