New Jersey may be one step closer to building its own health insurance exchange after state officials, industry analysts and stakeholders met Wednesday to discuss the issue. The meeting was hosted by the NJ for Health Care and NJ Citizen Action Education Fund. Both organizations advocate health care reform for the sake of New Jersey residents. Born from the meeting was a common consensus that the state should take measures to establish its own insurance exchange to ensure that it has control of the program by the 2014 deadline. Ray…
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New York legislators reject federal funding for health insurance exchange
New York has long stood as a bastion for what the federal government stands for. The state boasts of one of the most populated and diverse cities in the world where the shortfalls and accolades of the government are highlighted in stark contrast. The state is also home to more than 2.6 million uninsured residents, most of whom cannot afford health insurance. Given the high number of those living in the state without insurance coverage, it would seem that lawmakers in New York would be welcoming to federal health care…
Read MoreWhat will health and auto insurance have in common in 2014?
By far, the most sensitive element of the Affordable Care Act is that it requires the majority of Americans to obtain health insurance coverage. Making health insurance just like car insurance, mandatory and required by law, for most. In response to this requirement, there are currently a total of 26 different federal lawsuits working to try to reverse the law. The very foundation of this battle is the “individual mandate”, around which there is significant debate as to whether or not it is constitutional. That said, many experts are agreeing…
Read MoreSouth Carolina rejects federal money that would help build insurance exchange
Reeling from the impact of Hurricane Irene, South Carolina has not lost sight of opposing federal health care reform. Tony Keck, head of the state’s Health and Human Serviced Department, announced Thursday that the state would be rejecting millions of dollars in federal grants that would have been used to help the state build a health insurance exchange. The exchange would have helped residents of the state find affordable insurance coverage and, theoretically, reduce the overall cost of insurance policies within the state as insurers fought for customers. South Carolina…
Read MoreStates that do not meet federal deadlines may still have a chance to run health insurance exchanges
The federal government has been relenting on its once strict mandates regarding health insurance exchanges, namely on the deadlines given for states to establish such programs. Originally, states that rejected the notion of exchanges outright would relinquish this responsibility to the federal government, who would then run the exchanges. In this scenario, state officials would have no say in the practices of the exchange programs. Spurred by complaints over the lack of guidance from the government, however, the Obama administration is relenting on these strict mandates and giving states another…
Read MoreConstitutional legality of health insurance mandate headed for the Supreme Court; President Obama is confident in its passing
Mere days after a federal appeals court in Washington declared that the individual insurance mandate posed by the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional; President Obama has proclaimed his confidence that the Supreme Court would uphold the measure. Several states have questioned the constitutional legality of the Affordable Care Act, but only a handful have sought to fight the federal law in court. The matter will, indeed, be heading for the Supreme Court, but it may be several years before it can be resolved, especially with an election year rapidly approaching.…
Read MoreStates prepare for health insurance rate control struggles
As it is the states that have control over the healthcare and health insurance within them, and not the federal government, it is now up to state officials to get the most out of the Obama administration’s reforms to the healthcare system to keep insurance rates under control. The federal government has been pushing insurers to hold back large increases in their rates and will, starting in September, make it necessary for insurance companies to experience greater analysis before they will be permitted to increase their rates by 10 percent…
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