As the federal government continues to push for the establishment of health insurance exchanges, while battling with states that reject the notion, an important member of the Department of Health and Human Services has resigned his position as Director of Health Insurance Exchanges. Joel Ario, once the man responsible for overseeing the program toward exchanges, is vacating his position for unknown reasons. It is unclear who will replace Ario, but HHS officials say that the transition will be as smooth as possible. Ario’s departure comes on the heels of new…
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Government hopes to see action on state insurance exchanges soon despite ambiguous guidelines
The federal government is hoping that states make moves on insurance exchanges soon. Several guidelines have been released by the government to lay the framework for how states should go about building and operating the exchanges, but few have been quick to take up action. Federal law requires that states must have a working exchange program established by 2014 or the control of this program will default to the federal government. The director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,…
Read MoreFederal appeals court upholds law requiring all to obtain health insurance
Judges of a federal appeals court have been toiling over the legality of one of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act. It is a provision that has been steeped in controversy since being introduced in early 2010. That is the provision that requires all U.S. citizens to have some form of health insurance. While the entirety of the federal health care law has been accused of being unconstitutional, it is this provision that has received much of this attention. Opponents of the provision have argued against it to…
Read MoreJudges uneasy with individual health insurance requirement law
Three judges from a federal appeals court have questioned the element of President Obama’s health care changes that would require almost every American to obtain health insurance in order to avoid penalties. At hearing held on June 8, 2011, three 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judges in Atlanta who had been on a panel debating whether keeping the new health care law should lead to the adoption of other wide reaching economic mandates by Congress, expressed concerns about the new requirements. The ruling on a lawsuit filed by 26 states…
Read More26 states vs. Obama’s lawyers in health care reform law appeal
Twenty six states have argued against lawyers representing President Barack Obama in an appeal over the government’s healthcare reform law. This new law is one of the foundation elements of Obama’s presidency and has been met with significant controversy. The arguments were presented in Atlanta to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. According to Neal Katyal, senior administration lawyer, the main argument of the government is that the health care reform law is constitutionally sound for three primary reasons: Under the constitution, congress has the authority to regulate the interstate…
Read MoreForecast predicts a third of companies will cut health benefits
A new study from prestigious consulting firm McKinsey & Company suggests that as much as 30% of the nation’s employers will be making drastic changes to the insurance they provide to their employees. The firm suggests that the more these companies learn about upcoming insurance changes stemming from last year’s Affordable Care Act the more likely they are to make such changes. The study anticipates that these businesses will cease offering health care benefits or restrict access to such benefits to a select few in their service. If the study…
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