Healthcare Reform News

Most consumers believe subsidies should be legal on both the state-based and federal exchanges, according to a new poll. The study, out this week from Morning Consult, found that 58 percent of registered voters think all subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges — whether they’re state or federal run — should … Read more

It’s official: if you make a quarter of a million bucks a year and decide not to pay for health insurance, you’re going to have to fork over $2,448 to the feds. The Internal Revenue Service finally released its maximum fines for those who choose to go without health insurance. Under terms of the Patient … Read more

Kentucky families will receive $6.2 million in refunds, an average of $43 per family, under a provision of the Affordable Care Act known as the 80/20 rule. The refunds announced Thursday by the federal government are the result of the rule requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of the money paid in … Read more

With concern mounting over what is projected to be a shortage of primary care doctors in the not-too-distant-future, medical board officials have taken what they believe to be the first, necessary step in addressing that gap.  Recently, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), the governing body comprised of the country’s medical agencies charged with the licensing, … Read more

Just because consumers are paying for health care coverage though the exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act doesn’t mean they’re actually getting coverage. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, thousands of enrollees still lack coverage despite picking a plan and paying for coverage due to problems in the law’s enrollment systems. … Read more

The Supreme Court has ruled in what was one of its most contentious and widely anticipated cases this year: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. With the 5-4 decision, “closely held corporations” will now be allowed to cite religious objections to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. The ruling dominated the news cycle, receiving eight … Read more

Over the weekend, changes in leadership structure at HHS received heavy coverage, much of it focusing on the new roles created to oversee the ACA and the implications for newly-instated HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. The AP reports that HHS Secretary Burwell appointed Optum Vice President Andy Slavitt as the new Principal Deputy Administrator of the Centers … Read more

The private exchanges are expected to explode by decade’s end. In fact, the experts at Accenture expect the market to hit 40 million by 2018, a more than tenfold jump in less than four years. What those consumers will look like exactly remains in doubt, but Accenture’s latest research sheds at least a little light on it. … Read more