Obamacare exchange enrollment reaches 3,500 in Indiana
Enrollment in November was about four times faster than in October, but it will need to be about 12 times faster through the end of March to meet federal projections.
Health Care Reform
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What if exchange enrollment never catches up?
Based on some very rough assumptions, I calculate that Hoosiers could see premiums 14 percent to 28 percent higher in 2015, due in part to low enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges in 2014.
Hospitals figure out their own way to game Obamacare’s tax subsidies
In response to insurers’ “zero-premium” strategy, hospitals figure out their own way to game the tax subsidies available in the new Obamacare exchanges: pay premiums for their patients.
Insurance bargain-hunters might miss out on subsidies
Hoosiers who sign up for “zero premium” health insurance in the new Obamacare exchanges might end up leaving thousands of dollars on the table. An estimated 250,000 uninsured Hoosiers could qualify for health insurance in the Obamacare exchanges that would cost them nothing—at least upfront.
Blurring the line between health care and health insurance
IU Health is working with a hospital-based health plan in Pittsburgh that is now directly challenging the Blue Cross health plan there. Could the same thing happen here?
IU Health gears up to take on insurers
Indiana University Health, already the state’s largest hospital system, is now ramping up to compete against Anthem, UnitedHealthcare and other health insurers.
Survey: One-third of Hoosier workers in high-deductible plans
An annual survey by the benefits consulting firm Mercer found that, among 75 Hoosier employers, 34 percent of workers are already enrolled in consumer-directed health plans. And that number is only going to go up due to new Obamacare rules.
Why insurers want to limit your choice of doctor
In spite of President Obama’s promises that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, the president’s health reform law is spurring health insurers to make him a liar on that point too.
UnitedHealthcare pulls back from niche
Come January, UnitedHealthcare, the second-largest health insurer in Indiana, will have no major-medical policies to sell to individual Hoosier customers.
FELDMAN: Affordable Care Act stirs paradoxes for employers
In addition to managing the complexity and challenges of the Affordable Care Act, employers are assessing the law’s impact on their Worker’s Compensation program. The debate ranges from minimal influence to significant, with many experts hedging their bets with a wait-and-see approach.
TABLER: Market is driving trend toward ‘public health’
The movement toward a “public health” model may be the most important current trend in American health care. Because the trend is more a result of market forces than of the Affordable Care Act, repealing Obamacare won’t stop it.
Suburban Indy hospitals see health care reform as ally
For years, the county-owned hospitals ringing Indianapolis have watched warily as the city’s four major hospital systems used their superior size and resources to push ever outward into the suburbs.
Pence’s Obamacare stance mirrors Hoosiers’ views
A new survey shows Hoosiers don’t like the Affordable Care Act, most would like to see it repealed, and by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, they support Pence’s handling of the question of expanding Medicaid.
Pence asks to meet with Sebelius over HIP expansion
Pence wants to expand Medicaid coverage using some form of the Healthy Indiana Plan, which currently provides insurance to about 40,000 Hoosiers who agree to make monthly contributions to health savings accounts. The Obama administration has questioned that feature of the program.
Health care has priced itself out of its own market
It’s no secret the growth of the U.S. economy slowed in the 2000s after the go-go decade preceding it. But the U.S. health care system—hospitals, doctors, drug companies, device makers and health insurers—apparently didn’t get that memo.
House GOP gets its say on insurance cancellations
Republicans renewed an assault on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and his credibility on Friday as they pushed toward House passage of a measure to let insurers keep selling health coverage that falls short of the law’s strict standards.
Obama allows customers to keep canceled policies
Bowing to pressure, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced changes to his health care law to give insurance companies the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled.
With Obamacare, insurers will still find ways to avoid risk
Obamacare put an end to health insurers’ worst methods for avoiding risk. But that doesn’t mean insurers have ended their risk-shifting ways. Not at all.
The bill for Hoosiers’ excess health care spending: About $5 billion per year
Hoosiers’ poor health, combined with an aggressive health care system and an uncompetitive health insurance sector, means Hoosiers, in spite of the fact that they earn just 86 cents for every dollar earned by the average American, are spending nearly $1.13 on health care for every dollar spent by Americans.
The frightening future that’s haunting hospitals
Why are Indiana’s hospitals cutting jobs. Because they’re spooked about cuts to Medicare payments. They should be.