Tag Archives: insurance

Trump Taps Leading Obamacare Critic To Run HHS

NBC News reports: President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will nominate Georgia Rep. Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services. The Cabinet-level pick, which requires Senate confirmation, inserts one of Obamacare’s most outspoken critics into the key position to dismantle it and help Republicans implement their own blueprint for health care reform. “Chairman Price, a …

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Paul Ryan: Medicare Will Be Privatized [VIDEO]

Jonathan Chait writes for New York Magazine: “Your solution has always been to put things together, including entitlement reform,” says Baier, using Republican code for privatizing Medicare. Ryan replies, “If you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well. … Medicare has got some serious issues because of Obamacare. So those things are part …

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Obamacare Signups Surge After Election Despite Republican Wins Dooming The Program To Extinction

The Hill reports: The day after Donald Trump’s presidential election victory marked the strongest day of ObamaCare signups in this year’s open enrollment period so far. More than 100,000 people selected plans through HealthCare.gov on Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. “Best day yet this Open Enrollment,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell wrote in a tweet. …

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ORLANDO: Hospitals Waive Bills For Pulse Victims

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Orlando Health and Florida Hospital will not bill survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre for out-of-pocket medical expenses, officials announced Wednesday. Instead, the hospitals will write off an estimated $5.5 million or more in care. “The pulse shooting was a horrendous tragedy for the victims, their families and our entire community,” Orlando Health President and CEO …

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REPORT: Aetna Is Leaving Most Obamacare Exchanges To Punish Feds For Blocking Merger With Humana

The Huffington Post reports: The big health care news this week came from Aetna, which announced on Monday it was dramatically scaling back participation in the Affordable Care Act ― thereby reducing insurer competition and forcing customers scattered across 11 states to find different sources of coverage next year. Aetna officials said the pullout was necessary because of Obamacare’s problems …

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Aetna To Leave Most Obamacare Exchanges

Back in February, Aetna reported $2.7 billion in earnings for 2015, a 15% increase over the previous year. But that’s not enough to keep them in Obamacare. CNN Money reports: In the latest blow to Obamacare, Aetna is vastly reducing its presence on the individual exchanges in 2017. The insurer will stop offering policies on the exchanges in 11 of …

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UnitedHealth To Leave Most Obamacare Markets

The Hill reports: The insurer UnitedHealth is pulling out of the ObamaCare marketplaces in all but a “handful” of states in 2017, the company announced Tuesday. The announcement, made my CEO Stephen Hemsley on an earnings call, follows up on the company’s statement in November that it was considering dropping out completely due to financial losses. The Obama administration argues …

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KENTUCKY: Gov. Matt Bevin Notifies Feds That He Will Begin Dismantling State Insurance Exchange

The Frankfort Courier-Journal reports: Following through on a campaign pledge, Gov. Matt Bevin has notified federal authorities he plans to dismantle kynect, Kentucky’s health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act. The decision drew immediate fire from health care advocates, including Bill Wagner, executive director of the Family Health Centers, a network of public health clinics in Louisville. “It’s …

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Gay Dads Star In Touching New Allstate Ad [VIDEO]

“Danny and Andrew had a lot of memorable firsts in 2015. See what’s made the year so special for their family.” You know who will be ever so pissed. Watch below.

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Major Insurer Threatens To Leave Obamacare

UnitedHealthcare, which reported a net income of $8.4 billion this year, says it’s not making enough money with Obamacare and may leave the system within two years. “In recent weeks, growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industrywide,” said Stephen Hemsley, the company’s CEO. “Co-operatives have failed, and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our …

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Wall Street Journal: Employers Tell Gays They Must Marry To Keep Partner Benefits

We’ve seen this here and there over the last few years, but it’s apparently becoming more common. Via the Wall Street Journal: Over the past decade, a growing share of companies has offered coverage for gay employees and their partners as a way to provide equal benefits for couples who couldn’t legally wed. Others companies offer coverage more broadly to …

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Insurance Company Ends PrEP Coverage UPDATE: Company Reverses Decision

Poz.com reports: Assurant Health, a national company specializing in health insurance coverage for individuals and small businesses, will no longer cover the med Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent contracting HIV. Several Assurant customers who had been taking Truvada (comprising the antiretrovirals tenofovir and emtricitabine) as PrEP were recently notified that the insurer would end coverage of the med …

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TEXAS: GOP Rep Wants To Revoke Insurance Benefits For Same-Sex Partners Of Public School Employees

Only three Texas school districts offer plus-one insurance benefits that are inclusive of same-sex partners and even asshat Gov. Greg Abbott said that was legal back when he was the state’s attorney general. But that isn’t stopping state Rep Drew Springer.  John Wright reports at the Texas Observer: Springer has introduced a budget amendment that would eliminate state funding for …

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White House Celebrates Fifth Anniverary Of Affordable Care Act Passage

Via press release: On the five-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, one thing couldn’t be clearer: This law is working, and in many ways, it’s working even better than anticipated. After five years of the Affordable Care Act, more than 16 million uninsured Americans have gained the security of health insurance – an achievement that has cut the ranks …

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White House: 11.4 Million Americans Are Now Covered Under Obamacare

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Pelosi Mocks Obamacare Repeal Attempts

From Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s YouTube channel: “It’s another week in the new Republican Congress, which means another stale attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to the health care law, uninsured rates are at a record low and more hardworking families are able to afford insurance and yet, Republicans are holding their 56th repeal vote. Unbelievable. Now I know …

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Obamacare Ad Stars Married Gay Couple

(Tipped by JMG reader Elroy)

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SCOTUS To Hear Obamacare Challenge That Would Gut Exchange Subsidies

Via Bloomberg News: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to the subsidies that are a linchpin of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, accepting a case that suddenly puts the law under a new legal cloud. Two years after upholding much of the law by a single vote, the justices today said they will hear a Republican-backed appeal …

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Little Caesars Chain Sued For Denying Insurance Benefits To Gay Couples

Via Reuters: A former trainee manager at Little Caesars pizza in California sued the company for discrimination on Wednesday, accusing the Detroit-based chain of denying employees health insurance benefits for their legally wed same-sex spouses. The lawsuit was brought in state Superior Court in Orange County, regional headquarters for the nation’s third-largest pizza chain, by Frank Bernard, 47, who said …

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George Takei: Boycott Hobby Lobby

“In this case, the owners happen to be deeply Christian; one wonders whether the case would have come out differently if a Muslim-run chain business attempted to impose Sharia law on its employees. As many have pointed out, Hobby Lobby is the same company that invests in Pfizer and Teva Pharmaceuticals, makers of abortion inducing-drugs and the morning after pill. …

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