1. Health Care

Category Archives: Health Care

Obama administration extends health care enrollment deadline

Posted on by

The Obama administration will grant extra time to Americans who say they are unable to enroll in health care plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the deadline set for the end of March, Fox News confirmed Tuesday.

All consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension, federal officials told the Washington Post.

The Washington Post reported that users will have a chance to check a box on the website indicating they tried to enroll before the deadline, though the government will not try to determine whether the person actually made an effort to sign up.

"This is probably the first of many (extensions)," Chris Stirewalt told Megyn Kelly Tuesday on "The Kelly File."

"This is the first nod to a dire political situation," Stirewalt added.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus pounced on the extension, calling it another delay for a "failed health care law."

Another day, another ObamaCare delay from the same Obama administration that wont work with Republicans to help Americans suffering from the unintended consequences of the Democrats failed health care law," Priebus said in a statement. "Democrats in leadership may say they are doubling down on ObamaCare but you have to wonder how many more unilateral delays their candidates running in 2014 can withstand.

Many states and the federal government experienced technical problems with the enrollment websites, but implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act has been a relative disaster in Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont.

Rather than focusing on meeting enrollment targets, officials in those states find themselves consumed with replacing top officials, cancelling contracts with software companies, dealing with state or federal investigations, and spending tens of millions of dollars on fixes and new contractors. The core of the problem has been the difficulty in building an online health insurance marketplace that syncs up with myriad state and federal databases.

Early projections for those five states were to sign up a combined 800,000 Americans for private health insurance coverage by March 31, 11 percent of the Obama administration's original target for national enrollment. Yet with just days to go before the six-month enrollment period ends, achieving 25 percent of that target would be considered a success.

See the article here:

Obama administration extends health care enrollment deadline

Bungling mars health care deadline in some states, including Nevada

Posted on by

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) As supporters of the federal health care reforms push for final signups, a handful of states are trying to press the reset button.

They have botched their handling of the process so badly that they already are looking beyond Mondays enrollment deadline to the next enrollment period starting in the fall.

Many states and the federal government experienced technical problems with the enrollment websites, but implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act has been a relative disaster in Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont.

Rather than focusing on meeting enrollment targets, officials in those states find themselves consumed with replacing top officials, cancelling contracts with software companies, dealing with state or federal investigations, and spending tens of millions of dollars on fixes and new contractors. The core of the problem has been the difficulty in building an online health insurance marketplace that syncs up with myriad state and federal databases.

Early projections for those five states were to sign up a combined 800,000 Americans for private health insurance coverage by March 31, 11 percent of the Obama administrations original target for national enrollment. Yet with just days to go before the six-month enrollment period ends, achieving 25 percent of that target would be considered a success.

Overseers of Nevada Health Link have called that states program a full failure and a catastrophe. Some officials have suggested dumping Xerox, which was awarded a $75 million contract to develop the system.

While Xerox remains on the job, a state board earlier this month approved up to $1.5 million to hire another tech firm, Deloitte Consulting, to assess the Xerox system and recommend fixes.

Last month Nevada officials cut their target enrollment from 118,000 to 50,000 and conceded that meeting even the lower goal would be a challenge. That drew the ire of board members, who lashed out about the thousands of people who will remain uninsured after Mondays deadline.

(Page 2 of 4)

These are not numbers. These are people throughout the state who dont have health insurance, said Lynn Etkins, an attorney and vice chairwoman of the board overseeing the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.

Read more from the original source:

Bungling mars health care deadline in some states, including Nevada

Health Care Sign-Up Fairs In Lakeland

Posted on by

Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 11:54 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 11:54 p.m.

The Lakeland Housing Authority is hosting a series of Affordable Health Care Community Sign-Up Fairs today through Monday.

These are open to the general public as well as to residents of Lakeland Housing Authority properties.

Times and locations are:

Today, 10 a.m.-noon at Emma Turner Community Center, 1500 N. New York Ave., and 1-3 p.m. at Dakota Park Apartments Community Center, 1411 Kettles Ave.

Thursday, 10 a.m.-noon at Colton Meadow, 1919 W. 10th St., and 1-3 p.m. at Villas at Lake Bonnet, 303 N. Brunnell Parkway.

Friday, 10 a.m.-noon at West Lake Homes Computer Lab, 501 Hartsell Ave., and 1-3 p.m. at John Wright Homes, 2130 Elizabeth St.

Monday, 10 a.m.-noon at Lake Ridge Community Center, 325 W. Second St.

LHA is doing the sign-up events in conjunction with We Care Services Inc. For more information, call Cynthia Zorn-Shaw, LHS services coordinator, at 863-413-3394, Ext. 308.

Read more:

Health Care Sign-Up Fairs In Lakeland

Nothing Like Health Care Madness – White House Chef Resigns – Cavuto Common Sense – Video

Posted on by


Nothing Like Health Care Madness - White House Chef Resigns - Cavuto Common Sense
Nothing Like Health Care Madness - White House Chef Resigns - Cavuto Common Sense =========================================== **Please Click Below to SUBS...

By: Mass Tea Party

Read more from the original source:

Nothing Like Health Care Madness - White House Chef Resigns - Cavuto Common Sense - Video

City looks at health care options for employees, chooses to stay put

Posted on by

TIFTON The Tifton City Council heard from Skip Hill with Partners Benefit Group at last weeks workshop concerning changes in health care.

City Manager Larry Riner said Hill has been handling their health care benefits for quite some time now. He said he finds the best bang for their buck. Hill discussed changes in health care due to Health Care Reform and the Affordable Care Act.

Based on the recommendation from Partners Benefit Group, it is in the best interest of the city to stay with Cigna insurance company at this time. Due to Health Care Reform and the claims history, staff will incur an increase to be shared between employee and the city. However, exact numbers will not be known until open enrollment is completed due to different plans that employees may choose.

Hill explained the waiting period for an employee to be eligible for benefits is no more than 90 days. The city will now be required to offer insurance to employees once they have completed 60 days of employment on the first of the month following that date.

He said whether covered under the city or another plan, all copays or any out-of-pocket that an employee pays going forward must be included in that out-of-pocket maximum. The only exception in 2014 will be prescription copays, which will count toward that out-of-pocket maximum in 2015.

He said for this past year, the city had a 130 percent loss ratio. Additionally, with that loss ratio, there are some taxes and fees that the insurance carriers are having to pay due to the Affordable Care Act, one which is called a transitional reinsurance fee. This fee is paid to the government and will be dispersed to insurance companies that are covering high risk individuals.

That tax will be $63 per year per covered person on your plan, which means that if Ive got a family of four, then the city of Tifton through premiums will pay a tax of $63 for each person in my family for that 12-month period, Hill told the council.

He said the increase that was handed down from Cigna, which includes these additional taxes, equates to a 20.79 percent increase for this coming year.

A mandate is coming in 2015 that if you employ more than 100 employees, you must offer health insurance to anyone who works 30 plus hours a week. Thats considered full time and youre not going to be allowed to charge them more than 9.5 percent of their W-2 income, whatever on a per pay period basis that theyre paying, Hill said.

He added, We made a recommendation to Mr. Riner and Ms. (Carla) Cooper (human resources director) that we go ahead and offer a plan, a third option. He said currently, employees have two options as far as health insurance one is a copay plan and the other is a higher deductible plan.

Read more:

City looks at health care options for employees, chooses to stay put

Oakwood Healthcare, Beaumont Health System and Botsford Health Care begin $2.8 billion alliance

Posted on by

By Erica McClain The News-Herald

Oakwood Healthcare, Beamount Health System and Botsford Health Care have agreed to form a new $3.8 billion heath system spanning Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

The three health care systems CEOs began discussions about a merger in late 2013 and yesterday signed a letter of intent to begin the due diligence process, which is projected to take 90 days.

Botsford CEO Paul LaCasse said that while the Affordable Care Act that compels health care systems to reduce costs and inefficiencies through mergers and alliances, it was not the driving factor for the three organizations.

We saw the cultural fit and recognized that we could improve safety and reduce cost structure those were the driving factors, LaCasse said.

The three health care systems span Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties with Oakwood headquartered in Dearborn, Botsford in Farmington Hills and Beaumont in Royal Oak.

The geography we have is not overlapping, its complementary, LaCasse said. Our physician practice models are very similar, and we have a very strong commitment to private practice we want to perpetuate.

The cultural fit is fabulous. We know each other weve known (each other) for a long time and have a mutual respect for one another.

There are no plans to close any hospitals, according to Oakwood CEO Brian Connolly.

However, an inventory will be taken on each facilitys age and locations to review facilities and maintenance costs, Beaumont CEO Gene Michalski said.

Follow this link:

Oakwood Healthcare, Beaumont Health System and Botsford Health Care begin $2.8 billion alliance


  1. Health Care