Keyword: healthinsurance
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Securing an appointment to see a doctor in the United States is exacerbated by soaring health care demand and fewer doctors. Many specializations are increasingly affected by this trend, but primary care and emergency medicine are among the hardest hit.The average wait time to see a doctor has increased since 2017 and continued to rise after the demand spike brought on by COVID-19. A survey conducted by AMN Healthcare in 2022 of 15 large metro markets revealed the average time to see a physician was 26 days—an 8 percent increase from 2017 and a 24 percent spike since 2004.Staff constraints...
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Friday mandating annual skin cancer screenings for more than 300,000 state employees and their families at no out-of-pocket cost. The law, sponsored by Rep. Ralph Massullo, a dermatologist by trade, stipulates that the state group health insurance plan managed by the Division of State Group Insurance must cover skin cancer screenings conducted by dermatologists, physician assistants, or advanced registered practice nurses, without requiring deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, or any other form of cost-sharing.
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How can Humana change the coverage after the patient is admitted? I logged into the indiviual account and printed the "My Benefits" in November when a close friend was hospitalized for a severe stroke. I have full medical and legal POA. The "Plan Benefits" showed FULL PAYMENT Coverage for skilled nursing through day 100. While she was admitted, they changed her plan to only cover 80% through day 100. With a $203 per day co-pay, that is a lot of money she doesn't have. How can they change the plan during continuous admission? In addition, they keep denying any payment...
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A new pro-abortion law took effect in Maine on January 1, preventing private health insurance companies in the state from carrying deductibles or co-pays for abortions. LD 935, An Act to Remove Barriers to Abortion Coverage in Private Insurance, was signed by pro-abortion Gov. Janet Mills (D) over the summer along with numerous additional pro-abortion bills. It prohibits private insurers from imposing “deductible, copayment, coinsurance or other cost-sharing requirement” for any patient who undergoes an abortion. Warning: Images below may be disturbing to readers. Abortion is not health care Maine’s law gives abortion priority above other “health care” — but...
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The state of Utah is now offering taxpayer-funded health insurance to children who arrived illegally in the United States thanks to a plan approved last year by Democrat and Republican legislators. Under an amended version of Utah’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), children in the U.S. illegally are eligible to receive taxpayer-funded medical benefits. Open enrollment for the amended program started on January 1. For Utah taxpayers, the annual bill is about $4.5 million and about 2,000 illegal alien children are expected to enroll in the amended program. According to the latest estimates, nearly 150,000 illegal aliens reside in Utah...
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Undocumented Californians are leaving health care clinics with “smiles” after they learn they’re newly eligible for Medi-Cal insurance. The health insurance expansion was decades in the making for immigrant advocates.
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Several years ago, I realized I could save hundreds of dollars on prescription drugs by not using my health insurance. Instead, I pay using cash and a drug discount program like GoodRx. I realized this savings because my insurer/PBM had an incentive to keep list prices high. In plain English, my insurer overcharged me for my prescriptions so it could collect big rebates from drug companies.
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What’s a Claim File? Why Should I Request One?A claim file is a collection of the information your insurer used to decide whether it would pay for your medical treatment or services. Most people in the U.S. facing a denial have the right to request their claim file from their insurer. It can include internal correspondence, recordings of phone calls, case notes, medical records and other relevant information.Information in your claim file can be critical when appealing denials. Some patients told us they received case notes showing that their insurer’s decision was the outcome of cost-cutting programs. Others have gotten...
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…Prior authorization is a common cost-cutting tool used by health insurers that requires patients and doctors to secure approval before moving forward with many tests, procedures, and prescription medications. Insurers say the process helps them control costs by preventing medically unnecessary care… That's why desperate patients like Nix—and even some physicians—say they have turned to publicly shaming insurance companies on social media to get tests, drugs, and treatments approved… But some patient advocates and health policy experts question whether insurers are using prior authorization as "a possible loophole" to this prohibition, as a way of denying care to patients with...
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For patients with chronic conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), newer drugs like biologics can be effective—but also expensive. As a result, many insurance companies have limited access to these medications—and physicians are forced to jump through hoops. According to a recent story, insurance companies sometimes have their physicians reject claims without even reading them. To address these challenges, Athos Bousvaros, MD, MPH is calling for change—and providing specialists with the tools they need to navigate an increasingly difficult approval process. In a recent paper, Bousvaros and his colleague Stacy Kahn, MD detail how complicated the approval and denial process...
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Health-insurance costs are climbing at the steepest rate in years, walloping businesses and their workers. Costs for employer coverage are expected to surge around 6.5% for 2024, according to major benefits consulting firms Mercer and Willis Towers Watson, which provided their survey results exclusively to The Wall Street Journal. Willis Towers Watson, which goes by the initials WTW, projects the increase will be the biggest in more than a decade. Such a boost could add significantly to the price tag for employer plans that already average more than $14,600 a year per employee, driving up health-insurance costs that are among...
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Is anyone else experiencing this? Hubby is employed and we get health insurance through his employer. I am an "insured dependent" and not being charged - so MY non-vaxx status doesn't matter (evidently). He, however, is paying a surcharge for not being vaccinated - to the tune of $100/mo. He has had COVID twice and certainly should be considered "naturally immune", at this point. We have written to HR (who seems to be the point of contact for this) protesting the surcharge, sent a Dr's letter saying he (our Dr) does not recommend the shot for my husband (our Dr...
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A recently released Gallup poll on healthcare was simultaneously right and wrong. It got statistically correct answers but asked the wrong questions.Fifty-seven percent of the 1,020 adults polled responded that "the federal government should ensure all Americans have healthcare coverage," presumably insurance. Despite assigning healthcare responsibility to Washington, 53 percent wanted private insurance rather than government-supplied. The article shied away from stating an inconvenient truth: what Americans say they want will not achieve what they really want and need. Most Americans do not distinguish healthcare from health care. As one word, healthcare refers to a massive system that consumes 18...
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Annual premiums for family health insurance are expected to skyrocket to higher rates in 2023 due to rampant inflation, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. While family rates increased modestly by about one percent to $22,463 in 2022 from $22,221 in 2021, which is well below the national overall inflation growth of 8.2 percent, employers are now sounding the alarm that premiums may surge next year, according to the 2022 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey. “Employers are already concerned about what they pay for health premiums, but this could be the calm before the storm, as recent inflation suggests...
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ALBANY - Add your health insurance premiums to the long list of necessities that are going to get harder to pay for amid rampant inflation, the pandemic and war in Ukraine. Heath insurers serving individuals and companies in the state are requesting increases as high as 30 percent in some cases, although the weighted average is 18.7 percent for individuals and 16.5 percent for the so-called small group employer market that includes companies under 100 people.
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Many Democrats seem to get sick in the fall during election years from a chronic disease known as premium increase-itis. That’s when Affordable Care Act (i.e., ObamaCare) premiums are announced for the next year. And it appears that 2022 will see one of the worst outbreaks in years. As The Hill’s Peter Sullivan explains: “The American Rescue Plan signed by President Biden last year temporarily increased financial assistance under ObamaCare, but that increase is set to expire at the end of this year, causing an increase in [2023] premiums for enrollees in the health law unless Congress acts. “Notices about...
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In with a roar and out with a whimper. This is how we’ll remember a tedious progressive charade that was falsely billed as a righteous war to establish single-payer health care in California but instead fizzled and died in less than a day last week. Assemblyman Ash Kalra’s AB 1400 had dominated the attention of legislators in the first month of this year’s legislative session. Kalra, a San Jose Democrat, obediently carried the water of the radically progressive California Nurses Association (CNA) — and Bernie Sanders-inspired activists — while pushing a complete overhaul of health care in California. This legislation...
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Starting Saturday, private health insurers will be required to cover up to eight home COVID-19 tests per month for people on their plans. The Biden administration announced the change Monday as it looks to lower costs and make testing for the virus more convenient amid rising frustrations. President Joe Biden faced criticism over the holiday season for a shortage of at-home rapid tests as Americans traveled to see family amid the surge in cases from the more transmissible omicron variant. Now the administration is working to make COVID-19 home tests more accessible, both by increasing supply and...
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It's no surprise that someone who went out of his way to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicare taxes would agree to jeopardize the Medicare coverage of 27 million beneficiaries.Twelve months after Joe Biden claimed at the final presidential debate that “not one single person, private insurance, would lose their insurance under my [health] plan,” Democrats stand on the precipice of turning Biden’s statement into a reprise of Barack Obama’s “If you like your plan, you can keep it” Lie of The Year. The effort could cost millions of seniors their private Medicare plans, as Democrats raid...
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Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian notified employees Wednesday that they will face $200 monthly increases on their health insurance premiums starting Nov. 1 if they aren't vaccinated against Covid-19, citing steep costs to cover employees who are hospitalized with the virus. Unvaccinated employees will face other restrictions, including indoor masking effective immediately and weekly Covid-19 tests starting Sept. 12 the Atlanta-based airline said in announcing new Covid policies for employees. The measures are the latest attempt by a U.S. corporation to drive up Covid vaccination rates. Delta stopped short of an outright mandate like rival United Airlines established earlier...
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