November 30th has passed and we have been assured that healthcare.gov is working the way it should have on October 1st. Although individuals may be able to access the site and input information through December 23 for 2014, will they really be covered by January 1, 2014? Is it REALLY that easy to select a… Continue reading Cyber Monday: Health Insurance by Christmas? New Years Day?
Last Thursday, President Obama, in an effort to keep his health care promise, extended the deadline for individual and small business plans to own policies that conform to the ten new Affordable Care Act (ACA). This extension now allows insurers who offered plans in the past without the new essential benefits, to renew the old… Continue reading NOW you can keep your plan. You sure about that?
As a health care consultant, it was critical that I understand the various options that are available to individuals and families on the public health care exchanges. I decided to help my sister, who is a Pennsylvania resident, establish an account on the healthcare.gov site. Pennsylvania is one of the 34 states that is a… Continue reading Take a Walk on the Wild Side: Visit healthcare.gov. I did!
One widely publicized provision of the Affordable Care Act is the capability parents have to cover their children until age 26 in their healthcare plans. Through 2013, more than 2.5 million young adults were added to their parents health insurance. As 2014 and the mandatory health insurance requirements approaches, this increasing number of covered young… Continue reading Young Adults and Healthcare: Young Invincibles?
Maybe. When the ACA was passed in March, 2010, included was an extensive timetable for the implementation of its various provisions. Some were effective immediately; others as far out as 2020. The most significant provisions, however, are scheduled for 2014. Recently, it seems that some key components of the ACA that were listed as 2014… Continue reading True or False: 2014 Will Change the Way Individuals Approach Healthcare?
In accordance with the ACA, states are required to have a health insurance exchange operational either independently, federally or as a partnership between the federal government and the state by January 2014. Since January 2014 is when most Americans must have health insurance, many will need to purchase coverage from an exchange by this coming… Continue reading Looking for a Health Insurance Exchange? Keep Looking!
The state Health Insurance Exchanges, an integral part of the ACA, are scheduled to be available for enrollment in late 2013, with an effective date of January 2014. So far, a small number of states have elected to establish their own exchanges, whereas most states have said that they aren’t interested. The federal government has… Continue reading The Exchanges Provide Essential Health Benefits in 2014
A significant component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the establishment of health care exchanges. The primary function of these exchanges is to offer a marketplace for individuals to purchase health insurance from a variety of providers in a competitive pricing environment. Plans are required to include ten categories of health services known as… Continue reading Health Exchanges and the New World of Health Plans
2012 has been a critical year in the life of the Affordable Care Act. In June, the Act avoided being repealed and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The case was brought by 26 states with the intention of disabling the legislation. Now, with the Presidency decided and Obama reelected, it would seem that the… Continue reading Obamacare dodges the Final Bullet; but will 2014 really be the year of the ACA?
One of the most important and well publicized provisions of the Affordable Care Act is the ability to cover adult children until age 26. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that more than 3 million young adults have been added to their parents’ plans. Are parents entitled to request information from the insurance… Continue reading What’s Your Son Doing at College? Your Health Insurer May Tell You
