Consumers would have received rebates of nearly $2 billion — in some cases as much as $300 member – if the health-law cap on insurance profits and overhead had been in place in 2010, estimates a new study. In Washington, total rebates to individual coverage would have run more than $6.5 million or about $62 per member.
Insurers have tried to cajole us into using less-expensive health providers by promising lower co-pays and other cost-sharing breaks. Now, they’re trying an even more direct approach: cash rewards.
In addition to requiring free contraceptive coverage, this year the new health law will require premium rebates and clearer descriptions of health plan benefits and will lower out-of-pocket Medicare drug costs.
Six in ten Americans, including Catholics, said they support a requirement by the Obama administration that health plans supply free contraceptives as a preventive benefit for women.
A Washington state survey of 53 hospitals found that during an 18-month period in 2008-09, residents made more than 23,000 visits to ERs for toothaches or other dental problems. Among the uninsured, patients with dental disorders were the most frequent ER visitors.
About half of respondents say they or a friend or family member has received Medicaid, and a similar share say the program is important to their family. Among the one in five respondents who personally have been covered by Medicaid.
In new poll, 62 percent of seniors said they want Medicare to be left alone, but, overall, Americans are split with 50 percent of all polled saying they wanted Medicare to remain the same and 46 percent saying it should be changed.
Nine months after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, Americans remain just as divided over the federal health care overhaul as they were in the weeks immediately following its passage, a new poll finds. Forty two percent of Americans say they are at least somewhat favorable to the new health care law, while 41 percent say the opposite.
Among those who support repeal of all or parts of the law, a majority want to keep key provisions tested in the poll.
Support for the health reform law rose to 49% of Americans in September, a climb of 6 points, while opposition fell from 45% to 40% — but 53% say they’re confused about the law, up 8% points.
Nationally, employees now pay an average of $3,997 as their share of the annual family health insurance premium — twice the 2001 amount.
Overall support remained stable since the June survey, with about half the public expressing a favorable view of the overhaul, the poll found.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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