ObamaCare Extends Its Tentacles

As I travel across the country and speak to many different groups -- physicians, researchers, hospital executives, health insurance brokers, state legislators, and others -- it is becoming increasingly obvious that ObamaCare is failing even before it begins.

The more information we get about its implementation, the clearer it is that the law will topple from its unsustainable costs and massive bureaucracy.

Health-care mandate costly and complex, business leaders tell legislators [Tulsa World, Okla.]

Federal health-care mandates will be expensive and make the decisions of Oklahoma employers more difficult, business leaders told a state legislative panel Wednesday.

"It's been complex. It's been burdensome. It's been costly, for sure. It's been confusing," said J. Michael Rogers, chairman of the health care committee of the state chamber of commerce.

Businesses weigh in on health exchange

Witnesses representing hundreds of Idaho employers asked a legislative task force Tuesday to create a state-run health insurance exchange. They stood before the Health Care Task Force at the Capitol, and just one person, the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s Wayne Hoffman, protested any kind of exchange whatsoever.

The proposed exchange would be a marketplace where all Idahoans could comparison shop for health insurance and buy it. Some low-income Idahoans would use federal subsidies to buy coverage there.

Mass Dem: Health insurance mandate is 'thoughtless'

Boston — Seeking to choke off a steadily growing list of mandated benefits they say are crushing small businesses, health insurance industry groups clashed Monday with a key Democratic lawmaker who called their pursuit of a moratorium “thoughtless.”

“I would suggest that a moratorium is exactly the wrong approach,” said Rep. Steven Walsh (D-Lynn), co-chair of the Committee on Health Care Financing, during a State House hearing on legislation that would put a hold on new mandated benefits, as well as scrap “ineffective” mandates.

Maryland group joins national health care coalition

The Annapolis, Md.-based Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative announced it will join a national coalition of health groups with the mission to enroll uninsured people under the federal health care reform in 2014.

Enroll America, a campaign of more than 40 health care organizations that includes AARP, Aetna, the American Hospital Association, United Way, and the National Association of Health Underwriters, is spearheaded by Families USA, a liberal advocacy group.

How will healthcare reforms affect your dental practice?

SAN FRANCISCO - Dentists and their employees should take note of new tax implications and reporting requirements that will take effect in the next two years as part of the U.S. healthcare reform law, according to two presentations at the California Dental Association (CDA) fall meeting last week.

Since the average dentist has fewer than 50 employees, they will not be subject to the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) employer mandates, which begin in 2014.

Driven by opposition to the health reform law — and Democrats who supported it — groups representing agents and brokers have taken a leading role among political donors from the insurance sector. Of the 10 largest contributors to federal candidates in the 2011-2012 election cycle, five represent large numbers of agents and brokers, according to the latest data from the independent Center for Responsive Politics. Combined, organizations including the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America and the National Association of Health Underwriters have delivered nearly $1.2 million through their federal registered political action committees.

Medicare and managing privacy

You may find yourself at a dead end in getting information when you desperately need it. There are several ways a person can authorize another to get information on their health.

Medicare has a responsibility to guard the privacy of a beneficiary even if that beneficiary is your child, parent, husband or wife. While you may have lived your entire life with the person on Medicare you may find yourself at a dead end in getting information when you desperately need it.

HHS finds no cause to exempt Del. from medical loss ratio requirement

Delaware’s request to exempt two state health insurers from the medical loss ratio (MLR) provision under the federal health care reform was rejected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services denied Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart’s application for a three-year waiver to exempt Aetna and UnitedHealthcare from spending 80% of premiums on medical care rather than administrative expenses or profits.