About health insurance
CMS releases rule to require ACA insurers to send separate bill for abortion coverage: “Affordable Care Act exchange insurers must send separate bills to consumers for the portion of their premiums attributable to certain types of abortion services, according to a final rule.
The rule released Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services imposes the new requirements on insurers to ensure they meet a federal prohibition on public funding for abortion coverage, officials said. It also has new requirements for states to help identify people who are enrolled on both exchanges in addition to other government health programs.”
Open enrollment on ACA exchanges remains stable: “…preliminary figures indicate more than 8.3 million people enrolled for coverage on the ACA exchanges through Dec. 17 for the 2020 open enrollment period. That's down about 2.4% from the approximately 8.5 million individuals who enrolled for 2019 coverage during last year's open enrollment period.” A late surge and short extension accounted for these numbers.
How 2 former debt collectors helped erase $1B in medical bills: A great holiday story! “Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton had decades of experience as medical debt collectors when they founded RIP Medical Debt in 2014. Since then, the nonprofit organization has helped eliminate medical debt for more than 500,000 people across the U.S.
RIP raises funds from individual donors, philanthropists and organizations to purchase medical debt in bulk for pennies on the dollar. Once RIP buys debt, it is forgiven. Over the past five years, the organization has erased $1 billion in medical debt, including $65 million in debt owed by veterans.”
Patient loyalty to healthcare providers is at risk over transparency, finds AccessOne survey: Loyalty has a price: “Two in five consumers say they would switch providers to access affordable payment arrangements to cover their costs of care -- including half of households with children, an AccessOne survey has found.
That's an increase over 2018 survey figures, when 33% of individuals and 43% of households with children said they would be willing to switch providers for more affordable payment options.”
Unfortunately, the study does not detail the amounts over which patients would switch.
Trump signs bills to avoid shutdown, scrap Obamacare taxes and raise tobacco buying age: The tax agreement is now law. See previous posts for healthcare implications.
About healthcare quality
Doctors Online Reviews are Polarized:Compared to hotel and restaurant Yelp reviews, “people’s experiences with doctors are polarized: either awful or spectacular… The most prevalent issues in negative doctors’ online reviews include frustration and difficulty making appointments, long waiting room times, and rude front desk, billing and nursing staff.
There is good news for physicians, however. Patients are almost twice as likely to give doctors good reviews as poor ones.”