Latest Health Insurance Headlines
All the headlines from our Health Insurance Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Medical Malpractice Excluded from Health Insurers’ Antitrust Legislation
Feb 22 2010 // Free-standing legislation introduced by Reps. Betsy Markey of Colorado and Thomas Perriello of Virginia to amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act for health insurers no longer includes text to remove the limited antitrust...
Oregon Makes Health Insurance Rate Filings Public
Feb 18 2010 // Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services Insurance Division has finalized changes to its health insurance rate review process that make all information submitted as part of an insurance company’s...
Democrats Seize on Wellpoint’s 39% Rate Hike to Renew Reform Effort
Feb 12 2010 // Health insurer WellPoint Inc. defended its rate hike of up to 39 percent for certain California customers as Democrats latched onto the increase to press their case for overhauling the U.S. healthcare system. The...
What Republicans Are Proposing for Healthcare Reform
Feb 11 2010 // President Barack Obama has asked Republicans to bring their best ideas on healthcare reform to a televised bipartisan meeting later this month that Democrats hope will help restart the stalled healthcare overhaul...
California Regulator Wants Anthem Blue Cross To Postpone Rate Increase
Feb 10 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, responding to a dramatic proposed rate hike by WellPoint’s California affiliate, Anthem Blue Cross, has called on WellPoint executives to postpone the rate increase,...
House to Vote on Repeal of Health Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption
Feb 3 2010 // The U.S. House of Representatives will vote next week on repealing the antitrust exemption for health insurers, but Democrats remained uncertain Tuesday on how to proceed on a broader healthcare overhaul. Senate Democratic...
Obama’s Budget Shows Only Modest Changes in Health Reforms
Feb 2 2010 // The Obama administration’s latest spending plan calls for modest changes to the U.S. health care system but does little to incorporate sweeping moves called for Democrats’ larger plan to increase access and...
White House Budget Takes Small Steps on Health Care Reform
Feb 1 2010 // With plans to pass sweeping health care reform stalled in Congress, the White House is targeting smaller efforts to improve the nation’s health care system, such as increasing use of cheaper, generic medicines and...
Health Insurers Seek Tax, Profit Changes in Health Reform Bill
Jan 8 2010 // Health insurance lobbyists are pushing lawmakers to eliminate caps on profits and other administrative spending and delay a hefty, industry-wide tax under the massive healthcare reform legislation being finalized in...
Illinois Governor Signs Consumer Health Claims Review Bill
Jan 6 2010 // Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed a bill into law that ensures that all denied health insurance claims can be reviewed and decided upon by a qualified, independent doctor. The law goes into effect July 1. Under...
Key Differences in Senate, House Health Bills
Jan 6 2010 // Democrats in the U.S. Congress are preparing to merge the two health care bills passed in 2009 by the Senate and House of Representatives into a single bill. This compromise bill would have to be passed by both chambers of...
Oregon Announces Insurance Aid for Laid Off Workers
Dec 24 2009 // Oregonians who have been laid off from their jobs can continue to receive help paying for health insurance into 2010. The Insurance Division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services is adopting emergency rules...
Health Insurance Captive Ordered to Stop Selling in Florida
Dec 22 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has ordered captive insurer American Assurance Underwriters Group and its affiliates Worldwide Expatriate Administrators LLC and Worldwide Expatriate Advisors LLC to stop...
Medicare Expansion May Not Survive in Senate Healthcare Bill
Dec 15 2009 // U.S. Senate Democrats struggled Monday to agree on a broad healthcare overhaul and said a compromise plan to allow an expansion of the Medicare health program for the elderly would likely be dropped. After a meeting to...
Democrats Weigh Replacing Public Option, Expanding Medicare
Dec 9 2009 // U.S. Senate Democratic healthcare negotiators said they agreed Tuesday to replace a government-run insurance option with a scaled-back non-profit plan and would seek cost estimates on the deal. “We have a broad...
Agents’ New Lobbying Agenda
Dec 6 2009 // The 2,074-page health care bill includes a range of items that some say could be time bombs in waiting for some agencies – or new opportunities. Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance...
How House, Senate Health Care Bills Compare
Dec 6 2009 // The federal health care legislation released by the U.S. Senate’s Democratic leaders on Nov. 18 resembles a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Nov. 7 in many ways but there are some major differences...
Winners, Losers in Senate Health Bill
Nov 23 2009 // Democrats in the Senate cleared the first procedural hurdle for sweeping healthcare reform Saturday by voting to open debate on the historic legislation. The Senate debate due to start on Nov. 30 is expected to last for at...
U.S. Senate Gears Up for First Key Healthcare Reform Vote
Nov 20 2009 // Democrats in the U.S. Senate geared up for a fierce battle over a new healthcare reform plan Thursday as Republicans condemned the bill’s price tag and tax hikes before the first crucial test vote Saturday. Senate...
Health Care Reform Dominates Trade Group’s Lobbying Agenda
Nov 20 2009 // Until this year, health care was a minor blip on the radar of insurance agents’ policy efforts in D.C. But with a major reform bill imminent, key trade groups are devoting nearly all of their time to try and tweak...
