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Individual/Family Health

Health Wonks and Selfies

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Steve Anderson did a great job with the selfies edition of the Health Wonk Review, hosted at MedicareResources.org this week.  There’s plenty of great reading material in this edition, so be sure to check it out.  Some of my favorites: Wendell Potter’s article about prescription drugs, Medicare, lawmakers, and pharmaceutical lobbying is a must-read.  The… Read more about Health Wonks and Selfies

Access to healthcare in Colorado: A new day, but there’s still work to be done

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Colorado Uninsured Rate Down 53% Every other year since 2009, the Colorado Health Access survey has been conducted by interviewing at least 10,000 Colorado households on a variety of health-related metrics.  The 2015 report was released on September 1, and is aptly titled “A New Day in Colorado.”  One of the biggest headline grabbers in the latest… Read more about Access to healthcare in Colorado: A new day, but there’s still work to be done

Universal healthcare in Colorado – does one size really fit all?

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Universal healthcare coverage could be a reality in Colorado a few years from now, although it admittedly has some significant hurdles to overcome in the meantime.  Supporters need to gather 99,000 signatures in order to get the ColoradoCare initiative on the 2016 ballot.  And then voters would need to approve the measure in order to… Read more about Universal healthcare in Colorado – does one size really fit all?

A petition to make pregnancy a qualifying event in Colorado – but something doesn’t add up

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Last month, Broomfield resident Sean Jenks created a Change.org petition asking Colorado lawmakers to allow a special enrollment period for women who become pregnant.  It’s picked up considerably steam in the last 24 hours, and now has more than 13,000 supporters. Jenks points out that New York and California have taken steps to make pregnancy… Read more about A petition to make pregnancy a qualifying event in Colorado – but something doesn’t add up

Broker participation in Connect for Health Colorado

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As of the end of June, Connect for Health Colorado had 134,200 people with effectuated individual private plan enrollments for 2015.  Of those, 62,146 had help from a broker, and 9,509 had help from a health coverage guide (Colorado’s version of navigators).  According to the Connect for Health Colorado 2015 enrollment report, just 1% of… Read more about Broker participation in Connect for Health Colorado

Connect for Health Colorado board meeting – Jay’s proposals

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Earlier this month, Representative Hullinghorst, the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, appointed Jay to the Connect for Health Colorado board of directors.  Jay and I have always worked as a team, and we’re honored and excited to have the opportunity to help guide the exchange going forward.  We welcome feedback from the rest… Read more about Connect for Health Colorado board meeting – Jay’s proposals

Proposed rate increases in Colorado: CO-OP up 21%, Kaiser up 2%

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The back-story Last September, when we wrote about the fact that the average individual rates increase in Colorado was less than one percent for 2015, we noted that the overall rate increase was astoundingly low – far lower than anything we’d seen during our time in this industry. And although it will be several more weeks… Read more about Proposed rate increases in Colorado: CO-OP up 21%, Kaiser up 2%

Health wonk reading for the Memorial Day weekend

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Julie Ferguson did an outstanding job with this week’s Health Wonk Review, and it’s full of great articles from our favorite health wonks. A must-read is Charles Gaba’s excellent run-down on what you need to know about rate increase filings.  Gaba’s is the wizard behind ACAsignups.net, and he does an outstanding job of crunching up… Read more about Health wonk reading for the Memorial Day weekend

The Luis Lang story – an update and my own thoughts

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Last week, Ann Doss Helms wrote an article for the Charlotte Observer about Luis Lang, a SC man with diabetes who will go blind if he doesn’t get eye surgery in the near future.  In a nutshell, Luis Lang is a Republican who opted to ignore the ACA’s individual mandate in 2014, and he also… Read more about The Luis Lang story – an update and my own thoughts

Health Wonkery – replacing Obamacare, covering undocumented immigrants, and much more

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Joe Paduda did an excellent job with the latest edition of the Health Wonk Review over at Managed Care Matters.  My favorite post in the HWR comes from Tim Jost, writing at Health Affairs.  His article, about what would replace the ACA if it were repealed, is an excellent read.  Jost digs deep into the… Read more about Health Wonkery – replacing Obamacare, covering undocumented immigrants, and much more

A new job is not a qualifying event for a SEP

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Now that open enrollment is over, the only way people can enroll in individual health plans is with a qualifying event.  This applies both on and off the exchange. Outside of open enrollment, individual/family health insurance is only for sale if you’ve got a special enrollment period triggered by a qualifying event. So what constitutes… Read more about A new job is not a qualifying event for a SEP

What if your coverage gap spans two calendar years?

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Last week, I wrote a post detailing exactly how the ACA’s “short coverage gap” exemption works.  In a nutshell, as long as your gap in coverage is less than three months long and you maintain coverage for the rest of the year, you don’t have to pay a penalty for being without coverage. In that… Read more about What if your coverage gap spans two calendar years?

Short Gap in ACA coverage – IRS Says Three Months is Too Long

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One of the exemptions from the ACA’s individual mandate penalty is for people who have a short gap in ACA coverage.  According to the IRS regulations (see page 53654), there’s no penalty as long as the “continuous period without minimum essential coverage is less than three full calendar months and is the first short coverage… Read more about Short Gap in ACA coverage – IRS Says Three Months is Too Long

No Tax Season Special Enrollment Period In Colorado

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A few weeks ago, the federal government announced that people in the 37 states that use Healthcare.gov would have access to a tax season special enrollment period (SEP) if they were unaware of the ACA’s penalty for being uninsured, and found out about it at the time they filed their taxes – which could be up to… Read more about No Tax Season Special Enrollment Period In Colorado

A Tenth Anniversary Health Wonk Review at Health Business Blog

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Health Business Blog was one of the sites we used to read even before we started our own blog in 2006 – and we’ve been reading it ever since.  It’s turning ten this weekend (where does the time go?!) and to celebrate, David hosted the Health Wonk Review this week.   There are lots of great… Read more about A Tenth Anniversary Health Wonk Review at Health Business Blog

Take heart – there’s plenty of good stuff in this HWR

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Peggy Salvatore hosted the Valentine’s Day edition of the Health Wonk Review, and you don’t want to miss it.  Here are some of my favorites in this week’s HWR: Writing at Health Affairs, Ron Pollack from Families USA demonstrates the ways that the context of the ACA clearly makes subsidies available in every state.  SCOTUS is… Read more about Take heart – there’s plenty of good stuff in this HWR

Kicking off 2015 with the latest from all the wonks

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Vince Kuraitis hosted the first Health Wonk Review of 2015 – the “shake the winter blahs” edition – at his eCareManagement Blog, and it’s full of great articles.  Some of my favorites in this edition: Roy Poses, writing about the “miracle” Hepatitis C drugs and reminding us – as always – to focus on evidence…. Read more about Kicking off 2015 with the latest from all the wonks