Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Parent Company Proposes to Acquire Cigna CorporationJune 24, 2015On Saturday, June 20, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s parent company announced that it has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI) for $184 per share in cash and stock. The proposed combination would create a premier global healt
Source: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
The federal government cannot verify nearly $3 billion in subsidies distributed through ObamaCare, putting significant taxpayer funding at risk, according to a new audit report.
Source: Feds can’t verify nearly $3B in ObamaCare subsidies, audit shows | Fox News
This second report in the series Medicare at 50 Years describes how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is strengthening the program for current and future beneficiaries and outlines the major challenges that policymakers have yet to confront. Certain ACA reforms have the potential to reshape not just the Medicare program but the entire U.S. health care system, the authors say.
As Medicare prepares to mark its 50th anniversary in July 2015, there is a lot to celebrate. For 50 years, Medicare has accomplished its two key goals: ensure access to health care for its elderly and disabled beneficiaries, and protect them against the financial hardship of health care costs.
Source: Medicare: 50 Years of Ensuring Coverage and Care – The Commonwealth Fund
While the trend toward longer, healthier lives is well-known, retirement planning is fraught with uncertainty. Research shows that over the past two decades expected retirement age has gone up. In 1991, 11 percent of workers expected to retire after age 65. In 2014, it was 33 percent, and 10 percent don’t plan to retire at […]
Most health insurance companies want to raise prices on Kentucky’s health exchange next year, and some companies are blaming the Affordable Care Act for the higher costs.
Source: Most health insurance companies on kynect ask for higher rates in 2016
Several states that chose to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare are now facing high-than-expected costs, the result of more signups than anticipated and the federal government soon paying less.
Source: Medicaid enrollment under ObamaCare soars, raising cost concerns
Are you receiving your Medicare benefits through a MedicareAdvantage PPO or HMO plan, OR, an “on-exchange”/”off-exchange” Obamacare or legacy healthcare plan? If so, be sure to do the following when seeing any doctor for the first time.
At the front desk or with your doctor’s billing representative, show your MedicareAdvantage membership card (from Humana or Anthem BC/BS or other) and ask them if they can verify that they are “in-network” for your plan. Do NOT ask them if they take your plan. Inevitably they will nearly always say they will “take your insurance and file it” for you.
This does not mean that they are in-network and could cause you to have higher copays, and/or you may not even be covered for the visit.
What you need to know is if your doctors are “in-network”. That is the key.
Some insurers are proposing big rate increases for next year as their enrollees go to more doctors and need more medications.
Source: Obamacare sticker shock: Insurers propose rate hikes for 2016 – Jun. 2, 2015
