Month: August 2022

ABOARD A C-40 MILITARY TRANSPORT JET—Halfway through his tenure in charge of the National Guard, Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson’s quest to get all Guardsmen year-round health insurance has stalled.

Hokanson, who took over as National Guard chief in 2020, has repeatedly raised the prospect of insuring the approximately 60,000 airmen and soldiers who rely on TRICARE while activated, but aren’t otherwise covered by an employer, Medicaid or a private plan sold on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

But the prospective cost of permanently adding those part-time Guardsmen to the TRICARE rolls like their full-time counterparts, plus an untold number of dependents, remains elusive, he told Military Times in an exclusive interview during a trip to Arkansas on Monday.

RELATED

Providing basic TRICARE insurance to those service members alone could cost the federal government upward of $700 million each year, he said. He cautioned that the figure is about a year

Hundreds of thousands of public workers, early retireesm and school employees in New Jersey are facing potential rate increases of as much as 24% for health benefits under proposals being considered by the State Health Benefits Commission.

Rate increases being considered include a 24% increase for medical and a 3.7% increase for pharmacy benefits for active public workers, as well as a 15.6% increase in medical and a 26.1% increase in pharmacy benefits for public workers who retired before the age of 65, according to an email sent to county administrators from New Jersey Association of Counties Executive Director John Donnadio.

Donnadio said in the email that the figures, which haven’t been made public, were shared by an insurance and benefits broker.

StateTreasury spokeswoman Jennifer Sciortino acknowledged rate increases were being considered and added that rates for active members and early retirees would likely increase between 12-20% across the various

Illinois residents who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange will likely see prices rise for next year — in some cases by double digit percentages.

Ten Illinois insurance companies that sell plans on the exchange, at healthcare.gov, are proposing average rate increases of about 3% to nearly 16% for plans in 2023. Consumers can begin shopping Nov. 1 for plans on healthcare.gov for next year.

The state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, is proposing an average rate increase of 5.3%. Celtic Insurance Co., which sells plans called Ambetter, is proposing an average rate increase of 13.7%. UnitedHealthcare of Illinois is proposing an average rate increase of nearly 16%.

Nearly 230,000 Illinois residents have individual Affordable Care Act plans through Blue Cross. About 54,000 people could be affected by the rate change from Celtic/Ambeter, and about 5,500 with UnitedHealthcare could be affected, according

Report changes that may affect insurance subsidies

Over the past two weeks, we’ve focused on the story of Bob, a recent retiree. We’ve gone over his pre-retirement experience and his journey through the processing of his retirement application. This week, we’ll look at his health insurance choices.

Bob has an ongoing dilemma when it comes to health insurance. He arguably doesn’t really need Federal Employees Health Benefits coverage or Medicare, because he is a veteran with a service-connected disability. That means all of his medical needs (service-connected and otherwise) are provided by the Veterans Health Administration, at no charge. VHA does bill private insurers (including those in FEHB) for the non-service connected care it provides.

Nevertheless, Bob enrolled in FEHB during his civilian service at the Federal Aviation Administration for a couple of reasons: in case he should need it for a future spouse, should he remarry, and in order to meet the requirement of being

Insurers are complying with federal rules at price transparency that took effect July 1, but consumer use of the data may have to wait until private firms synthesize it.

DNY59/Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

DNY59/Getty Images

Insurers are complying with federal rules at price transparency that took effect July 1, but consumer use of the data may have to wait until private firms synthesize it.

DNY59/Getty Images

Data wonks with mighty computers are overjoyed. Ordinary consumers, not so much.

That’s the reaction about three weeks into a data dump of enormous proportions. Health insurers are posting their negotiated rates for just about every type of medical service they cover across all providers.

But so much data is flowing in from insurers — tens of thousands of colossal digital files from a single insurer is not unusual — that it could still be weeks before data firms put it into

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Health care coverage for thousands of Vermonters will be significantly more expensive next year. The Green Mountain Care Board approved double-digit rate hikes for Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP Health.

For 70,000 individuals and small employers who get their health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP Health, rates will increase up to nearly 20% depending on the plan.

Thursday, regulators approved rate hikes for Vermonters on Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP Health plans.

Under BCBS, the board approved an 11.7% rate hike for small businesses and an 11.4% increase for individual and family coverage.

Under MVP, an 18.3% hike for small group plans and 19.3% for individual and family plans.

That news is a tough pill for Anders Aughey to swallow.

“That’s going to impact me pretty severely,” Aughey said.

He works at the Vermont Workers’ Center and buys his insurance through

The number of Americans with health insurance continues to rise, as the number of those without health insurance coverage hits an all-time low.

The US Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that the numbers of uninsured Americans hit 8% this year.

The decline in uninsured Americans began last year, when Congress and President Biden signed off on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that lowered premiums and out-of-pocket costs for new or returning customers purchasing plans through the Affordable Care Act’s private health insurance markets.

FILE – Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference June 28, 2022, in Washington. The number of people living in America without health insurance coverage hit an all-time low of 8 percent this year. ((AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) / AP Newsroom)

The uninsured rate fell to just under nine percent last year