Health junction

How Insurance Companies, Employers, and Insureds will fare under the PPAC Act Some of the legislators think the healthcare reform bill, signed by President Obama is a catastrophe, but from this angle it looks like a big win for the insurance industry. Though lots of things are missing from the bill, such as cost containment, this is the single biggest health care reform since Medicare was enacted in 1965. This article reviews how the current Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act impacts the insurance industry and its offerings. Top 10 changes to the Insurance Industry with the PPACA law 1. Creation of the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust, funded through a panoply of new taxes to provide subsidies and expansion of health insurance programs, both government and private sector for the uninsured. 2. Medical insurance is now required for most U.S.A. residents (AKA lots of new customers!!!) 3. Removal of excessive waiting periods prior to commencement of insurance coverage ...

Listening to some of the law makers you would think the healthcare reform bill, signed by President Obama was an apocalypse now, rather than a process, albeit a messy one, of change in our democracy. Certainly lots of things are missing from the single biggest healthcare reform (cost containment) since the initiation of Medicare in the sixties, but this article reviews how the current Public Health Services Act impacts hospital systems. And you can thank-me-in-advance for compressing the 153-page bill into only 4 pages for you to digest. Medicare Changes Medicare changes will have an impact on hospitals, as the majority of their patients are typically Medicare eligible. 1. Closure of the prescription drug "donut hole" exclusion under Medicare Part D Medicare enrollees who have used all of their prescription drug allowance will be reimbursed up to $250 to close this loophole. This reimbursement will be allowed once per year per enrollee for Medicare Part D drugs. Also, the dif...

Whew! I must say I am surprised that any agreement was reached on a healthcare bill, but President Obama was presented with a bill and he signed it. Having read all 153 pages of the bill, I am NOT going to write one review of the bill, but this week, I will break it down into three articles. The first article will feature healthcare changes for hospitals, the second article will address insurance changes, and the third article will showcase how these regulatory changes will impact consumers. The only way to digest this mammoth piece of legislation is in smaller bites. So watch for more from the healthpolicymaven this week.