Health junction

State By State Analysis of Public Health Service Act Requirements for Employers in the United States The Public Health Service Act of 2010 requires most employers in the United States to provide group medical insurance for their employees. Employers who choose not to comply with this law will be fined, as authorized in Section 490-H of the Internal Revenue Code. Employers with fifty or more employees are required to offer health insurance to their employees who work, on average, thirty or more hours a week. And the insurance plan must meet certain affordability standards, the employer must pay part of the cost and the plan has to meet certain eligibility requirements for enrollment equity. The global purpose of this act is to increase the proportion of people who have access to health care in the United States.   Evidence of the ability to pay for medical treatment through insurance thus contributes to this goal. The data source for the fifty-state-analysis, came from the Nationa...

Accountable Care Organizations and Medicare Shared Savings Program The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), announced proposed rules for the much vaunted Shared Savings Program for qualifying Accountable Care Organizations on March 31st. What struck me about the program, was how much of the risk management formula was taken directly from the private insurance sector, which is an indication of a public/private hybrid for program management. Since it is my belief that we can provide optimal public services through this model, I am keen to evaluate, follow, and measure the results for this revolutionary change in health care delivery for Americans. This article explains the risk sharing mechanisms in the new program and what it may mean for consumers. Private Sector Influence The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, which administer the largest health care program in the country, have created a health c...

State Reactions to 2010 Health Care Reforms A virtual firestorm has ensued with state reactions to some of the federal government mandates under the health care reforms of 2010, from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Public Health Services Act, and the Affordable Health Care Act for America. This article reviews two of these bones of contention, including the consumer protection aspects, which impact the Office of Insurance Commissioners and the reproductive rights provisions. Consumer Protections under Federal Mandates The federal government has awarded thirty million dollars in grants to the states to shore up their consumer protection services for health insurance policy holders. Since the insurance commissioners of each state are already charged with this duty, are staffed for it, and are funded by a tax on the insurance premiums for each insurer, I struggle with the necessity of this award. The insurance commissioner�s office for each state are very well funded a...