Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones warned seniors and their advocates to beware of shady sales practices during the 2012 annual open enrollment period for Medicare Advantage Plans and the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. Open enrollment begins October 15 and runs through December 7. Jones offers these tips: • Medicare has no official sales representatives so the
Read More...Despite uncertainty in the job market, employees give several non-monetary reasons for staying on the job including having a good work-life balance and enjoying what they do, according to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association (APA). Although 60% of employees stay with their employers because of benefits and 59% stay because of the
Read More...California has hit some snags in its yearlong effort to move 400,000 seniors and people with disabilities into Medi-Cal managed care coverage, according to the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF). From June 2011 to May 2012, 240,000 people were moved from fee-for-service coverage into managed care. Beneficiaries had trouble reading materials and were confused about how
Read More...The Supreme Court’s verdict upholding the constitutionality of the individual mandate has had little effect on public opinion. About 60% have an unfavorable view of the mandate whether it is described as tax or a fine. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s (KFF) tracking poll also reveals confusion over who will be subject to the tax penalty
Read More...Supreme Court’s Healthcare Decision Expected Thursday. The Supreme Court said Monday that it will announce the remainder of its decisions for the term on Thursday. The New York Times (6/26, Times, Subscription Publication) says the announcement makes it “very likely that a decision on the comprehensive law overhauling health care will come that day.” The
Read More...Many human resource professionals and benefit decision makers at companies of all sizes are not confident that their organizations understand their new responsibilities under the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Also, preparedness for key upcoming ACA regulations varies greatly across different sized companies. ADP recently surveyed more than 800 human resource and benefit
Read More...The United Health Group, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, announced Sunday night that it planned to continue offering some of the popular consumer protections required by the federal health care law, even if the Supreme Court declares the entire law unconstitutional later this month. The company, whose annual revenues top $100 billion, says it will continue
Read More...If the entire Affordable Care Act wins the constitutional challenge, managed care companies and insurers win big because they get to divvy up as many as 32 million new customers who’ll be required by law to buy health insurance – many of them young and healthy. That should more than offset any losses incurred by
Read More...June 2, 2012 (Sacramento) Wednesday the Senate approved Senate Bill 961, authored by Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D. (D – West Covina), to make many of the protections established under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) part of California law. SB 961 requires every health plan, by January 1, 2014, to include guaranteed
Read More...A new study by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute titled The Economic Impact of the Affordable Care Act on California concludes that the federal health care law would create almost 100,000 new jobs across California and boost economic output by $4.4 billion. The biggest expected job gains occur in Southern California, with almost 58,000 new jobs
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