Politics and Policy

With the vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act behind them, many Congressional leaders are focusing instead on ways to repair or eliminate some of the more contentious reform provisions.

Health plans offered through exchanges will have to provide benefits packages that cover at least 10 "essential" categories.

A few states have threatened to shut down Medicaid programs, and some say they won't set up local insurance exchanges if they have to meet all the requirements of the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act.

Industry watchers predict that plan profits will be seriously squeezed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

As Republication leadership strives to dismantle the law, administration officials are taking steps to protect it

The feds are moving aggressively to breathe life into many new programs authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, now nearly a year old

Health plans have little time to prep their operational strategies for new rules under health reform

Uncertainty is the theme for 2011. Insurers have to implement a multitude of new requirements for providing coverage, often with scant information.

The certification of rules regarding medical-loss ratios brings some clarity to an issue that has tried the patience of health plans, but now the hard work begins, according to analysts.

The worst case scenario for health plans would be if the planned expansion of healthcare coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act evaporates, leaving insurers with added fees, onerous market regulations and fewer customers

Ever since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in March, plans have talked about simply leaving certain markets

Only about one in five respondents said their company has a program in place to analyze the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on their health benefits

When Republicans talk about repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they really mean that they want to eliminate the individual coverage mandate

Few plan organizations are whole-heartedly in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In fact, there might be just one--the Association for Community Affiliated Plans

When it comes to insurance, the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show 2009 was a year of superlatives, and none of them good.

The most powerful person in the nation's healthcare system made a heartfelt call for industry assistance in reforming healthcare.

The adoption of healthcare reform has created an environment that encourages insurers, health plans, hospitals and clinicians to seek common ground

California is making a statement as the first state to create an oversight board for insurance exchanges, in compliance with the requirements established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

There is great optimism that new payment models and comparative effectiveness research will improve quality of care and curb unwarranted spending

Republicans introduced a bill to abolish Medicare's Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) before it even gets off the ground

For health reform to be a success, employers must continue to provide healthcare benefits

Beyond basic compliance with the regulations, the market fallout could be anything from a pin drop to a sonic boom

Most existing benefit plans will lose their grandfathered status by 2019, according to observers

Many fear that the $5 billion allocated by the federal government for high-risk insurance pools won't last until 2014

Insurers have been complaining loudly about the proposed methods for calculating a health plan's medical loss ratio (MLR), which has been recently developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.