Healthcare Reform Stories - Aging News Alert

Commonwealth Fund Releases Latest Health Care ‘Scorecard’ Results

If you live in Hawaii, the Upper Midwest, New England, or the San Francisco area, chances are you enjoying a pretty good health care delivery system -- better than those who live in the South and West. That’s one of the takeaways from the latest “health care scorecard” released this week by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund.

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Changes Made in ACA-related ‘Special Enrollment Periods’

If you’re uninsured and over 50 but not yet eligible for Medicare, then the Health Insurance Marketplace provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are likely important to you. This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is making changes in some of the administrative rules governing the Marketplace.

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2014 Healthcare Expenditures Increase under Obamacare

The report concludes that the increase in spending growth from 2013 was primarily driven by millions of new people with health insurance coverage, a result of the Affordable Care Act, and by rapidly rising prescription drug costs.

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Survey Finds Large Majority of ACA-Covered Americans Satisfied

A large majority (86%) of Americans -- many of them older adults who are not yet eligible for Medicare but who are currently insured through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces or newly insured in Medicaid -- are very or somewhat satisfied with their new health care coverage, according to a just-released Commonwealth Fund report.

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Insurance Holdouts Thought They Were Ineligible for Help

Nearly half of Americans lacking health insurance during the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces appeared to be eligible for government assistance, but two-thirds of them said they found the health plans too expensive or were told they didn’t qualify, according to a just-released survey.

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Low-, Moderate-Income Adults Struggle with Deductibles

Adults with the lowest incomes -- especially older Americans on fixed retirement incomes -- are most likely to skip needed care, research shows.

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High Court Delays Action on Obamacare Subsidies Case

The Supremes could have announced on Monday whether they would hear the case. Instead, the case was slated for “relisting.” The next chance for the court to announce whether it will hear the case is Nov. 10.

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Report Finds ACA Insurance Coverage Affordable for Most

More than three of five shoppers who tried to find out if they were eligible for premium subsidies or Medicaid had an easy time doing so.

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ACA Seen Reducing Number of Uninsured

The number of uninsured Americans fell in early 2014, according to the first federal survey estimates provided since the Affordable Care Act’s major insurance expansions went into effect.

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Contrary to Predictions, There is No ACA Healthcare Stampede

Five and a half years ago when President Obama began the push for his landmark healthcare reform legislation, the naysayers -- and there were many of them -- predicted that enactment of the Affordable Care Act would spur a tidal wave of demand for medical services making it virtually impossible for anyone to receive quality healthcare. Millions of newly insured people were not only going to pack doctors’ offices, their ranks would be largely filled with sick people suffering from all sorts of untreated illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

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