US Supreme Court will review the effectiveness of the mandatory purchasing of health insurance ‘The Affordable Care Act’ by the US citizens, a new law signed by the US president.

The law, under which the people of US will have to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty, has been challenged by 26 of the 50 US states, arguing that Congress exceeded its constitutional power and argued that the government should not interfere and force citizens to pay for a product they have opted against.

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Health Insurance Premiums Increasing at Rapid Pace

New health insurance premiums projections were released in the latest issue of Annals of Family Medicine by Richard A. Young and Jennifer E. Devoe, medical doctors with John Peter Smith Hospital and the Department of Family Medicine. The data revealed that health insurance premiums are increasing at a faster pace than most speculate.

The doctors explained that the way health insurance premiums are pacing, they are likely to surpass the average household income by 2037 that is, if health premiums and national wages continue to grow at recent rates.

Whether consumers are acquiring insurance independently or through their employers, their health insurance premiums will still be affected.

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Private health insurance is the main source of health coverage for the majority of people in the United States. Approximately 58% of all Americans have private health care coverage. For elderly citizens and eligible children and families from low-income households, public programs are the primary source of health cover. Public programs include Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP. TRICARE and the Veterans programs also provide some coverage.

Since the turn of the millennia, millions of Americans have found themselves with no health cover at all. Full post…

Health Insurance Companies Make Coverage Easier to Understand

Health insurance companies are now responsible for ensuring their customers are able to understand the basics of their coverage as determined by final rules issued by the White House. Coverage details will take the form of simplified summaries of benefits and coverage, along with a glossary of terms.

Consumers will receive the forms when they apply for a new plan or have their coverage renewed. Arriving in an eight-page document, the forms will outline the following:

• Co-payments for drugs, doctor and hospital care
• Deductibles for limits on coverage
• What services the plan does and does not cover

U.S.

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The Obama administration has ordered health insurance company, Trustmark,  to rescind its recent request for a health insurance rates increase after deeming it unreasonable.

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The U.S. remains on track to spend twice as much for health care as for food, yet millions are without insurance or uninsured. “Health insurance premiums also continue to rise on average another 9 percent in 2011,” says Merton Bernstein, JD, leading health insurance expert and the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis. “Medical care costs can change direction if policy makers stop whistling past a significant contributor non-benefit costs.” Bernstein details the numerous stages of the process for billing medical care services and the processing of these bills by insurers in his current Health Affairs piece, “Pay Attention to Health Insurance Non-Benefit Costs.” He estimates, using Best’s Insurance data, that about one billion non-Medicare billings are processed yearly. Full post…