Tag: Obamacare
Md. health insurers want 28% rate hike; consumers face agonizing choices
Consumers who aren’t covered by employer insurance plans, or earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, will face steep premium increases in the Individual (or Indy”) Market averaging 28% higher than last year under the Affordable Care Act, if the Maryland Insurance Administration approves the proposed hikes.
Read More
Rascovar column: Maryland’s Obamacare fiasco continues
How high will it go? How much more will it cost the O’Malley-Brown administration to fix or totally replace the dysfunctional online health insurance system that it bragged about until the software crashed on Day One?
It already is the most costly debacle in state history.
Read MoreRascovar column: Brown has a health care albatross
Maryland’s lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, has a problem that won’t go away — his still unexplained leadership role in the state’s disastrous Obamacare rollout.
This is the biggest sticking point in Brown’s run for governor. It could become an insurmountable obstacle if public attention remains focused on those computer glitches and poor sign-up results.
Read More
We’re on Christmas break till Jan. 2; here are our top 10 stories of 2013
We’re taking a break from Dec. 25 through Jan. 2. We don’t plan on publishing any original stories or the daily State Roundup until the day after New Year’s. Here are MarylandReporter.com’s top 10 stories of the year, based on traffic calculations by Google Analytics. Four of the top 10, including number 1 and 2, are about the “rain tax.”
Read MoreRascovar column: Lt. Gov. Brown takes heat on Obamacare
Let’s face it: Maryland dropped the ball on implementing Obamacare. To date the rollout has been a failure. Who bears ultimate responsibility? Let’s start at the top with Gov. Martin O’Malley and his designated point man on the healthcare rollout, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. Ever since 2010, Brown has promoted his leadership role in the Obamacare implementation.
Read More
Many Marylanders still optimistic about health care reform, poll finds
Almost half of Marylanders still think the new health care law will have a positive impact on the quality of health care in Maryland, a new Goucher poll found. But only half of those surveyed said they had heard of the website MarylandHealthConnection.gov, the state’s access portal for health insurance.
The respondents also believed the insurance companies were the most prepared to handle the implementation of the health insurance reform and the federal government was the least prepared.
Read MoreState weighing delay of Jan. launch for small business health exchange
An abrupt cancellation of a series of small business exchange workshops by Maryland health officials has fueled speculation that for the second time this year the launch of the small business health insurance exchange, known as SHOP, will be delayed.
Read MoreMd. officials count undocumented immigrants as uninsured for health care, but none qualify for Obamacare
State officials have been talking a lot about the high number of uninsured Marylanders who will have access to Obamacare, but not all are eligible to sign up.
Of the state’s estimated 750,000 to 800,000 uninsured residents, only 480,500 — or roughly 60% — are eligible to enroll for health insurance plans under President Obama’s signature health care law, according to the federal health care website HealthCare.gov.
Rascovar commentary on Ben Carson’s split personality
As a pediatric neurosurgeon, Ben Carson was spectacular. As a philanthropist, he and his wife are exemplary leaders in awarding scholarships to deserving youths who strive to be the best, regardless of economic or societal circumstances. But as a novice political commentator, Ben Carson is displaying a less admirable side.
Read MoreWestern Md. health exchange finds paper trail around Obamacare glitches
One of Maryland’s six health care groups contracted to enroll Marylanders in Obamacare health insurance plans has found a way around computer glitches the state has been experiencing since the health insurance exchange opened Oct. 1 — they’re going back to paper.
Healthy Howard, which services residents of six Western Maryland counties, has only been able to complete enrollment on the computer system for five people since the exchange opened. After being open one week, the state had enrolled only 326 people through its site.
Read MoreObamacare forum raises questions about Oct. 1 small business deadline
According to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), all small businesses subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act — regardless of whether they offer health insurance to their employees or not — are required to notify their employees about the new health insurance marketplace by Oct. 1. New hires on or after Oct. 1 must be notified at the time of hire.
Read MoreState prepares for former inmates to sign up for Medicaid
State officials are working to make sure people being released from prison will sign up for benefits during the 2014 Medicaid expansion.
When the enrollment date for individual health plans rolls around in October, former inmates will also be eligible for health plans offered in state health care exchanges, another part of the “Obamacare” Affordable Care Act implementation. But health advocates say that at best it’s more likely they’ll be signing up for Medicaid, because of their low incomes.
Read More
Recent Comments