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Regulatory MonitoringArchive for insurance
Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Health Interview Survey, 43.8 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2008. That’s 700,000 more people than in 2007 and 2.8 million more than 1997.
The amount of children under 18 that were uninsured in 2008 remained the same as in 2007 at 8.9%, and was down from 1997 at 13.9%.
Massachusetts had the lowest rate of uninsured persons (3%), and Texas had the highest (22.9%).
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Should reflect full uniform charges on the Medicare cost report and inform the Medicare administrative contractor that it has reported its full charges
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Can forgo collection efforts aimed at a Medicare patient if the hospital documents the patient is indigent or medically indigent
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May claim discounted amounts as Medicare bad debt after determining that no source other than the patient is legally responsible for the unpaid deductible and coinsurance.
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Can determine their own indigent-care criteria if they uniformly apply it to Medicare and non-Medicare patients
Medicaid enrollments are surging in some states because workers are losing their health insurance along with their jobs, The New York Times reported January 22.
Some states saw surges between 5% and 10% in the last 12 months. Growth rates doubled from the prior year in some states.
Read the full story in The New York Times.
Within days of taking office, President Barack Obama plans to rescind a Bush administration policy that has impeded state efforts to provide health insurance to children from low- and middle-income families through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), aides and advisers announced. The policy is one of many that the new administration hopes to change or withdraw in its first weeks in office.
Obama has said, for example, that he objects to a Bush administration rule that grants sweeping new protections to health workers who refuse to provide care because of their “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
Read the full story in The New York Times.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has asked the state’s most prominent hospital and health insurance leaders to take quick action to hold down rapidly rising healthcare costs, suggesting that if they did not take steps on their own, they might face new government regulation, according to the Boston Globe.
Patrick said he is considering holding hearings on health insurance premiums and the primary driver of premium increases—the rates hospitals charge insurers for members’ medical care. He has also said the state Division of Insurance has the power to reject rates it deems excessive.
Read the full story in the Boston Globe.
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