Feds propose fee on health insurers in new market

November 30, 2012 by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Health

(AP)—Health insurance companies will have to pay to play in new health insurance markets coming under President Barack Obama's health care law.

The federal Health and Human Services department said Friday it is proposing a "user fee" amounting to 3.5 percent of premiums for health insurers who want to offer policies in the new federal exchanges coming in 2014.

Exchanges are online markets where consumers will be able to buy individual policies and see if they qualify for government subsidies. Washington will run the exchanges in states that decline to do so.

The insurance industry says the fees will add to the cost of coverage.

The new markets are designed to be self-supporting, and backers of the approach say it's more cost-effective than the current system.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Youth who have their first drink during puberty have higher levels of later drinking

Research shows that the earlier the age at which youth take their first alcoholic drink, the greater the risk of developing alcohol problems. Thus, age at first drink (AFD) is generally considered a powerful predictor of ...

Health created 16 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

British MPs concerned about parliamentary boozing

One quarter of British lawmakers believe there is an "unhealthy" drinking culture in the Houses of Parliament, according to a survey published on Friday.

Health created 21 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Patient openness to research can depend on race and sex of study personnel

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that the race and sex of study personnel can influence a patient's decision on whether or not to participate in clinical research.

Health created 22 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Clinical support for patient self-management is rhetoric rather than reality

The processes to allow people to self-manage their own illness are not being used appropriately by health professionals to the benefit of their patients, new research suggests.

Health created 23 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Control of heart disease risk factors varies among outpatient practices

Control of heart disease risk factors varies widely among outpatient practices, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2013.

Health created May 17, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


AIDS science at 30: 'Cure' now part of lexicon

Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.

For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, 'fear circuitry' in the brain never rests

Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these brain regions can over-or ...

Melon focus headband turns to Kickstarter for rollout plans

(Medical Xpress)—What if the quality of your work depends more on your focus on the piano keys or canvas or laptop than your musical or painting or computing skills? If target users can be convinced, they ...

Temporal processing in the olfactory system

The neural machinery underlying our olfactory sense continues to be an enigma for neuroscience. A recent review in Neuron seeks to expand traditional ideas about how neurons in the olfactory bulb might encode information about ...

Now we know why old scizophrenia medicine works on antibiotics-resistant bacteria

In 2008 researchers from the University of Southern Denmark showed that the drug thioridazine, which has previously been used to treat schizophrenia, is also a powerful weapon against antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as ...

23 dead in initiation rites in South Africa

(AP)—Twenty-three youths have died in the past nine days at initiation ceremonies that include circumcisions and survival tests, South African police said Friday.