Wall Street Journal: Health-Insurance Costs Set for a Jolt For the Healthy, Rates Could Soar Under New Law; Sicker Consumers to See Relief. By LOUISE RADNOFSKY Healthy consumers could see insurance rates double or even triple when they look for individual coverage under the federal health law later this year, while the premiums paid by sicker people are set to become more affordable, according to ... Read more »
Bloomberg BNA By Kendra Casey Plank (BNA) -- House Subcommittee Hearing on Mobile Medical Apps Key Point: Health IT vendors are not voluntarily adopting common interoperabilty standards. Chief Concern: Vendors are awaiting final guidance from FDA on mobile medical apps oversight. The health care technology industry is not lacking interoperability standards for health information and medical record... Read more »
Health-Insurance Exchanges Are Falling Behind Schedule By Louise Radnofsky and Sarah E. Needleman June 19, 2013 Government officials have missed several deadlines in setting up new health-insurance exchanges for small businesses and consumers—a key part of the federal health overhaul—and there is a risk they won't be ready to open on time in October, Congress's watchdog arm said. The Government A... Read more »
CQ: GAO Warns the Administration is Lagging in Progress on the Health Care Law By Emily Ethridge, June 19, 2013 The Obama administration is behind schedule on some key activities required to set up the federally-run individual and small business health insurance exchanges, the Government Accountability Office said in two reports issued Wednesday. The GAO said in both reports that the Center for Me... Read more »
Insurers Not Rushing to SHOP Exchanges By Jason Millman June 12, 2013 Obamacare’s new insurance marketplaces for small businesses, which have already stumbled before getting out of the gate, are facing another pressing question just months before millions can sign up for benefits: What happens if insurers don’t show up to sell? Early looks at insurance offerings on the Obamacare exchanges show th... Read more »
Red Tape Record Breakers By Wall Street Journal May 19, 2013 President Obama is opposing a bill passed by the House last week that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to better measure the costs and benefits of new regulations. That's no surprise considering that the latest annual index of federal rules shows that Team Obama is now the red tape record holder. For two decades, Way... Read more »
GSA failed to pay thousands of small government contractors since 2008 By J.D. Harrison, The Washington Post May 16, 2013 An investigation by House lawmakers has revealed that the U.S. General Services Administration failed to fully pay thousands of small federal contractors in the past five years. GSA officials confirmed the error, acknowledging that 1,334 government services firms had been shor... Read more »
GOP: Insurance tax hurts small businesses By Paige Winfield Cunningham, Politico May 9, 2013 House Republicans homed in on the health law’s insurance tax Thursday, saying it’s yet another blow small businesses will have to endure as a result of the law. The health insurance tax will have calamitous effects as insurers pass down the cost to purchasers in the form of higher premiums, argued Republi... Read more »
Steaming Toward the ObamaCare 'Train Wreck' By Karl Rove, The Wall Street Journal April 18, 2013 In congressional testimony last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius blamed Republican governors for her department's failure to create a "model exchange" where consumers could shop for health-insurance coverage in states that don't set up their own exchange. Nice try, but GOP go... Read more »
ACA's Full-Time Work Definition Must Change, Lawmakers, Business Owner Tell Hearing By Bloomberg BNA April 17, 2013 The Republican chairman of the House Small Business Committee, a Democratic committee member, and a small business owner testifying before the panel agreed April 17 that the definition of full-time workers used in determining whether employers will pay fines under the health care ref... Read more »
