Alaska health insurance

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status report:
Alaska state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated Alaska state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did Alaska officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (1)

• Donald Young

how healthy is living in Alaska?

Alaska is ranked as the 28th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 study by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• The state's ranking climbed five spots since the 2009 report.
• Alaska's rankings were boosted by a decrease in the rate of preventable hospitalizations and the rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease.
• Smoking has also decreased from 34.3 percent to 20.6 percent of the population since 1990.

The bad news:

• The percentage of Alaska children in poverty under age 18 has increased from 9.6 percent to 15.3 percent.
• The report also noted that Alaska's challenges include a high rate of uninsured population, low immunization coverage and a high violent crime rate.

Alaska's best and worst category rankings:

• Poor physical health days – 1st
• Public health funding – 2nd
• Children (under 18) in poverty – 3rd
• Poor mental health days – 3rd
• Violent crime offenses – 46th
• Immunization coverage – 46th
• Geographic disparity – 48th
• Occupational fatalities – 49th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on Alaska.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key Alaska health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts Alaska here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for Alaska, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does Alaska have a health insurance high risk pool?

Alaska Comprehensive Health Insurance Association
Toll-free 1-888-290-0616

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, Alaska started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about Alaska's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in Alaska

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in Alaska and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in Alaska.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's Alaska health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for Alaska.

Health insurance plan report cards for Alaska

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for Alaska health insurance plan report cards.

Alaska government health insurance resources

Alaska Department of Insurance – (scroll down for health insurance information).

• How to file a complaint.

Denali KidCare – Denali KidCare is a State of Alaska program designed to ensure that children and teens of both working and non-working families can get health insurance.

State of Alaska Health Care Services – part of the department of Health and Social Services.

• Adult dental care services
• Chronic and Acute Medical Assistance (CAMA)
• Medicaid

health care advocacy groups in Alaska

AK Health Reform – A collection of information and resources for Alaska stakeholder groups affected by upcoming health reforms.