health insurance news

Columbus Business First–Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, a group of advocates using every tool in their belt to get a health insurance exchange in Ohio, has released a report questioning the numbers behind a report supported by Ohio’s insurance commissioner–who is opposed to starting an exchange–that says starting an exchange is too expensive.

Cleveland Plain Dealer – Ohio voters will consider constitutional amendment to block implementation of the federal health reform law on Ohio on Nov. 8.

The New York Times – Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee have been granted waivers by the federal government, allowing health insurance carriers to offer less generous benefits than would be required under the new health reform law.

Politico – Republican heavyweights John Boehner (Ohio) and Eric Cantor (Virginia) plan to announce that they’ll support a House petition to repeal the entire federal health reform law.

The New York Times – As members of the Obama administration and Congress met on Thursday to try to find common ground on health care, a new report warned that without comprehensive legislation, more than 275,000 adults nationwide will die over the next decade because of a lack of health insurance. Nearly 14,000 of those deaths would occur in New York State.

Think Progress – If Democrats move to pass health care reform after tomorrow’s summit, their newfound momentum can be at least partly attributed to WellPoint’s decision to drastically increase premiums in California’s individual health insurance market. The rate increases highlighted the broken health care system and pressured lawmakers to drastically reform the individual health insurance market. The administration’s strong response also enunciated the differences in lawmakers’ approach to reform and may have pushed the President to add stronger cost control provisions into his health care blue-print.

The New York Times – As part of the discussion last year over how best to overhaul the nation’s health care system, the insurance industry promised to do its part by tackling the burdensome paperwork involved in paying medical claims.