Texas Health Insurance News

Moneyblog – The Justice Department made coordinated raids on Friday at alleged Medicare fraud operations in Florida, Louisiana, New York, Michigan and Texas as the Obama administration launched what is being called the largest attack on health care fraud in U.S. history.

The New Health Dialogue – Starting in 2014, the new health reform law will expand Medicaid coverage to most of the population below 133 percent of federal poverty level, amounting to about 15.9 million newly eligible enrollees by 2019. In a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, John Holahan and Irene Headen of the Urban Institute crunch the numbers and provide a state-by-state breakdown of what the Medicaid expansion means to states – and their budgets.

Kaiser Health News – States around the country are debating how to deal with health costs and tight budgets.

Shots (NPR’s Health Blog) – Health care fraud bilks taxpayers and the government out of $65 billion – with a “B” – a year. And no wonder. Lots of money makes a ripe target. And a combination of private and public payers makes for a convoluted system that’s easy to game, despite plenty of people looking to combat crime. Find out how you can protect yourself from the latest health insurance scams.

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.

Houston Chronicle – WASHINGTON — A recent spate of national studies paint a dark portrait of the state of health care in Texas. Not only does the Lone Star State lead the nation in its uninsured population, adults and children alike, but the percentage of residents without health coverage could balloon from 27.5 percent to as much as one-third of the population in the next 10 years, a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute predicts.

The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee – An estimated 77,300 Wisconsinites lost health insurance coverage through August of this year after losing their jobs, according to a report by Families USA. The highest losses were seen in California (661,600) and Texas (396,900).

The NewsHour (PBS) – Until recently, self-employed writer Candace Talmadge, of Lancaster, Texas, was pleased with the health insurance she purchased through a small business association.

Dallas Morning News – PARIS – Houston native Jennifer Hua gave birth to her first two children in Texas, and her last two in France. The Houston hospital looked like a luxury hotel. The hospital in Paris was a converted prison.

Austin Business Journal – The Texas Hospital Association and the National Federation of Independent Business Leaders are pushing state lawmakers to increase health care accessibility in Texas.