Many people covered under President Barack Obama's health care law will face higher premiums next year, the administration acknowledged Thursday. While the average increases are modest, it's more fodder for the nation's political battles over health care. Officials stressed that millions of current HealthCare.gov customers can mitigate the financial hit if they're willing to shop around for another plan in a more competitive online marketplace. Subsidies will also help cushion the impact. It's currently taking an average of 30 minutes for returning customers to update their coverage.
At first glance, the 2015 health plans offered by the Ohio nonprofit insurer CareSource look a lot like the ones it sold this year, in the Affordable Care Act's first enrollment season. The monthly premiums are nearly identical, and the deductibles are the same. But tucked within the plans' jargon are changes that could markedly affect how much consumers pay for health care. Generic drugs will soon be free, but the cost of expensive specialty medications will increase. Co-payments for visits to primary-care doctors will go down, but those for emergency room trips will be higher.
Since the Ebola crisis first touched down in the U.S., the public has asked what the price tag is for such an emergency response. On Wednesday, Dallas officials publicly revealed it cost the city a total $155,000 to respond to the health crisis of Ebola patients 0 through 2. Nearly $27,000 went to care for Nina Pham's dog Bentley, a King Charles Spaniel, which included comfortable bedding, toys and boarding at decommissioned naval air base while his owner was sick. Pham was the first of two nurses infected with the virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan -- patient 0 -- who died in early October.
If your company's product is getting high praise from an independent reviewer, feel free to start shouting it from the rooftops anytime now. That's the strategy that Louisville-based health benefits giant Humana Inc. is pursuing in selling its Medicare Advantage plans to seniors. Advantage plans are Medicare coverage offered by insurers, such as Humana, under a contract with the federal government. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services uses a system through which it rates Medicare Advantage plans offered by insurers on a scale of one star to five stars. These star ratings are based on quality and performance. Humana has several plans that are highly rated under this system.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday it is too late to make new flu vaccines for the current flu season that could better protect against the predominant flu virus now circulating in the United States. On Wednesday, the CDC sent an advisory to doctors noting that one component of this year's flu vaccine was only partially protective against the predominant flu virus, known as influenza A (H3N2), which has mutated since the current flu shots were made. CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said it takes four months to make a new flu vaccine even using newer cell-based technologies, too long to be helpful in the current flu season.
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange recovered from errors on its first day of operations this year, only to have another setback earlier this week. On Tuesday, the exchange identified an error that resulted in the accidental cancellation of both enrollment and payment for 6,000 customer accounts that were enrolled in qualified health plans. Early analysis indicates the exchange's system integrator, Deloitte, accidentally ran the automated cancellation of these accounts, according to a statement from exchange CEO Richard Onizuka. This isn't the first problem the system has had this year.