The main website for buying coverage under the federal health-insurance overhaul has itself gotten an overhaul, just in time for a rush of shoppers eager to have coverage in effect on Jan. 1. The site, HealthCare.gov, has undergone extensive work since its glitch-plagued Oct. 1 launch. The Obama administration pledged to improve its functioning by Nov. 30. In a statement on Dec. 3, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, the federal agency responsible for the site, lauded a new average page-response time of under one second, down from eight seconds at launch, and an "uptime"—when the system is functioning—of approximately 90%, compared with 42% in the past.
U.S. employers and consumers will bear the brunt of more than $20 billion in fees to be assessed in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. Health insurers are passing the mandatory fees on to many people, including those who buy coverage directly from insurers or who get health benefits through their jobs. In some cases, Medicare Advantage plans and Ohio's Medicaid managed-care plans also will have to pay. "These are administrative expenses that the Affordable Care Act put in place," said Jeff Williamson, the director of health-care reform for Medical Mutual of Ohio. "They're a cost of doing business as an insurance company."
Now that the front-end of HealthCare.gov appears to be working properly, the media's focus is quickly shifting to the back-end systems that are supposed to provide insurance companies with accurate information about consumers enrolling in their plans. The issue is an important one because if insurance companies get incorrect data, their future customers may not be enrolled properly and that could lead to headaches—or worse—come January when patients show up at doctors' offices or hospitals thinking they are insured but really aren't. Sarah Kliff at The Washington Post has been flagging this issue for some time, writing in October how the "834" transactions that the government sends insurers each night could make or break the law.
A new data tool developed by the U. is helping doctors and surgical teams visualize when they stray from protocols by shining a light on the costs racked up by their patients. It's sparking conversations about how to deliver better care more efficiently. And though it's less than a year old, it's making a measurable difference, said Vivian Lee, senior vice president at University of Utah Health Sciences. Over just six months in 2013, provider teams brainstormed more than 500 strategies to streamline care, projected to save $7.1 million annually.
About 100 employees covered by the Middlesex County Joint Health Insurance Fund will participate in pilot program next year aimed at improving their health and reducing the county's health care costs. Officials say that if the program is successful, it will be expanded to include all county employees and the four other members of the fund — Middlesex County College, the county Board of Social Services, the Middlesex County Improvement Authority and the county's Mosquito Control Commission. The fund handles health care for the county and its other participating agencies — a form of self-insurance.
There's been a ton of news about HealthCare.gov from the dark days of the rollout in October, to the slightly better days of now when the online healthcare exchange seems to be at a point of minimum reliability. If you found keeping up exhausting, you're not alone. So SEER by Galorath, a consulting firm that works with a lot of government clients, made this huge infographic to sum everything up. Some aspects of HealthCare.gov and its implications in different states are too nuanced to be represented by this type of graphical treatment, and it's always good to be wary of the potential for author bias with a highly controversial topic like this.