A credit analyst for not-for-profit healthcare providers is cautioning that the new state health insurance exchanges may introduce more short-term risk than benefit.
Moody's Investors Service said in a report Friday that while the exchanges may lead to a bump in the number of insured patients, the larger unknowns will be what happens with insurance contract terms; the potential migration of patients who currently have private insurance to exchange plans; and bad debt for patients.
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Minuteman Health, a not-for-profit, consumer-governed health plan sponsored by Vanguard Health Systems and Tufts Medical Center, said Monday that it received an HMO license and premium rate approval from Massachusetts regulators.
The plan will offer individual and small-group plans both on and off Massachusetts' state insurance exchange starting in October.
Minuteman is one of the Consumer Operated and Oriented plans in 24 states around the country made possible by startup loans authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The goal is to encourage the launch of consumer-friendly plans that foster greater competition in the insurance market. While other co-op plans around the country previously received approval to sell plans on state insurance exchanges, what sets Minuteman apart is that it was originally sponsored by two major hospital systems. Many of the co-op plans were organized by groups and individuals not associated with major providers or investor-owned companies like Vanguard.
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The Obama administration and a national organization called the Young Invincibles on Monday launched a monthlong video contest to encourage enrollment of uninsured young adults in health plans offered on the state insurance exchanges.
Healthy young Americans are considered a key target group for enrollment, because their low medical costs will keep premiums down on the exchanges and offset higher costs of older, sicker enrollees. But surveys show that many young people either are unaware of the requirement that they obtain coverage or else don't see the need. Most uninsured young people who don't have coverage through their employer are expected to qualify for federal subsidies to buy insurance.
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The not-for-profit group responsible for educating Americans about the healthcare reform law's coverage options provided a status check of its efforts on Monday, but remained vague about how much it is spending on the massive endeavor.
Throughout 2014, Enroll America will spend “tens of millions” of dollars on the “Get Covered” campaign that it launched in late June, Anne Filipic, the group's president, told reporters in a phone call.
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Greater proportions of not-for-profit and government hospitals than for-profit hospitals qualified for at least one category of Medicare payment adjustments last year, according to new findings from the Government Accountability Office.
About 97% of government-owned hospitals and 90% of not-for-profit hospitals paid by the Medicare program received at least one form of increased payment to the standard inpatient prospective-payment system last year.
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