> A new Treasury study says the federal COBRA subsidy, included in last year’s economic stimulus package, may have slowed the growth in the number of uninsured Americans during the recession. The study estimates that up to a third of eligible unemployed workers have taken advantage of the subsidy, which covers up to 65% of the cost of continuing a former employer’s health care coverage for up to 15 months.
Under COBRA, workers who leave their jobs can continue their former employer’s health insurance coverage for up to 18 months. Ordinarily, though, they must pay the entire premium, plus administrative costs, making COBRA unaffordable for most people who are out of work.
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> By Stephen Ohlemacher
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Nearly 2 million people are waiting to find out whether they qualify for Social Security disability benefits. It will be a long wait for most, even if they eventually win their cases.
The Social Security system is so overwhelmed by applications for disability benefits that many people are waiting more than two years for their first payment. In Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and other states, the wait can be even longer. In Virginia, it is closer to a one-year wait.
The Social Security commissioner, Michael J.
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>Morris Chavez’ decision to quit his $98,400 job as state insurance superintendent isn’t good news for New Mexico.
Granted, Chavez bungled the public relations end – not the legal end – of a recent controversy over a health insurance premium rate increase for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico.
Once the PRC ordered a public hearing, Chavez should have let that process play out and taken advantage of the opportunity to explain how rates are set – it’s the numbers, not politics, and public sentiment really doesn’t figure in. Full Article…
>May 9–Chad Solvie, chief executive at Martha & Mary Health Care Center in Poulsbo, figures that 16 years ago when he entered the field, people 65 and older had a 10 percent chance of needing nursing-home care.
Today they have a 60 percent chance of spending time in a nursing home, he said. That’s because many of us live longer, and also because hospitals are spinning off more patients to nursing homes.
Are consumers prepared to pay $6,000 to $8,000 a month for nursing-home care; maybe $5,000 a month for an assisted-living arrangement; or even $500 a month for in-home care?
There’s Medicare and other help if you’re poor enough; private pay if you’re rich enough.
But experts say only 5 percent to 10 percent of Washington consumers are purchasing long-term care insurance, which can be the answer for most in the middle. Full Article…
> Steve Gelsi is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — President Barack Obama on Saturday said the landmark health care legislation signed into law a little more than a month ago is already holding health insurance companies more accountable and providing assistance to small businesses.
“Reform is already delivering real benefits to millions of Americans,” Obama said in his weekly address.
Obama said insurance companies are already banning the practice of dropping coverage of patients who get sick, ahead of the September deadline, after the administration called on one company to stop revoking policies for women diagnosed with breast caner.
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There are many online suppliers of life insurance are able to offer insurance to request a free quote for your life. So you’re an insurance company can compare the quotes you receive from different agencies and find out what the policy gives you the best deal. The most important terms are available compared to the normal premium and death benefit that is insured by an insurance policy.
There are alsoCompanies that service compared to 6 quotes from 6 different insurance companies. This service could save a lot of time, not one application for the quotation marks after having one.
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> Letting young adults stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26 will nudge premiums nearly 1 percent higher for employer plans, the government said in an estimate released Monday.
The coverage requirement, effective starting later this year, is one of the most anticipated early benefits of President Barack Obama’s new health care law. Many insurers have already started offering extended coverage to families who purchase their coverage directly. And employers say parents have flooded their benefits departments with questions.
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