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McConnell Seeks Obamacare Delay

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By Sharon Begley
Aug 12 (Reuters) - Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Monday called on the Obama administration to delay the Oct. 1 opening of exchanges where uninsured Americans will be able to buy health insurance until the U.S. government can guarantee the protection of people's personal data.
The exchanges, a key element of the president's signature 2010 healthcare law dubbed "Obamacare," will be largely online.
In a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency taking the lead in implementing the law, McConnell said that "Americans should not be forced into the exchanges, and certainly not without these assurances" that personal and financial data will be safe from "hackers and cyber criminals."
"If you rush to go forward without adequate safeguards in place," McConnell added, "any theft of personal information from constituents will be the result of your rush to implement a law to meet the agency's political needs and not the operational needs of the people it is supposed to serve."
The law, which aims to reduce the number of uninsured Americans and cut U.S. healthcare costs, was passed three years ago over unified Republican opposition in Congress. Congressional Republicans have sought numerous times since then to repeal it or block certain aspects of it from being implemented.
Concerns about data security arose last week after the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a report saying CMS had missed several self-imposed deadlines for testing the security of the information technology that will power the insurance exchanges being set up in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. CMS is part of HHS.
As a result of the delays, a ruling by HHS's chief information officer certifying the security of the federal information technology system, which every state has to use for its own exchange, will be pushed back to Sept. 30, a day before enrollment under the measure is due to start.
The delay in testing and certifying information technology security, experts said, could allow the exchanges to open with security flaws or force them to postpone when they begin to enroll people in health insurance.
On Friday, Oregon announced that individuals seeking to purchase health insurance on that state's exchange would not be able to do so when it opens on Oct. 1 unless they use an agent or other individual who has been trained and given an account by the state. Cover Oregon, as the exchange is called, said the delay was not due to information technology issues alone but to overall concerns about the exchange's ability to meet the expected surge of customers.
In his letter, McConnell cited the inspector general's report, saying that "while I believe we ought to repeal this law and replace it with commonsense reforms that lower cost, Americans ought to be assured, at an absolute minimum, that their personal and financial data will be safe from data thieves."
In order to buy insurance on a state exchange, people must submit personal information that is then checked against data held on servers at the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies, including income history.
The concerns about data security center on the possibility that someone could access those databases through the federal data services hub, which is being created especially for Obamacare and will connect information from all the U.S. agencies needed for someone to purchase insurance.
McConnell, who is trying to fend off a challenger from the conservative Tea Party movement in Kentucky's Republican Senate primary next May, opposed Obama's healthcare measure from its inception.
But he faces pressure from some conservative Republicans who are threatening a government shutdown on Oct. 1 unless legislation is enacted by then to deny federal funding for the healthcare law. Reported by Huffington Post 22 hours ago.

Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on the Marketplaces for Those with Health Insurance

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How do the health insurance marketplaces impact employees with insurance? How employees with insurance are impacted by Marketplaces.

Park City, Utah (PRWEB) August 12, 2013

Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on the marketplaces for those with health insurance.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, a common question from employers and employees is: how do the Health Insurance Marketplaces impact those with insurance? The answer depends on what type of insurance you have.

Generally speaking, there are three types of insurance:

Employer-sponsored health insurance plan: Also known as group insurance, If you have employer-sponsored health insurance, your employer selected and purchased coverage and offers you a plan, or choice of plans.
Individual health insurance plan: If you have an individual health insurance plan, you purchased the plan directly, either through a broker, online, or from an insurance company.
Government health insurance plan: If you have a government health insurance plan, you may be covered under Medicaid, Medicare, or another government-sponsored health plan.

Here's how employees with each of these types of health insurance are impacted by the Health Insurance Marketplaces:

If you have health insurance provided by your employer that is affordable and considered qualified, you don’t need to do anything. You'll likely continue coverage under the employer-sponsored insurance in 2014.

If the premium you pay is not considered "affordable", then you may be eligible for a discount on an individual health insurance plan through your state Marketplace.

If you are paying more than 9.5% of your household income toward your insurance premiums for employee-only coverage, then you may be eligible for financial assistance through your state Health Insurance Marketplace to reduce the amount you pay toward your health insurance premium.

If you bought health insurance on your own, through what is known as the individual market, then you have a new option in 2014 to purchase health insurance through your state Health Insurance Marketplace. Depending on your income and family size, you may be eligible for the health insurance premium subsidies.

You will continue to have a choice as to where you purchase individual health insurance (i.e. other sources than the Marketplace). However, the health insurance premium subsidies will only be available for health insurance purchased through the Marketplace.

Those enrolled in Medicaid can keep their Medicaid coverage. And in many states, eligibility for Medicaid is expanding and more people may be eligible under Medicaid expansion.

Those enrolled in Medicare (age 65 or older), can also keep their coverage.

Employers to Notify Employees of Marketplace Options by October 1

Employers are required to provide employees notification of their options with the Marketplaces by October 1, 2013. The Department of Labor has provided guidance on what the notification needs to include.

Click here to read the full article.
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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHRA") for Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about ZaneHRA, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 22 hours ago.

Man Denied Life-Saving Health Insurance Over 26 Cents

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Man Denied Life-Saving Health Insurance Over 26 Cents Business
Health
Sergio Branco

Sergio Branco was diagnosed in January with acute myeloid leukemia, which can kill within months or weeks.

The 33-year-old father took three months off from work from his truck driving job under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to start started chemotherapy and transfusions, notes NJ.com.

Doctors said a bone marrow transplant would prolong his life, but the cost would be more than $500,000. Fortunately, Branco had health insurance, but then he lost it three months later after FMLA expired and his employer Russell Reid fired him.

The Edison, New Jersey man applied for health insurance coverage through the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA), which allows a fired worker to keep the same health insurance, but requires the worker to pay the full premium.

Branco's wife Mara called Paychex, which was handling COBRA on Russell Reid’s behalf, to ask about the premium for just Sergio.

She was told the cost would be $518.26 per month, but Mara accidentally wrote the May 24 check for $518, without the 26 cents.

Paychex cashed the check on June 11, and Branco continued to receive treatment. Later in June, Branco's hospital said the insurance coverage had been terminated.

Mara was told by Paychex that the payment was 26 cents short. Paychex also told her it was instructed by Russell Reid not to accept any more payments.

Mara called Russell Reid, Paychex and the U.S. Department of Labor, but no one would take responsibility for renewing Sergio's insurance.

"There’s nothing to comment on at this point. We’re still trying to figure it out," Russell Reid human resources rep Rich Gross told NJ.com.

"Paychex is working diligently with our client and other appropriate parties right now to reinstate Mr. Branco’s coverage," said spokeswoman Laura Saxby Lynch. "We are very ardently working on the situation with all parties including the carrier, and the decision ultimately rests with the carrier."

The Brancos hired attorney Jeffrey Resnick who went to court last week. He claimed that Branco should have been notified about the 26 cents before his coverage was terminated, which didn’t happen. Resnick also claimed the law also says health coverage can’t be terminated for "non-payment of a de minimis amount."

After her lawyer got involved, the situation instanteously resolved itself.

Mara said on Friday: "The Department of Labor said the company will reinstate him from May till now. They said the company did it wrong. I am super happy. It’s like a weight has lifted off my shoulder. It’s better than winning the lottery."

Source: NJ.com

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Anthem: Here's your health insurance; oops, never mind

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Anthem calls a woman, saying she and her son are approved for health insurance, on the same day she gets a letter denying coverage. Reported by L.A. Times 16 hours ago.

Yet Another White House Obamacare Delay: Out-Of-Pocket Caps Waived Until 2015

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First, there was the delay of Obamacare?s Medicare cuts until after the election. Then there was the delay of the law?s employer mandate. Then there was the announcement, buried in the Federal Register, that the administration would delay enforcement of a number of key eligibility requirements for the law?s health insurance subsidies, relying on the ?honor system? instead. Now comes word that another costly provision of the health law?its caps on out-of-pocket insurance costs?will be delayed for one more year. Reported by Forbes.com 12 hours ago.

McConnell: Don't Open Obamacare Exchanges Without Security Guarantees

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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has called on the Obama Administration not to open the Obamacare state health exchanges because the security of Americans’ personal data cannot be assured.

A press release Monday indicated that McConnell sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), asserting that no American should be forced to seek health care coverage on the exchanges scheduled to open on October 1st, especially since the government is missing deadlines to test the systems and cannot guarantee that Americans’ personal and financial data will be kept secure.

McConnell responded to a report by the Inspector General of Health and Human Services (HHS), who stated that CMS has missed deadlines for testing and reporting data security risks associated with signing up for health insurance on the exchanges. The Inspector General indicated that, due to the delays, a final security assessment report is not expected until 10 days before the Federal Data Services Hub is scheduled to open, leaving little time to address any security problems identified.

McConnell addressed his letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and wrote that the exchanges should not open until the Inspector General can verify that Americans’ personal and financial data is protected from hackers and cyber criminals.

According to Reuters, if the exchanges open with security problems, the most common type of security breach would be identity theft, whereby a hacker is able to steal the Social Security numbers and other private data Americans will provide when they sign up to participate in a health insurance plan.

However, Michael Astrue, former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, indicated that security failures in the exchanges could allow even domestic abusers to use vulnerabilities in the system to locate their victims.

McConnell wrote:



While I have grave concerns about this law under any circumstance, Americans should not be forced into the exchanges, and certainly not without these assurances. If you rush to go forward without adequate safeguards in place, any theft of personal information from constituents will be the result of your rush to implement a law to meet the agency’s political needs and not the operational needs of the people it is supposed to serve.



Though McConnell emphasized his own opposition to ObamaCare and support for full repeal of the law, he also observed that in recent months, some of President Obama’s closest allies have also raised serious concerns about the “train wreck” that is soon to come upon the nation:



While I believe we ought to repeal this law and replace it with commonsense reforms that lower cost, Americans ought to be assured, at an absolute minimum, that their personal and financial data will be safe from data thieves.






 
 
 
  Reported by Breitbart 10 hours ago.

Fortier Insurance Services Helps Members of the Beauty Industry in California, Washington and Oregon Enroll in a Health Plan

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Fortier Insurance Services, the official insurance broker for the California Cosmetology Association, assists members of the beauty industry and independent contractor business owners in California, Washington and Oregon with enrolling in a health plan through their respective marketplace.

Phelan, CA (PRWEB) August 13, 2013

There are three important dates to remember: October 1, 2013, January 1, 2014, and March 31, 2014. Open Enrollment begins on October 1, 2013. All individuals who are eligible to enroll in a health plan can do so in the Marketplace. The Open Enrollment period is from October 1, 2013 until March 31, 2014. Health Insurance Marketplace is also known as the health insurance “exchange.” Fortier Insurance is preparing to get the certification and training required in CA, WA, and OR to help each eligible individual looking for individual or family health insurance.

Fortier Insurance will have a qualified team of enrollers and agents explain all of the health plans available in one’s area, and whether one qualifies for free or low-cost coverage. The Premium Assistance Program can help make health insurance extremely affordable. Premium assistance programs are aimed at low-income families, and offer the same level of benefits they would have under Medicaid for the same cost. As soon as an individual qualifies for one of these programs, coverage can begin immediately.

January 1, 2014 is the date new health coverage begins. If an individual enrolled between October 1, 2013 and December 15, 2013 and has made their first premium payment, health coverage will begin on January 1, 2014. If an individual enrolls during any other time during Open Enrollment between the 1st and the 15th day of the month, coverage will begin on the first day of the next month.

Providing value to industry members is Fortier Insurance’s specialty. They offer quality affordable healthcare from multiple carriers, including “Covered California,” “Cover Oregon,” and “Washington Health Plan Finder.” Their goal is to be a leader in helping workers in the beauty industry find a plan that fits their needs and budget.

Open Enrollment ends March 31, 2014. After this date, private health insurance is only available through a special enrollment period in the event of a qualifying life event, such as job loss, birth or divorce. Small employers however, can begin offering health insurance coverage at any time.

Want to compare health plans based on price, benefits, and quality? Fortier Insurance will find a plan with features that suits the needs of an individual and their family. Call 1-800-927-3566 for a free consulting session and no-obligation quote. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.

Experient Health Addresses Grandfathered Health Insurance Plans in Blog Series

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Experient Health launched a Health Care Reform FAQs Blog series on its web site to help keep the community informed on changes they could face under the Affordable Care Act.

Richmond, Va. (PRWEB) August 13, 2013

Experient Health addressed “grandfathered” health insurance plans in its latest post in a new Blog series on Health Care Reform.

“Grandfathered plans are those that were in existence on March 23, 2010, and have stayed basically the same since then,” according to Experient Health. “These plans can enroll people after that date and still maintain their grandfathered status. The status depends on when the plan was created, not when you joined it. If you are covered by a grandfathered plan, you may not get some rights and protections that other plans offer.”

Like other health plans, all grandfathered plans are required to end lifetime limits on coverage, end arbitrary cancellations of health coverage, cover adult children up to age 26, provide a summary of benefits and coverage and spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care, according to Experient Health.

However, “grandfathered plans do not need to cover preventive care for free, guarantee your right to appeal, protect your choice of doctors and access to emergency care, or publicly justify premium increases of 10 percent or more.”

Additionally, individual grandfathered plans do not have to end yearly limits on coverage or provide coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions.

Have additional questions? Visit http://www.experienthealth.com to request a private consultation.

ABOUT EXPERIENT HEALTH:

For years, Experient Health, a Virginia Farm Bureau company, has helped people find the right insurance coverage and get the most for their health care dollars. The Richmond, Va.-based group is dedicated to providing high quality health insurance options to customers in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. As a result, its consultants, with an average of more than 20 years experience, are intimately familiar with the states’ provider networks, products and regulations.

Representing the top national insurance carriers, Experient Health provides customers with multiple policy options designed to meet wellness needs and financial requirements.

Experient Health grew out of Virginia Farm Bureau and is a “hometown agency” in that it operates a network of more than 100 offices. However, it boasts the resources and technology of larger firms.

Consultants are available online, via phone and through their offices.

Learn more at http://www.experienthealth.com, utilize the online health insurance quote calculator or contact a consultant directly at 855.677.6580. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.

Dumpstahunk Featuring Ivan Neville Headlining Rhode Island Rally4Recovery

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September 21, 2013 event showcasing national movement of people in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 13, 2013

Dumpstaphunk featuring lvan Neville is headlining the September 21, 2013 Rally4Recovery in Providence, RI. Neville, in long-term recovery from addiction, is a musician, singer and songwriter. Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, advocate for the rights of people with addiction and mental illness, will be the Rally4Recovery Grand Marshal, kicking off events nationwide. Speakers will include David Mineta, Deputy Director of Demand Reduction, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

“We invite people in recovery, our families and friends from throughout the region to join us in Providence,” said Jim Gillen, Co-Chair of the Rhode Island Rally4Recovery committee. “There are over 23 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. On October 1st, millions of people with addiction and mental illness will be eligible for health insurance coverage. We will be celebrating this important victory by getting ready to enroll,” he continued.

“We thank everyone who’s standing up for recovery, offering hope and opportunity for people who still need help to recover,” said Dona Dmitrovic, chair of Faces & Voices of Recovery’s board of directors. “When we recover, we benefit ourselves, our communities and the nation.” Faces & Voices is the national organization coordinating Rally for Recovery! events during September, National Recovery Month. Over 100,000 people are expected to participate. The Rhode Island Rally will be live streamed worldwide.

When: Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 2:00 – 8:00 p.m.
    2:00 p.m.: Street festival and celebrations begin
    3:00 p.m.: Rally at the Main Stage
    7:00 p.m.: Torch parade to WaterFire

Where: Roger Williams National Memorial, 282 North Main Street & Canal Street, Downtown Providence, RI

About Rhode Island Rally4Recovery
Entering its 11th year, Rally4Recovery has grown from a gathering of a few hundred people to a day-long celebration of recovery attracting over 6,000 people in 2012. A memorial luminaria procession closes out the event as part of the city-wide WaterFire celebration. The event helps build an attractive culture of recovery in Rhode Island, with the belief that everyone has a right to, and is capable of, recovery from addiction to drugs, alcohol and mental illness. A state-wide coalition, led by people in recovery, plans each year’s rally and includes public and private sector treatment providers in addition to the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals. http://rally4recovery.com/

About Faces & Voices of Recovery
Faces & Voices of Recovery is the national organization of individuals and organizations joining together with a united voice to advocate for public action to deliver the power, possibility and proof of recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Since 2007 Faces & Voices has helped organized walks, rallies, picnics and other events at hundreds of locations across the nation and around the world under the umbrella Rally for Recovery! to support long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org

About Recovery Month
National Recovery Month is an annual observance during the month of September that is sponsored by the National Planning Partners in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. A listing of events around the nation and the world can be found at http://www.recoverymonth.gov/. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.

CDPHP Employees Hit a Home Run for Charity

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CDPHP presented a check of $1,500 to Habitat for Humanity and Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar at a recent ValleyCats baseball game in Albany, NY.

Troy, NY (PRWEB) August 13, 2013

It’s a little past the half-way mark for the CDPHP 2013 Charity of Choice campaign, and employees have hit another home run for this year’s designees – Habitat for Humanity Capital District and Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar, Inc. So far, employees have raised $18,500 for the local charities by hosting a number of grassroots fundraising events.

On Friday, nearly 90 CDPHP employees, along with their family and friends, added another $1,500 to the total while enjoying a night of baseball, food and fun at the Tri-City ValleyCats game.

Habitat for Humanity and Sponsor-A-Scholar are benefitting from the yearlong fundraising initiative at CDPHP. The two charities have partnered to provide hard-working, lower-income families with a chance to own a home and to prepare their children for high school graduation and higher education.

“CDPHP employees have a history of stepping up to the plate,” said Dr. John D. Bennett, president and CEO of CDPHP. “I’m thrilled to work with such an amazing and generous team, who devote countless hours and expend great effort to support these worthwhile causes,” added Bennett.

In addition to the action on the field, attendees enjoyed kid-friendly activities, an Italian dinner buffet and post-game fireworks.

About CDPHP®
Established in 1984, CDPHP is a physician-founded, member-focused and community-based not-for-profit health plan that offers high-quality affordable health insurance plans to members in 24 counties throughout New York. CDPHP is also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Habitat for Humanity Capital District
Habitat for Humanity Capital District uses volunteer labor and donations of money and materials to build decent, affordable quality homes for hardworking, lower-income families in need. Established in 1988, HfHCD is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International serving Albany, Rensselaer and Southern Saratoga counties. To date, HfHCD has built 76 homes in the Capital Region. For more information, visit http://www.HabitatCD.org.

About Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar, Inc.
Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar helps disadvantaged students in Albany, Troy and Schenectady, graduate from high school and go onto the successful completion of a college degree. For more information, visit http://www.crsas.org. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.

Who Will Enroll in Obamacare Health Insurance Exchanges?

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Who Will Enroll in Obamacare Health Insurance Exchanges? WASHINGTON—Only seven weeks remain before the 50 states and the District of Columbia start enrolling individuals and small businesses in health care plans, with coverage beginning as soon as Jan. 1, 2014. States are gearing up for the new enrollees …

The post Who Will Enroll in Obamacare Health Insurance Exchanges? appeared first on The Epoch Times. Reported by Epoch Times 7 hours ago.

McConnell Seeks Delay in 'Obamacare' Insurance Exchanges

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Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Monday called on the Obama administration to delay the Oct. 1 opening of exchanges where uninsured Americans will be able to buy health insurance until the U.S. government can guarantee the protection of people's personal... Reported by Newsmax 6 hours ago.

Paying It Forward on Student Debt

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AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File

Next month, lawmakers will return to state capitals around the country, and as many as a dozen legislatures could consider a new proposal to tackle the growing student-debt crisis. The plan, dubbed ”pay it forward” by its creator, would allow students to enter college without being charged tuition directly: In exchange, they would agree to pay a small and set percentage of their income after college into a public fund allowing the next generation to do the same. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, released a plan Friday that would help provide seed money for pilot programs using the “pay it forward” model.

Almost all of the new initiatives were inspired by Oregon, where the state legislature passed a bill introducing a pay-it-forward scheme unanimously on July 1. Barbara Dudley, an adjunct professor at Portland State University who in 2005 helped co-found the Oregon Working Families Party—a third party that has also been active in New York and California—was watching the vote from her office. The successful vote was a personal victory. She and her students had helped write the bill.

Dudley’s seen firsthand how education costs have ramped up over the past few decades. In California in the ’60s and ’70s, when Dudley attended Stanford University and law school at Berkley, public higher education was virtually free. But at the working-class, commuter public university in Portland where she’s taught since 2000, she’s seen the vast majority of her students take on debt to get their degrees. “I’ve been watching my students at Portland State just get hammered,” she says. She thought students would organize around it, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when activism heightened around the World Trade Organization. However, student debt never took off as an issue. When she helped found the Working Families Party in Oregon, they made it a platform issue.       

The problem isn’t only Oregon’s. In 1984, state universities across the country got 22 percent of their budgets from tuition. Now, they get 36 percent. In public universities and master’s degree programs, students now cover more than half of what their education costs through tuition, and tuition has risen faster than the cost of educating students has—states have shifted the burden off their budgets and onto individuals. Two-thirds of college students who graduated in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available, financed part of their educations by going into debt. These students owe, on average, $26,600. College debt has been climbing for decades, and is the primary way students fund their educations, according to the Institute for College Access and Success, which tracks data on student loans.

The problem got worse during the Great Recession, when states, including Oregon, made deep spending cuts—especially on non-mandated programs like higher education. Tuition at Portland State University is now $7,800 a year—$2,250 more than would be covered by the maximum Pell grant award. Worse, many of the students who have graduated during the downturn cannot get the kinds of jobs that would enable them to make the payments to pay off their debt.

Dudley decided to make student debt the subject of her first senior Capstone class at Portland, a course that’s meant to help students apply their academic studies to real-world problems and find solutions. She taught “Student Debt: Economics, Policy, and Advocacy” with an economist named Mary C. King. Dudley cast about for a potential state-level solution, but she and her students quickly settled on one interesting proposal devised by the Economic Opportunity Institute in Washington and promoted by its president, John Burbank.

The idea was borrowed from loan-repayment programs in Australia and the United Kingdom in which a student’s monthly payment was capped at a small percentage of his or her income. Burbank and his colleagues applied that idea to student loans. A repayment plan like that could be used to finance tuition at public higher-education institutions, which would prevent students from having to pay before they go, and keep an invested group of alumni involved in how their alma maters are financed. “Essentially what you’re establishing is a new social insurance system, but upside down,” Burbank says. “In this case you get your benefits starting out and then you know that you will be contributing at a pre-determined rate for a pre-determined number of years, and that those contributions go then to enable the next generational cohort to participate in higher education.” For Burbank, this will help make funding for higher education more secure. “Social security has withstood assault after assault after assault, and it remains an extremely popular program.”

It was Dudley’s students, however, who tried to make the idea into a reality. “We all thought we were just going to propose this piece of legislation, this idea, and they wouldn’t do anything about it,” says Tracy Gibbs, one of the students. Early in the process, they met with Representative Michael Dembrow, the chair of the state education committee, who worked with them and helped devise a plan. “After the initial meeting, with all the interest … we were just like, ‘Oh, this could really be something,’” Gibbs says. Dembrow wrote the legislation, the students address a panel of lawmakers, and Gibbs and other students stuck with the issue and lobbied lawmakers even after the class ended.   

In Oregon, the legislation would create a commission to devise and price out a pilot program, perhaps at one or two colleges, to see if Pay It Forward could work. Burbank is working with them on possible pilot programs and the committee will try to determine costs. In November 2014, Oregon voters will consider a measure that would allow the state to issue bonds for human capital improvement, much as it does now to pay for work on roads and bridges, to finance the proposal. Perhaps it is the sense of caution and preparedness in the bill that helped lead to its immense support. Dembrow says the involvement of the students who could speak to the debt-burden they and their friends faced—and lobbying lawmakers on the hill—made the issue seem urgent. “They brought their personal experience,” Dudley says. “The legislators listened to them.” Most important, Dudley’s history with activism and relationships with the legislators meant that the students’ ideas would be heard. In Oregon, 35 of the 90 legislators are cross-nominated by the Working Families Party. “It’s really a great example of the dynamic, the political dynamic being changed by having a third party that’s seen as having some sort of significance in terms of electoral power,” Burbank says. “I think that their work as the working families party was really instrumental in terms of maneuvering and moving this along.”  

 

In the months since Oregon passed the bill, Burbank says he’s heard from at least half a dozen states—including California, Maine, Maryland, and New Jersey (which just established a commission to study it)—that are intrigued by Pay It Forward. Larry Seaquist, a state representative in Washington state—where the idea was born—wants to implement a version of the plan faster than Oregon’s. Some states that don’t have a history of progressive innovation have championed Pay It Forward, too. Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ohio, and Michigan lawmakers have all expressed interest, and many are currently working on bills. The speed with which some states are rushing to adopt Pay It Forward worries Sandra Schroeder, vice president of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington. But it doesn’t surprise her. “Legislators are going to jump all over it because it gets the problem off their back,” she says. “But it doesn’t get it off their students’ back.”

What problems do critics see with the Pay It Forward legislation catching fire across the country? First, as Sara Goldrick-Rab wrote for the Century Foundation, the Oregon bill and some of the early proposals elsewhere only cover tuition, which only makes up about 40 percent of what it costs a student to attend a four-year public university. Room, board, and fees comprise the rest. If students have to take out loans to finance these costs, the Pay It Forward bills will just add another monthly fee after graduation. “Students could well face two bites out of their income,” says Lauren Asher, the president of the Institute for College Access & Success, an organization that shares the concerns outlined by the American Federation of Teachers.

These organizations are also concerned the bill could erode support for need-based financial aid. In many states, including Oregon and Washington, many low-income students already go to college with the help of federal Pell grants and other state financial aid. Some systems have generous grant programs. Low-income students still need more help—overall, Pell grant recipients are more than twice as likely to take out student loans, and have an average of $3,500 more in loans than their peers. In a Pay It Forward scheme, they might have to pay more.

There is a good case to make that need-based aid should be maintained even if states transition to Pay It Forward: Students starting college from a low-income home will still struggle more than their middle-income peers after graduation—relying on intergenerational wealth as they transition into adulthood isn’t an option. But over time, would these programs come to be seen as a “giveaway” to the poor? Since the payback scheme involves a percent of income for a set number of years—basically a flat surtax on graduates—people who earn higher incomes after they graduate will ultimately pay much more for their education than their lower-earning counterparts. The price of a student’s college education would vary by how much he or she earned afterward, which could encourage some to try to wrangle out of the deal. Even Dembrow—the sponsor of the Oregon legislation—was cautious about how much promise the idea has. “I don’t think it was ever seen as the solution,” Dembrow, says. “I think it was seen as a solution, and a solution to be explored … We’re obviously not going to do this if, after careful study, it doesn’t pencil out.”

Pennsylvania’s proposed plan may have found a way to deal with some of these problems. State Senator Daylin Leach is working on a bill he hopes the legislature will take up when it returns in September. A Democratic gubernatorial candidate, John Hanger, also wants to make Leach’s plan part of his platform. Regardless of the bill’s final fate, the topic is likely to become part of the election-season debate. Hanger was working on his idea before the Oregon bill passed, but both he and Leach devised a system that would help residents with tuition at the state’s public colleges and universities based on need. The amount of help students receive would be determined on a sliding scale. Students would pay back what they owed after graduation, and payments would be determined by their income. Rather than erase a set-price tuition for everyone up-front, the state would lend students who can’t pay tuition what they need, and they would make interest-free, affordable payments back until they’d covered the cost. It extends the financial aid idea into the middle class, which is the group of college-bound students who receive less help than low-income students but are no more able to afford college. “Our economy has never worked for the poor,” Hangar says. “What’s remarkable about the last 30 years is that it’s stopped working for middle-income families.”

Critics’ fundamental problems, though, are more philosophical. Rather than seeing it as a social program like Social Security, Schroeder thinks the program is debt by another name, and that it will exacerbate the problem of government divestment in higher education that started the whole rising-tuition, rising-debt cycle in the first place. “This goes against are basic philosophy of trying to convince people that higher education is a public good,” she says. The conservative economist Milton Friedman floated a similar idea in the 1960s. This plan doesn’t involve those who do not go to college but who nevertheless benefit from the existence of public universities, and could be likened to shifting the funding for highways entirely to a toll-based system instead of a tax, or charging people for emergency services only when their house is on fire. For Schroeder using the issue of student debt to mobilize people to lobby for increased public spending on colleges—and decreased tuition costs—is the ideal way forward.

Dudley and other supporters of Pay It Forward believe objections like Schroeder’s ignore the realities of current education policy. “The progressive thing, if you want to use that word, would be to have fully-funded, publicly-funded, higher education, but we don’t have it, at least in any state that I know of,” she says. In the meantime, students are hurting. “This is the only solution that you could implement on a state level, besides just standing there hollering, ‘You have to raise taxes.’ We’ve been trying to raise taxes for 40 years now.”

The fight, though, gets at a bigger problem within the progressive movement. “Can we do two things at once on the left instead of criticizing ourselves?” Dudley asks. If the average American family cannot afford to send its children to college, it bodes ill for the sorts of jobs the next generation will be able to get, and is a dire problem for the American middle-class as a whole. Would critics forgo the only feasible solution because it doesn’t solve every problem? “I don’t think it’s a good answer to say, ‘Things have changed and that change is inevitable and permanent and we can nothing about it, so we should start chipping away at values that we would otherwise not chip away at,’” Schroeder says. The idealism versus political realities question is one progressives have bemoaned before: the trade-off between a public-sector health-insurance plan for one that subsidizes the private market, or the support for charter schools that have now seemed to erode support for public Kindergarten through twelfth graduate education.

Interest is likely to spread, whether progressive groups in other states organize around it or help promote legislation or not. Even before Merkley held the press conference on his bill, Dembrow attended an annual meeting of the Council of State Governments at the end of July, and was asked to give a presentation on Pay It Forward. “I think it’s a sign of people’s desperation,” he says. “People are struggling to find an answer to this question of what is the proper split between individual students and the state in terms of their investment in higher education.”  Reported by The American Prospect 4 hours ago.

Wendell Potter: Sloppy Reporting a Big Reason for Confusion About Obamacare

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Not confused enough yet about how much health insurance might cost some of us next year when the consumer protections in Obamacare kick in? Just wait. It's likely you'll soon be far more confused -- and alarmed -- than you already are.

Take, as an example, the CNNMoney story from last week, headlined, "Where Obamacare premiums will soar." The subhead was equally scary: "Get ready to shell out more money for individual health insurance under Obamacare ... in some states, that is."

The first thing you should keep in mind when you read such stories is that very few Americans will be affected by how much insurers will charge for the individual policies they'll be selling in the online health insurance marketplaces beginning Oct. 1. The CNN story doesn't mention, as it should have, that in a country of 315 million people, only 15 million -- less than five percent of us -- currently buy health insurance on our own through the so-called individual market because it's not available to us through the workplace.

Although the CNN story focused exclusively on the individual market, nowhere in the story was it explained that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the vast majority of Americans -- about 55 percent of us -- are enrolled in health insurance plans sponsored by our employers. Another 32 percent of us are enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and other public programs. That means that almost 9 out of 10 of us will not be affected at all by rates insurers will charge next year in the individual market.

The Americans who will be affected most by Obamacare are the millions who are uninsured because they either cannot buy coverage at any price today as a result of pre-existing conditions or they cannot afford what insurers are charging.

Although the CNN story didn't mention that one of the main reasons for Obamacare was to make it possible for the uninsured to at long last buy affordable coverage, it is the uninsured who will be most directly affected by the reform law, and most likely to benefit. That's because insurers next year will no longer be able to refuse to sell coverage to people who've been sick in the past. And because most people shopping for coverage on the online marketplaces will be eligible for federal subsidies to offset the cost of the premiums.

Not until deep in the CNN story are we informed that "Americans with incomes up to $45,960 for an individual and $94,200 for a family of four will be eligible for federal subsidies." That's a huge point to bury, especially considering that the median household income in this country is still just around $50,000. It's just a small percentage of folks buying coverage through the online insurance marketplaces that will have to pay the full premium price on their own.

Below the headline of the CNN story was a startling graphic showing the states of Ohio and Florida with the numbers 41 percent and 35 percent right below them, leading one to believe that all residents of those states would see their health insurance premiums skyrocket.

As I did my own research of those claims, I found that not only did those numbers apply to just the individual market, but they did not take into account the subsidies that will be available. So not only will very few Ohioans and Floridians see their premiums increase by that much, many if not most will pay less than they do today thanks to the sliding-scale subsidies.

I also found that officials in those states were being disingenuous in the way they calculated their "Obamacare" figures. Ohio and Florida and many other states permit insurers to sell policies today that are so inadequate they will be outlawed beginning Jan. 1. The reason those kinds of policies are being outlawed is because, even though they are profitable for insurers that sell them, people who buy them often find out when it's too late -- after a serious illness or accident -- that their policies are essentially worthless.

As The Miami Herald noted in a story about the projected rates announced recently by Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation, the source for the CNN graphic, "The OIR compared 'apples to oranges' by failing to factor into its projections the fact that statewide averages for pre-Obamacare premiums included a wide variety of low-value plans -- including plans with extremely limited benefits, such as no prescription drug coverage; and high-deductible plans, where the insured first must pay hefty out-of-pocket costs before the insurer begins to cover services."

Considering all the intentionally misleading information we are being subjected to about Obamacare from politicians and special interests with an obvious agenda, it will be vitally important for reporters to be more responsible in their reporting. Sensational media stories with attention-grabbing headlines but inadequate analysis will only add to Americans' confusion about a law that in reality will help the vast majority of us. Reported by Huffington Post 3 hours ago.

Snake Bite Victim Jules Weiss Hit With $55,000 Medical Bill

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Snake Bite Victim Jules Weiss Hit With $55,000 Medical Bill Business
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A Maryland woman who was treated for a snake bite isn’t just feeling the sting from what the copperhead did to her foot. Jules Weiss was handed a $55,000 medical bill after being treated at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., for a snake bite she suffered while taking a photo at an overlook along the George Washington Parkway.

"It felt just like a bee sting," Weiss said. "There were two fang marks with liquid coming out." About an hour later, Weiss’ foot had begun to swell up and was turning gray, Yahoo News reported.

Weiss received three IV bags of antivenom over 18 hours once she got to the hospital. Then she got the bill.

“It’s not a number I can really wrap my head around,” Weiss said. Her health insurance had just recently lapsed. Antivenom is very expensive because it involves milking individual snakes. Bethesda Hospital said it can cost as much as $40,000 to get the antivenom.

"I kind of went numb... I don't know if there's a way to process that,” Weiss said about the bill.

Sources: Yahoo News, NBC 4

1 Reported by Opposing Views 3 hours ago.

Key Obamacare allies face uphill battle with consumers

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"Navigators" and nonprofits least likely sources of health insurance guidance SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Health exchange "navigators" and reform-aligned nonprofit groups are preparing to assist millions during Obamacare's inaugural enrollment season... Reported by PR Newswire 3 hours ago.

Are people ready to shop for health insurance online?

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Health insurance exchanges don’t open for business until Oct. 1, but an academic study released Tuesday is already suggesting recommedations that the authors believe could save consumers and the government more than $9 billion annually. The study — titled “Can Consumers Make Affordable Care Affordable? The Value of Choice Architecture” — is co-authored by University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Tom Baker, a health insurance expert, and colleagues at Columbia University, Hebrew… Reported by bizjournals 2 hours ago.

Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on Montana Health Insurance Exchange Rates

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Montana released their health insurance exchange rates proposals. Many say that the Montana health insurance exchange rates are lower than expected.

Park City, UT (PRWEB) August 13, 2013

Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on the Montana health insurance exchange rates.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, recently, the Montana Health Insurance Exchange released proposed rates for individual, family, and small group health insurance plans that will be offered through the new exchange. Montana will operate their exchange through the federally-facilitated exchange, also called the “Marketplace”. However, Montana will maintain oversight of the plan management functions, meaning Montana will manage, process, and approve all plans and rates. The Montana Health Insurance Exchange will open for enrollment on October 1, 2013 with plan coverage starting January 1, 2014.

How will the rates compare to current individual and family rates in Montana?

A recent study conducted by the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance showed that the premium rates for both individual/family and small group policies will be lower than the current market, and lower than many experts expected. An average 40-year-old individual currently pays a premium of, on average, $290 per month. The estimated premium cost for a 40-year-old individual through the Montana Health Insurance Exchange is $273 per month.

These premium rate estimates do not include individual health insurance premium subsidies that eligible individuals may receive from the federal government. Additionally, the actual premium cost will depend on what level plan the policy holder chooses and tobacco use.

As exchange plan rates are being announced across all states, Montana is one of the many states where rates are lower than expected. Individual and family plan rates were generally expected to increase because of the entrance of the unhealthy into the individual market.

Under ObamaCare, all people are guaranteed health insurance and medical underwriting is not allowed. In addition, all products sold in the public health insurance exchanges are required to cover all “essential health benefits,” which include products and services that were not always covered in Montana’s individual health insurance policies prior to the ACA.

Currently, small groups pay, on average, $450 a month per employee for a comprehensive small group plan. The Montana CSI estimates small group coverage in 2014 to be $350 a month per employee through the Montana SHOP exchange.

According to the Montana Insurance Commissioner's Office, Montana received proposals from three insurance companies to offer health insurance plans on the Montana Health Insurance Exchange:


· Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana
· PacificSource
· Montana Health Co-Op (new)

All Montana Health Insurance Exchange plan rates and carriers will be finalized prior to the opening of the exchange on October 1, 2013.

Click here to read the full article.

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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHRA") for Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about ZaneHRA, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 55 minutes ago.

Why You Should Take Your “Health” Into Your Own Hands

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It’s come to this: A typical family’s health insurance costs as much as a typical family car. Reported by The Daily Reckoning 17 minutes ago.

Study: Half who now buy own health plan to get aid

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WASHINGTON (AP) — About half the people who now buy their own health insurance — and potentially would face higher premiums next year under President Barack Obama's health care law — would qualify for federal tax credits to offset rate shock, according to a new private study. The study found that 48 percent of families currently buying their own coverage would be eligible for tax credits next year, averaging $5,548 per family, or 66 percent of the average cost of a benchmark "silver" policy offered through new state insurance markets. "About half of the people won't be paying the sticker price," said Gary Claxton, director of the health care marketplace project at Kaiser, an information clearinghouse on the health care system. [...] the bottom line on premiums may not be clear until sometime this fall, after the Health and Human Services Department releases rates for more than 30 states where the federal government is taking the lead setting up new insurance markets for individuals and small businesses. — Policies must provide certain standard benefits, including prescription drugs, mental health and substance abuse treatment and rehabilitative services. The tax credits, available on a sliding scale based on family income, will be offered to people who don't have access to affordable coverage through their jobs and buy policies through the new state markets. Reported by SeattlePI.com 19 hours ago.
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