The Premium Tax Credit can make your health insurance premiums far more affordable.
Reported by Motley Fool 3 days ago.
What You Need to Know Before Claiming the Premium Tax Credit
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Health insurance deadline passes, but some have more time
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The deadline has passed for those seeking to enroll in insurance under the federal health care law, though some people in New Hampshire have a bit longer to select plans. The shortened signup period ended Friday, but customers of a company that is ending coverage this year have more time if […]
Reported by Seattle Times 3 days ago.
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Health law sign-up deadline extended for some people
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a rush of last-minute sign-ups, the Trump administration says it's extending the deadline for some people to finish health insurance applications for next year under the Affordable Care Act. Callers to the HealthCare.gov service center on Saturday morning got a recorded message saying "don't worry"— if they'd called and left their phone number before the deadline, they'll get a call back and still can enroll for 2018. HealthCare.gov issued similar extensions previously under the Obama administration. Although the deadline has passed for most consumers in the 39 states served by HealthCare.gov, several states running their own enrollment websites have longer deadlines.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 3 days ago.
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What's In The Final Republican Tax Bill: Goldman Explains
While we published both the full text(1,097 pages) and the "explanatory" statement (only 570 pages) released by the House-Senate conference committee on the final Republican Tax Bill, also known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), we are confident not many readers - or anyone else for that matter - will read the full text.So, as we previewded yesterday, here again is the Cliff Notes version of what the GOP agreed on late on Friday, and which will be voted early to mid-next week by both the House and the Senate:
· *CORPORATE TAX RATE*: Cuts corporate *income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent*, beginning Jan. 1, 2018.
· *PASS-THROUGHS: *Creates a *20 percent deduction for the first $315,000 *of qualified business income for joint filers of pass-through businesses such as partnerships and sole proprietorships. For income above that threshold, the legislation phases in limits that produce an *effective marginal tax rate of no more than 29.6 percent.*
· *CORPORATE MINIMUM TAX: *Repeals the 20 percent federal corporate alternative minimum tax, which was set up to ensure that profitable corporations pay at least some tax.
· *TERRITORIAL SYSTEM: *Exempts U.S. corporations from U.S. taxes on most of their future foreign profits, ending the present worldwide system of taxing profits of all U.S.-based businesses, no matter where the profits are earned.
· *REPATRIATION: *Sets a one-time mandatory tax of 8 percent for illiquid assets and 15.5 percent for cash and cash equivalents on $2.6 trillion in U.S. business profits currently held overseas. That foreign cash pile was created by a rule that allowed foreign profits to be tax-deferred if they were not brought into the United States, or repatriated, a tax rule that would be rendered obsolete by the territorial system.
· *CAPITAL EXPENSING*: Allows businesses to immediately write off, or expense, the full value of equipment for five years, then gradually eliminates 100 percent expensing over a three-year period beginning in year six.
· *CLEAN ENERGY: *Leaves in place tax credits for producing electricity from wind, biomass, geothermal, solar, municipal waste and hydropower.
· *CARRIED INTEREST: *Largely leaves in place the “carried interest” loophole that benefits private equity fund managers and some hedge fund managers, despite pledges by Republicans including Trump to close it. These financiers can now claim a lower capital gains rate on much of their income from investments held more than a year. The new legislation would extend that holding period to three years, putting the loophole out of reach for some fund managers, but preserving its availability for many.
INDIVIDUAL
· *BRACKETS: *Sets seven tax brackets: For married couples filing jointly, 10 percent up to $19,050; 12 percent up to $77,400; 22 percent up to $165,000; 24 percent up to $315,000; 32 percent up to $400,000; 35 percent up to $600,000; and 37 percent over $600,000. For unmarried individuals and married couples filing separately, 10 percent up to $9,525; 12 percent up to $38,700; 22 percent up to $82,500; 24 percent up to $157,500; 32 percent up to $200,000; 35 percent up to $500,000; and 37 percent over $500,000. These brackets expire after 2025.
· *STANDARD DEDUCTION: *Gives taxpayers a tax break without having to claim itemized deductions. For eight years beginning in 2018, the standard deduction increases to $12,700 from $6,350 for individuals and to $24,000 from $12,000 for married couples under the legislation.
· *CHILD TAX CREDIT*: Doubles the child tax credit to $2,000 per dependent child under the age of 17, with a refundable portion of $1,400. The refundable portion allows families to lower their tax bills to zero and receive a refund for the remaining value.
· *PERSONAL EXEMPTION: *Ends $4,050 individual personal exemption.
· *INHERITANCES: *Increases the exemption for estate and gift taxes to $10 million from $5 million per person and indexes the new exemption level for inflation after 2011. That means even fewer Americans would pay the estate tax, but it would stay on the books.
· *MORTGAGES: *For residences bought from Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 25, 2025, caps the deduction for mortgage interest at $750,000 in home loan value. After Dec. 31, 2025, the cap will revert to $1 million in loan value. Suspends the deduction for interest on home equity loans.
· *OBAMACARE MANDATE: *Repeals a federal fine imposed on Americans under Obamacare for not obtaining health insurance coverage.
* * *
Naturally, without context the above bullets mean little, so here is a quick walkrhough from Goldman's chief political economist, Alec Philips, who writes that in the latest good news for the economy, *the tax cuts in the final bill are larger in 2018 and 2019 than the Senate-passed version, though most of this is due to pulling forward the effective date for the 21% corporate tax rate to 2018 rather than 2019. *Offsetting this, however, is that a preliminary read of the bill leads Goldman to believe that *the effect on growth from the tax bill will not be substantially different than the minimal 0.3% boost in 2018 and 2019 the bank previously estimated*.
In other words, for all the talk - and Treasury promises - of a sharp economic rebound, and the tax plan paying for itself, Goldman is quite skeptical; so much so in fact that it barely see a material increase in GDP forecasts relative to baseline; to wit: "compared to policy as it stands today, the tax cut would equal 0.75% of GDP in 2018 and 1% of GDP in 2019. *This is 0.6% of GDP greater in 2018 and 0.2% greater in 2019 than our assumption *based on the Senate-passed bill. *However, since most of the difference relates to the corporate tax cut taking effect in 2018 rather than 2019 as under the Senate bill, our preliminary take is that the growth effect should not be substantially different than the roughly 0.3% of GDP boost in 2018 and 2019 we previously estimated*."
Below are the main points from Goldman:
1. *The tax cuts would be somewhat more front-loaded than Senate-passed plan and our own estimates*. The revenue estimates of the conference agreement released by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) suggest that, on a calendar year basis, the tax cut will be equal to 1% of GDP in 2018 and 1.3% of GDP in 2019 compared to a “current law” baseline that assumes several tax incentives expire on schedule (left panel of Exhibit 1). *However, compared to policy as it stands today, the tax cut would equal 0.75% of GDP in 2018 and 1% of GDP in 2019*. This is 0.6% of GDP greater in 2018 and 0.2% greater in 2019 than our assumption based on the Senate-passed bill. However, since most of the difference relates to the corporate tax cut taking effect in 2018 rather than 2019 as under the Senate bill, *our preliminary take is that the growth effect should not be substantially different than the roughly 0.3% of GDP boost in 2018 and 2019 we previously estimated.*
2. *The corporate tax rate would be reduced to 21% starting in 2018*. This increases the aggregate size of the tax in 2018 *but does not create an incentive for businesses to pull forward capex and other deductible expenses as had appeared likely if the tax cut had taken effect with a delay starting in 2019*. The corporate alternative minimum tax would be repealed, as expected.
3. The limitation on business interest deductibility represents a compromise between the House and Senate. For the next four years, through 2021, *businesses (corporations as well as passthroughs) may deduct interest up to 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA*). Starting in 2022, this limit would become more restrictive, at 30% of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT).
4. *The restriction on net operating losses (NOLs) became incrementally more restrictive than prior versions*. Under the final agreement*, NOLs could not be carried back, as expected, and while they could still be carried forward, they could be used to offset only 80% of a company’s income*, rather than the 90% previously proposed.
5. The international corporate provisions largely resemble the Senate’s provisions, as had appeared likely. The final bill includes a modified version of the Senate’s Base Erosion and Anti-Avoidance Tax (BEAT) as well as a modified version of the tax on global intangible low-tax income (GILTI*). The minimum tax rate on such income would be set at an effective minimum tax of 13.125%. *The agreement also imposes a slightly higher tax rate on accumulated untaxed foreign earnings (“deemed repatriation”) than the House or Senate bills; *the final version would tax earnings held in liquid investments at 15.5%, other untaxed foreign earnings at 8%. *Future foreign earnings (whether repatriated or not) would not be taxed by the US unless they are subject to the GILTI tax.
6. On the individual side*, the top marginal rate declines to 37%, as opposed to 38.5% under the Senate bill and 39.6% in the House bill*. Additionally, *it allows state and local tax deductibility – including property as well as income – up to $10k. The final agreement allows mortgage interest deductibility with mortgage principal capped at $750k *(existing loans will be grandfathered), but it disallows home equity debt-related interest. *The individual AMT remains in the conference agreement, but with increased exemption amounts and phaseout thresholds*.
7. *Pass-through provisions are similar to the Senate version, but the deduction rate is lowered to 20% (from 23%) of eligible income*. Taxpayers with income over a threshold of $315k (down from $500k) face additional restrictions. This further deters high-income taxpayers from using the deduction for wage income. Qualified REIT dividends, cooperative dividends, and publicly traded partnership income is eligible for the 20% deduction.
8. *We expect the House to vote on the plan Tuesday, Dec. 19, and the Senate to vote on Wednesday, Dec. 20. *With public announcements from Sens. Corker (R-TN) and Rubio (R-FL) that they plan to vote for the bill, the probability of passage looks very high. That said, Sens. McCain (R-AZ) and Cochran (R-MS) have missed votes recently due to health issues and there has not yet been any formal announcements from Sens. Collins (R-ME), Flake (R-AZ), or McCain (R-AZ) on how they plan to vote. While there is still some uncertainty, all of these senators look more likely than not to support the final bill. The bill needs 50 senators to vote for the bill, assuming Vice President Pence breaks the tie, meaning that the bill can pass as long as no more than 2 of the 52 Senate Republicans votes against the bill or is absent. Prediction markets now put the odds of enactment before year end at around 90%.
* * *
Finally, a tangent from the WSJ, on the repatriated cash provision. Citing analyst calculations, the newspaper writes that while Republican lawmakers say their tax overhaul would spur companies to hire more employees and build factories in the U.S, *one key provision, which could free up hundreds of billions of dollars for companies to spend, probably would benefit shareholders*.
The provision changes the tax rules on the profits that U.S.-based companies make overseas. Under current law, companies must pay a 35% tax on the earnings if they bring them to the U.S., though they can get credit for overseas taxes. To avoid the bill, companies have left $1.9 trillion abroad, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The GOP plan would eliminate the tax on ex-U.S. profits going forward, while requiring companies pay a levy on earnings currently offshore at a much-reduced rate.
Based on analyses of past programs to repatriate overseas corporate earnings, Wall Street analysts and tax experts expect companies *would use the money for purposes such as buying back shares and mergers. Instead of adding jobs, they say, companies might cut them if they use their cash to buy rivals and then take out costs*.
“There will be increased share repurchases, but limited impact on building new plants, real investment activity and employment,” said Dhammika Dharmapala, a University of Chicago law professor who has studied what U.S. companies have done with repatriated cash.
What this means is that when Trump said this morning that:
· *TRUMP SAYS $4 TRLN TO BE REPATRIATED IN `GREATEST XMAS GIFT'*
... he meant for shareholders.
*“Shareholders will get the cash” *from repatriation, said Kimberly Clausing, a Reed College economics professor and an expert in international tax policy.
Executives at U.S.-based companies have complained for years that the country’s tax code makes it hard for them to compete with foreign rivals whose overseas earnings aren’t taxed by their home countries and who in some instances pay lower tax rates on their domestic profits.
And now that the tax will be drastically smaller, instead of issuing domestic debt to fund buybacks, management teams will simply repatriate offshore cash in order to boost their stock price, augment their equity-linked comp and generally make the rich even richer. Some more details:
“*We expect technology issuers will use repatriated off shore cash largely for shareholder returns*,” Fitch Ratings said in a recent research note.
Credit Suisse analyst Vamil Divan said he expects the drug companies he follows to use repatriated cash for share buybacks and acquisitions. “I think we’re going to see the consolidation in the industry we’ve been waiting for,” Dr. Divan said.
Analysts predict Pfizer Inc., would use repatriated money to do a big deal. The company has about $22 billion in cash overseas, and Chief Financial Officer Frank D’Amelio has said its priorities for using any money brought to the U.S. following tax changes “are dividends, share buybacks, investing in the business and M&A.”
As for the rest of the economy, Goldman said it best: "*we do not believe the effect on growth from the tax bill will be substantial.* " Reported by Zero Hedge 3 days ago.
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A look at some winners and losers under the GOP tax plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Count President Donald Trump among the personal winners in the $1.5 trillion tax package that congressional Republicans are on the verge of passing. It's not only a political score for Trump but likely a windfall for his real estate empire, too. Oil drillers would also benefit. So would multimillionaire and billionaire owners of sports teams. Companies would enjoy a bounty from permanently lower tax rates. Lawyers and accountants will profit from the advice suddenly needed to guide clients through the tax plan. The bill creates plenty of losers, too. An estimated 13 million Americans are projected to lose health insurance. Commuters will no longer receive a perk that has saved them money.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 2 days ago.
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Weighing The Impact Of Repealing The Health Insurance Mandate
The tax bill being considered by Congress includes a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News talks to guest host Ray Suarez about how that could affect the health insurance market.
Reported by NPR 2 days ago.
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HEALTH CARE UPDATE
The final tax bill being considered by Congress includes a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News talks to guest host Ray Suarez about the effect that change could have on the health insurance market.
Reported by NPR 2 days ago.
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The Media's Reign Of Error Exposed
Authored by Mark Hemingway via WeeklyStandard.com,*Covering the Trump presidency has not always been the media’s finest hour, but even grading on that curve, the month of December has brought astonishing screwups. *
Professor and venerable political observer Walter Russell Mead tweeted on December 8,* “I remember Watergate pretty well, and I don’t remember anything like this level of journalistic carelessness back then. The constant stream of ‘bombshells’ that turn into duds is doing much more to damage the media than anything Trump could manage.”*
*On December 1, ABC News correspondent Brian Ross went on air and made a remarkable claim. *For months, the media have been furiously trying to prove collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Ross reported that former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had just pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, was prepared to testify that President Trump had instructed him to contact Russian officials before the 2016 election, while Trump was still a candidate. If true, it would have been a gamechanger. *But Ross’s claim was inaccurate.* Flynn’s documented attempts to contact the Russians came after Trump was president-elect, allegedly trying to lay diplomatic groundwork for the new administration. Ross was suspended by ABC for four weeks without pay for the error.
*Later that same weekend, the New York Times ran a story about Trump transition official K. T. McFarland,* charging that she had lied to congressional investigators about knowledge of the Trump transition team’s contacts with Russia. The article went through four headline changes and extensive edits after it was first published, substantially softening and backing away from claims made in the original version. The first headline made a definitive claim: “McFarland Contradicted Herself on Russia Contacts, Congressional Testimony Shows.” The headline now reads “Former Aide’s Testimony on Russia Is Questioned.” The website Newsdiffs, which tracks edits of articles after publication, shows *nearly the entire body of the article was rewritten*. (The Times website makes no mention of the changes.)
*Still in that first weekend of December,* Senator Orrin Hatch criticized the excesses of federal welfare programs, saying, “I have a rough time wanting to spend billions and billions and trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves.” The quote was taken wildly out of context. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough as well as journalists from Mic, Newsweek, and the Los Angeles Times reported that Hatch was directly criticizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, with some suggesting Hatch thought children should be put to work to pay for subsidized health care. *Not only was Hatch not criticizing the CHIP program, he cowrote the recent bill to extend its funding.*
*On December 5, Reuters and Bloomberg reported that special counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed Deutsche Bank account records of President Trump* and family members, possibly related to business done in Russia. The report was *later corrected* to say Mueller was subpoenaing “people or entities close to Mr. Trump.”
*Then on December 8, another Russia bombshell turned into a dud. *CNN’s Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb reported Donald Trump Jr. had been sent an email on September 4, 2016, with a decryption key to a WikiLeaks trove of hacked emails from Clinton confidant and Democratic operative John Podesta—that is, before the hacked emails were made public. (WikiLeaks is widely surmised to act as a front for Russian intelligence.) MSNBC and CBS quickly claimed to have confirmed CNN’s scoop. Within hours, though, CNN’s report was discredited. The email was sent on September 14, after the hacked Podesta emails had been made publicly available. *CNN later admitted it never saw the email it was reporting the contents of.*
*This is just eight days’ worth of blundering.*
Since October of last year, when Franklin Foer at Slate filed an erroneous report on a computer server in Trump Tower communicating with a Russian bank, there have been an *unprecedented number of media faceplants, most of them directly related to the Russia-collusion theory.*
*The errors always run in the same direction—they report or imply that the Trump campaign was in league with Moscow. *
For a politicized and overwhelmingly liberal press corps, the wish that this story be true is obviously the father to the errors. Just as obviously, there are precedents for such high-profile embarrassments in the past. (Remember Dan Rather’s “scoop” on George W. Bush’s National Guard service?) But flawed reporting in the Trump era is becoming more the norm than the exception, suggesting the media have become far too willing to abandon some pretty basic journalistic standards.
*Editors at top news organizations once treated anonymous sourcing as a necessary evil, a tool to be used sparingly. Now anonymous sources dominate Trump coverage.*
It’s not just a problem for readers, who should rightly be skeptical of information someone isn’t willing to vouch for by name. It’s a problem for reporters, too, because anonymous sources are less likely to be cautious and diligent in providing information. According to CNN, the sources behind the busted report on Trump Jr.’s contact with WikiLeaks didn’t intend to deceive and had been reliable in the past. Maybe so, but given the network’s repeated errors it’s difficult to just take CNN’s word for it.
*But it’s one thing to use anonymous sources; it’s quite another to be entirely trusting of them.* CNN decided to report the contents of an email to Donald Trump Jr. based only on the say-so of two anonymous sources and without seeing the emails. “I remember when I was [a staffer] on the Ways and Means committee and I would try and give reporters stories, and I remember the Wall Street Journal demanded to see a document,” former Bush administration press secretary Ari Fleischer tells The Weekly Standard. “They wouldn’t take it from me if I didn’t give them the document, and I thought, ‘Good for them!’ ”
What makes the botched story of the WikiLeaks email more troubling is how quickly MSNBC and CBS ran with CNN’s scoop.* “It’s hard to imagine how independent people could repeatedly misread a date on an email and do so for three different networks,” says Fleischer. “Whose eyesight is that bad?”*
This points to an additional problem with the sourcing on these unfounded reports.* The only way three networks could claim to have verified the same specious story is if they were all relying on the very same sources.* Many of the flawed Trump reports appear to be sourced from a very narrow circle of people, who no doubt share partisan motivations or personal animus.
Certainly, it appears a number of recent spurious stories have* originated as leaks from Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee*. In Raju and Herb’s report, they revealed that Trump Jr. had been asked about the WikiLeaks email in closed-door testimony before the committee. After CNN’s scoop imploded, a spokesman for Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, issued a classic non-denial denial, telling Politico “that neither he nor his staff leaked any ‘non-public information’ ” about Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony.
Meanwhile,* the Russia investigation has been very good for raising Schiff’s profile. *A December 13 press release from the Republican National Committee notes the congressman has at that point spent 20 hours, 44 minutes, and 49 seconds on television since Trump took office, talking mostly about the investigation (pity the low-level staffer who must have had to do the research for that release). During that time, Schiff has always declined to discuss the particulars of the intel committee’s work. Nonetheless, consideration of *his sensitive position hasn’t stopped him from offering all manner of innuendo to national TV audiences about evidence suggesting Russia collusion.*
*For their part, the media don’t seem to be coming to grips with the damage they’re doing to their own credibility. *CNN, which calls itself “the most trusted name in news,” didn’t retract their WikiLeaks report but rewrote it in such a way as to render the story meaningless. They also came to the defense of Raju and Herb, saying the reporters acted in accordance with the network’s editorial policies. And of course they didn’t out their sources—the ultimate punishment news organizations can mete out to anonymous tipsters who steer them wrong.
It understandably infuriates the media that President Trump remains unwilling to own up to his own glaring errors and untruths, while news organizations run correction after correction. And it also understandably upsets the media to watch the president actively attack and seek to undermine their work, which remains vital to ensuring accountability in American governance.
*What they haven’t grasped is how perversely helpful to him they are being*: On a very basic level, President Trump’s repeated salvos against “fake news” have resonance because, well, there does indeed appear to be a lot of fake news.
*“There is nothing wrong with holding powerful people accountable. There’s nothing wrong with investigating whether or not collusion took place. But there’s a lot wrong when because you want to believe in the story so much you suspend skepticism,” *says Fleischer.
“You let your guard down. You abandon the normal filters that protect journalistic integrity. And you fail to also hold to account powerful leakers, or powerful members of Congress who themselves have an anti-Trump agenda. It’s called putting your thumb on the scale.”
Reported by Zero Hedge 2 days ago.
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Relief, Bitterness And Frustration: Another Year Of Obamacare Enrollment
Shopping for health insurance has always been a pain. Obamacare's problems and Trump's sabotage made it worse this year.
Reported by Huffington Post 2 days ago.
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Democrats: Congress must fund children’s insurance program
BOSTON (AP) — Democratic members of Congress from Massachusetts and Rhode Island are calling on Congress to immediately extend funding for a popular federal children’s health insurance initiative. U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is planning a press conference Monday at Boston Children’s Hospital to call for an immediate funding extension for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, […]
Reported by Seattle Times 1 day ago.
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Entrepreneur: Family-run Marcus Networking handles IT work for mainly medical companies
Marcus Networking started as a tech consulting company, predominantly in manufacturing, then growing into the medical industry after becoming Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act compliant.
Reported by bizjournals 1 day ago.
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A startup backed by Bill Gurley wants to fix one of the most frustrating things about the doctor’s office
· *Stitch Health is a startup that's trying to help doctors communicate better about their patients. *· *The company, which officially launched Monday, raised an undisclosed amount in its series A, which was led by Benchmark Capital. *
· *The first tool, Connect, is essentially Slack for doctors, where healthcare professionals can chat about a particular patient and share information. *
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When it comes to healthcare, some of the communications tools used may seem a bit dated.
Pagers, fax machines and phone calls all still have a place in the system, and the information one doctor has about a patient may not be the same information another healthcare professional has about that same patient. That can leave a lot of room for miscommunication and mistakes to arise, which can be frustrating for both doctors and patients who have to repeat themselves or clarify.
It's something Stitch, a startup that's launching Monday, is trying to smooth out through a set of communcations tools. The company has raised an undisclosed series A led by Benchmark Capital's Bill Gurley with tech-startup accelerator Y Combinator also taking part.
Stitch CEO Bharat Kilaru, who was previously the executive director of a primary care practice, told Business Insider that the idea to start Stitch came from his own experience seeing the challenges doctors at the practice faced when trying to communicate with one another.
The Stitch platform will have different tools aimed to help healthcare providers be more productive. The first, called "Connect," is a communications platform that helps teams chat about a particular patient in one central location. It's essentially Slack, but specifically geared toward medical professionals.
"We use Stitch primarily as an urgent communications mechanism," Michael Krause, chief revenue officer at Luminance Recovery, a rehabilitation center in California, told Business Insider. Say someone who is taking part in the program wants to leave early, against clinical advice. The staff member in charge of the patient at that time could send out a message to the patient's whole care team, which would pop up as a notification on their devices, prompting them to call in and assist the staff member.
Being able to do that quickly is something they wouldn't have been able to do if they were just using electronic health records, which are used to keep patient records, Krause said. The Luminance team has been using Stitch for two years, and Krause said 100% of the staff members have been using it.
Here's what the application looks like.
Stitch is also launching two other tools in beta, one that helps doctors chat with patients, and another that helps manage the relationship between doctors and patients.
*The changing consumer in healthcare*
Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark known for his investments in Uber and other buzzy Silicon Valley startups, has had an eye out for healthcare companies for a few years now. So far, Gurley's invested in just four: One Medical, Brighter, a digital health company acquired by Cigna on Thursday, Solv, and now Stitch. Finding companies that don't just tackle on healthcare spending has been a challenge, he said.
"A lot of entrepreneurs go into healthcare because they want to make a difference and make an impact. And as they build a business model, many of them are building tools that make the problem worse," Gurley said.
For example, electronic health records are mainly built to help healthcare providers communicate with health insurance plans. That doesn't do a whole lot for patients, who are increasingly on the hook for paying more of their healthcare costs. The consumerization of healthcare is something Gurley, who will join Stitch's board, hopes the healthcare system will shift toward as a way to drive down the cost.
"I've seen others that just help carriers extract every last dollar. The software's being used to drive up healthcare as a percentage of the GDP, not improve it," Gurley said. "There may even be a quixotic tilt to want to improve things for the customer and hope that the market's moving in that direction enough that it relates to sales. Our early signs suggest so, but that's probably a risk."
*SEE ALSO: A startup that helps you book urgent care appointments that’s backed by Bill Gurley is going national*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: The disturbing reason some people turn red when they drink alcohol Reported by Business Insider 14 hours ago.
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Markey, Boston Children's implore Congress to restore CHIP funding
Flanked by patients and executives from Boston Children’s Hospital, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey implored Congress to restore federal funding for children’s health insurance, hammering Republican lawmakers for prioritizing tax cuts to the wealthy over funding to provide children health care. The press conference, held at Boston Children’s Hospital on Monday, comes as federal legislators try to negotiate a year-end government funding package, which could include funding for the Children’s Health…
Reported by bizjournals 14 hours ago.
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DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: Amazon Echo, Alexa get prescription price checks through GoodRx — Cigna acquires digital health engagement firm Brighter — Microsoft's AI-powered health app adds features
Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by BI Intelligence.*Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.*
Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: lbeaver@businessinsider.com
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*GOODRX BRINGS PRESCRIPTION PRICE SEARCH TO AMAZON’S ALEXA: *Prescription savings company GoodRx is introducing a voice app for Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, according to MobiHealthNews. Consumers will be able to ask Alexa — the voice assistant that powers Amazon’s top-selling Echo smart speakers — about a particular prescription medication, dosage, and formulation. The voice assistant will then be able to give the user information on the cost of the drug at a variety of different pharmacies.
*More broadly, the Echo could offer healthcare companies a new means of engaging with their patients and customers. *And companies in the healthcare space have already started rolling out voice apps for Alexa. Here are some examples.
· *New York healthcare network Northwell Health introduced an Alexa skill aimed primarily at helping patients find and use its urgent care centers. Users can ask Alexa where the nearest location is to their zip code, for instance. The voice assistant can also tell the user what the expected wait time would be at an urgent care location or a hospital emergency department. California-based Sutter Health and Carolina-based Novant Health have introduced similar Alexa skills.*
· *Cooey Health Monitoring* has released an Alexa skill that allows patients to check their health record using the voice assistant, acting as a new way for users to interact with the monitoring platform.
*This is just the beginning for Alexa as a healthcare tool. Amazon has been improving its voice assistant platform, adding capabilities like reminders, which can be used to help coordinate timing for medications. And as Amazon wades into healthcare data processing with its AWS cloud platform, it will be able to offer partners a better means of communicating with many of their patients. For context, BI Intelligence forecasts the Echo device installed base will reach 70 million in 2022.*
*CIGNA ACQUIRES BRIGHTER TO BOLSTER ITS DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT TOOLS:* Health insurance giant Cigna has acquired Brighter Inc., a digital health plan platform provider, to accelerate and expand its consumer initiatives and provider partnerships. Brighter licenses its SaaS digital platform and engagement services to health and dental organizations to help them to better reach their customers and participating providers. As part of the acquisition, Cigna will integrate Brighter's digital capabilities to help:
· *Consumers* more regularly and confidently engage with plans, providers, and wellness programs.
· * Providers* to lower marketing, administrative, and patient-engagement expenses.
· *Employer plan sponsors* to use data-driven recommendations for ongoing improvements.
Although Brighter will continue as a client-focused company serving the digital needs of current and prospective customers, it will also be used to accelerate the development of Cigna’s mobile and desktop platforms, essentially becoming Cigna's "digital health engine".
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*MICROSOFT'S AI-POWERED HEALTH APP ADDS NEW FEATURES: *Microsoft’s Seeing AI app, which helps those with visual impairments by narrating surroundings using a mobile device's camera and AI technology, is adding three new capabilities. The app, which launched earlier this year and has been downloaded over 100,000 times, will now have the ability to recognize the color of objects such as clothing, the types of currency a user might be holding, and handwritten notes or cards. There are an estimated 253 million people who live with vision impairment across the globe, according to the World Health Organization.
*STRIDE HEALTH SEES A TAILWIND FROM THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE: *Stride Health took advantage of the end of open enrollment — which finished last Friday — to help freelancers at companies in the gig economy get insurance coverage, reports TechCrunch. Stride generates revenue by referring gig workers to insurers. The company has worked with freelancers that gig at a number of prominent companies including Uber and TaskRabbit. In the last few weeks, as the deadline to sign up for health insurance plans in order to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate approached, a number of companies have signed up with Stride, according to CEO Noah Lang. For context, up to 43% of US workers could be gig workers by 2020.
*In other news…*
· *Doctor.com** *and *Connect Healthcare*, a provider of healthcare management solutions, have merged under the Doctor.com brand. The merger will enable healthcare organizations to manage their provider data, patient feedback analysis, reputation monitoring, and online scheduling from one unified platform.
· *Elemeno Health**, *which provides virtual coaching software for healthcare teams, has completed a $1.3 million seed round. Elemeno's service is accessible from any device, enabling healthcare teams to easily access best practice guidelines, up-to-date checklists and how-to videos.
Join the conversation about this story » Reported by Business Insider 14 hours ago.
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UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Tennessee names new CEO
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Tennessee has named Keith Payet CEO of the state Medicaid program. Payet joined the company, which provides health insurance to 493,700 Tennesseans, in 2015 to lead the Long Term Services and Supports program, according to a news release. There he managed a team of 300 employees and was the liaison for the TennCare’s CHOICES program that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Tennessee, a subsidiary…
Reported by bizjournals 13 hours ago.
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4 Things You Must Know About Your Health Insurance Plan
Before choosing a health insurance plan, you need to know the basics of how it works.
Reported by Motley Fool 13 hours ago.
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Deadline approaches for MNsure enrollment
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota residents who buy health insurance on the individual market have until Wednesday to enroll in the state-run health care exchange if they want to be covered by Jan. 1. The Pioneer Press reports that MNsure will have extended hours at its call center and 24-hour online availability as the […]
Reported by Seattle Times 12 hours ago.
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Idaho to move kids to Medicaid if Congress doesn’t save CHIP
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Many depend on the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help pay for their child’s medical care. More than 22,000 Idaho children were on CHIP as of October. But the program is at risk of losing its federal funding, which could put new costs on the state. Congress failed to reauthorize the […]
Reported by Seattle Times 12 hours ago.
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How Albany's largest health insurance agency is making it easier for customers to keep costs down
Rose and Kiernan, the Albany, New York, area's largest health insurance broker, is partnering with a health care tech startup out of Chicago.
Reported by bizjournals 12 hours ago.
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Courts allow Andover to hike retiree health care contributions
In a ruling that could serve as a precedent for communities grappling with fast-growing costs to covert health care for retirees, the town of Andover has been allowed by the courts to hike health insurance premium contributions paid by retirees in its effort to address costs expected to balloon over the next several decades. The town won a lawsuit earlier this month that was brought against it by Andover retirees in Essex Superior Court, which will allow the town to increase retiree health insurance…
Reported by bizjournals 12 hours ago.
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