■ Ohio: Senate Republicans, in an uncharacteristic display of competence, have put the kibosh on Gov Kasich's plan to expand Medicaid in the Buckeye State. I'm pretty sure that's a sign of the Apocalypse.
■ California: Surprising exactly no one, fewer employers in the Golden State are now offering group health insurance:
"The percentage of California employers that offer health care coverage to their employees has plummeted ... only 49% of employers with between three and nine employees offered coverage"
The numbers are slightly better for employers with between 10 and 49 employees.
Look for that to change as The ObamaTax lingers on.
■ Nevada: Long-time IB readers may recall the story of the guy whose COBRA premium was a bit short:
"[C]ancer patient Ron Flanagan lost his insurance coverage because his premium payment was $.02 short ... They are required to follow the law, which they (apparently) did."
Now the good news is that Mr Flanagan's coverage was eventually reinstated, but this was far from a slam-dunk.
The folks who run the Silver State's health insurance exchange are pro-actively addressing this potential pitfall. They were "asked about customers who fail to pay their premiums, or fail to pay as much as they are supposed to pay, by the end of the grace period."
Turns out, it's not a lot different than the example of poor Mr Flanagan:
"QHPs cannot reinstate individuals who are getting advanced premium tax credits (APTCs) and fail to make their share of the payments by the end of the grace period"
Which means that, if you're getting a subsidy, you'd better make darned sure you send in your premium.
'Course if you don't, and you get cancelled, you can just stiff your doc. One supposes we'll see a lot of that.
■ California: Surprising exactly no one, fewer employers in the Golden State are now offering group health insurance:
"The percentage of California employers that offer health care coverage to their employees has plummeted ... only 49% of employers with between three and nine employees offered coverage"
The numbers are slightly better for employers with between 10 and 49 employees.
Look for that to change as The ObamaTax lingers on.
■ Nevada: Long-time IB readers may recall the story of the guy whose COBRA premium was a bit short:
"[C]ancer patient Ron Flanagan lost his insurance coverage because his premium payment was $.02 short ... They are required to follow the law, which they (apparently) did."
Now the good news is that Mr Flanagan's coverage was eventually reinstated, but this was far from a slam-dunk.
The folks who run the Silver State's health insurance exchange are pro-actively addressing this potential pitfall. They were "asked about customers who fail to pay their premiums, or fail to pay as much as they are supposed to pay, by the end of the grace period."
Turns out, it's not a lot different than the example of poor Mr Flanagan:
"QHPs cannot reinstate individuals who are getting advanced premium tax credits (APTCs) and fail to make their share of the payments by the end of the grace period"
Which means that, if you're getting a subsidy, you'd better make darned sure you send in your premium.
'Course if you don't, and you get cancelled, you can just stiff your doc. One supposes we'll see a lot of that.
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