There's an interesting spin on Obamacare that has been going on in recent days as a result of several announcements out of Washington. First, the Treasury Department announced last week that it will delay enforcing the large-employer mandate for one year. Later, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will simplify the…
Health
Yesterday evening, the Obama administration made a surprise announcement that it would be delaying the employer mandate, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, for one year. The rule, originally slated to take effect January 1st of 2014, requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance coverage to their workers or…
Yesterday, CCRC Actuaries, the firm hired by the West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner to analyze the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), released its report on the expected impact of the health insurance exchange in West Virginia. The good news is that lots of people will spend less on health insurance and…
With enrollment for the new Health Insurance Marketplace just around the corner and the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act hot on its heels, I wanted to take a moment to consider who will qualify for Medicaid under expansion in West Virginia. Medicaid is a health program designed to provide comprehensive health and dental…
Today's blog post comes to you courtesy of my new health insurance provider, thanks to a letter I received in the mail yesterday. Ever since I took my first ‘real' job at the state Bureau for Public Health several years ago, my wife and I have had our health insurance through PEIA. Coming on as…
Small business is often considered the foundation of local economies, which means a recent report about the Affordable Care Act may be real good news for West Virginia. The report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the number of self-employed people in West Virginia will rise by 13 percent, or 6,000 people, after…
Earlier this month, Kentucky announced it would be joining West Virginia and 19 other states in expanding Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. Kentucky, however, had stronger evidence to support its decision than West Virginia. While West Virginia estimated expansion would cost the state around $375 million over the first 10 years, Kentucky looked…
A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at the poverty rate of seniors across the country. The report uses the new supplemental poverty measure from the Census Bureau to estimate poverty rates. According to the Census Bureau, poverty rates among elderly West Virginians are slightly higher under the supplemental poverty measure (11%) than…
An article in yesterday's Wheeling Intelligencer claims that a Northern Panhandle pediatrician is being forced to retire because of the costs of Obamacare. It makes for a great headline for opponents of the Affordable Care Act, but is it true? In short, no, at least not for the reason cited. Dr. Ventosa's primary claim is that…