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September 16, 2021 — Week ended Sept. 11 jobless claims rose 20,000 to a total of 332,000, following a pandemic low in the prior week, a sign that rising Covid-19 infections are harming economy, the US Department of Labor reports. Applications for unemployment benefits had been steadily decreasing as a number of states cut jobless […]
America’s Social Security safety net turns 86 this month. The Social Security Act of 1935 enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Aug. 14, 1935 The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was part of Roosevelt’s New […]
Continue reading …By Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News staff writer– More than eight million people have signed up for private, often subsidized health insurance under Affordable Care Act, President Obama said in April. Millions more obtained new coverage through the Medicaid program for the poor. Full implementation of the health law, care and its wider coverage, new taxes and shifting subsidies, […]
Continue reading …By Stephanie O’Neill, KPCC/KHN, LONG BEACH, Calif. — Until recently, Mike Smith, 64, worked 11 hours a day, Monday through Friday and then half a day on Saturday, as a district manager for a national auto parts chain — a schedule he’s kept for nearly 40 years. Early retirement, while certainly appealing, wasn’t a viable option for […]
Continue reading …By MICHELLE ANDREWS, KHN— When Maria and Vadim Brodsky’s then 7-year-old daughter needed an MRI two years ago to examine a tumor in her head, they took her to a hospital in their health insurance plan’s network and were dismayed to receive a $4,500 bill. The couple had a $6,000 deductible on their family health insurance […]
Continue reading …By JORDAN RAU, KHN— Two new studies assert that the country’s unusual slowdown in health care spending growth rates may be due more to structural changes in the health care system than to the lagging economy, and could continue even after business picks up. National health care spending grew by 3.9% a year between 2009 […]
Continue reading …By PHIL GALEWITZ, KHN— The federal health care law derided as a “job-killer” by critics will create an estimated 9,000 jobs in 14 states this summer to handle consumer inquiries about new online insurance marketplaces. The jobs are through Vangent, a General Dynamics subsidiary, which was awarded a $530 million one-year contract by the federal government to […]
Continue reading …By JULIE APPLEBY, KHN Staff Writer— Some consumers may continue to face out-of-pocket health care expenses of $12,500 or more next year – double the amount allowed by the health law – because the Obama administration won’t enforce that provision for some plans for another year. “This is a very important consumer protection that is being […]
Continue reading …By MARY AGNES CAREY, KHN Staff Writer— The Obama administration, rebuffed earlier this year by Republicans, is trying once again to convince Congress to provide more funding for the health law’s health insurance exchanges, which are set to begin enrollment this fall. According to figures released in the fiscal 2014 budget request Wednesday, the administration estimates that the federal […]
Continue reading …By PHIL GALEWITZ, KHN Staff Writer— Two of the nation’s leading forces in health insurance — UnitedHealthcare and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association – faced off Thursday before Congress in a battle for control of the $47 billion program that covers 8 million federal employees, retirees and their families. UnitedHealthcare wants to change a […]
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