FALLS CHURCH, Va. – Have you recently come across a health care term and weren’t quite sure what it meant? It’s OK. Health care coverage is full of terms you may not know. To help you better understand your TRICARE benefit, here’s a list of commonly used health care terms and definitions. “Having a…
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The landmark Postal Service Reform Act (H.R. 3076) Congress passed this week ends the mandate that the Postal Service pre-fund its retiree health benefit costs and requires postal workers to enroll in Medicare Parts A and B when they turn 65. The latter provision could end up affecting all federal employees. All current federal retirees,…
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In early January, Dalton Bocknick’s wife was pregnant and in her second trimester when her baby’s health began to deteriorate. The couple made an appointment for an ultrasound, and as they were leaving the hospital, staff called and said their insurance wasn’t active. He soon learned his employer, General Electric, had cut his wife and…
The big idea When children get health insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, their families benefit, too. That’s what I found through recent research conducted with two fellow health economists, Daniel S. Grossman and Barton Willage. And it was particularly true for the children’s mothers, who become 5% more…
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Most Americans struggle to figure out which health insurance plan will save them money. It is a process that can be confusing, time-consuming and costly. A study of almost 24,000 employees at a major Fortune 100 company found that 61% of them chose the wrong plan for their needs. The average employee could have saved…
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The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Updated at 6:48 p.m. In the nick of time, the University of Vermont Health Network has reached an agreement to continue accepting health insurance from thousands of Vermonters covered by UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer. The hospital network and the insurer…
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The Ohio House passed a long-delayed bipartisan bill without opposition Wednesday that is designed to enable Ohioans to better afford potentially life-saving medications. The bill bans a practice known as a copay accumulator, in which health insurers refuse to count any copay assistance patients may receive from drugmakers, churches, nonprofits or family members toward the patient’s…
In the American healthcare system, it’s probably best to expect to pay out of pocket for 100% of your medical procedures. Here are several surprising things that your health insurance absolutely will not cover. Cancer Implantation While most cancer treatments are at least partially covered, surgery to graft a tumor to one or more organs…
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