Standards group say they hope to free health insurers, public health plans and other payers from variations in state medical claims reporting requirements.

Would-be CO-OP plan starters may be able to get help with paying for the actuarial studies and business plan development efforts needed to start the plans but only if they win federal approval for their CO-OP applications.

Demographic and administrative concerns are some of the factors that scare insurers away from bidding on the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program contract, according to officials at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The number of health savings accounts (HSAs) – and the average amount of contributions per account – increased between 2008 and 2009.

The Consumer Oriented and Operated Program (CO-OP) plans might have a chance to survive, according to Jordan Battani.

Washington state has already started posting information about individual and small group rate change requests, and Wisconsin is giving insurers advice about how to comply with its new rate change disclosure requirements.

Efforts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make the new health insurance exchange program as flexible as possible for the states could hurt health insurers.

The Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC) is asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to clarify where flexible savings arrangements (FSAs) fit in with the new Form W-2 health benefits reporting requirements.