Medical Billing Blog

About 10.3 million Americans have gained insurance coverage since the full implementation of Obamacare last year, according to an analysis published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, done by Harvard researchers and published by the NEJM, was based on Gallup polling and data from the Department of Health and Human Services. It also estimated that the uninsured rate declined by 5.2 percentage points in the second quarter of 2014, or from 21 percent in September 2013 to 16.3 percent in April 2014. In particular, it found jumps in the insurance rates for Hispanics, blacks and young adults.

New enrollments in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and other healthcare programs for the poor have reached 6.7 million people since the launch of President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms last year, the administration said on Friday. CMS says about 26.4 million children were enrolled in CHIP or Medicaid overall, and 56 percent of all enrollees in the programs are children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its Medicaid Enrollment Report for April, 2014.  As of the end of April, 6 million more individuals were enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as compared to the period before the initial open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act started in October, 2013. That includes 1.1 million additional people enrolled in April as compared to March in the 48 states that reported data for both April and March.

The state of Michigan has officially rolled out its Medicaid expansion program. Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, fought his GOP-controlled legislature last summer to push through the expansion. But lawmakers refused to let it take effect earlier than April 1. Eligibility for this year is expected to be around 320,000 people.  Further expansion is expected to cover about 470,000 residents through increasing the income limit for eligibility. Some elements of Michigan's Medicaid expansion program will require CMS approval. Currently, in order to qualify, adults must between the ages of 19 and 64 who are not currently eligible for Medicaid or Medicare, and are making less than 133 percent of the federal poverty line. The current FPL is about $16,000 for a single person and $33,000 for a family of four. The state plan notably includes a provision requiring enrollees after four years to seek exchange coverage or share some of the costs to remain in the Medicaid program. Interest in the Michigan program looks strong early on. By 4 p.m. Tuesday, the state reportedly received almost 12,000 applications for coverage.

Continuing our series on the key features of the Affordable Care Act, we will now look into the changes that took effect in 2010 that sought to increase access to affordable healthcare. As previously mentioned, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010. The law aims to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance, lower the uninsured rate, and reduce the costs of healthcare for individuals and the government. However, a number of the mechanisms – mandates, subsidies, and insurance exchanges – are to be rolled out over four years and beyond. Below is an overview of some of the key provisions aimed to increase access that took effect in 2010.