insurance

More than 160,000 more people gain coverage under the Affordable Care Act

It's time for a reality check. The rollout of the Affordable Care Act and subsequent Maryland Health Care exchange website is still a woeful disaster. And despite recent assurances by state officials that the exchange is "functional for most citizens," the reality is that the system is not fixed and far worse is the attitude of the administration.

Maryland's insurance regulator issued a bulletin Tuesday clarifying that transgender Marylanders cannot be discriminated against by insurance companies based on their gender identities.

Republicans won't acknowledge it but there are Obamacare success stories like mine

Throughout the Baltimore area, the record-breaking cold has caused water pipes to freeze and burst, unleashing rivers of water that panicked homeowners rush to stop. Plumbers say they've never been busier

By failing to extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, Congress has cut off the jobless benefits to millions, including 82,600 people in Maryland. Unconscionably and irresponsibly, Congress continues to sit on its hands. A minority of U.S. Senators continues to block any extension, while the majority leadership of the House of Representatives won't even bring it up for a vote. The president has said that extending EUC should be the nation's first order of business for 2014. To

Obamacare shows signs of life, but single payer would be much simpler.

With a deadline today for uninsured Marylanders to secure health coverage retroactive to Jan. 1, would-be enrollees continued to report frustration with the state's troubled health exchange.

More Marylanders gain new health coverage, but the number of uninsured might not fall greatly

Maryland officials mistakenly listed the phone number of a Seattle pottery supply business on the state's troubled health exchange, directing some people who couldn't pick an insurance provider to the West Coast company.

Maryland Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller said the investigations into how the state bungled its $107 million health exchange would continue until lawmakers were satisfied.

Primary care doctors are ready to lead the march to better, less costly patient-centered health care

A Sparks-based insurance company that was seized by Delaware regulators faces possible liquidation in a wild case — with dueling allegations of fraud, forgery and a vendetta, plus a sanction involving an Aston Martin sports car.

Those in limbo on health exchange to get new stopgap option

Transgender students at the University of Maryland, College Park seeking to undergo sex change surgery could have the cost covered in their health insurance plan next year, joining a recent wave of colleges and employers nationwide offering the benefit.

Maryland will implement a groundbreaking new system of health care delivery. Using the rate setting structure, the state will set global budgets and other alternative approaches to payment that reward clinical systems of care for providing improved outcomes at lower costs. Support for this new demonstration has come from a coalition of the hospitals, the insurance companies and the state all working together with a common vision.

A top official with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday that a state plan to reduce hospital visits could serve as a national model for curbing costs while improving patient outcomes.

About 46,000 people are now enrolled in private plans or Medicaid through the exchange

Joan B. Brady, a former accountant and receptionist, died Thursday of Alzheimer's disease at Ellicott City Health & Rehabilitation Center. She was 84.

Unemployment benefits do not breed laziness; extending them is the least Congress can do until jobs are available

It may come to pass that a dedicated fire tax is needed in Harford County, but without a greater level of public financial accountability on the part of the fire companies, levying such a tax would be foolish.

Maryland's failed health insurance exchange has left this user out in the cold

A Maryland congressman and a candidate for governor — both Democrats —called on Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration Monday to publicly disclose the feasibility of abandoning the state's troubled health insurance exchange in favor of the better-performing federally run website.

Congress should extend Federal Unemployment Insurance for the good of the country.

The U.S. government asked the Supreme Court on Friday not to allow Roman Catholic-affiliated groups a temporary exemption from a part of the Obamacare health care law that requires employers to provide insurance policies covering contraception.

The O'Malley administration will propose emergency legislation to provide retroactive health coverage to people who tried to enroll by the end of December but couldn't because of the technical problems that have plagued Maryland's online insurance exchange.

Nearly two of every three people signing up for health care coverage on Maryland's troubled insurance exchange have qualified for Medicaid, the state and federal program for the poor. Enrolling even more of the state's low-income residents in the program has been embraced by state leaders as a success.

John F. Leitzel, a retired insurance broker and agency owner, died of heart failure Dec. 21 at the Joseph Richey Hospice in downtown Baltimore. The Dundalk resident was 95.

A Roman Catholic order of nuns who care for the elderly poor was hopeful Wednesday after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked an Obamacare provision that would have required it to cover contraception for employees starting with the new year.

As of Jan. 1, it's against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage or charge you more because of a pre-existing medical condition like diabetes, high-blood pressure or asthma. And they can no longer drop you from coverage just because you get sick or get into an accident. It's all thanks to the Affordable Care Act

Nearly four years after it was signed and after months of scrambling and uncertainty, President Obama's landmark bid to guarantee Americans health security takes full effect Wednesday as the Affordable Care Act begins delivering health coverage to millions of the nation's uninsured.

As local governments and insurers seek to cut millions of dollars from the program that pays workers who are injured on the job, they're targeting physician-dispensed drugs. Some governments in Maryland are simply refusing to pay the bills, and statewide legislation that would limit the doctors' practice known as "repackaging" has been prepared for the 2014 General Assembly.

When state leaders brought in a new company to help repair their troubled health care exchange, they went to a company whose owner has a lot to gain from the sales of insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Consumers rush to meet first deadline for health coverage

The troubles hitting Maryland's health exchange could have a lasting impact by tarnishing the political image of Gov. Martin O'Malley and his handpicked successor, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, experts say.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said Monday that 42,589 people had signed up for insurance through the state's health exchange as of Dec. 21 — a jump of almost 13,000 people in a week — but the faster clip of sign-ups was temporarily stymied by more troubles with the website.