Most Popular Stories
- Offer physicians research time to boost job satisfaction
- How high can CEO pay go?
- 60% hospital uniforms filled with dangerous bacteria
- Dallas hospitals to pay $1.4M, settle upcoding investigation
- Increased stress causing hospital CIOs to rethink their job situations
- Feds cracking down on healthcare fraud, prosecutions to rise 85%
Featured Jobs
- FNP with PSYCH experience for North Carolina New Grads with RN Experience Welcome
Addison Kenway & Associates, LLC - South Central NC - Correctional NP or PA for Texas
Addison Kenway & Associates, LLC - - Lucrative opportunity for a NP or PA
CompHealth - Southeast, MA - Experienced ENT/Allergy NP Needed in North Central Montana
CompHealth - North Central, MT - Vice President- Patient Care Services
Mon General Hospital - Morgantown, WV
Events
- AMIA Symposium on Biomedical & Health Informatics
Oct. 22-26 — Washington, DC - IHI Webinar: Improving Access - Reduce Waits & Delays for Care
Begins October 6 - 2011 Patient Flow Summit
Oct 12-14 — Las Vegas, JW Marriott Resort & Spa - The Medical Home and Total Quality Management
Saturday, November 5, 2011 — Williamsburg Lodge, Williamsburg, VA
Paid Research Reports
-
Electronic health records: getting it right first time
-
Cloud Computing Adoption In The APAC Life Sciences Industry
-
Stakeholder Opinions: Ophthalmology - Leading brands under threat
-
Genomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics in Diagnostics: Market landscape, innovative technologies and future outlook
-
Healthcare Regulatory Update: The United Arab Emirates
-
Point of Care Testing: Evaluating the return to evidence based medicine, novel technologies and the competitive landscape
Free Newsletter
Free Newsletter
FierceHealthPayer provides the latest news about the fast-changing and heavily regulated area of healthcare reimbursement. Join thousands of healthcare plan executives who get FierceHealthPayer via weekly email. Sign up today!
Top Tags
Washington, Regence battle over children's health coverage
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and Regence BlueShield, the state's largest individual health insurer, are clashing over whether Regence must provide individual children's health coverage.
Kriedler said it is illegal for health insurers to stop selling coverage to children while continuing to sell to adults. He accused Regence of violating a Washington state law that prohibits insurers from denying insurance to people on the basis of age, according to The Oregonian.
While the insurance commissioner can't order companies to offer insurance, he can, under a 2000 state law, prohibit them from offering health insurance only to specific age groups. If Regence wants to offer individual policies, it must offer them equally to people of all ages, Kreidler spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis told The Olympian.
"Hundreds of consumers have contacted my office, upset over Regence refusing to cover kids and for blaming its recent rate increases on health reform," Kreidler said in a statement. "I'm sick and tired of the insurance industry pulling these stunts and misleading the public about health reform. I expect better of companies wanting to do business in Washington," he said.
In response, Regence accused Kreidler, who is running for re-election, of "gross politicization." Regence is "shocked" at Kriedler's actions because it had at least five conversations with the commissioner's office regarding planned changes to covering children under age 19. "Our goal in those discussions was and continues to be a solution that would allow us to serve all of our individual members--including children--without exacerbating costs and increasing coverage risks for the entire pool," Regence said in a statement.
The insurance company added that it has continued to insure its members despite losses of more than $33 million in the last three years. It is now studying how the commissioner's order will affect its ability to offer individual policies in Washington, notes The Olympian.
To learn more:
- see The Oregonian story
- read The Olympian article
- check out the Washington Insurance Commissioner's press release
- see Regence's response
Related Articles:
Children's health insurance gap: Sebelius issues warning, insurers agree to resolve
Unintended consequences: Insurers stop offering new coverage for some kids
HHS: Insurers can't make it harder to enroll kids with pre-existing conditions
Home | Subscribe | Advertise | Mobile Edition | RSS | Privacy | Site Map | EditorsTHE FIERCEMARKETS NETWORKFierceEnergy | FierceSmartGrid | FierceFinance | FierceFinanceIT | FierceComplianceIT | FierceHealthcare | FierceHealthFinance | FierceHealthIT | Hospital Impact | FierceMobileHealthcare | FierceHealthPayer | FiercePracticeManagement | FierceEMR | FierceCIO | FierceCIO:TechWatch | FierceContentManagement | FierceMobileIT | FierceGovernmentIT | FierceGovernment | FierceHomelandSecurity | FierceBiotech | FierceBiotech Research | FiercePharma | FierceVaccines | FierceBiotechIT | FiercePharma Manufacturing | FierceMedicalDevices | FierceDrugDelivery | FierceIPTV | FierceOnlineVideo | FierceTelecom | FierceEnterpriseCommunications | FierceBroadbandWireless | FierceDeveloper | FierceMobileContent | FierceWireless | FierceWireless:Europe | FierceCable© 2011 FierceMarkets. All rights reserved. |