Health Marketing

As consumer advocates celebrate the early benefits of the federal healthcare law near its two-year anniversary, they are also warning about the need to crack down on the potential for deceptive marketing related to reform. State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) said he is seeking legislation to strengthen consumer protections on health plan marketing and to close gaps that exist in state law on the review of marketing materials. Patient advocates say they're worried unscrupulous companies and salespeople will use the massive federal expansion of health coverage to enroll the uninsured in substandard plans that don't offer comprehensive benefits or a full network of medical providers.

SACRAMENTO -- Lawmakers are set to consider new rules for California's health insurance market on Wednesday, including a requirement for insurers to cover consumers who have preexisting medical conditions, and limits on how much they can charge based on age. The proposals, scheduled to be taken up by the Assembly and Senate health committees, are part of a legislative package that aims to help California implement President Obama 's healthcare overhaul....

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has blocked the federal government's plan to require cigarette manufacturers to cover half of each package sold with a graphic health warning. In his ruling, issued late Wednesday, Leon said the government mandate amounted to an "impermissible expropriation of a company's advertising space for government advocacy. " That decision confirms a temporary stay issued by Leon in November - a move that signaled his view that a suit brought last August by several tobacco manufacturers against the Department of Health and Human Services would likely prevail.

Nonprofit healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente had a 40% share of California's $59-billion health insurance market for employers and individuals, new data show. A report issued this week by Citigroup analyst Carl McDonald compiled nationwide data on 2011 premiums and enrollment among large and small employers and individuals buying their own policies. Those insurance markets, excluding government healthcare programs and self-insured employers, totaled more than 80 million people and $317 billion in premiums.

Despite years of prodding and pleading by the Obama administration, close to half of the nation's governors will not take a critical step to implement the president's healthcare law next year, leaving the job of running new insurance markets for their residents to the federal government. But what was once viewed as a setback for the Affordable Care Act is increasingly seen as a blessing by consumer advocates, many of whom doubt that officials in some Republican-controlled states are committed to implementing a law they fervently oppose.

With President Obama's reelection lifting a potential roadblock, California officials are rushing to implement the federal healthcare law and revamp the insurance market for millions of Californians starting next fall. Republican challenger Mitt Romney had vowed to overturn the Affordable Care Act, casting uncertainty over efforts in California to use billions of federal dollars to extend coverage to many of the state's 7 million uninsured. Wednesday, California officials disclosed plans to spend nearly $90 million next year on marketing and outreach to millions of consumers who may become eligible for premium subsidies and other assistance under the federal law starting in 2014.

A national health insurer and its majority owners, Wall Street powerhouses Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Blackstone Group, were accused in a lawsuit Wednesday of defrauding their California customers with "junk insurance" that provided little or no protection. The suit filed by the Los Angeles city attorney's office alleges that HealthMarkets Inc. and its affiliates trained sales agents to deceive customers ? mostly self-employed individuals and small businesses ? into buying confusing policies riddled with exclusions and limitations.

Nonprofit healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente had a 40% share of California's $59-billion health insurance market for employers and individuals, new data show. A report issued this week by Citigroup analyst Carl McDonald compiled nationwide data on 2011 premiums and enrollment among large and small employers and individuals buying their own policies. Those insurance markets, excluding government healthcare programs and self-insured employers, totaled more than 80 million people and $317 billion in premiums.

SACRAMENTO -- Lawmakers are set to consider new rules for California's health insurance market on Wednesday, including a requirement for insurers to cover consumers who have preexisting medical conditions, and limits on how much they can charge based on age. The proposals, scheduled to be taken up by the Assembly and Senate health committees, are part of a legislative package that aims to help California implement President Obama 's healthcare overhaul....

Smith Micro Software Inc. has joined the swelling ranks of companies that want to make a buck in health care. In the first quarter, the Mission Viejo maker of communication software sold $50,000 worth of its videoconferencing systems to Nashville-based hospital giant Columbia/HCA Healthcare.

Despite years of prodding and pleading by the Obama administration, close to half of the nation's governors will not take a critical step to implement the president's healthcare law next year, leaving the job of running new insurance markets for their residents to the federal government. But what was once viewed as a setback for the Affordable Care Act is increasingly seen as a blessing by consumer advocates, many of whom doubt that officials in some Republican-controlled states are committed to implementing a law they fervently oppose.

A health insurer owned by two Wall Street giants is headed to trial next week over claims it misled a San Bernardino County couple into buying a policy that left them with more than $140,000 in unpaid medical bills from cancer treatment. Norman and Kathleen Carter of Yucaipa are battling their insurance company, even as Kathleen continues to fight abdominal cancer. The couple sued a unit of HealthMarkets Inc. in August 2011 in Superior Court for fraud and breach of contract, accusing the company and its insurance agent of deliberately misrepresenting the health plan benefits.

With President Obama's reelection lifting a potential roadblock, California officials are rushing to implement the federal healthcare law and revamp the insurance market for millions of Californians starting next fall. Republican challenger Mitt Romney had vowed to overturn the Affordable Care Act, casting uncertainty over efforts in California to use billions of federal dollars to extend coverage to many of the state's 7 million uninsured. Wednesday, California officials disclosed plans to spend nearly $90 million next year on marketing and outreach to millions of consumers who may become eligible for premium subsidies and other assistance under the federal law starting in 2014.

As consumer advocates celebrate the early benefits of the federal healthcare law near its two-year anniversary, they are also warning about the need to crack down on the potential for deceptive marketing related to reform. State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) said he is seeking legislation to strengthen consumer protections on health plan marketing and to close gaps that exist in state law on the review of marketing materials. Patient advocates say they're worried unscrupulous companies and salespeople will use the massive federal expansion of health coverage to enroll the uninsured in substandard plans that don't offer comprehensive benefits or a full network of medical providers.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has blocked the federal government's plan to require cigarette manufacturers to cover half of each package sold with a graphic health warning. In his ruling, issued late Wednesday, Leon said the government mandate amounted to an "impermissible expropriation of a company's advertising space for government advocacy. " That decision confirms a temporary stay issued by Leon in November - a move that signaled his view that a suit brought last August by several tobacco manufacturers against the Department of Health and Human Services would likely prevail.

My ZIP code is a black hole for individual health insurance. That's what I recently discovered when I tried to find the coverage I want at an affordable price. What hubris I had. My story started in 2009, when my position as a journalism professor at a small college was eliminated, and I lost my health benefits along with the job. In the ensuing months, as the clock ticked on my COBRA extension , I began to focus on finding a new health plan. I thought it would be a matter of dealing with mild sticker shock and doing comparative shopping.

The world's dominant computer firm and the nation's largest hospital supply concern said Thursday that they would join forces to develop computer products and services for the rapidly growing health-care information management market. International Business Machines Corp. and Baxter International Inc. said they will form a joint venture information management company that will serve all segments of the health-care industry.

In his dark sunglasses, fresh white shirt and tweed sport coat, Jack Miller could pass for a plainclothes cop. And, in a sense, he is one. Miller is one of the 38 Orange County health inspectors--or "sanitarians," as they are officially called--who show up unannounced about three times a year to inspect the county's 8,200 food establishments, including supermarkets, taverns and warehouses as well as 4,800 restaurants.

A national health insurer and its majority owners, Wall Street powerhouses Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Blackstone Group, were accused in a lawsuit Wednesday of defrauding their California customers with "junk insurance" that provided little or no protection. The suit filed by the Los Angeles city attorney's office alleges that HealthMarkets Inc. and its affiliates trained sales agents to deceive customers ? mostly self-employed individuals and small businesses ? into buying confusing policies riddled with exclusions and limitations.

When a slew of medical problems hit at once, Peter Dyck found himself taking an array of drugs: three for a heart condition, one for a digestive disorder and two for other ailments. It left him wondering how his body was handling all the medications. So Dyck, an electrician in Portland, Ore., swabbed some cells from inside his cheek and sent them to a Seattle company for genetic analysis.