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Feds to design health insurance for the masses
Associated Press ^ | Oct 6, 7:09 PM EDT | RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Posted on October 6, 2011 11:51:26 PM EDT by newzjunkey
The federal government is taking on a crucial new role in the nation's health care, designing a basic benefits package for millions of privately insured Americans. A framework for the Obama administration was released Thursday.
The report by independent experts from the Institute of Medicine lays out guidelines for deciding what to include in the new "essential benefits package," how to keep it affordable for small businesses and taxpayers, and also scientifically up to date.
About 68 million Americans, many of them currently insured, ultimately would be affected by the new benefits package. That's bigger than the number of seniors enrolled in Medicare. ...
Until now, designing benefits has been the job of insurers, employers and state officials. But the new health care law requires insurance companies to provide at least the federally approved package if they want to sell to small businesses, families and individuals through new state markets set to open in 2014. ...
The panel's rough estimate put annual premiums for individual coverage under the plan at $5,500 to $7,000 in 2014, comparable to what employers pay now. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Click to Add Topic
