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Nearly a third of U.S. counties will be left with just one insurance option next year on the ObamaCare exchanges, according to a new analysis fueling waings about the impact of the insurance company exodus from markets across the country. The Kaiser Family Foundation study found residents in Pinal County, Ariz., are even at risk of having no insurance options on the exchanges, which provide subsidized plans. Republicans seized on the report Monday to claim that the health care overhaul is not providing the choices promised by President Obama and others. "The president repeatedly promised that his health care law would provide more choices, ‘bend the cost curve,’ and allow Americans to keep t...

Americans in markets across the country could be looking at double-digit premium hikes under ObamaCare next year, according to a new study that's already fueling election-year finger-pointing. The Kaiser Family Foundation report found premiums for popular low-cost plans under the health care law are projected to increase an average 11 percent in 2017. Among the sharpest projected increases are: 26 percent in Portland, Ore.; 21 percent in the District of Columbia; and 16 percent in New York City. The study focused on the two least-expensive -- and very popular -- "silver" policies. It specifically examined the impact of rising premiums on those whose income exceeds the limit to get govement s...

Americans in markets across the country could be looking at double-digit premium hikes under ObamaCare next year, according to a new study that's already fueling election-year finger-pointing. The Kaiser Family Foundation report found premiums for popular low-cost plans under the health care law are projected to increase an average 11 percent in 2017. Among the sharpest projected increases are: 26 percent in Portland, Ore.; 21 percent in the District of Columbia; and 16 percent in New York City. The study focused on the two least-expensive -- and very popular -- "silver" policies. It specifically examined the impact of rising premiums on those whose income exceeds the limit to get govement s...

Califoia is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to offer illegal immigrants the chance to buy insurance on an ObamaCare exchange -- testing what's being described as a "loophole" in the law. The Affordable Care Act technically bars illegal immigrants from the insurance exchanges. But the Califoia bill, which last week passed the state legislature and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to open its exchange -- Covered Califoia -- to undocumented residents. There's no guarantee that will happen. Brown first would have to sign the bill and the Obama administration then would have to green-light the waiver.Even if that is gr...

Califoia is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to offer illegal immigrants the chance to buy insurance on an ObamaCare exchange -- testing what's being described as a "loophole" in the law. The Affordable Care Act technically bars illegal immigrants from the insurance exchanges. But the Califoia bill, which last week passed the state legislature and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to open its exchange -- Covered Califoia -- to undocumented residents. There's no guarantee that will happen. Brown first would have to sign the bill and the Obama administration then would have to green-light the waiver.Even if that is gr...

A federal judge ruled Thursday for House Republicans in a challenge brought against the Obama administration over the legality of payments to insurers under ObamaCare. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled the spending unconstitutional -- while putting the decision on hold pending appeal. The ruling Thursday marks a win for House Republicans who brought the politically charged legal challenge, and a legal setback for the administration. “Today’s ruling by the DC federal court is an important step toward restoring the separation of powers and stopping President Obama’s power grab. The Constitution is very clear: it is Congress’ job to write our laws and it is the President’s duty to enfo...

A federal judge ruled Thursday for House Republicans in a challenge brought against the Obama administration over the legality of payments to insurers under ObamaCare. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled the spending unconstitutional -- while putting the decision on hold pending appeal. The ruling Thursday marks a win for House Republicans who brought the politically charged legal challenge, and a legal setback for the administration. “Today’s ruling by the DC federal court is an important step toward restoring the separation of powers and stopping President Obama’s power grab. The Constitution is very clear: it is Congress’ job to write our laws and it is the President’s duty to enfo...

An ObamaCare insurance exchange once viewed as a steady ship in a sea of glitch-plagued websites is now ruing into problems of its own – adding to a new mess of health industry complications under the Affordable Care Act, including premium hikes, jittery insurers and failing co-ops. Your Health Idaho (YHI), the Idaho marketplace that was one of the better-run systems when the law went into effect, was late getting thousands of state residents critical tax forms this year. One recent report said the call center also has struggled to answer customer calls, directing them instead to send requests by email -- and the system has taken months to enroll some people after they signed up. “We saw thi...

WASHINGTON – Insurers will seek significant premium hikes under President Barack Obama's health care law this summer - stiff medicine for consumers and voters ahead of the national political conventions. Expect the state-by-state premium requests to reflect what insurers see as the bottom line: The health law has been a financial drain for many companies. They're setting the stage for 2017 hikes that could reach well into the double digits, in some cases. For example, in Virginia, a state that reports early, nine insurers retuing to the HealthCare.gov marketplace are seeking average premium increases that range from 9.4 percent to 37.1 percent. Those initial estimates filed with the state ma...

The nation’s largest health insurer, fearing massive financial losses, aounced Tuesday that it plans to pull back from ObamaCare in a big way and cut its participation in the program’s insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year – in the latest sign of instability in the marketplace under the law. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last. Despite the company expanding to nearly three dozen state exchanges for this year, Hemsley said the company caot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that ...

The nation’s largest health insurer, fearing massive financial losses, aounced Tuesday that it plans to pull back from ObamaCare in a big way and cut its participation in the program’s insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year – in the latest sign of instability in the marketplace under the law. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last. Despite the company expanding to nearly three dozen state exchanges for this year, Hemsley said the company caot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that ...

The nation’s largest health insurer, fearing massive financial losses, aounced Tuesday that it plans to pull back from ObamaCare in a big way and cut its participation in the program’s insurance exchanges to just a handful of states next year – in the latest sign of instability in the marketplace under the law. UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said the company expects losses from its exchange business to total more than $1 billion for this year and last. Despite the company expanding to nearly three dozen state exchanges for this year, Hemsley said the company caot continue to broadly serve the market created by the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion due partly to the higher risk that ...

Health insurance premiums have increased faster than wages and inflation in recent years, rising an average of 28 percent from 2009 to 2014 despite the enactment of Obamacare, according to a report from Freedom Partners. President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010, and Wednesday is the law’s sixth aiversary. The Obama administration expressed conce in 2009 about skyrocketing health care premiums in a report entitled, “The Burden of Health Insurance Premium Increases on American Families.” They were conceed that premiums had increased by 5.5 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, from 2010 to 2011 in the first year after Obamacare was enacted, premiums increased by ...

The Supreme Court appeared deadlocked Wednesday along ideological lines as justices weighed another legal challenge to ObamaCare -- this one, brought by a religious nonprofit that objects to paying for insurance covering birth control. The case before the court is a hot-button trifecta —health care, abortion and religious freedom — and conces ObamaCare's controversial contraception mandate. The eight justices will decide whether religious-affiliated institutions like the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic charity of nuns, can be exempt from having to pay for -- or indirectly allow -- birth control and other reproductive health coverage in their health plans. But the First Amendment chall...

Republican critics say an ObamaCare program is breaking the law by shorting the U.S. Treasury -- and therefore U.S. taxpayers-- billions of dollars collected from the insurance industry. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., chairman of the health subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, called it “an illegal wealth transfer from hard-working taxpayers to (insurers).” He recently joined Republican colleagues in grilling Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell about the shortfall of money supposed to be flowing into Treasury coffers - as mandated in the Affordable Care Act of 2010. They followed up that hearing by sending a letter this week seeking clarification from the administration,...

Nearly one week after Sen. Marco Rubio skewered businessman Donald Trump on his healthcare reform plan, the Republican frontruer Wednesday released his seven-point plan to repeal Obamacare and implement his own policy. Trump posted the plan on his website. It slammed the Affordable Health Care Act, saying it has “tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and few choices.” He assured voters that his policy "will broaden healthcare, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans.” Trump offers several reforms in his healthcare plan and urges Congres...

Oct. 27, 2012: A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled "The Impact of Obamacare", at a "Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally" in Littleton, New Hampshire . (Reuters) Illegal immigrants and individuals with unclear legal status wrongly benefited from up to $750 million in ObamaCare subsidies and the govement is struggling to recoup the money, according to a new Senate report obtained by Fox News. The report, produced by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Govemental Affairs Committee, examined Affordable Care Act tax credits meant to defray the cost of insurance premiums. It found that as of June 2015, “the Administration awarded approximately $750 million in tax credits o...

Oct. 27, 2012: A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled "The Impact of Obamacare", at a "Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally" in Littleton, New Hampshire . (Reuters) Illegal immigrants and individuals with unclear legal status wrongly benefited from up to $750 million in ObamaCare subsidies and the govement is struggling to recoup the money, according to a new Senate report obtained by Fox News. The report, produced by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Govemental Affairs Committee, examined Affordable Care Act tax credits meant to defray the cost of insurance premiums. It found that as of June 2015, “the Administration awarded approximately $750 million in tax credits o...

Oct. 27, 2012: A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled "The Impact of Obamacare", at a "Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally" in Littleton, New Hampshire . (Reuters) Illegal immigrants and individuals with unclear legal status wrongly benefited from up to $750 million in ObamaCare subsidies and the govement is struggling to recoup the money, according to a new Senate report obtained by Fox News. The report, produced by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Govemental Affairs Committee, examined Affordable Care Act tax credits meant to defray the cost of insurance premiums. It found that as of June 2015, “the Administration awarded approximately $750 million in tax credits o...

Oct. 27, 2012: A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled "The Impact of Obamacare", at a "Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally" in Littleton, New Hampshire . (Reuters) Illegal immigrants and individuals with unclear legal status wrongly benefited from up to $750 million in ObamaCare subsidies and the govement is struggling to recoup the money, according to a new Senate report obtained by Fox News. The report, produced by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Govemental Affairs Committee, examined Affordable Care Act tax credits meant to defray the cost of insurance premiums. It found that as of June 2015, “the Administration awarded approximately $750 million in tax credits o...