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From: CTMirror.com

The federal health reform law is meant to expand health insurance coverage, but some advocates worry that it could inadvertently leave some low-income adults in Connecticut worse off.

They want the state to take action now to ensure that doesn’t happen, but that idea has critics, including, for now, the Malloy administration.

Beginning in 2014, states will be required to provide Medicaid coverage to adults earning up to 133 percent of the poverty level. Those just above the Medicaid income threshold will receive federal tax credits to buy insurance through the exchange, a marketplace that will be created for purchasing coverage.

From: The Hill

North Dakota has joined a handful of states in asking the Obama administration for relief from a provision of the landmark healthcare law enacted almost a year ago.

From: News-Medical.net

CQ HealthBeat: Florida Petitions HHS For Medical Payout Rule Exception
Florida is the fifth state — and by far the most populous — to file a petition asking for an adjustment to federal medical loss ratio rules for individual health insurance, saying that there is a “reasonable likelihood” that the new rules would disrupt the state’s insurance market. Delaying the rule until full implementation of the health care law in 2014 “will allow insurers to prepare for a smooth glide to the new realities of 2014 rather than falling off a cliff and hobbling there on crutches,” says a petition filed by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Norman, 3/14).

From: The St. Louis American

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a second round of grants totaling nearly $200 million to help states develop programs that will make health insurance premiums more transparent. The new funds would also empower states to stop unreasonable premium increases. 

Last August the first funding round awarded $46 million to help 45 states and the District of Columbia crack down on unreasonable premium hikes. New rules proposed in December 2010 require insurance companies to publicly justify unreasonable premium rate increases.