Christine Jordan Sexton - page 46

As the federal government gears up for the second round of open enrollment in the health care program known as Obamacare, the nation’s leading health agency on Monday revised downward the number of people who enrolled in insurance exchanges. As of October 2014, 7.1 million people were enrolled in the marketplace and paying for coverage, less than the 13 million the Congressional Budget Office had predicted by 2015 and about 900,000 less than initial enrollment reports released in the first…

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The federal government is making available to consumers a new “window shopping” feature so they can compare plans days before the second round of open enrollment in Obamcare opens on Saturday. Beginning today, people can begin comparing federally approved health plans after entering the their zip codes in the retooled window shopping website. They can also add information about their income and family to get a better idea of  costs but aren’t required to do so in order to get the…

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The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday agreed to hear a lawsuit that challenges insurance subsidies made available under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for those who purchase health insurance through a federal exchange. The case-King v Burwell-challenges the legality of the premium subsidies in states–such as Florida– that did not establish their own health insurance exchanges. A portion of the law notes that the subsidies are available to people who enrolled “through an exchange established…

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The state Agency for Health Care Administration approved an additional 53 letters of intent for 3,115 new nursing home beds and hospice programs. Thirteen letters of intent  from investors were rejected for not meeting the technical requirements, staff said. Here is a list of the new accepted letters of intent (note, new letters begin on line 151). Most of the 53 new letters are for nursing home beds though there were three new letters of intent for hospice–one in Pasco…

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A Tallahassee appellate court on Thursday affirmed an order requiring Florida Hospital Orlando to repay $22,138.34 to the state for unnecessary medical services for 14 Medicaid patients. In reaching its unanimous opinion a three-member panel of the First District Court of Appeal rejected the hospital’s argument that the state reviewed Medicaid patient files to determine whether the admissions at the hospital were medically necessary and did not rely upon the same information that was available to the hospital and its…

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When the Legislature passed HB 7095 creating an annual multi-million pool of tax incentives for sports teams and franchises willing to locate and renovate in the Sunshine State there was sentiment the barrage of lobbying surrounding the incentives would stop. The law may have sent efforts into overtime, though, as four teams submitted applications totaling $9 million, or $2 million more than what the state has set aside to spend for the first year, which is just $7 million. The…

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The Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case today that asks the justices to decide whether the fee caps in the state’s workers compensation laws are legal. The high-profile case is Castellanos v. Next Door Company and it is slated to be heard at 9 a.m. in the Supreme Court building in Tallahassee. In the case before the court, attorney Mark A. Touby  was awarded $164.54 in attorneys fees for helping Marvin Castellanos obtain $822.70 in benefits…

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