Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Associated PressMay 4, 2017

Florida Blue says it’s resolved an error that caused multiple withdrawals to be taken from the bank accounts of nearly 10,000 consumers to pay their May health insurance premium. Florida insurance officials said Wednesday that Florida Blue consumers were seeing multiple withdrawals instead of the scheduled one-time payment. Florida Blue blamed the error on a […]

Staff ReportsFebruary 13, 2017

Legislation filed in the Senate would let state employees decide between four levels of group health insurance coverage, so they could buy cheaper, stripped-down plans or pay for more comprehensive care. “Our current plan offers limited choices and lacks the price transparency needed for employees and their families to make cost-effective health care purchases,” bill […]

Guest AuthorOctober 4, 2016

Though death and taxes have long been thought to be the two certainties in life, it’s now looking like skyrocketing health care costs comes in a close third. Florida state officials recently approved an average health insurance premium increase of 19 percent. And these hikes come after state officials raised rates 9.5 percent last year […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterJuly 21, 2016

Florida will join a lawsuit to stop the merger of Aetna and Humana. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday that she will join seven other state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division in a legal challenge to stop the merger of the two health insurers. According […]

Associated PressMay 25, 2016

Nearly a dozen health insurers are proposing rate increases averaging 13 percent for 2017 Florida plans sold on the exchanges created under President Barack Obama‘s health care law, but that won’t necessarily mean big consumer price hikes. The largest increase is a whopping 44 percent requested by one Humana plan. Aetna wants a 29 percent […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterMay 18, 2016

A coalition of consumer and physicians’ groups have stepped up their calls for an investigation into two big insurance mergers. The Florida Campaign for Consumer Choice on Wednesday once again called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the proposed mergers of Aetna and Humana, and Anthem and Cigna. The calls for investigation come as […]

Associated PressMay 15, 2016

Nearly half the counties in Florida, including Orange, Osceola and Volusia, have a high percentage of adults without health insurance, according to new estimates released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. Twenty-nine of 67 counties have many working-age adults without insurance, according to 2014 data from the bureau. The counties, largely located in Central […]

Gary FineoutMarch 11, 2016

The Florida Legislature is expected on Friday to approve a more than $82.3 billion budget for 2016-17 that is roughly 5 percent larger than this year’s budget. Here are a few key items you should know about: – EDUCATION: The new budget increases day-to-day public school spending by $458 million, which translates into a 1 […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 16, 2016

A Senate panel on Tuesday OK’d a measure that would ban the practice of “balance billing,” when insurance companies often unexpectedly slam a customer with a high bill for using an out-of-network health care provider. The measure (SB 1442), carried by GOP state Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah, now moves from the Banking and Insurance […]

Associated PressSeptember 16, 2015

The rate of Floridians without health insurance dropped to 16.6 percent this past year. Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that represents a drop of 3.4 percentage points from a rate of 20 percent in 2013. Despite the drop, Florida still had the third-highest rate of residents without health insurance. Only Texas […]

Tag: health insurance

Florida Blue health plan resolving multiple withdrawal error

Senate bill would shake up state worker health insurance plans

Chris Hudson: Death, taxes and health care

Florida joins lawsuit to block health insurance merger

Florida insurers request rate hikes under federal health law

Health insurance mergers a concern for the majority of Floridians

Census: 3 Central Florida counties among highest with uninsured adults

Highlights from Florida’s new $82.3 billion budget

Balance billing measure clears 2nd Senate panel

Rate of uninsured drops to 16.6 percent in Florida