Archive for the ‘CMS’ Category

After the Associated Press (AP) reported that HealthCare.gov was unwittingly providing customer privacy information to third-party companies and individuals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was adding new layers of security to the site. The privacy data could be viewed by third parties after health insurance consumers visited the Obamacare […]

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday released results of its review of the 60 “Federal Marketplace contracts” for HealthCare.gov awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which it said “raised a number of concerns.” The study questioned “the adequacy of CMS’s planning […]

Though not subject to the scathing public indictment that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sibelius faced for the Obamacare rollout, Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is resigning a year after her boss Sibelius. She will be replaced on an interim basis by newly hired Obamacare czar Andy […]

A coalition of 279 patient advocacy groups calling itself “I Am (Still) Essential” has called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to better define what is considered discrimination under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “As part of the plan review process for 2015, we thought there would be a better review of […]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule to fold the United States v. Windsor decision on marriage into the two medical programs it oversees by allowing same-sex spouses to participate in and administer “patient rights and services.” “Specifically, we propose to revise certain definitions and patient’s rights provisions, in […]

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to improve consumers’ experience in the Health Insurance Marketplace and to ensure their coverage options are affordable and accessible. To establish the new consumer standards for 2016, the proposed rule seeks to implement several Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions on […]

A day after insurers got to navigate through the site, the administration unveiled its revamped HealthCare.Gov insurance portal on Wednesday with versions in both English and Spanish, but with “get ready” misspelled three times in Spanish as preparase instead of the correct spelling, preparese. The incorrect usage appears three times. Open enrollment for year two […]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has invited health insurers to test the revamped HealthCare.Gov site today but only if they “acknowledge the confidentiality of this process.” Despite the gag order, which states that the testers “will not use, disclose, describe, post to a public form, or in any way share Test Data […]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has warned again that some 115,000 people will lose the health insurance policies they purchased under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) if they don’t submit documents showing their legal right to reside in the United States by the end of the month. “We are committed to keeping […]

Declaring that it would be foolish to switch contractors during an open-enrollment period, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has extended by six months the web technology services contract of Accenture, which was called in to fix the many glitches that plagued the launch of HealthCare.Gov in November 2013. The next open-enrollment period […]