The US Health Reform law mandates that by 2014, US citizens must have health insurance coverage or otherwise pay a hefty US$695 annual fine. It is estimated that the Health Reform will reduce the number of the uninsured from 19% of US citizens in 2010 to 8% by 2016. The Health Reform law imposes new regulations and fees on insurers, and although it expands coverage to the millions of uninsured Americans,…
Australia's public health system, Medicare, provides a substantial cover of healthcare treatment. However the public health system is currently under threat. There is a shortage of medical staff, hospital beds, and medical facilities such as brain scans. Patients under the public health system are therefore having to endure considerably long waiting lists. Medicare was introduced in 1983, allowing…
Aetna Inc., the third-largest health insurer in the US, has announced that its Chairman and current Chief Executive Officer, Ronald A. Williams, will be succeeded by the end of November 2010 by Mark T. Bertolini, current President of Aetna. Mr. Williams intends to retire, and will stay on as executive chairman until April 2011, when this role will also be assumed by Mr. Bertolini.
In order to ensure that hospitals comply with the accreditation requirements to be eligible as suitable facilities, set under the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system, the Health Minister of South Africa, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, is said to have plans to institute a regulatory body that will ensure such compliance.
With the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, preparing to institute a National Health Insurance (NHI) program in the next few years, South African government health officials are set to meet with their UK counterparts to learn from their experiences. The African National Congress released some of the details of their proposal for a National Health Insurance scheme towards the end…
Aviva has instituted a handful of changes to their international private medical insurance products, ranging from adjustments in applications and claims handling processes to minor changes to group policies. Aviva said it has introduced the adjustments, which are part of a larger package of improvements, to their offerings in order to make it easier for intermediaries to do business with them. One…
Allied World Assurance Company Holdings, Ltd. has established a healthcare division through its European operation, Allied World Europe, to sell health insurance solutions in European Markets. Allied World Assurance, which offers property, casualty and specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions as well as a growing international health insurance unit, intends to use the new European health…
After the passage of the Affordable Care Act six months ago in the United States, the first raft of new healthcare rules have come into effect, as of Thursday, September 23rd 2010. While much of the healthcare law has yet to impact the US Healthcare landscape, what has gone into effect on Thursday 23rd are important consumer protection laws known as the Patient's Bill of…
Aetna Global Benefits (AGB) has announced a new international health insurance plan in Africa as part of their Executive Healthcare Plan lineup, targeted at regionally mobile individuals and groups. Aetna Global Benefits offers the Executive Healthcare Plan (EHP) line of international health insurance products in partnership with Kenya-based medical insurance provider Executive Healthcare Solutions. The…
South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has released more information regarding their plan to mandate universal access to healthcare through a National Health Insurance Scheme. The Ministerial Advisory Committee on the NHI has produced a document providing a rough outline of the ANC's National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, which is ready to be submitted to the ANC National…
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