New Health Insurance Site for Business Owners

On Thursday, the Obama administration launched a "one-stop" web site intended to help business owners explore and understand their health insurance options under the Affordable Care Act.

The new “wizard tool” is for businesses of all sizes. It brings together information from the Health and Human Services Department, the Small Business Administration, and the Treasury Department.

The site, Business.USA.gov/healthcare, allows users to enter their location, size of business, and future insurance plans, and create a menu of information options. It also connects employers to information about tax credits and other aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

Along with individuals and families, businesses with 50 or more employees will be required to either carry health insurance for their employees or face a penalty for failing to do so. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, but the start date for the business requirement has been moved from Jan. 1, 2014, to Jan. 1, 2015. Smaller businesses (those with fewer than 50 employees) may qualify for tax credits if they choose to offer health insurance.

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Health Insurance Waiting Game for Minnesotans

Health Insurance Waiting Game for MinnesotansMore than 1 million Minnesotans are expected to buy health insurance in the state's health Marketplace, MNSure. But they may not know what plans are available and what their premiums might be until enrollment begins on Oct. 1. http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/news/2013/07_2013/minn_rate_infor_held_until_oct_xml/69x75_minn_rate_infor_held_until_oct_xml.jpgWebMD Health News

Aug. 2, 2013 -- More than 1 million Minnesotans are expected to buy health insurance on the state’s health insurance Marketplace, MNSure. But they may not know what plans are available and what their premiums might be until enrollment begins on Oct. 1.

Most of the Affordable Care Act goes into effect Jan. 1, 2014. That's when coverage for a health plan purchased in the fall will take effect. 

Other states have posted the rates insurance carriers will charge for individuals, families, and groups. But Minnesota law prevents the state from disclosing rates and the names of the carriers that will participate in MNSure. The Department of Commerce says nine companies have applied, and they include Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, HealthPartners, Medica, PreferredOne, and UCare.

In late July, state insurance regulators asked the companies to release rates voluntarily on Sept. 6 to give people time to understand their choices.

Insurance companies say the law protects them from unfair competition.

Under the Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, each state must have a health insurance Marketplace by Oct. 1. Most Americans will be required to have health insurance starting Jan. 1, 2014. Minnesota is one of 17 states, along with Washington, D.C., that will run its own Marketplace.

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Test your knowledge of the new law.

A guide to what's changing under the new law.

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Mother's Asthma During Pregnancy May Raise Child's Health Risks

Large study of Danish women followed their children up to age 6

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 5 (HealthDay News) -- A large new study of Danish women has tied a mother's asthma during pregnancy to a higher risk for developing a wide range of childhood diseases among her offspring.

The finding does not broadly concern all mothers who have a history of asthma, but rather those who actually experience an asthma attack while pregnant.

The observation could lead to heightened scrutiny of asthma status during pregnancy, and increased efforts to better control the condition, the researchers suggested. It may also encourage more vigilant monitoring of children who are born to mothers whose pregnancy included asthma flare-ups.

"There were previous indications that maternal asthma during pregnancy is linked to fetal development and some selected diseases in the offspring," said study co-author Gunther Meinlschmidt. "However, we were surprised that maternal asthma during pregnancy appears to be related to such a broad range of different diseases in the offspring."

Diseases with increased risk included infection and parasitic illness, nervous and respiratory system complications, and diseases of the ear and skin.

"Potentially" increased risks for offspring -- which were not confirmed in a follow-up analysis -- included digestive diseases, endocrine and metabolic disorders, and malformations.

Meinlschmidt, with the division of clinical psychology and epidemiology in the department of psychology at the University of Basel, in Switzerland, and colleagues report their observations in the September issue of Pediatrics.

To explore the impact of asthma in the context of pregnancy, the authors crunched data collected by a nationwide Danish study concerning slightly fewer than 67,000 mothers who gave birth between 1996 and 2002.

About one-quarter were smokers, most were in generally good health, and most were middle class or relatively well off.

Overall, just over 6 percent of women had struggled with an asthmatic event during their pregnancy, a figure gleaned from maternal interviews conducted three times during and six months after the pregnancy.

In turn, all the children were tracked -- using statistics from the Danish National Hospital Register -- for the onset of a variety of medical problems up to an average age of 6.

The result: Maternal asthma was associated with a higher risk for developing a wide array of childhood diseases among newborns. However, while the study found this association, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

So what are concerned mothers to do?

"There are different types, causes and treatments of asthma," Meinlschmidt said, "so mothers should discuss individual strategies to reduce their asthma risk with their GPs or other health care providers, considering benefits and risks of asthma treatment for mother and offspring."

Dr. Alan Baptist, an assistant professor and director of the University of Michigan's asthma program in Ann Arbor, Mich., said that he was "not completely surprised" by the study findings.

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