Allison Bell

About the Author

Allison Bell

Allison Bell, LifeHealthPro.com Health Insurance Channel Editor, has been covering health insurance long enough to own a copy of the HIPAA conference report. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Before she came to Summit Business Media, she covered banking for the Business Journal of Charlotte. Bell can be reached at abell@sbmedia.com or on Twitter @LHPro_Health.

• D.C. exchange attracts 4 big players

  By Allison Bell  |  May 20, 2013

  The District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority announced that four insurers have agreed to sell health insurance through its Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchange system.

• Calif. Senate considers family leave discrimination bill

  By Allison Bell  |  May 17, 2013

  A California lawmaker wants to protect workers who use the state's temporary disability insurance family leave program against employer discrimination.

• HSAs remain viable for working poor

  By Allison Bell  |  May 16, 2013

  Low-income people will still be able to use health savings accounts after Jan. 1, 2014.

• PPACA may slow hiring at 41% of small businesses

  By Allison Bell  |  May 14, 2013

  Owners of about 41 percent of U.S. small businesses say they are putting off hiring new employees because of worries about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

• Actuaries say PPACA may have mixed effects on costs

  By Allison Bell  |  May 13, 2013

  The American Academy of Actuaries is officially trying to lower expectations about just how confident forecasters can be when trying to predict how PPACA will affect health insurance premiums.

• On the third hand, metrics

  By Allison Bell  |  May 8, 2013

  I'm getting tired of "studies" (mostly: subtle or not-so-subtle position papers) talking about whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges are wild successes or miserable failures.

• How should insurers pay their PPACA fees?

  By Allison Bell  |  May 3, 2013

  A team at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is trying to figure out how health insurers should get the cash to pay their Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act fees.

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  IRS drafts large-group minimum value rules

  By Allison Bell  |  May 2, 2013

  Benefits standards under the PPACA will be different for plans at large employers than they are for individual policies and plans at small employers.

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  Researchers: Health costs also hit high earners

  By Allison Bell  |  April 26, 2013

  The Commonwealth Fund has come out with data supporting what insurance producers have said all along: Many high-income Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and having trouble handling medical bills.

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  Will the group health dam break, or just leak a little?

  By Allison Bell  |  April 24, 2013

  Whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges will work was one of the questions that kept coming up Wednesday at a hearing on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fiscal year 2014 budget proposal.