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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Ohio Rolls Out Open Enrollment Changes

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Monday, January 18, 2010   

COLUMBUS, Ohio - As the finishing touches are made on federal health care reform, Ohio is already making strides toward affordable insurance coverage for more of its residents. Starting this month, the changes limit how much insurers can charge people with pre-existing or chronic conditions, who purchase individual health policies from private insurers through the state's Open Enrollment Health Insurance Program.

Doug Anderson, chief policy officer with the Ohio Department of Insurance, says this should help such people.

"It's just a good option for people with health problems, where they - before the change - may have been locked out of the individual market, either because they were denied coverage or charged very high premium rates."

Consumer advocates say it's a step in the right direction, but that more work is needed to address the issues of accessibility, affordability, chronic disease management, and health information technology.

According to the Department of Insurance, this is one of several measures in the latest budget bill. Together, they could help 109,000 Ohio adults get coverage who are now uninsured. And Anderson says more benefits are expected from federal health reforms.

"One is a national high-risk pool program that might help some Ohioans, and there are other reforms that'll take effect a couple years down the line that are anticipated to cover lots more people."

The changes to the Open Enrollment Program are expected to help 52,000 more Ohioans access health insurance.


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