PA. Balance Billing. On 10/1, "the PA Insurance Department will hold a public hearing in Harrisburg to focus on the issue of balance billing where an insured goes to an in-network provider who secures services for the patient from a non-network provider. As a result, the patient pays the higher amount for non-network services, for the 'balance' not covered as in-network." Details: Consumer Liaison David Buono dbuono@pa.gov . (Leg Reg Review by Phillips Associates, 9/21)

PA. Fewer Pennsylvanians are going without health insurance as the ACA helps push more coverage into struggling communities, federal data show. "About 8.5 percent of the state population was uninsured last year, down from 9.7 percent, or roughly 1.2 million people, in 2013, according to an annual report Wednesday from the U.S. Census Bureau. Lower-income families accounted for much of the shift, buying subsidized policies through a health insurance marketplace created under the 2010 law, industry observers said. An expansion of traditional Medicaid in Pennsylvania this year should slim those uninsured numbers again, according to the state Insurance Department." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/16)