Abortion insurance coverage

A new law requires most private health insurance plans, state-regulated plans and Delaware’s Medicaid insurance program to cover abortions and related health care.

Health insurers are required to cover up to $750 for abortion services, which state lawmakers said should fully cover the cost of care for most patients.

There is an exemption for churches, religious businesses and employers to seek a waiver from the new requirements.

Insurance coverage for abortion begins Jan. 1 for people enrolled in Medicaid. Coverage for people with other types of health insurance plans will begin the following year, on Jan. 1, 2026.

New Jersey

Medical debt consumer protections

Parts of the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act already took effect this past summer, and more consumer protections are scheduled to kick in this coming July.

Right now, people in New Jersey who have unpaid bills and debt from hospital stays, health procedures and other kinds of care will not see their credit scores impacted as they figure out how to pay off their debt or dispute charges.

“Medical debt is incurred involuntarily, and it can result in exponential economic harms,” said Laura Waddell, health care program director at New Jersey Citizen Action. “So it wasn’t like, ‘Should we work on this?’ It was, ‘We have to work on this.’”

Debt collectors can no longer report a person’s medical debt to credit bureaus and agencies, which determine a person’s credit score. If someone’s score drops because of their medical debt, they may find it more difficult to secure a car loan, get approved for an apartment rental, apply for credit cards and even get a job.

If a bill collector does report a person’s medical debt to a credit bureau or agency in violation of the new state law, the amount of debt that is reported is voided, meaning, the patient will no longer have to pay it.

Beginning this July, all notices to patients about medical debt and billing must also notify them of their rights and new consumer protections. Interest on medical debt will be capped at 3% and debt collectors will be banned from using wage garnishment — when a portion of a person’s paycheck is withheld to pay off debt — for people earning up to 600% of the Federal Poverty Level, which is about $90,360 a year for a single person, or $187,200 for a family of four.

Waddell said the new consumer protections may not apply to people who are using medical credit cards to pay for services, copays and other charges (these are different from debit cards used for Health Savings Accounts).

Efforts to reduce the burdens of medical debt and regulate collection practices even more is ongoing, Waddell said.

“In the coming year, we want to try to bring more protections so that these aggressive debt collection practices, really try and curb some of those,” she said.

Postpartum health care planning

Later this spring, health care providers will be required to make a care plan with pregnant patients and new mothers for the postpartum period, which is a time after when women can experience complications after labor and delivery.

These postpartum care plans must include the review of future health care appointments; recommended testing or procedures for any ongoing health issues; guidance on the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression, anxiety and other mental health needs; breastfeeding support services; contraception options; and recommendations for other common postpartum health issues.

Plans and guidance must also be offered to patients who’ve experienced stillbirth and pregnancy loss.

Delmarva Power has reformatted its bills to make them easier to understand.

The new design started in November for all of the utility’s hundreds of thousands of residential and commercial customers in Delaware.

Zach Chizar, a senior communications specialist, said the redesign is based on feedback from customer focus groups. “It’s all about how to understand the bill better, in a visual approach,” he said.

The most dramatic addition, at the top right of the first page, is a colorful ring-shaped chart that splits the bill into delivery, electric supply, and (if used) gas supply.

Delmarva, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company, is only in the delivery business and does not generate power, he noted.

Some text on the top left of the first page adds a new breakdown of the monthly charges: total delivery, electric delivery, gas delivery, electric supply, and gas supply. By contrast, the old bill only listed electric and gas charges.

The amount due, below these breakdowns, is in more prominent type.

The new bill drops the bar charts covering daily electricity and gas usage. It refers customers to the  utility’s website, where they can already see usage broken down by the hour for their account.

The sample bill that Delmarva posts on its website runs four pages, down from a typical five for an electric and gas customer.

In another customer-friendly move, Delmarva recently opened its call centers on Saturday mornings to handle the number of calls it gets. “No one enjoys being on hold,” Chizar said.

(A helpful landing page titled “Understanding my bill” might answer questions.)

The new design generated some grumbling on social media. “They always just add extra charges and make it too confusing to figure out,” one post complained.

There are no new charges and no delivery rate increases involved now, Chizar said, noting that the cost of gas and electricity varies.

Is your favorite Kent County restaurant or food establishment among the places with the most health and food safety guideline violations in the past 30 days as of Dec. 15?

See the chart below to find out. At the top of the chart is Bangkok Thai Cuisine with 12 violations on Nov. 26.

Or see how well food establishments in all three Delaware counties are complying with regulations by searching Delaware Online/The News Journal’s restaurant inspection database.

Restaurants, food trucks, church kitchens, grocery stores, delis, concession stands, ice cream parlors, pizzerias, schools, hospitals, bakeries, fitness centers, hotels, and golf clubs are among the more than 3,500 permitted Delaware food establishments that prepare and serve food to the public and are included in the database.

The database is updated using information from the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. Most places are inspected twice per year, using the State of Delaware Food Code, a science-based regulation similar to the national model from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The database is meant to be a tool for consumers to be informed, however, it is only one measurement of a food establishment’s operations and does not provide a full picture of any business’s overall standards or offerings.

If you have questions regarding a food inspection report, whether currently reported or for a prior reporting period, please contact the Office of Food Protection at 302-744-4546.

🔗 Bookmark data.delawareonline.com/restaurant-inspections to always find the latest reports.

Previous Delaware food establishment inspection reports

Which food establishments had the most violations during previous 30-day periods? Click on the links below to find out.

New Castle County for periods ending: Dec. 1, 2024 ∎ Oct. 27, 2024 ∎ July 29, 2024 ∎ June 30, 2024 ∎ April 20, 2024 ∎ March 2, 2024 ∎ Feb. 3, 2024 ∎ Jan. 6, 2024 

Kent County for periods ending: Nov. 17, 2024 ∎ Sept. 9, 2024 ∎ July 27, 2024 ∎ June 28, 2024 ∎ March 9, 2024 ∎ Feb. 10, 2024 ∎ Jan. 13, 2024 ∎ Dec. 9, 2023

Sussex County for periods ending: Nov. 24, 2024 ∎ Oct. 7, 2024 ∎ July 28, 2024 June 29, 2024 ∎ April 13, 2024 ∎ Feb. 17, 2024 ∎ Jan. 21, 2024 ∎ Dec. 16, 2023

Latest Kent County food establishment inspections

NOTE: The chart below may take a minute to load. If you are having trouble viewing it, you may also see it here.