Health Insurance Blog

According to the article “Humana Profit Rises 65% Despite Commercial Falloff” by The Associated Press on the NYTimes.com, Humana One posted a significant profit because of an increase in membership and premiums from Medicare Advantage. 

Humana’s quarterly revenue increased by 8% as enrollment rose 11% from last year in its Medicare Advantage.  Enrollment in its plans sold to employers dropped by 7.6% from a year ago.  This contributed to a pretax loss in their commercial segment.  Many health insurance companies are suffering as employer-sponsored health coverage plans drop because of layoffs and companies going out of business.  In October, the 3 largest publicly traded health insurers, incliding United Health Group, WellPoint and Aetna, reported 3rd quarter results which were below expectations.

Humana says it spent approximately $5 million on swine flu related costs in the 3rd quarter.  The chief financial officer said the company expected a heavier swine flu season for the 4th quarter.  Now more than ever it’s crucial to ensure you have proper health insurance coverage.  You can get Humana insurance quotes online to see if you can save some money and get insured.

Go Blue Florida has helped many Florida residents find affordable health insurance.  At blueadvocacy.org you can learn a bit more about the program.  This product, which was designed to provide affordable access to health care, makes health insurance simpler for people in Florida.

Go Blue health insurance provides easier access to doctor visits, preventative dental care, and pharmacy services at competitive premiums.  Prices can be as low as $26/mos for a 25 year old.  Members have access to the Florida PPO network and protection against balance billing, which can be a huge relief for many.  Another excellent benefit is that no applicants are denied enrollment. 

Some other health care needs that are covered include prescription drugs, dental care and lab services.  They reimburse up to $50 toward each visit for qualified services.  As long as members pay their monthly premium they can receive benefits indefinitely.  This is a unique approach to ensuring more Florida residents are insured.  With the economy struggling and health care up for a possible major reform, it’s definitely good information to have. 

According to US News and World Report, Capital Health Plan, an affiliate of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, is the top rated Medicare Health Plan in Florida.

Founded in 1982, Capital Health Plan serves the four county are surrounding Tallahassee.  They currently provide coverage to more than 110,000 members.

More information about Florida health insurance & senior health insurance.

Open enrollment for Medicare Advantage plans is rapidly approaching (November 15 - December 31).  We thought we’d blog about some of the top rated plans in each state according to US News and World Reports annual rankings.

In California, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan boasts the 2 top ranked plans in the state. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Southern California was the top rated Medicare health plan in California with an overall score of 88.1, followed by Kaiser’s plan covering Northern California (86.8).  These two plans were followed by Health Net of California (83.2), Pacificare of California (81.7) and Aetna Health of California (80.4).

None of the twenty California Medicare Plans ranked in this study received a customer assessment score of greater than three stars out of five.  However, both Kaiser plans faired very well in both treatment and prevention measures, with five stars.

More information about California health insurance.

Geisinger Health Plan recently released an update on the 2009 Influenza flu season.  This is found in the article “Influenza Update From Geisinger Health System: 900 Cases” by Dr. Lisa Esolen who is the director for Geisinger Health System Infection Control on Poconorecord.com.

They continue to see a steady increase in the number of flu cases with about 900 cases in the last 3 weeks at both of their Pennsylvania hospitals.  There have also been about 30 hospitalization cases.  Nationally, 46 states have reported widespread influenza cases.  Shipments of the H1N1 vaccine continue to be shipped but there are lower quantities than expected.  These are first being given to health care providers, schools, and hospitals throughout the state.  Currently, there are no public vaccination sites for the H1N1 vaccination since the vaccinations are not plentiful as of now.

Geisinger Health Insurance continues to receive shipments of the H1N1 vaccine, but in small amounts.  Most of the vaccines have been used for pregnant people as well as children.  Many organizations encourage pregnant women to get vaccinated since they are more likely to get severely sick from the flu virus.  It’s important to wash your hands regularly to help limit the spread of the flu. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama has information about a great program on their website.  “Baby Yourself” is a unique prenatal wellness program which gives expectant mothers important information about infant care and health care during pregnancy.

On the BCBSAL website, it discusses the benefits of the program.  “Baby Yourself” offers all expectant mothers support and educational materials from a Blue Cross registered nurse.  The nurse is experienced in labor, delivery, and newborn care.  You will be assigned your own personal nurse who can be contacted with any questions or concerns.  Gifts and products are available to help support health habits as well as show the importance of understanding all the changes that come with being new parents. 

The program is available to all members and is free as part of their health insurance benefits through BCBSAL.  A video is available on their website entitled “Baby Yourself, A Prenatal Wellness Program” where you can learn more.  You can enroll either online or by telephone.  This is a great initiative by Blue Cross to help support often overwhelmed new mothers and their families.

Effective Dec 31 2009 Unicare will be leaving the Texas health insurance marketplace.  The 180,000 current customers will be offered health insurance coverage by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) which similar the what members have with Unicare in both price and benefits.

Although details haven’t been made available, replacement coverage may also be made available for dental, life, vision and disability coverage.

More information about health insurance in Texas.

Dallas County will lead the state of Texas in the percent of kids without insurance according to the article “Dallas County Leads State In Uninsured Children” by Jason Roberson on dallasnews.com.  The rate of uninsured children in Dallas County is about triple the national average based on the report released by The Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

This is a statistic that is very upsetting for residents.  More than half of the 730,000 kids in Dallas County do not have full access to preventative health care.  The report, called “Beyond ABC: Growing Up in Dallas County”, uses state demographic data from 1998-2008 to research the well-being of resident children.

Dallas health insurance isn’t necessarily difficult to find, but families are having difficulty affording rising premiums.  Children’s and other hospitals support the initiative to get all children insured because it places them in the care of a regular doctor and eliminates expensive visits to the emergency room.  This can prevent the mounting of debt for hospitals.  31% of Dallas County children will be uninsured by 2010 unless something is done. 

A prediction has been made by the president of the American Hospital Association in San Antonio last Wednesday according to the article “Hospital Leader Sees Health Care Bill Passing” by Don Finley on mysanantonio.com.  The president, Richard Umbdenstock, believes some sort of health reform bill will pass before Congress leaves for the December holiday. 

This could mean big changes for San Antonio health insurance.  The bill that passes will not be perfect but it will bring some value.  Umbdenstock noted that half of US hospitals are losing money and 25% are breaking even.  These groups are concerned about a government run plan taking over as they may lose even more money.  Back in June, hospitals agreed to give up about $155 billion in federal payments over the next ten years.  In return for this loss, a plan would be put in place to ensure 94% of US residents would have health insurance.  This would reduce their losses from the uninsured by about $171 billion.

A few weeks ago the health insurance industry released a report stating that the Senate bill would increase premiums for people with private insurance.  They did agree to change the ways in which they conduct business such as covering people with pre-existing conditions in return for the requirement that everyone must purchase health insurance. 

Given the increased attention to rising health insurance rates and the growing number of uninsured in this country, we periodically scour the web for low-cost health insurance plans from quality health insurance companies across the country and blog about one here.

Blue Options HSA is a low cost health plan for North Carolina residents offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC).  BlueOptions HSA is a high deductible health plan that is eligible to combine with an HSA.

According to BCBSNC, monthly premiums are as much as 50% lower than a traditional health plan.  Rates can be less than $60 per month for a 25 year old male.  Other affordable health insurance plans offered by BCBSNC include Blue Advantage.

More information about North Carolina health insurance.