Health Insurance Blog

According to a report released by the US Census Bureau, both the number and percentage of uninsured Americans decreased in 2007.  The report cited 45.3 Million Americans as being uninsured or 15.3% of the population  down from 47.0 million (15.8%)

Other report findings:

1) The percentage of Hispanic that were uninsured declined from 34.1% to 32.1%.  More than double the national average.

2) The percentage of African Americans that were uninsured declined from 20.5% to 19.5%

3) The Percentage of Caucasians that were uninsured declined from 10.8% to 10.4%

4) The Percentage of Asian Americans that were uninsured increased from 15.5% to 16.8%

On the surface it appears as if state programs and campaigns to educate the uninsured about the importance of health insurance as well as federal programs providing health plans for low-income families, and health plans for children may be taking hold.

COBRA allows you to temporarily continue your employer sponsored health coverage (albeit at a relatively high cost) in the event that you are laid-off or otherwise become out of work.  However, while continuing health coverage may be right for some people, there are other options that you can and should consider.

COBRA will likely be the best option for you if

1) You or a member of your family is currently pregnant.

or

2)  You or a family member have a pre-existing condition that would make it difficult to be accepted in an individual health policy, or would include a rider that would not cover treatment related to the health condition.

However, If you and family members seeking health insurance coverage are relatively healthy there are other options that you should consider that will likely be much more affordable and with a comparable set of benefits.

Alternatives

1.) You can compare individual and family health insurance plans side-by-side here at healthinsurancesort.com and select the plan that best fits your needs.

2.) If you alone have a pre-existing condition, you can stay on COBRA, but enroll your other family members in an indiviudal health plan to save money.

3.) If you believe that you will be unemployed for a short period of time (less than 6 months) you can enroll in a short term health plan.  However, this is a more risky proposition if your unemployment lasts longer than expected.

4.) Research whether you can get health coverage through any association groups for which you are a member.

Not all alternatives will be right for every family’s situation, but there are options available to consider.

Living a healthy lifestyle through exercise and fitness has obvious benefits to you related to your physical wellbeing, but can it also benefit your pocketbook?

Health Care is a growing expense for Americans.  A full 16% of GDP is spent on health care, up from 9% in 1980.  While health insurance helps defray the out-of-pocket costs should you get sick or be involved in an accident, health insurance companies pass this growing expense on to their insureds in the form of monthly premiums (in 2007 health insurance premiums rose 7.1% on average).

Even if you have health insurance coverage with rich benefits, many procedures can still be very pricey.  Consequently, exercise and fitness can keep you healthy and reduce the need for health care and save you money in the long run.

But will staying healthy keep your health insurance premiums down?  There is no guarantee, since health insurance companies base their rates on the healthiness and claims experience of all the insureds who are covered by the same health plan that you are.

If the population as a whole became more healthy by eating right, exercising, flossing daily, and getting plenty of sleep you would likely see a significant decrease in you health insurance costs over time.

The silver lining is that even if you didn’t save a penny on your health insurance costs, being healthy is reward enough.

Humana recently announced the launch of a new online tool to assist shoppers who apply for individual health insurance through HumanaOne.

The new PlanPointer tool can be found on www.Humana-One.com in most states where Humana offers individual health insurance plans.  The tool guides health insurance shoppers in selecting, personalizing and applying for a health insurance plan that fits their needs.

Applicants basically answer four basic questions regarding

1) monthly premiums

2) benefit levels

3) prescription-drug coverage, and

4) their interest in a health savings account (HSA)

As applicants answer each question, the list of matching health plans narrows - sorted with the most relevant plans on top.

This PlanPointer tool is a great tool to help users select an individual health insurance plan that fits their needs, with the only limitation being that it onlt provides HumanaOne options, and not individual health plans offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield or Aetna for example.

Inc. Magazine recently named Senior Whole Health (SWH) the fasted frowing private company in the country, after the Massachusetts based company experienced revenue growth of more than 30000% between 2004 and 2007.

SWH provides a health care plan to over 6,000 low-income seniors (eligible for both Medicare & Medicaid) in Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut.

SWH combines the benefits of Medicare, Medicaid and Medicaid Part D into one comprehensive health care package and pays all claims, handles all customer service issues and contracts with all health care providers.

The company employs nearly 200 and offers members many benefits to make life at home more comfortable such as around-the-clock access to their health care team, no co-pays or deductibles, prescription drug  coverage, no claim forms, as well as convenience non-medical services such as transportation and Tai Chi fall-prevention.

For more information about this health plan for seniors, eligible residents of MA, NY, and CT can call (518) 472-5200 or visit their website at www.seniorwholehealth.com

The AP reports that the new requirements unveiled by the Bush administration last year for states that utilize a state/federal health insurance program to cover children whose families earn to much (250% of federal poverty level) to qualify for the low-income health program is losing steam.

The Proposed Changes included:

1. Children must be uninsured for a year or more and

2. At least 95% of poor children (eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP) were already enrolled in said programs before the state intended to cover the children of higher-income families in question.

The directive is was aimed at 15 states who provided health insurance coverage to children of families with incomes above 250% of federal poverty level.

States were initially directed to make changed by Monday August 18 or face stiff financial penalties, although it was also made clear that there was no immediate threat of states losing their federal funding.

Several states including California, New Jersey and New York filed lawsuits attempting to void the requirements, while others scaled back their plans to expand SCHIP beyond 250% of federal poverty level.

At this point in time the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is not taking compliance action.

More information about Children’s Health Insurance Programs

According to the Kaiser Daily Health Report, a proposed rule that would standardize the application and medical questions that are used for small businesses (2 to 50 employees) is being challenged by two United Health Care Group companies (UHC).

The objective of the proposed rule is to close the Florida health insurance price gap between small businesses that can submit group applications and other smaller companies with fewer employees that are required to submit the medical histories of their employees.

The UHC companies are challenging the new rule on the grounds that the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation does not have the authority to require such a change.  In the absence of the rule, Florida health plans would be able to charge small businesses up to 15% more than rates that are filed with the state based on the medical histories that are submitted for each employee

As noted by Steve Rosen of the Kansas City Star, enrolling in student health insurance offered directly by schools aren’t always a good idea.   Many school-sponsored health plans are clearly inferior to comparably priced alternatives from private health insurance carriers, and can leave families exposed to crippling medical bills.

More than 50% of colleges across the country offered student health plans in 2007 and many colleges require students to carry health insurance coverage as a condition of enrollment.

If you are a parent evaluating student health insurance coverage for your son or daughter you should dig deeper than simply evaluating the cost components of the coverage.  Understanding the benefits, exclusions, restrictions and other elements is important to appreciate the risk that you will be taking on in the case of accident or illness in specific circumstances such as studying abroad and spring break for example.

As written in Charleston.net, nearly 10% of South Carolina residents (nearly 400,000) are “underinsured” (defined as a person who spends 10% or more of their income on out-of-pocket medical expenses, or has a deductible that equaled 5% or more of their income).

Lacking sufficient health insurance coverage is a dangerous proposition, you could be a major accident or illness away from a serious financial bind or even bankruptcy.

The number of Americans that went underinsured increased 60% from 2003 to 2007, according to the Commenwealth Fund, and a full 14% of Americans are now underinsured.

The majority of people who are characterized as uninsured opted for a stripped down health plan, or a high-deductible health plan (without the accompanying health savings account) or selected a health plan from fly-by-night health insurance company simply because it was cheaper.

On August 7, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina celebrated 75 years of providing health insurance to North Carolina residents.

BCBSNC was founded as Hospital Care Association (a group health insurance plan) in Durham on Aug. 7, 1933, and merged with Hospital Saving Association based out of Chapel Hill in 1968 to form what it known today as Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

In recognition of this milestone, Governor Easley proclaimed August 7 as BCBSNC day in North Carolina.