Limited Benefit Plans have not been well received since their inception, many health insurers have resisted offering them, and there hasn’t been a strong customer demand for them either despite their low-cost. Given the economic climate that we are facing across the country, these stripped down health plans have been generating more chatter than in [...]
Archive for November, 2008
California Children’s Health Plan Freeze?
In an attempt to close the $11 Billion budget cap this year, the state of California is considering putting a freeze on Healthy Families, California’s state sponsored health insurance plan for children. Nearly a million California children are enrolled in Healthy Families that would not have health insurance coverage otherwise. The Healthy Families Program is [...]
Pennsylvania Medicare Advantage Plans
Mark Farrah wrote a nice report on the Medicare Advantage marketplace in Pennsylvania. In summary he found that the 30 health insurers offering Medicare Advantage Plans in PA had a 37% market penetration, one of the highest in the country. Of the 30 health insurers, more than 20 were based in PA, including three separate [...]
Top Indiana Health Plans
2008 was the fourth year that US News and World Report, released their annual ranking of commercial health insurance plans. The results are in, and the following list is how US News and World Report ranks the top Indiana health insurance plans. CIGNA Healthcare of Ohio – was the top rated health plan in Indiana, [...]
Medical Tourism Pilot Program
Wellpoint became the latest health insurance company to dabble with a medical tourism program. Under this new Wellpoint pilot, members can travel to India to have some surgeries done. Wellpoint would not only save thousands on medical costs, but they would also gain leverage in negotiatons with doctors. Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, [...]
Top Michigan Health Plans
Continuing on our series of top state health plans, as determined by US News and World Report, in conjunction with the NCQA, below are the top health plans in Michigan for 2008. Only 8 Michigan Health Insurance Plans were included in the ranking, so this list is a top 8 list as opposed to top [...]
Top Illinois Health Insurance Plans
US News and World Report’s 2008 ranking of the top Illinois Health Insurance Plans are listed below. Based on 1) consumer surveys and 2) success in preventing and treating illness compared with average plan. PersonalCare Insurance of Illinois (conducting business exclusively in Illinois) Health Alliance Medical Plans (Illinois, Iowa) CIGNA Healthcare of St. Louis (Illinois, [...]
Individual Health Insurance Policies Can Be Affordable
A recent study undertaken by online health insurance marketplace ehealthinsurance.com found that individual health insurance can indeed be affordable if you shop around. Specifically, the study of more than 225,000 individual and family health plans purchased through their site found that the average monthly premium to insure an individual was $158, and more than half [...]
Ohio Health Plans: Some of the Best
As promised we will be breaking the US News and World Report health plan rankings down into the state level, to account for differences in health plan regulations, and mandated benefits in each state which can skew results. According to the report: The top 10 Ohio Health Plans are: Summacare Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield [...]
2008 Health Plan Rankings
US News and World Report recently released their health plan rankings for 2008, based on NCQA Data collection and analysis. The 4th annual rankings provided via the collaboration between US News and the NCQA, aims to help health insurance shoppers select quality health plans. Costs will likely always be one of the most if not [...]
