Health Insurance Blog

Several individual health plans from AvMed have been introduced in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, states a press release. They suggest these plans would be most appropriate for these groups:

• self-employed individuals
• students
• early retirees
• people laid off/between jobs

The AvMed Individual Health policies’ benefits include some preventative care without a deductible, a maximum lifetime benefit of $5 million and full integration with Health Savings Accounts. An innovative three-month deductible carry-over lessens the burden of Florida health insurance costs by applying payments made in the last three months of one year to the following year’s deductible.

A variety of AvMed health insurance options with different levels of coverage are available to individuals and families; there are also plans specifically reserved for children (ages 2 through 17). If these new offerings are successful, the release claims that they will be expanded statewide.

Find more information about Miami health insurance.

New details have been released regarding Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s plans for rate hikes. The insurer is requesting that the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation allow them to increase their premiums. Changes BCBSM is requesting would have an impact on many people

• Individual health insurance policies would be, on average, 56% more expensive.
• An average cost increase of 31% would hit seniors with Medicare supplements.
• Group conversion plans, which are for individuals transitioning out of employer-sponsored coverage, would be set to increase by 42%.

Now that Tom Daschle is out as Obama’s Health Chief, the president’s plans to overhaul the country’s health care system will lose much momentum and be significantly delayed.  Daschle was a clear health care expert and carried quite a bit of political influence.  The current health care reform plan was built around Daschle steering the ship.

Many supports say that the sudden change will not derail the efforts for health care reform, but Daschle is widely recognized as being the foremost authority among all Governors regarding health and health reform issues.

The leading candidates to replace Daschle are believed to be:

• Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius;
• U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut;
• Mark McClellan, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration;
• and former Democratic Party chief Howard Dean.

More news and updates regarding health care reform that have been covered here.

Today’s edition of the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report newsletter highlighted a sobering statistic about Pennsylvania health insurance: over one million residents lack it! According to the study, conducted last year:

• More than 8% of the state’s population is uninsured, compared to 7.5% in 2004.
• The number of uninsured children in Pennsylvania increased 5%, to 140,000.
• 880,000 Pennsylvanian adults are without health insurance, up 17%.

A recent research brief written by Deborah Donahue of Mark Farrah and Associates provides commentary on the recent growth of Medicare Advantage Plans.

According to the report more than 225,000 americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans during the most recent open enrollment period, and total enrollment stands at roughly 10.5 Million nationally.

The top 10 Medicare Advantage carriers (in terms of enrollment) maintain just over 60% market share, of which Humana and UnitedHealth Group maintain more than half (30% market share between them).

The 10 Largest Medicare Advantage Organizations

1. UnitedHealth 16% Marketshare
2. Humana 14%
3. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan 9%
4. Wellpoint 4%
5. Coventry Health Care 4%
6. Aetna 4%
7. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan 3%
8. Health Net 3%
9. Highmark 3%
10. Wellcare Health Plan 2%

In addition, 9 new Medicare Advantage Organizations began doing business in 2009 and 6 ceased operations.

Other health insurance plans for seniors include Medicare Supplement plans.