Health Insurance Blog

J.D. Powers & Associates rated the top private health plans in the heartland states (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota), and the results were as follows.

Similar to many of the other 17 regions in the JD Power Survey, a Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan took top honors.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska was named the top health plan in this region based on overall customer experience and among the best in the nation.

Three other Blue Cross plans were rated as “better than most”  (4 stars out of 5 in overall experience):  BCBS Kansas, Wellmark BCBS Iowa, and BCBS Kansas City.

Health plans Aetna, CIGNA, UnitedHealthCare, and Coventry Healthcare were rated as being below average.

More information about health insurance in the heartland states:  Nebraska health insurance, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota

The state of Florida was not included in the Southeast region when J.D. Powers ranked the top health plans in the Southeast, in their rating of the top health plans in 17 distinct regions, Florida is its own region.  That being said, J.D. Power and Associates rated Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida as the top rated health plan in Florida.

BCBSFL was rated as being among the best health plans in the country, as was Humana, coming in just behind the Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.

Other Florida health plans that were rated as part of this study included UnitedHealthCare, CIGNA, and Aetna.  UnitedHealthCare was given 4 stars out of 5 in overall experience (better than most) while CIGNA & Aetna were given 2 stars, a below average rating.

More about Florida health insurance.

The article “Individual Health Insurance Quotes Better Than COBRA” from TransWorldNews has some great information about choosing between individual health insurance and COBRA.  If you have lost your health insurance through your employer because of cut backs or job loss then you have the choice to shop around for your own individual health insurance policy or go through the COBRA option from your employer.  It can be a tough decision.

COBRA will cover you if you lose your job by allowing you to keep the employer sponsored health insurance for up to 18 months and 9 out of the 18 mos will be at a discounted rate of 65%.  The average health care premium in the US is reaching upwards of $1000 a month so the discount can help, but still may make the cost out of your price range.  That’s when shopping around for health insurance quotes may pay off.  Individual plans are often less expensive and they are customized to meet your individual needs. 

Most consumers to do not realize the actual cost of health insurance since their employer often pays for a large chunk of it.  The sticker shock is often enough to cause some stress once you start shopping around.  It can be overwhelming so obtaining a health insurance broker may help.  The most important thing is to ensure there is no lapse in your health insurance because that can cause hefty bills if something unfortunately happened to you during that uninsured window.

June 1, CIGNA began offering individual health insurance plans in Connecticut.  Their portfolio of health plans for CT residents include open access managed care plans and high-deductible health plans that are HSA eligible.  Until this recent product launch, CIGNA had only offered health insurance to mid to large employer groups in Connecticut.

In addition to offering health plans for individuals in Connecticut, CIGNA also offers individual health plans in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee & Texas.

More information about Connecticut health insurance.

According to the article “Health Insurance Outpaces Pay Hikes” by Martha Stoddard from Omaha.com, the increasing Nebraska health insurance premiums are outpacing wage increases.  This makes paying for health insurance more and more difficult and potentially out of reach according to a report released this week.

The report was released by The Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest as well as Health Care for America Now.  It was part of a national support for health care reform.  There will also be a rally and lobbying effort in Washington DC. 

The report also cites that a recent article in the American Journal of Medicine stated that 62% of bankruptcies in the US are due to out of control medical bills.  There were 6,447 non business bankruptcies last year in NE.  It didn’t state how many of these were due to inadequate health insurance, but scary to think that a lot of them were.  This information is a large part of the argument that reform is needed, and it is needed soon.

J.D. Power and Associates rating of the top health plans for the South East Central region lists two health plans tied for the top spot for 2009 - Anthem Blue Cross Blue shield of Kentucky and BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama.

CIGNA & Humana finished close behind while still receiving designation as being among the nations best.

Aetna & Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee were rated as “about average” while  United HealthCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi were rated below average.

According to the article “Going It Alone When Buying a Health Policy” by Anna Wilde Mathews on the WSJ, the current state of the economy is forcing more people to buy their own health insurance and shop around for health insurance quotes. 

More and more Americans will need to dig into health insurance details and there are going to be a lot of uninformed buyers out there.  The amount of people purchasing their own health insurance policies has increased to about 18.4 million in 2008 from 17.9 million in 2007.  Experts expect additional growth in 2009 to 19.6 million and by 2010 it’s projected to reach 20 million.  This is according to the study by McKinsey & Co.  The growth is probably because of employers cutting benefits and unemployment increasing.

This article stresses the importance of educating yourself on your health care options and ensuring that you are getting what you are paying for.  Fully review the full plan explanation, also known as the certificate of coverage or the evidence of coverage. 

Continuing the coverage of J.D. Power and Associates 2009 health plan ratings, below are their ratings of leading health plans in Colorado.

1. Kaiser Foundation Health Plans was rated the top health plan in Colorado and among the best in the nation.  In addition to this top rating in Colorado, their were also rated tops in California as well.
2. Aetna -For the most part average across the board
3. CIGNA - Rated among the best nationally in terms of provider choice, but simply average in overall experience
4. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of CO - Rated among the best nationally in terms of provider choice, but simply average in overall experience
5. Great-West HealthCare - below average
6. UnitedHealthCare - below average

More information about Colorado health insurance

According to the article “Recent Graduates: In the Market for Health Insurance”, by Francesca Lunzer Kritz in The Los Angeles Times, recent college graduates should make obtaining individual health insurance a top priority.

The author offers some great tips to the new graduate.  Thoroughly read and understand your current health insurance coverage.  Often your coverage through your parents ends when you graduate, but it may last longer.  Consider using Cobra for the 36 months after your coverage ends.  If Cobra is not for you or you want something long term be sure to shop around with different carriers or websites that get comparison quotes.  It is often is a good idea to stick with large, reputable carriers. 

Consider all your health insurance options.  Don’t automatically choose catastrophic care and figure in all costs.  Short term plans are often cheaper but do your homework because they often are not the best way to go.  If at all possible continue with your university coverage because typically they offer outstanding benefits at very competitive rates. 

ehealthinsurance.com will now offer sixteen individual health insurance plans to their website customers who reside in Massachusetts.

Until now, ehealthinsurance offered no online health insurance quoting or any type of health insurance options for website visitors who resided in a handful of states which included Massachusetts.

A new relationship with Fallon Community Health Plans (FCHP)will allow eHealth to provide access to Massachusetts individual health insurance options to their customers in that state.

More information about Massachusetts health insurance.