Health Insurance Blog

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) has signed a deal with Carolinas HealthCare System to provide hospital and doctor network services to members enrolled in their Blue Medicare HMO and Blue Medicare PPO health insurance plans.

Carolinas HealthCare System includes more than 1,000 physicians and 22 hospitals across 22 North Carolina counties.

BCBSNC is North Carolina’s largest health insurance company, covering about 3.7 million North Carolinians, about half of the state.

More information about BCBSNC and North Carolina health insurance.

According to the article “Higher Taxes on Wine May Result From Health-Care Reform” by Mitch Frank on WineSpectator’s site, one of the biggest unknowns on President Obama’s health insurance plan is how it will all be paid for.  It is estimated to cost about 1.2 trillion dollars over the next ten years. 

Wine, spirits and beer makers are not encouraged by one proposal.  The Senate Finance Committee published a report on some different proposals to pay for the reform.  One suggestion is called the “lifestyle tax proposal” which recommends raising federal tax on alcohol, sodas and other sweet drinks.  They believe this would promote health by discouraging the purchase of these items. 

The idea to raise taxes on alcohol would affect wine especially.  The proposal calls to tax wine, beer and spirits at rates that are equal based on ounces of alcohol in each drink.  Currently wine is taxed at 21 cents a bottle and under the new plan it would increase to 70 cents per bottle, a 233% spike.  Because there are many options still on the table for the funding of the health care reform, the wine industry is remaining relatively quiet and waiting patiently for the final outcome of this ongoing debate.

Bill Kaczor’s article “Crist signs Fla. health insurance bill” from the Miami Herald site, discusses new Florida health insurance legislation.  According to this article the new law (SB 1122) requires insurance companies to send payments to out-of-network doctors instead of the patient.  

Gov. Charlie Crist signed the legislation Wednesday making it law.  He said that sometimes when insurance payments were sent to the patients directly, the patient would keep the money and not pay their medical bills.  Because of this many providers are reluctant to accept out-of-network patients and reducing health care access by limiting patient doctor choices.  The new law may also reduce fraud by cutting out the middle man.  The payment will only get transferred once, instead of twice.

Consumer advocate coalitions urged that the bill be vetoed.  They argued that the new law may increase out of pocket costs for individuals and remove an incentive for doctors to have discounts available for in-network services.  This could potentially lead to higher premiums for in-network and out-of-network patients.  Walter Dartland, the executive director of the Consumer Federation of the Southeast believes that if you have health insurance the new bill will cost you money in the long run. 

According to the Curt Woodward, an AP writer, the health insurance rates that Washington residents pay for the state subsidized Washington Basic Health Plan are set to rise sharply.  Monthly premiums will rise from around $37 to roughly $62.  In addition, annual deductibles will rise from $150 to $250.

About 100,000 Washingtonians are enrolled in the plan, which is an affordable health insurance option for the “working poor”.  Those that make too much to be eligible for Medicaid, but can’t afford to purchase Washington health insurance coverage otherwise.

The number of enrollees in the state subsidized health plan as well will shrink as well, which will help keep the plan solvent.  The 100,000 enrollees will be reduced to a projected 65,000 over time.  Part of the reduction will be driven by moving people who are eligible for Medicaid over to that plan (roughly 8,000).

More information about Washington health insurance.

According to an article written by Robert Pear of the New York Times, broad consensus among the Democrats on the redeployment of our country’s health care system is not far off.

Democratic leaders in both houses said they would indeed make health insurance mandatory, requiring  individuals to carry health insurance coverage and employers to help pay for it.  The question is, how will they raise the necessary tax revenue to support it?  On way that has been discussed is taxing employer health benefits.

In addition to making health insurance compulsary, the bill outlines yesterday would allow people to enroll in a governement run health plan similar to Medicare.  There are other suggestion being floated by Senate Democrats that would limit the scope of Government involvement, but would still create a plan to compete with private health insurance companies via a “Co-op”.

Getting Blue Cross health insurance quotes can save you money as well as give you the option to use a mail service pharmacy.  Mail service pharmacy is designed for Blue Cross members who take maintenance medications regularly to treat ongoing conditions.

Mail service offers money saving benefits such as discounted drugs for buying bulk.  For example, a 90-day supply can often cost as much as a 30 or 60 day supply depending on the drug.  Mail service will save you time since you make fewer trips to the pharmacy and in some cases eliminating going to the drugstore altogether.  Safety is ensured as the mail service uses technologically advanced systems to dispense drugs and is checked for accuracy.  Medications are delivered in secure, unmarked packages.  This is a great option for patients suffering from chronic conditions and who want to save time and money.

As the health care reform debate continues to heat up, the health insurance sort blog seems to be dominated by news related to the ongoing battle on this topic.  The latest blow, was one thrown by a group call HealthJustice, a health care reform advocacy group.

The advertisements push the concept of eliminating the private health plans altogether and replacing them with a single payer Medicare system for the entire U.S.  The ads feature Mike Farrell (BJ Huneycutt from M*A*S*H) who states in the ads

Insurance companies have stiffed us time and time again…..its time to get health insurance companies and their red tape out of out health care system.

The ads air on “Larry King Live” and “Hardball,” as well as on the BET, Gameshow, MSN, CNN channels among others.

More information about

President Obama said earlier this week that he is open to Congress’s proposals which includes making every American responsible for getting health insurance.  He wrote a letter to Senator Edward Kennedy and Max Baucus that said employers would need to share in the cost and there would need to be a hardship waiver for anyone who may not be able to afford insurance. 

During President Obama’s campaign last year, he was against such a broad mandate.  Hillary Clinton actually supported the idea.  Originally, Obama wanted a more incremental approach, which would include all children being covered first.

It’s still up for debate if this is the best way to approach health care reform.  It’s a bold step, but many argue that a bold move is what is needed to put some serious changes in place that will actually make a difference in the way that health care is currently handled. 

A great challenge for the health insurance customer is understanding the complex information that goes into a health care insurance policy.  Price, coverage and cost-sharing is often difficult to obtain and understand because of the legality that goes into having such information in writing. 

The health insurance industry’s polling shows that 75% of people do not understand readily the ins and outs of their policy.  People do not have the time or patience to read and fully understand their health benefits.  The federal government does not currently have the capacity to oversee health insurance guidelines, but a new law may change this challenge.

According to the Hartford Courant, The Informed Consumer Choices in Health Care Act has been introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Jay Rockefeller.  This act ensures consistent standards for definitions and information.  This legislation also calls for the development of accessible resources, such as fact labels to provide important information about how much the health insurance company can be expected to pay for different patient services.  This law may bridge the gap between the health insurance carrier, providers, and the consumer. 

–Announcement –

You can now follow the healthinsurancesort.com blog on twitter!  Follow us at http://twitter.com/JeffLevyHIS