Archive for August, 2009

Intermountain Healthcare

Posted on: August 31st, 2009 by JPAL No Comments

Intermountain Healthcare (IHC) of Utah could be a good model for health insurance reform in the US.   They are admired far and wide for delivering low-cost, high-quality health care.  IHC’s Selecthealth division is the top health insurance compnay in Utah with over 36% marketshare.  Other leanding health insurance companies in Utah include:  Regence Blue Cross [...]

Blue Cross Blue Shield Anti Fraud Efforts

Posted on: August 30th, 2009 by ymedina No Comments

Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance companies’ anti fraud investigations caused savings and recoveries of about $350 million for 2008 according to the article “Blue Cross And Blue Shield Companies’ Anti-Fraud Efforts Recover $350 Million In 2008″ found on BCBS’s website.  According to data released from Blue Cross Blue Shield National Anti-Fraud Department, this is a [...]

New York Health Insurance Ahead of the Game

Posted on: August 29th, 2009 by ymedina No Comments

New York health insurance is ahead of the game when it comes to health care reform according to the article “Feds must consider NY situation in fixing care” by Kenneth Adams on poughkeepsiejournal.com.  New York is one step ahead of the nation when it comes to health care infrastructure, medical education, research, health insurance mandates, [...]

Health Insurance Reform is Good for Business

Posted on: August 28th, 2009 by ymedina No Comments

According to the article “Fixing Health Care Is Good for Business” by Gary Locke on the Wall Street Journal’s website, without health insurance reform the price of an average household’s health insurance will almost double over the next 10 years from $13,000 to $25,000.  This is why health care reform is so crucial.  47 million [...]

Priority Health Individual Health Plans

Posted on: August 27th, 2009 by JPAL No Comments

Michigan based Priority Health, plans to increase its presence in the Michigan individual health insurance marketplace, by launching a new suite of products targeting this market segment by the end of the year. Priority Health Chief Marketing Office Joan Budden is leading the charge.  Budden worked for BCBSM for 24 years including nearly four years [...]

Health Insurance Reform Pollings

Posted on: August 26th, 2009 by ymedina No Comments

About eight out of ten Americans favor a public option health insurance plan on the table in Congress right now.  This is according to the new poll underwritten by AARP and completed by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates released Tuesday night at an AARP event in Denver.  While most people seem to favor this public [...]

BadgerCare Up For Bid

Posted on: August 24th, 2009 by BlogAdmin No Comments

The state of Wisconsin is planning to require a open bidding process for private health insurance companies which seek to manage the BadgerCare Plus Health Insurance Program BadgerCare Plus provides health insurance coverage for low-income families with children under 19, but now also offers a health insurance plan with more limited coverage to low-income adults [...]

State Farm Health Insurance Has a Challenge for America

Posted on: August 23rd, 2009 by ymedina No Comments

State Farm Health Insurance is giving America a highly needed challenge.  They are challenging Americans to collectively lose 50 million pounds across the nation, according to the article “Insurance agency challenges Americans to lose weight” on wqow.com.  Bob Johnson, an agent at State Farm Insurance, says that the healthier you are the less frequently you visit the doctor which [...]

Health Insurance Companies Lack Competition

Posted on: August 22nd, 2009 by ymedina No Comments

One of the most popular arguments against a government run health care plan is the lack of competition that would arise among health insurance providers, but according to the article “Competition Lacking Among Private Health Insurance Companies” by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar on the huffingtonpost.com, private insurance companies already lack sufficient competition. Studies show that in a [...]

Health Plan Ratings – Consumer Reports

Posted on: August 21st, 2009 by JPAL No Comments

The September issue of Consumer Reports ranks the top PPOs and HMOs in the country.  In all, 41 PPOs were rated as well as 35 HMOs.  The ratings were based on surveys of 37,000 respondents. Some of the findings included in the report inlcude: Median health insurance premiums were $1,829 (up 38% from two years [...]