Health Insurance Blog

If you are a North Carolina resident and have received any recent health insurance quotes, you know rates are way up.  They are up an astonishing 97% since 2000 according to an article on bizjournals.com by James Gallagher.  Income in the state has only increased by a mere 18.4% during the same time period. 

This information was obtained from a new study completed by Families USA released Tuesday.  If this trend continues more and more families will drop their health insurance because they will be unable to afford the costs.  The cost to obtain North Carolina health insurance for a family has gone from $6,649 to $13,083. 

In regards to employer sponsored health plans, more of the cost has been shifted to the employees as prices have gone up.  Employers covered about 73% of health insurance costs back in 2000, but by 2009 it’s down to approximately 67%.  Part of this decline is due to small business dropping their coverage altogether because they could not afford the benefit. 

Families USA supports health coverage for all and they conclude that the steep rate increase can be attributed to rising health-care spending, not enough competition in the industry, a lack of regulation from the government and cost shifting from those without insurance to those who are covered.

According to a press release from July 15 on 1888pressrelease.com entitled “Health Insurance Quotes Go Down When You Shape Up”, as unemployment increases so does the number of uninsured since many people turn to employer-based health insurance plans.  Health insurance costs are often unaffordable for the unemployed, but there are ways to keep costs down.

An article on Insuranceagents.com states that simply making some lifestyle changes can affect your health insurance quotes.  Policyholders are recommended to get plenty of sleep, eat a well-balanced diet, take vitamins, cut smoking, monitor weight and exercise regularly.  Overweight people spend much more on health insurance because they are filing more claims and often times have pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.  Obesity is also the second leading cause of death in America, estimated to cause around 300,000 deaths per year according to the Surgeon General.

Staying healthy can save you money in the long run on health insurance as well as help you live a longer, higher quality life so it really is a win-win situation to get fit.

Many states have state sponsored health insurance plans that are designed for “the working uninsured”.  Generally the monthly premiums of these plans are subsidized by the state and in order to qualify, applicants must have household income levels that don’t exceed 200% of federal poverty level, and being a resident of the state.  Each state has their own set of eligibility requirements.  For example in some states applicant may not have access to an employer sponsored health plan.

Some examples of these state sponsored plans for adults include:  The Healthy Indiana Plan, Insure Oklahoma, Washington Basic Health Plan, CoverTN, and BadgerCare.

Even if you don’t qualify for a state sponsored health insurance plan, because you make too much money or other reasons, there are many quality affordable health insurance plans available in each state.   You can compare plans online here at healthinsurancesort.com with no obligation.

On BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois’ website they have details on a new Illinois health insurance law that went into effect on June 1st.  The Young Adult Dependent Coverage Law states that if you have dependents meeting certain criteria  you may be able to extend their coverage under your current health insurance policy.

Some eligibility requirements for non-military dependents include:

1. Must be under the age of 26
2. Unmarried
3. Do not have to be enrolled as a full time student

Some eligibility requirements for military veteran dependents:

1. Must be under the age of 30
2. Unmarried
3. Do not have to be enrolled as a full time student
4. Illinois resident
5. Must receive a discharge other than dishonorable

Dependent coverage change doesn’t apply to everyone.  Additional eligibility requirements may apply.  If you have questions contact BCBSIL if you are a member.  If you have coverage under your employer’s health plan, contact your group administrator.

According to the article “Who Gets Employer-Based Health Insurance” by Catherine Rampell in the NYTimes Economix, an important issue of the health insurance debate going on in Washington DC is what to do with employer-based health insurance.  Only in the US does losing your job translate to possibly losing your health insurance coverage.  That’s why individual health insurance is sometimes a better option.  That’s also one of the reasons why the government is looking towards a new health plan.

In the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation report on health benefits, not all American companies offer health insurance to its employees.  Often times, very small companies cannot afford to offer this benefit.  Of the companies that do offer the benefit, they only pay for a portion of the cost, while the rest is taken out of the employee’s paycheck each pay period.  A few do offer to cover the whole cost, but not many.

Many Americans are very comfortable with the employer-based health insurance option and worry about it going away.  This has lead Congress to consider not eliminating it altogether. 

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”.

A recent report prepared by PriceWaterHouseCoopers and released by AHIP breaks down how each dollar that is spent by Americans on health insurance is broken down.

According to the report:

• $0.33 is spent on physicians services
• $0.20 is spent on inpatient costs
• $0.15 is spent on outpatient costs
• $0.14 is spent on drugs
• $0.05 is spent on other medical services
• $0.06 is spent on government payments, compliance & other administrative expenses
• $0.04 is spent on consumer services, provider support & marketing
• $0.03 health insurance company profits

The Complete report can be found here http://www.americanhealthsolution.org/assets/Uploads/risinghealthcarecostsfactors2008.pdf

A representative in the U.S. House of Representatives will reintroduce legislation to help small employers pay for their employees’ small business health insurance, reports Astrid Fiano in DOTMed Business News. The CHOICE Act, according to sponsor and chair of the House Small Business Committee Nydia Velasquez, will do the following:

• Offer a tax credit equal to 65% of the cost of health insurance offered to employees
• Allow multiple small companies to pool their employees in voluntary health collectives, which will result in lower health insurance rates because of the reduction in insurers’ risk
• Set the stage for a possible health insurance mandate for small employers, to be partly paid for by the aforementioned tax refund

The bill promises to lift some of the burden off the small companies that are known to be major drivers of the American economy and has bipartisan support.

(Photo credit: gcoldironjr2003 under CC 2.0)

According to the Associated Press’ Melinda DeSlatte, the 2010 state budget may include tax breaks on Louisiana health insurance. Representative Gary Smith has proposed giving tax credits to small businesses that provide their employees with employer-sponsored health insurance. He also wants to offer tax credits to people who pay for individual health insurance policies, which is predicted to cost over $130 in lost tax revenue in its first year. These proposals would expand access to health insurance.

While the state currently has a billion-dollar budget deficit and plans to make cuts to health care programs, Smith believes that the health insurance tax credits will save the state government money in the long term, since fewer people would be uninsured and have to use state-funded health care services. Melinda says that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has not yet expressed his opinion about this proposal but plans to make recommendations later this week.

If you have health insurance, either through an employer or one of the many individual health plans, it’s possible that you still don’t have enough coverage! Roxanne Patel Sheplavy exposes the new health trend in the February 2009 issue of Fitness magazine: more Americans than ever are underinsured. The Commonwealth Fund defines being “underinsured” as spending 5-10% of your income on out-of-pocket expenses, including skyrocketing deductibles and extremely expensive co-payments that may prevent individuals from recieving essential medications or care. One in seven adults in 2007 fell in this category, and in this economy even more employers and insurers are cutting back on what their health insurance policies cover.

Fortunately, Roxanne stresses that there are resources available to help the underinsured before they are burdened by medical debt (believe it or not, three-quarters of medical bankruptcies involve individuals and families that had insurance!). These organizations may be able to assist you in paying your bills, renegotiating payments, or whatever else you need to handle your medical expenses.

Where To Go If You Are Underinsured:

• Co-Pay Relief
• Healthwell Foundation
• Patient Services Incorporated
• Patient Access Network Foundation
• CancerCare