Health Insurance Blog

Geisinger Health Plan has an extremely useful website which offers tools for their members to better their health.  Their main goal is that their members have positive and comfortable encounters as they navigate the website and use the various services available.

Some of the tools offered on the website include health librarians available to answer questions, CareCost estimator to assist with health care finances, viewing and paying bills online, patient rights and responsibilities and help for teens and young adults.

The Teen Help option is a proactive approach to keeping teens safe.  They offer hotlines for AIDS, runaways, STD’s, suicide prevention, pregnancy care, and domestic violence.  It is sponsored by the Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Task Force and supported by Geisinger Health Insurance.  You can sign up online to receive additional information on Geisinger Health Plans and their various tools and services.

Upon the heels of the H1N1 virus outbreak, Geisinger Health Plan hospitals will continue to have visitation restrictions.  Geisinger Medical Center and Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center will keep enforcing the visitor restrictions to help prevent the spread of H1N1 and other dangerous viruses.

Dr. Lisa Esolen, Medical Director for Infection Control at Geisinger Health System says that this has been an unpredictable flu season and they are committed to protecting patients.  Children under 12 are restricted from visiting all areas and everyone else will be screened for flu-like symptoms.  The H1N1 pandemic has slowed down but seasonal flu is starting up.  Past flu viruses have shown spikes in January through March.

Many people each year are hospitalized for the flu which is just one more reason to ensure you are protected with individual health insurance.  With the new health care reform bill which recently passed in Congress, most Americans will be required to carry health insurance coverage which will help cover costs for such flu pandemics.

Geisinger Health Insurance, offers a program that will help you choose the right Medicare plan.  It’s called Geisinger Gold and it has many advantages.

With the Geisinger name behind it, Geisinger Gold offers several coverage options that suit your Medicare needs.  Plans are affordable and they provide a large network of physicians and participating hospitals to choose from.  There are 84 hospitals that are part of the Geisinger Gold throughout the service area.  Participating doctors are over 15,000.

Geisinger Gold has health plans that include Preferred Provider Organization, Private Fee-For-Service, Medical Savings accounts, traditional HMOs as well as Special Needs Plans.  You can also opt for a stand alone prescription plan available to those with Medicare Advantage or Medicare supplement plans.  Consumers who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid two special needs plans are offered.  It’s definitely worth looking into if you are in the market.

According to the article “Geisinger Study Aims to Find Fun, Effective Way to Combat Pediatric Obesity” found of their website, childhood obesity in the US is on the rise.  With this comes a significant raise in the risk of type 2 diabetes.  This has motivated Geisinger Health Plan to do something about it.

Researchers at Geisinger Health System’s Henry Hood Center for Health Research and University of PA received a grant by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to look for creative ways to prevent as well as treat children ages 4-8 who are in the 85th percentile for weight or who have a higher BMI. 

Geisinger Health Insurance is taking on this initiative partly because The American Academy of Pediatrics report the prevalence of kids who are obese has doubled over the last 20 years.  According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 31.9% of children and teens are overweight, and 16.3% are considered obese.  These statistics are staggering and shows that something must be done to curb these numbers.  Geisinger is heading in the right direction to take action and find ways to decrease obesity in this country.

US News and World Report recently released their updated health plan rankings for 2009-2010.  Their rankings of Medicare Health Plans was as follows, with 2008 ranking in parenthesis.

1. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado (8)
2. Fallon Community Health Plan (Not In Top 10)
3. Geisinger Health Plan (3)
4. Tufts Associated Health Maintenance Organization (10)
5. Capital Health Plan (7)
6. MVP Health Care (Not in Top 10)
7. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Northwest (Not in Top 10)
8. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Southern California (2)
9. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Northwest (Demonstration Project) (NR)
10. Capital District Health Plan (9)

In 2008, Preferred Care was the top rated Medicare Health Plan by US News.  In this years study, they failed to make the top 10.  Kaiser Foundation Health Plans fared very well in the 2009-2010 study, with 4 of their regional plans being ranked among the top 10 plans in the country, with the Colorado plan occupying the top spot.

Geisinger Health Plan recently released an update on the 2009 Influenza flu season.  This is found in the article “Influenza Update From Geisinger Health System: 900 Cases” by Dr. Lisa Esolen who is the director for Geisinger Health System Infection Control on Poconorecord.com.

They continue to see a steady increase in the number of flu cases with about 900 cases in the last 3 weeks at both of their Pennsylvania hospitals.  There have also been about 30 hospitalization cases.  Nationally, 46 states have reported widespread influenza cases.  Shipments of the H1N1 vaccine continue to be shipped but there are lower quantities than expected.  These are first being given to health care providers, schools, and hospitals throughout the state.  Currently, there are no public vaccination sites for the H1N1 vaccination since the vaccinations are not plentiful as of now.

Geisinger Health Insurance continues to receive shipments of the H1N1 vaccine, but in small amounts.  Most of the vaccines have been used for pregnant people as well as children.  Many organizations encourage pregnant women to get vaccinated since they are more likely to get severely sick from the flu virus.  It’s important to wash your hands regularly to help limit the spread of the flu. 

In November of 2008, we published a series of posts breaking down the US News and report’s rankings of commercial health plans. Similarly, below are their rankings of the top Medicare health plans for 2008 based on the same criteria (consumer assessment, prevention, treatment).

1. Preferred Care
2. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Southern California
3. Geisinger Health Plan
4. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
5. Security Health Plan of Wisconsin
6. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island
7. Capital Health Plan
8. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado
9. Capital District Physicians Health Plan
10. Tufts Associated HMO

More inforamtion about health plans for seniors, Medicare advantage plans, and traditional Medicare Supplement Plans.

When JD Power & Associates rated the top health plans in Pennsylvania, they also included Delaware in a region which included both Pennsylvania & Delaware.  However, of the eleven private health insurance companies that were included in the study and part of this region, eight of them where Pennsylvania health plans, and the three that weren’t exclusively Pennsylvania plans (Aetna, CIGNA, and UnitedHealthCare) did not factor into consideration among the top plans and were all rated as being below average in overall experience.

According to the study, the top health insurance plan in Pennsylvania was Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, which was also judged to be one of the best the nation has to offer.  Finishing a close second to Highmark BCBS, was another Highmark inc. company and Blue Cross Blue Shield Licensee Highmark Blue Shield.

Highmark BCBS serves health insurance customers in Western Pennsylvania, while Highmark Blue Shield serves Central PA.

Other Pennsylvania health plans that fared particularly well in the study include Capital BlueCross and Geisinger Health Plan, both were rated above average.

Jerry Lynott in the Times-Leader reports that Geisinger Health Plan has filed requests to increase its rates with the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance.

Geisinger wants to raise its rates by 5.5% for employers with less than 51 health care subscribers, and 7.1% for groups with more than 51 members. The rate increases will impact about 49,000 members with employer-sponsored health plans.

If the state doesn’t take some action by February 12, the rate increases will go into effect in April 1. (While that is April Fool’s Day, the Geisinger health insurance premium increases are, unfortunately, real.)

Geisinger is one of the largest providers of Pennsylvania health insurance.

(Photo credit: Nikki Spickard under CC 2.0)

Posting the top Pennsylvania Health Plans (as ranked by US News and World Report in Conjunction with NCQA) is the 6th state in the series here at healthinsurancesort.com.  Previous state rankings have been posted for the following midwestern states:  Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin.

According to the 2008 rankings:  the top Pennsylvania health insurance plans were:

1. Geisinger Health Plan- The #5 ranked health plan nationally received outstanding scores on all measures (customer assessment, prevention, and treatment)
2. HealthAmerica Pennsylvania/HealthAssurance Pennsylvania - A Coventry HealthCare Company
3. UPMC Health Plans
4. Keystone Health Plan (Central)
5. Keystone Health Plan (West)
6. Capital Advantage Insurance Company
7. Keystone Health Plan East
8. CIGNA
9. Aetna Health
10. First Priority Health

Pennsylvania is a fragmented market for health insurers, with many insurers covering a service area focusing on a region within Pennsylvania.  Blue Cross Blue Shield has several different licensees that do business within the state including the three regional Keystone plans listed below.