Health Insurance Blog

Barack Obama and the Dems are considering major expansions to the existing government assisted health care programs.  One of the changes being discussed would subsidize employers’ expenses for temporary continuing health insurance coverage to laid-off and retired workers and their dependents, as mandated by COBRA, and allow workers who lose jobs that did not come with health insurance benefits to be eligible for health coverage via Medicaid.

According to Emily Coleman of The Missourian, a state legislator is planning to introduce a bill that would require Missouri health insurance companies to cover diagnosis and treatment of infertility. Steve Hodges (D) is trying again, after failing to get a hearing for a similar bill last year. 

It is unclear whether the bill would make the insurers’ infertility coverage also apply to men. Emily says that the inspiration for this bill is a recent study finding that males from Columbia, Mo. had lower sperm counts than those from major American cities, possibly due to pesticides used in the farming town. (However, all of the men in the study were still fertile.) Men could go to a fertility clinic for an inexpensive, fast analysis and have the non-invasive procedure covered by insurance if the bill is passed with such a provision. 

(Photo credit: ksr8s under CC 2.0)

Earlier this week, 6 health insurance companies in Florida signed contracts with the state to offer affordable health insurance to the uninsured in Florida.  The health insurance offerings vary, but in general are less than $100 per month.

The program championed by Florida Governor Charlie Christ is called Cover Florida, and will launch on January 5, 2009.  The plan was unanimously approved by the Florida Legislature and require no tax dollars to make it happen.

The six participating health insurers will offer 25 health plans options between them, and each with 2 different benefit levels (one focusing on catastrophic coverage & hospital coverage, and the other on preventive care).

Of the six health insurance companies only offerings by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and United HealthCare are available in all 67 Florida counties.

A recent research poll, funded by Consumer Watchdog, found that only 15% of Americans would support a proposal by health insurance companies to make it mandatory for all Americans to be able to show proof of health insurance coverage or face fines or tax penalties.  President-elect, Barack Obama strongly opposed legislation that would mandate health insurance for all.

Other Findings in research:

40% of those surveyed were strongly opposed to mandating that all Americans have health insurance or face penalties, and 51% in total were proposed.

The full report can be found at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/healthcarepolltabs.pdf

More healthinsurancesort.com coverage of health care reform

The UnitedHealth Group is now offering UnitedHealth Continuity, a policy for those that already have health insurance but are worried that they may lose it in the future. These people may be considering early retirement, or may fear unemployment and the resulting loss of health care coverage. Reed Abelson says in the New York Times that applicants must pass a medical review before being accepted. However, many individuals who have been unable to get insurance on their own are those with pre-existing conditions. The Continuity plan doesn’t seem to be helpful for them.

The UnitedHealth Continuity policy charges members 20% of the current health insurance premium to reserve the right to future coverage, and varies due to age, gender, location, and level of coverage selected. The monthly fee is also subject to increase in the future. There is also the danger of the plan becoming a costly high-risk pool that attracts people more likely to develop serious conditions.

Reed also speculates that proposed health care reforms from the incoming Obama administration include a requirement that private insurers offer individual health coverage to everyone, no matter the state of their health. That type of law would make the new UnitedHealth guarantee unnecessary. The president of UnitedHealth’s individual insurance unit, Richard A. Collins, claims that political wrangling and legislative delays make the Continuity plan viable, at least in the short term.

UnitedHealth Continuity is currently available in 25 states in which UnitedHealth already sells individual insurance. It believes that it will soon be able to offer the Continuity plan in 15 more states.

(Photo credit: Shahram Sharif under CC 2.0)

Health Insurance industry representatives presented to Congress yesterday that they would support legislation that would require insurers to accept all applicants (guaranteed issue), but they would also seek legislation that requires all Americans to obtain health insurance coverage.

To date two prominent members of the health insurance industry, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) have drafted separate proposals that call for mandates making both of the requirements mentioned above.

Conversely, the Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI) remains opposed to reforms that mandate guaranteed issue because “they invite the government to micromanage health insurance policies, reduce consumer choices and dramatically drive up the cost of health insurance coverage”

Revamping the maligned US health care system was a focal point of President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign, and he will now be tasked with making good on that promise amid a significant economic downturn.

Obama’s plan is to expand Government health programs as well as subsidize health insurance coverage for people who can’t afford it, and technology spending to computerize health records to save money.  This plan to fix the health care system is priority #2 behind only achieving energy independence through further developing alternative energy sources.

Many experts think that change will be incremental but not substantial right off the bat, with the focus on expanding existing programs that assist low-income families maintain health insurance for their families such as children’s health insurance programs, which currently subsidize health insurance for 6 million children across he country.  Expanding programs such as SCHIP and Medicaid would help the health insurers that run the plans, such as Wellpoint, and United HealthCare.  Alternatively, reducing reimburesements  to insurers for Medicare Advantage enrollees would hurt health insurance companies such as Humana and Aetna, who would likely make up the difference in the form of health insurance premiums and/or reduced benefits.

The 2008 presidential election is now in he books, but there are still a number of states that have health care reform initiatives with unknown results.

A rundown of pending and decided state health care initiatives is as follows:

• Arizona’s Proposition 101 would prohibit the passage of any law that would prohibit an individual from having the freedom to purchase a family health plan from any private health insurer offering health insurance in Arizona.
• In Wisconsin, legislation appeared to be on the verge of passing that would ensure universal coverage (in the 20+ cities and counties for which it appeared on the ballot)
• South Carolina voted down a amendment to allow state and local governments to invest funds in the stock market funds that are earmarked for retired public employee health benefits.
• Montana voters approved a measure expanding their children’s health insurance program, to increase the household income threshold to $55,000.

President elect Barack Obama vowed while compaining to make sweeping changes to the counties health care system that would make it more affordable and available to Americans.   He will soon be under pressure to begin doing just that, and it will be interesting to see quickly and sharply these changes will take place.

Research gathered from pre-election surveys compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation in conjunction with researchers from Harvard School of Public Health has not surprisingly shown that health care reform is a very important issue in the upcoming election.  Seventy percent of registered voters believe that significant changes are needed in our existing health care system.  Among Obama supporters, health care reform ranked as the second most important issue in the upcoming election and forth among McCain supporters.   Supporters of both candidates both agreed that the top priority of health care reform should be affordable health insurance.

There has been a considerable amount of discussion surrounding the health care proposals from presidential candidates Obama & McCain, however state-level health care plans haven’t received much attention.

Arizona in particular has a health care initiative on the ballot called Arizona Proposition 101.  If this proposition were to pass, the state of Arizona would be blocked from enacting a universal health care plan.  Essentially it would block Arizona from moving towards a health care platform like the one that is currently in place in Massachusetts, which requires all residents to purchase health insurance or pay a fine.  In addition, if Proposition 101 passes it will serve as a basis for a legal challenge should the federal government move towards a national health insurance mandate.

More information about health insurance in Arizona.