Health Insurance Blog

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Plans to sell individual health insurance plans via storefront on a larger scale in the future. BCBSFL who has had an operational health insurance storefront in Pembroke Pines for more than a year plans to expand to five to eight stores across the state.

Individual health insurance have become much more popular health insurance alternatives as the recession has cost thousands their employer sponsored health coverage.

• Aetna reports that their individual health insurance sales in Florida are up 22% over the past 6 months.
• BCBS Florida’s individual health insurance “requests” are up 15% over the past 8 months.

While some say that individual health plans are the least cost effective for the customer because of high administrative costs, they can be quite effective and inexpensive for the young and healthy in particular.

Other similar health insurance storefronts in Florida include an AvMed store in Hollywood aimed at Medicare Seniors, and about a dozen Humana stores across the state.

More about Florida health insurance.

The Sun-Sentinel’s Bob LaMendola wrote about a shocking trend among Florida health insurance companies: they’re now trying to save money by forcing consumers to take completely different drugs that are less expensive than the medications actually prescribed. While it’s customary for insurers to only cover generic versions of prescription drugs (that are chemically equivalent to the brand names), this is a recent development. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and AvMed Health are among the insurers going this route. Patients have been informed that they will face increased co-payments or the elimination of coverage altogether for certain brand name medications.

Doctors are being encouraged to prescribe similar drugs with a generic equivalent; for example, instead of prescribing a patient Lipitor (which has no generic), give them the generic of Zocor. The insurance companies claim that these practices will result in an 80% savings. However, doctors are worried that insurance companies are attempting to second-guess their judgement on what a patient actually needs. Patients could suffer if forced to take a less effective drug. Bob points out that they can appeal to the insurance company if only the brand name drug is effective, but appeals are time-consuming and costly.