Health Insurance Blog

Health Care Lane is a new and interactive website where experts explain health insurance topics offered by UnitedHealthcare health insurance according to their Newsroom on uhc.com.  Health Care Lane enables an online community to get common health insurance questions answered quickly.

Health Care Lane was launched in time for open enrollment and offers help with selecting the right health insurance plan and understanding health insurance quotes.  The straightforward conversations are designed to be user friendly and easy to understand. 

Not only is Health Care Lane available to UnitedHealthcare members, but it’s also offered to anyone interested in learning more about health care topics.  Visitors can learn about simple topics such as the definition of a premium or more complex topics such as the benefits of a Health Savings Account.  This site is a great opportunity for consumers to educate themselves on the many facets of health insurance, now more than ever as the health care system is up for debate. 

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.

In JD Power & associates 2009 rankings of the top health plans in Ohio, Medical Mutual took top honors.  Based on JD Power surveys, Medical Mutual of Ohio is among the best health plans in the country.

Humana is the 2nd best health plan in Ohio according to this study of well over 100 health plans nationally, and also among the best in the country.  Other Ohio health plans that were rated include:  Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield & Aetna which were both rated as average, and CIGNA & UnitedHealthCare which were rated as below average.

More information about Ohio health insurance.

US News Top Ohio Health Plans

J.D. Powers & Associates rated the top private health plans in the heartland states (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota), and the results were as follows.

Similar to many of the other 17 regions in the JD Power Survey, a Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan took top honors.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska was named the top health plan in this region based on overall customer experience and among the best in the nation.

Three other Blue Cross plans were rated as “better than most”  (4 stars out of 5 in overall experience):  BCBS Kansas, Wellmark BCBS Iowa, and BCBS Kansas City.

Health plans Aetna, CIGNA, UnitedHealthCare, and Coventry Healthcare were rated as being below average.

More information about health insurance in the heartland states:  Nebraska health insurance, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota

The state of Florida was not included in the Southeast region when J.D. Powers ranked the top health plans in the Southeast, in their rating of the top health plans in 17 distinct regions, Florida is its own region.  That being said, J.D. Power and Associates rated Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida as the top rated health plan in Florida.

BCBSFL was rated as being among the best health plans in the country, as was Humana, coming in just behind the Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.

Other Florida health plans that were rated as part of this study included UnitedHealthCare, CIGNA, and Aetna.  UnitedHealthCare was given 4 stars out of 5 in overall experience (better than most) while CIGNA & Aetna were given 2 stars, a below average rating.

More about Florida health insurance.

J.D. Power and Associates rating of the top health plans for the South East Central region lists two health plans tied for the top spot for 2009 - Anthem Blue Cross Blue shield of Kentucky and BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama.

CIGNA & Humana finished close behind while still receiving designation as being among the nations best.

Aetna & Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee were rated as “about average” while  United HealthCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi were rated below average.

Continuing the coverage of J.D. Power and Associates 2009 health plan ratings, below are their ratings of leading health plans in Colorado.

1. Kaiser Foundation Health Plans was rated the top health plan in Colorado and among the best in the nation.  In addition to this top rating in Colorado, their were also rated tops in California as well.
2. Aetna -For the most part average across the board
3. CIGNA - Rated among the best nationally in terms of provider choice, but simply average in overall experience
4. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of CO - Rated among the best nationally in terms of provider choice, but simply average in overall experience
5. Great-West HealthCare - below average
6. UnitedHealthCare - below average

More information about Colorado health insurance

Support is growing for a proposed health care system overhaul that would require all Americans to maintain health insurance coverage.

The mandate, which is being proposed by insurance industry leaders has received support from an coalition of doctors, hospitals, nurses, business, consumer, and insurance groups which have agreed on a set of ideas for reform, which also include the health insurance mandate.

The aforementioned coalition is called the Health Reform Dialog, and includes AARP, American Hospital Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Congress among other influential groups.

President Obama, who initially was not a supporter of such a mandate seems to be softening his stance, mentioning in a White House question-and-answer session on Thursday that the issue will be “part of the debate.”

The Dow Jones News Service reports in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is planning on limiting out-of-pocket charges and plans under private Medicare Advantage insurance. The Obama administration has announced plans to enact cost-sharing limits; patients will pay less for certain treatments, including:

• home nursing services/home health care
• renal dialysis
• selected prescription drugs

In addition, the number of Medicare Advantage plans on the market will be limited in order to reduce consumer confusion. CMS claims that a quarter of all Medicare Advantage programs have fewer than 10 people enrolled!

Insurers, such as UnitedHealth Secure Horizons, state that they have expected reductions in health insurance rates under Medicare Advantage and will adapt through benefit modifications and cost management.

More people are shopping for individual health insurance these days.  Golden Rule, says their sales are up 24% over the the past two months.  In addition, ehealthinsurance.com reports that submitted applications were up 18% in the 4Q, over 4Q in 2007.

Along with the increases in individual health insurance shoppers, health insurance rates have increased as well:

• About 80% of Anthem Blue Cross of California’s individual health insurance policy holders will receive double-digit rate increases shorty, and some will receive increases over 30% or more.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is seeking state approval to increase monthly premiums by 56%
• Lifewise raised rates in Washington by 17.6% effective January 1.  In addition, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon raised rates for their Washington state members by nearly 30% on avg.

For perspective, group health insurance premiums increased by roughly 5% in 2008.