Health Insurance Blog

According to J.D. Power and Associates, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan was the top rated California health plan based on their 2009 survey.

Based on their survey and analysis of more than 130 health plans nationally (broken up into 17 distinct regions), Kasier Foundation Health plan was the tops in the California region and among the best nationally.

The other health plans from California that were surveyed all performed below average.  They included:  Blue Cross of California, Blue Shield of California, Aetna, HealthNet, Pacificare, and CIGNA.

More information about the J.D. Power 2009 Health Plan Ratings.

More information about California health insurance.

According to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2009 Health Plan Ratings, BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona was the top rated private health plan in the Arizona/Utah region.  The ratings are based on

1. Health coverage and benefits
2. Provider choice
3. Health information and communication
4. Health insurance claims processing
5. Statements
6. Customer service, and
   
7. Approval processes

SelectHealth also faired very well in the JD Power survey for this region.

More information about Arizona health insurance & Utah health insurance

JD Power and Associates recently released their 2009 Health Plan Ratings.  The ratings are based on the results of a study which includes responses from more than 33,000 members of private health insurance plans.   The members were surveyed online in December 2008 and January 2009.

More than 130 health plans were included in the study which breaks down the results into 17 distinct regions across the country.  The study itself examined seven key factors:

1. Health coverage and benefits
2. Provider choice
3. Health information and communication
4. Health insurance claims processing
5. Statements
6. Customer service, and
   
7. Approval processes

Some of the Health insurance plans that ranked highest in their respective regions included…Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky , BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona, Health Alliance Plan (HAP), Humana, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Medical Mutual of Ohio among others.

Over the next few weeks we will be providing more of the regional results from this study.

The top five Tennessee health plans (based on prevention, treatment and customer assessment) according to US News and World Report’s annual rankings were as follows:

UnitedHealthCare Plan of the River Valley - Also rated as the #1 overall health plan for the Medicare market

CIGNA Healthcare of Tennessee - ranked #1 in Tennessee on the customer assessment measure.

Cariten Health Plan

UnitedHealthcare of Tennessee

Aetna Health of Tennessee

More information about Tennessee health insurance plans.

In US News & World Reports Ranking of the nations top health insurance plans, they ranked the Georgia health plans in the following order.

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia (HMO) - Kaiser’s HMO ranked very well, receiving 5 stars in both treatment and Prevention measures.  The plan only received 2 stars on the customer assessment measure, but nevertheless the health plan was rated tops in Georgia overall.  (#27 nationally.)

CIGNA Healthcare of Georgia (#91)

Aetna Health Georgia (#116)

UnitedHealthCare of Georgia (#123)

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia (#124)

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia (POS) (#151)

Humana Employers Health of Georgia (#204)

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan’s HMO was a pretty clear #1 in Georgia, as they were the only Georgia health insurance plan receiving 5 stars in both  treatment and prevention measures.    The next several health plans ranking behind Kaiser were pretty equal in terms of ranking across the various measures.

The top North Carolina health insurance plans as ranked by US News and World report’s annual health plan ranking report are displayed below.  Of particular note is that a number of health insurers including the states oldest and largest health insurance company, BCBSNC, have chosen to not supply internal data that is required to provide accurate health plan rankings.  As a result, BCBSNC, as well other North Carolina health plans were not included in the 2008 rankings.

The top North Carolina health plans that particiapted in this report are

1. CIGNA Healthcare of North Carolina
2. Aetna Health of the Carolinas
3. UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina

In the 2008 US News and World Report health plan rankings report, only three Oklahoma health plans were ranked.  In addition, none of the three fared particularly well.  The top ranked health plan for Oklahoma residents according to the report was Aetna Health, which ranked 174th nationally and only received two stars of a possible five in the categories of both prevention and treatment.

Customers were more kind to Aetna as they received 4 of 5 stars in comsumer assessment.  The 2nd and 3rd ranked plans were Pacificare of Oklahoma, and Global Health respectively.

Similarly, US News and Word Report’s ranking of Nebraska’s top health plans were very sparce as well as they only ranked 1 health plan, UnitedHealthCare of the MIdlands who ranked 137th nationally.

The top health insurance plans in Minnesota as reported by US News and World Report in their annual report are listed below.   It is interesting to note that only 5 Minnesota health plans had provided enough data to be ranked and none of the 5 plans ranked were graded as being better than 3 stars (out of possible 5) on the “consumer assessment” measure.

Minnesota Health Insurance rankings:

1. HealthPartners (33th nationally)
2. Blue Plus (81st)
3. Sanford Health Plans (107th)
4. Medica (113th)
5. PreferredOne Community Health Plan (132nd)

These rankings are based on criteria determined by US News and World Report, in conjunction with the NCQA, and don’t necessarily reflect their how each health plans offerings would satisfy you as an individual.  If you are shopping for an individual health plan, you should first compare health plans side-by-side, and select the plan that meets your needs and budget.

Continuing on our coverage of the US News and World Report national health insurance company rankings.  We will break down the top Missouri Health Insurance Plans.   According to the report, Missouri health plans do not fare well when compared to other health insurance companies across the nation as the top rated health plan, CIGNA Healthcare of St. Louis, ranks just 64th nationally.

The complete ranking of Missouri health plans is as follows:

1. CIGNA Healthcare of St. Louis (64th Nationally)
2. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City (109th)
3. UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest (134th)
4. CIGNA HealthCare of Kansas/Missouri (147th)
5. Aetna Health (165th)
6. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Missouri (181st)
7. Humana Health Plan (188th)
8. Group Health Plan (223rd)
9. Community Health Plan (225th)
10. Mercy Health Plan (226th)

A recent press release from HealthAmerica has announced that Advantra, the HealthAmerica Medicare Advantage plan, is ranked among the top 20 best Medicare and commercial health care plans in the 2008 “America’s Best Health Plans” list. Advantra was ranked #18 out of over 200 plans.

The survey was conducted by U.S. News & World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. It consists of the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (which provides standardized performance measures), as well as the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers. The results are published in the November 17th issue of the magazine.

The HealthAmerica and Advantra plans scored above the national average on 15 measures of patient satisfaction and medical services (e.g. treatment of certain diseases, health care access, preventative care, and prenatal care covered by maternity coverage). The HealthAmerica health care plans also scored higher than the Pennsylvania state average on 12 of those measures.

(Photo credit: Waldo Jaquith under CC 2.0)