Health Insurance Blog

Health savings accounts are a useful tool many consumers can use to save wisely.  A health savings account (HSA) is an alternative to a traditional health insurance policy.  It can be used along with your health insurance as well.  It’s a savings account that allows you to pay for health care items out of this account specifically.

HSAs make it possible for you to pay current health care expenses and save for future expenses on a tax-free basis.  Many employers and insurance companies such as State Farm Health Insurance offer HSAs.  In order to take advantage of this type of plan you must have a High Deductible Health Plan which generally costs less than traditional health insurance.  They money that you save on monthly premiums can be placed into your savings account.

There are many benefits to taking advantage of an HSA.  You own and control what goes into your HSA.  You make decisions on how to spend the money on the HSA, as long as it is an approved medical expense.  You can also control the type of investments you put your money into.  Look into getting a HSA if you think it will work for you.

The struggling economy is causing significant issues for many states which provide health plans to assist low-income families.  Many states are being forced to pare back these health insurance programs at the worst possible time…when the number of unemployed Americans continue to rise and people need assistance the most.

The methods by which various states attempt to shave the costs of these programs range from cutting benefits, to freezing new enrollment, to raising the costs that must be picked up by the enrollee.

Among some of the state sponsored low-income health plans that are in trouble include:

• Washington Basic Health - Will fold in July unless $160 Million in additional Revenue.  About 300 Washington residents are added to waiting list each day.
• CoverTN - Tennessee’s state sponsored program.  Halted in December.
• CharterOak Health Plan - Connecticut’s program.  Must freeze enrollment this year unless lawmakers can find more money to keep it open.
• AdultBasic - Pennsylvania’s Program for low income adults.  Increasing fees.  Waiting list doubled in 2009
• General Assistance medical Care Program - Minnesota’s Program will end in March, existing members will be moved over to MinnesotaCare.

Among other viable options for low-income adults who are looking to lower their monthly health insurance costs, while insuring that they will be covered if they fall ill or are in a serious accident, would be to increase the deductible of their existing health plan.  This will keep monthly premiums down, but will require greater out of pocket costs if you should need to utilize medical care.

A recent report released by eHealthinsurance.com illustrates the relative affordability of individual health insurance plans across numerous dimensions, as well as a breakdown of what types of individual health insurance policies have been purchased most frequently.

Some of the findings in the report include:

• The average monthly premium for an individual health insurance policy was $161 ($383 when insuring a family)
• Half of individual health insurance policyholders paid $132 per month or less, when purchasing coverage just for themselves.
• Iowa laid claim to the most affordable health insurance in the country with avg. monthly premiums of $103 for insuring an individual,  New York was the most expensive at $339 per month.
• 16% of individual health plans purchased were HSA eligible plans with high deductibles.
• nearly 90% of individual health plans purchased included prescription drug coverage.
• about a quarter of policies had maternity benefits.

SmartSense® health plans are a portfolio of affordable health plans for individuals offered by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Monthly premiums for SmartSense can be less than $50 per month for an individual (single Male in Ohio, age 27)  if a high deductible ($10,000) is selected.  If a $2,500 deductible is chosen the monthly rate would be just over $60/mo.

Some of the highlights of SmartSense® include:

• A wide range of deductibles to choose from
• Access to a large network of doctors and hospitals
• No referrals or paper work needed
• Prescription drug benefits
• Online health support
• One of the most trusted names in health insurance

Just an example of high quality and affordable health insurance that can be found if you take a few minutes to shop around.  You can compare health insurance quotes right here at healthinsurancesort.com in less than 5 minutes.

Given the increased attention to rising health insurance rates and the growing number of uninsured in this country, we periodically scour the web for low-cost health insurance plans from quality health insurance companies across the country and blog about one here.

Blue Options HSA is a low cost health plan for North Carolina residents offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC).  BlueOptions HSA is a high deductible health plan that is eligible to combine with an HSA.

According to BCBSNC, monthly premiums are as much as 50% lower than a traditional health plan.  Rates can be less than $60 per month for a 25 year old male.  Other affordable health insurance plans offered by BCBSNC include Blue Advantage.

More information about North Carolina health insurance.

BlueEdge is a high-deductible health plan offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) that can be combined to form an HSA. There are also BlueEdge plan options for employer groups that work in conjunction with health reimbursement arrangements.

BlueEdge also includes coverage for both preventative & wellness benefits.

Health savings accounts are effective ways to keep monthly premiums down, especially for individuals or families that are relatively healthy.

Health insurance rates for BlueEdge can be as low as $75/mo or for BlueChoice PPO as low as $58/mo.

More information about Illinois health insurance.

State Farm Health Insurance understands the variety of needs their customers have.  They have a marketing relationship with Time Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (Assurance Health), which enables them to assist each individual.  This information was obtained from State Farm’s health insurance web page.

State Farm is offering individual medical insurance coverage, short term medical coverage and student select coverage.  They also have a high deductible health plan which can be used with a health savings account.  A health savings account is a special savings account which enables you to pay for health costs and save for future medical expenses tax free.  You own and control the money in your health savings account, and you also make decisions on what type of investments you participate in to make your savings grow.  This information was obtained from the US Treasury’s website on HSA’s. 

State Farm and Assurant health have combined company histories of 175 years which helps to make them a great team.  This alliance assists State Farm agents in fulfilling their customers’ unique needs and desires and manage the risks of life.

Although health insurance rates continue to rise, affordable health insurance can still be found.  Flexible Blue is an affordable individual health plan offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) for families and individuals who live in Michigan.

Flexible Blue is an HSA qualified health insurance plan, with monthly premiums as low as $52.82 per month for a plan with a 5000 deductible.

Maternity Coverage, and Dental Insurance are optional packages that can be added to your Flexible Blue health insurance plan

More information about Michigan health insurance.

June 1, CIGNA began offering individual health insurance plans in Connecticut.  Their portfolio of health plans for CT residents include open access managed care plans and high-deductible health plans that are HSA eligible.  Until this recent product launch, CIGNA had only offered health insurance to mid to large employer groups in Connecticut.

In addition to offering health plans for individuals in Connecticut, CIGNA also offers individual health plans in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee & Texas.

More information about Connecticut health insurance.

It has become an increasingly common problem that people are purchasing individual health insurance plans believing that they have sufficient health insurance coverage only to find out later that their health plan is chock full of loop holes, exclusions, limitations that make it difficult to realize full protection in the case of a severe accident, injury or illness.

There are many solid individual health insurance plans out there, but the problem arises when people lose their employer sponsored health coverage and must replace this coverage on their own, and very affordably.

In their quest to find a low-cost health insurance plan, many individual health insurance shoppers chose a plan with a super low monthly premium, and with a few must haves that they can identify on the surface.

A few things that health insurance shoppers can do to weed out the majority of these issues are as follows:

1. Avoid plans that are marketed as limited benefit plans.  These are not major-medical health insurance policies and will not proect you adequately in the case of a serious situation
2. Avoid health plans that cap benefits at less than $250,000
3. Avoid policies that do not have limits on out of pocket costs
4. Avoid plans that do not cover the first day of a hospital stay.

As previously mentioned, there are plenty of good individual health plans in each state.  However, you when shopping for the plan that is best for you, make sure to look deeper than the monthly premium.  You should be able to find an affordable health insurance plan that provides adequate protection for you and your family.