Health Insurance Blog

According to the article “Married, with Benefits: California Mom Terri Carlson Starts Will Marry For Health Insurance Web Site” by Rosemary Black on nydailynews.com, a woman desperate for good health insurance because of a chronic condition has started a campaign online to get a husband with excellent health insurance.

Finding health insurance has not been easy for Terri Carlson because she hasn’t been in the work force long enough to qualify for social security, but her COBRA is about to expire in May.  She has an autoimmune disease which prevents her body from fighting infections so she needs to take 10-20 different prescriptions everyday.  She knows that finding individual health insurance for herself will not be easy.

The 45 year old divorced mom did realize though, that if she married a man with excellent health benefits she could automatically be placed on their health insurance policy and her problems are solved.  Well, her old problems are solved.  It seems like she may have a new list of problems if she marries a stranger just for health insurance coverage.  This just goes to show how important health care reform really is.

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.

The General Assistance Medical Care Program (GAMC) is a state funded health insurance program for low-income adults in Minnesota, who have no dependent adults, and who do not qualify for federal funded health insurance plans.

Funding for the GAMC Program is slated to end on April 1, 2010 and all current membership will be automatically migrated to the MinnesotaCare Program.  Once this happens, monthly premiums will be paid by the counties for the next six months until the next six month renewal period begins, at which point enrollees will be required to pay their own premiums in order to maintain the health coverage.

More information about Minnesota health insurance, and other affordable health insurance options.

The state sponsored program Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) is currently providing health insurance to more than 46,000 low income Indiana residents.  It has been recently been announced that 5,000 enrollment slots have been opened up to childless adults due to attrition among members of the program.

To be eligible for the program applicants:

• can’t earn more than 200% of federal poverty level
• can’t have access to employer sponsored health insurance
• must be between the ages of 19-64
• must be a resident of Indiana
• must have been uninsured for the previous six months

More information about affordable Indiana health insurance plans.

In Southeastern Pennsylvania, Independence Blue Cross (IBC) in conjunction with Highmark Blue Shield has formed the Caring Foundation which helps to provide free or low-cost health insurance plans to uninsured children and adults in the 5 counties including and surrounding Philadelphia.

Plans that are administered through the Caring Program include Pennsylvania CHIP, Adultbasic, and Special Care.

Special Care in particular is a limited benefit plan providing traditional fee for service coverage to uninsured adults and children in Southeastern PA.

More information about Pennsylvania health insurance and Philadelphia health insurance.

As unemployment rises so does the number of people who need help finding health insurance.  A lost job usually means a loss in employer based health insurance as well.  According to the article on WISN.com, millions of Americans are an illness away from financial ruin because they are not protected by health insurance. 

Finding health insurance does not have to be difficult.  Consumer Reports supports checking to see if you qualify for Medicaid.  If you do not, another option is checking to see if your kids qualify for the Children’s Health insurance program (CHIPS). 

By visiting govbenefits.org you can see if there are any other government insurance programs you may be eligible for.  It’s important to shop around and educate yourself on the different types of health insurance options out there.

Approximately 1 million Americans have been infected with the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the swine flu, according to the article “Individual Health Insurance Could Provide Assistance for Swine Flu Vaccines” by Maggie Guo found on the Ethiopian Review. 

People who are covered by certain individual health insurance companies may have the swine flu vaccine paid for.  Anthem Blue Cross is covering their customers who carry vaccine coverage and America’s Health Insurance Plans says it will offer similar protections according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.

Once the Food and Drug Administration approves treatment there will be roughly 160 million doses of innoculations according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Clinical trials are currently in progress.  Across the country, cities are establishing free clinics to give vaccines.  There will be 100 centers in NYC alone in addition to a center at each elementary school.  Chicago and LA are following similar plans.

A rare bi-partisan bill in the California legislature, allowed more than 700,000 children in low-income California families to maintain their health insurance coverage through the Healthy families Program.

The deal restored about $200 Million that was slashed from the budget this summer.  For this to happen, health insurance companies agreed to impose a tax on themselves.  In addition, Healthy Families participants will pay slightly higher premiums.

Healthy families provides health, vision and dental coverage for nearly 1 million children whose families aren’t poor enough to qualify for Medi-Cal but can’t afford private health insurance.

More information about California health insurance.

The Texas Health Insurance Pool website gives some history and background to what the pool is and how it benefits Texas residents.

The Texas Legislature created the Texas Health Insurance Pool to provide Texas health insurance benefits to eligible Texans who are unable to get coverage from commercial insurance companies because of previous or current medical conditions. 

The Pool is also an alternative means for individual health insurance coverage which guarantees transferring coverage to qualified residents who lose their coverage under an employer based plan, a church plan, or a state plan.  This is mandated by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, also known as HIPPAA.

According to the article “Fixing Health Care Is Good for Business” by Gary Locke on the Wall Street Journal’s website, without health insurance reform the price of an average household’s health insurance will almost double over the next 10 years from $13,000 to $25,000. 

This is why health care reform is so crucial.  47 million Americans are currently without health insurance and the rising health insurance costs are severely affecting American companies as well.  In 1960, companies spent about 1.2% of payroll on health insurance and by 2006 it was up to 9.9%.  This rate is unsustainable for companies and has to change because it is crushing US jobs. 

The Rand Corporation released a study which showed that excess health insurance costs were contributing to significant job losses.  Escalating costs are also causing flat wages and higher prices on products and services because money is going towards health care costs which have doubled over the last 9 years.  Health insurance reform appears to be around the corner so let’s hope some of these staggering statistics can be turned around.