Health Insurance Blog

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.

The state of Wisconsin is planning to require a open bidding process for private health insurance companies which seek to manage the BadgerCare Plus Health Insurance Program

BadgerCare Plus provides health insurance coverage for low-income families with children under 19, but now also offers a health insurance plan with more limited coverage to low-income adults who do not have young children.

In other BadgerCare news, applications for BadgerCare Plus Core (the plan for low-income families without children) have come in more quickly than expected and the state is currently working through the application backlog that has developed in the first two months since its launch.  In the first 7 weeks more than 37,000 applications were received and only 5,000 were processed.

More information about Wisconsin health insurance.