Ohio is one of only two US states that are planning on expanding their publicly funded health insurance programs (such as Medicaid and Healthy Start Ohio). The other state planning to do so is West Virginia. 19 Other states are making cuts to their programs, or are considering doing so.
Although the state hasn’t made a firm spending commitment, they have received approval to expand the children’s health insurance program in 2009.
As promised we will be breaking the US News and World Report health plan rankings down into the state level, to account for differences in health plan regulations, and mandated benefits in each state which can skew results.
According to the report:
The top 10 Ohio Health Plans are:
We will be posting the top 10 health plans in each state over the next several weeks (3-5 states per day), so check back frequently if you don’t see your states health insurance rankings listed yet.
Medical Mutual of Ohio announced that 11 disks contained personal information on more than 36,000 Ohio retirees is missing and believed to be somewhere within the postal system.
The retiree groups that are affected include:
The disks were part of a typical mailing to the reitiree groups for the purpose of claim reconciliation. Medical Mutual is taking steps to insure the security of customer information and has offered to provide credit monitoring services, free credit reports, and a hotline to answer questions and help with resolving potential fraud.
members of the Ohio Retirement System with questions or concerns about this issue may call 800-854-8139.
More information about Ohio health insurance and Medical Mutual.
In article written by Joan Mazzolini of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio health insurance rates have increased 9 times faster than the rate at which wages have risen.
From 2000 through 2007 the average cost to insure a family in Ohio through employer sponsored health coverage increased over 80% while wages rose less than 9% over that same time period. Individual health insurance rates in Ohio increases just over 60% over the same time frame.
According to Ron Pollack of Families USA
Rising health care costs were a problem in Ohio before the current economic downturn emerged, and slow wage growth combined with significant job losses have made matters worse.
The only state that showed a larger disparity between the increase in health insurance premiums and wage growth was Michigan.
As health insurance becomes more expensive relative to earnings, many people have difficult decisions to make in order to make ends meet. Going uninsured is never a good idea, as a serious injury or illness can leave you financially crippled. One way to lower your monthly health insurance premiums is to change your health coverage to a plan with a higher deductible, such as an high deductible health plan combined with an HSA.
According to the Dayton Business Journal, a state panel rolled out their recommendations for covering Ohio residents who are uninsured. The report “Covering Ohio’s Uninsured” has been in the works since last summer.
The objective of the proposed plan would cover 500,000 of Ohio’s 1.3 million uninsured by the year 2011.
Some of the recommendations laid out in the report include
1. Extend Ohio health insurance coverage to dependents on group health plans up to age 29.
2. Create a state-sponsored reinsurance program to provide affordable health insurance coverage to uninsured small businesses, sole proprietors, workers and individuals.
3. Provide premium assistance for low wage employees, who could otherwise not afford health insurance
4. Enroll uninsured Ohio residents already eligible for Medicaid into the program, and expand Medicaid eligibility limits to higher-income levels.
