Health Insurance Blog

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.

In the recent US News and World Report annual health plan rankings report, two health plans offered by Highmark ranked as being among the best health plans in the nation.

• SecurityBlue, HighMark’s Medicare Advantage HMO ranked #32 among Medicare Health Plans
• Among Commercial HMOs, Keystone Blue (offered by Highmark subsidiary Keystone Health Plan West) ranked 47th

Both of the above health plans were rated as excellent.

More information about:  Pennsylvania Health Insurance, Medicare Advantage Plans, HighMark BlueShield

Geisinger Health Plan recently released an update on the 2009 Influenza flu season.  This is found in the article “Influenza Update From Geisinger Health System: 900 Cases” by Dr. Lisa Esolen who is the director for Geisinger Health System Infection Control on Poconorecord.com.

They continue to see a steady increase in the number of flu cases with about 900 cases in the last 3 weeks at both of their Pennsylvania hospitals.  There have also been about 30 hospitalization cases.  Nationally, 46 states have reported widespread influenza cases.  Shipments of the H1N1 vaccine continue to be shipped but there are lower quantities than expected.  These are first being given to health care providers, schools, and hospitals throughout the state.  Currently, there are no public vaccination sites for the H1N1 vaccination since the vaccinations are not plentiful as of now.

Geisinger Health Insurance continues to receive shipments of the H1N1 vaccine, but in small amounts.  Most of the vaccines have been used for pregnant people as well as children.  Many organizations encourage pregnant women to get vaccinated since they are more likely to get severely sick from the flu virus.  It’s important to wash your hands regularly to help limit the spread of the flu. 

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.

Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania has filed a rate increase request with the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance for a handful of individual health insurance products.

If the rate increase request is approved it would impact about 56,000 existing customers of the Blue Cross health insurance company, or about 10% of their subscriber base.

The individual product offerings that will be impacted include:

• Security 65:  Medicare Supplement Plans.  37,000 Subscribers impacted.  Requested rate increase is 10% for 1 option and 19.9% for another.
• Blue Care Cooperative: 7,000 subscribers impacted.  Requested rate increase 48.9%.
• Special Care: 5,000 subscribers impacted.  Requested rate increase 27.0%
• Major Medical: 6,000 subscribers impacted.  Requested rate increase 27.0%
• HMO Individual Conversion: 1,000 subscribers impacted. Requested rate increase 27% (with Rx) 12% without.

More information about Pennsylvania health insurance.

When JD Power & Associates rated the top health plans in Pennsylvania, they also included Delaware in a region which included both Pennsylvania & Delaware.  However, of the eleven private health insurance companies that were included in the study and part of this region, eight of them where Pennsylvania health plans, and the three that weren’t exclusively Pennsylvania plans (Aetna, CIGNA, and UnitedHealthCare) did not factor into consideration among the top plans and were all rated as being below average in overall experience.

According to the study, the top health insurance plan in Pennsylvania was Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, which was also judged to be one of the best the nation has to offer.  Finishing a close second to Highmark BCBS, was another Highmark inc. company and Blue Cross Blue Shield Licensee Highmark Blue Shield.

Highmark BCBS serves health insurance customers in Western Pennsylvania, while Highmark Blue Shield serves Central PA.

Other Pennsylvania health plans that fared particularly well in the study include Capital BlueCross and Geisinger Health Plan, both were rated above average.

Senate Bill 189 recently passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives which will allow children of parents covered on their group health insurance plan to remain on the health plan until age 30.  Seventeen other states have already extended the age limit for dependent health insurance coverage.

To be eligible for the Pennsylvania health insurance extention, the child must be unmarried, have no dependents themselves, be a Pennsylvania resident or be enrolled as a full-time college student and have no other health insurance coverage.

Some of the top individual health insurance plans available to PA residents include:  Aetna, Highmark BCBS, Health, HealthAmerica, and Capital Blue Cross , Independence Blue Cross Blue Shield

Today’s edition of the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report newsletter highlighted a sobering statistic about Pennsylvania health insurance: over one million residents lack it! According to the study, conducted last year:

• More than 8% of the state’s population is uninsured, compared to 7.5% in 2004.
• The number of uninsured children in Pennsylvania increased 5%, to 140,000.
• 880,000 Pennsylvanian adults are without health insurance, up 17%.

Following up on a post from Wednesday, Highmark and Independence Blue Cross have decided to abandon their plans for a merger, says Martha Raffaele of the Associated Press. The Pennsylvania health insurance companies did not want to agree to give up either the Blue Cross or Blue Shield trademark, which the Insurance Department was requiring.

Highmark is dominant in western Pennsylvania, while Independence Blue Cross is mainly in Philadelphia. A merger would have made the combined insurer the largest health insurance provider in the state. Insurance commissioner Joel Ario believes that a merger would have a negative impact on consumers’ health care access and choice unless another competitor was allowed to enter the market with a Blue name.

According to Jane M. Von Bergen and Angela Couloumbis of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner has set a condition that must be met for the state to approve a merger of two major Pennsylvania health insurance companies: Highmark and Independence Blue Cross. 

The deal will require that the combined company give up the right to the Blue Shield trademark, currently used by Highmark. They will be allowed to retain the use of the Blue Cross trademark, while the former could then be used by another competitor to market themselves statewide. 

It is unknown whether the two companies would accept such a provision, say Jane and Angela. The state is mostly worried about the impact a merger would have on competition. This decision, rumored to occur next week, could jepoardize a merger that has been in progress since early 2007. 

(Photo credit: WestendRaider under CC 2.0)