Health Insurance Blog

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin has introduced a new low-cost health insurance plan for individuals called CoreShare.  In addition they have enhanced their SmartSense and Premier health plans.

CoreShare has a simple plan design and can be as cheap as $45 per month for a 25 year old Male in Milwaukee.

Among other benefits, CoreShare health plans offer:  A choice of nine deductible options (ranging from 750 to 25000), $2,000,000 in lifetime protection per member, access to both PPO and Point-of-Service networks, and access to the Blue Cross Blue Shield BlueCard Program.

Members choosing Anthem’s CoreShare, SmartSense, Premier or Lumenos (HSA) plans have access to more than 13,820 Wisconsin POS network doctors and specialists, and nearly 140 hospitals.

More information about Wisconsin health insurance.

Humana One has valuable information on their website about special discounts that they currently offer and in today’s economy we’ll take all the discounts we can get.

Some examples of useful Humana One discount programs that will save you money are eye care and vision services, which can save you up to 35% off retail on glasses and over the counter and prescription medications which can save you up to 25%.

Humana One also offers special discounts on chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage therapy saving members up to 30%.  Discounts on health-related products and services, which also includes skin care, nutrtional supplements and vitamins, can save members about 20%.

All of these discounts add up and can mean huge savings on PPO health insurance.

The state of California has launched a website that will help California residents select the best PPO health plan for their needs.  The site contains both summary ratings as well as more detailed underlying metrics of each plan measured.

California has provided similar information to HMO customers since 2002.

Their are currently 5 California PPOs measured on the site, and none of them received an overall 4 star rating (highest score).  Aetna, Cigna and Healthnet each received 3 stars while Anthem and United HealthCare received 2 stars.  Blue Shield of California was late on providing data necessary to included in ratings amd will be included in ratings in 2011.

More information about California health insurance.

Geisinger Health Insurance, offers a program that will help you choose the right Medicare plan.  It’s called Geisinger Gold and it has many advantages.

With the Geisinger name behind it, Geisinger Gold offers several coverage options that suit your Medicare needs.  Plans are affordable and they provide a large network of physicians and participating hospitals to choose from.  There are 84 hospitals that are part of the Geisinger Gold throughout the service area.  Participating doctors are over 15,000.

Geisinger Gold has health plans that include Preferred Provider Organization, Private Fee-For-Service, Medical Savings accounts, traditional HMOs as well as Special Needs Plans.  You can also opt for a stand alone prescription plan available to those with Medicare Advantage or Medicare supplement plans.  Consumers who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid two special needs plans are offered.  It’s definitely worth looking into if you are in the market.

Consumer Reports recently came out with a survey about consumers and their satisfaction with their current health insurance plan.  This is according to the article “Health Plans Get Only So-So Reviews” on the Washington Post’s website.

The survey’s findings were based on responses from 37,481 readers who reported their health insurance experience over a course of a year.  The numbers represent a good benchmark for HMO’s and PPO health insurance.  84% of the respondents have an employer based plan they will be able to keep under most proposals being discussed in Congress.

The Consumer Reports National Research Center found that only 64% of readers were very or completely satisfied with their current individual health insurance plan.  This shows a drop from the 2007 survey which revealed 67% was satisfied.  Based on other Consumer Reports surveys people are less satisfied with health insurance than other industries such as pharmacies and real estate agents.  Over 30% of readers are not completely satisfied with their health insurance and this leaves a lot of opportunity for health care reform.

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.

Many people are confused by the difference between PPO health insurance and HMO health insurance.  A helpful article on insurance.com entitled “HMO vs PPO” in their FAQ section does a great job of explaining the differences.

With an HMO, which stands for health maintenance organization, members must choose a primary care doctor from a list of member doctors.  This doctor will foresee all of your general medical care and must refer you to specialists.  With PPO health insurance, which stands for preferred provider organization you can either choose a general practitioner or a specialist, without a referral which can save a lot of time.

HMO’s usually require you to see in-network doctors, whereas PPO’s do not.  But with PPO’s there often is incentive to stick with in-network doctors.  The main benefit of HMO’s compared to PPO’s is that there usually isn’t a deductible to meet and the co-payments are generally lower.  The best choice totally depends on your personal situation and your particular needs.  It’s important to take the time to evaluate each health insurance option before making a decision.

The September issue of Consumer Reports ranks the top PPOs and HMOs in the country.  In all, 41 PPOs were rated as well as 35 HMOs.  The ratings were based on surveys of 37,000 respondents.

Some of the findings included in the report inlcude:

• Median health insurance premiums were $1,829 (up 38% from two years ago).  PPO members paid $2,003 on average, while HMO members paid $1,466.
• The highest rated PPO health insurance plan was Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut
• The highest rated HMO was Group Health of Idaho & Washington
• 64% of respondents were very or completely satisfied with their health insurance carrier.  10% were dissatisfied.

According to the article “An affordable insurance quote requires careful research” on healthcare.com customers will benefit from doing their research when shopping for health insurance quotes.  You may find an affordable quote quickly, but read the fine print to prevent future issues with your policy. 

One potential issue is in and out-of-network stipulations.  PPO and HMO plans offer discounts to health providers that the insurance company has negotiated with to set reasonable rates.  Medical tests and various procedures are usually cheaper with in-network physicians.  Researching what is included in the in-network costs can save you a lot of time and money as you use the health care system.  There have been many scenarios where patients go to an in-network hospital but tests are sent to an out-of-network lab and the patient is left with the cost. 

To avoid such complications, compare options side by side and shop around for health insurance quotes.  Find out how benefits vary from providers to ensure you have the coverage best suited for your needs at reasonable costs. 

According to the article “New York, New Jersey UnitedHealth subsidiaries see ratings rise” by IFAwenews Staff, A.M. Best has upgraded its ratings on Oxford Health Plans in NY, NJ and CT and Oxford Health Insurance, Inc. 

This ratings service upgraded their financial strength from A- to an A.  Issuer credit ratings were increased from A- to A as well.  In addition to name benefits, A.M. Best also noted that the subsidiaries’ solid risk based capitalization and encouraging earnings, especially at Oxford Health Plans, in NY, and Oxford Health Insurance.

Oxford Health Plans and Oxford Health Insurance offer health care benefits to individuals as well as employers in NY, NJ and CT with commercial products, including HMOs, PPO health insurance, point of service plans and consumer driven plans.  UnitedHealth is one of the country’s largest publicly traded health care companies serving over 70 million Americans with many different services and products.