Health Insurance Blog

As the economy struggles and health care costs rise, more and more employers are limiting or eliminating benefits through work according to the article “How Limited Benefit Plans Can Save You Money” by Chelan David found on sbonline.com.  Because of this the practice of offering small medical health plans is growing in popularity.

Limited benefit plans charge individuals as little as $50 per month for routine medical care.  They are designed to replace major medical coverage for those who cannot afford regular insurance.  Many companies offer such options such as Go Blue Florida.  Limited benefit plans have their pros and cons.  They are very inexpensive month to month but typically major medical costs are not covered.  Another con is that mental health care is not usually covered.

It’s important to weigh the pros and cons of going with the smaller plan like Go Blue Health Insurance, or the major plans through Blue Cross Blue Shield.  It depends on your health, lifestyle, dependents, age, and financial situation which plan will work best for you.

Anthem Blue Cross which is a subsidiary of WellPoint, INC has notified some policyholders in California, Maine, Oregon and other states that individual health insurance rates are going to increase.  This is according to the article “Individual Insurance Rates Soar in 4 States” by The Associated Press on msnbc.com.

In California the rates are to increase up to 39% by March 1.  This is going to be devastating to many individuals who are already struggling to pay bills.  In Maine they are asking for increases up to 23% this year.  Last year alone they increased rates in Maine by 32%.  In Oregon many health insurance companies were granted rate increases of 15% or more this year after about 25% increases from last year.

Health insurance quotes are much more volatile for individual policies when compared to policies under employers and other large groups.  Those types of groups often have bargaining tools and a large pool of people to spread out the risk.  This makes it tough for those who aren’t part of groups and must get individual health insurance.  These rates increases are going to hurt a lot of people financially.

According to the article “The Missing Link in Health Reform: A Guarantee of Good Coverage At Work” by Richard Kirsch on huffingtonpost.com, the new House bill will require all but very small employers to offer and help pay for good health insurance benefits.  They can also choose to pay a percent of their payroll to the government to assist with covering subsidies.

The Senate bill on the other hand doesn’t require employers to offer or pay for health insurance for their employees.  The Senate bill will require employers with 50 or more full time employees to pay a fine if their employees end up getting subsidies from the government.  What will actually end up happening depends on which bill gets implemented.

The article points out that currently 150 million Americans get health insurance through their work so there are a lot of people who need to understand the changes.  During the past 10 years health insurance at work has deteriorated and more consumers are turning to individual health insurance.  A study of employers released in the fall says the trend is likely to continue in 2010.  Health care reform is a key component to how it will all play out.

According to the article “Americans Would Feel Varying Effects From Health Bill” by John Fritze for USA Today, the self-employed are among some of the most affected by the recent passing of the health care bill by Congress.

The article points out that those who buy their health coverage on their own, as opposed to through an employer, will feel some of the biggest changes under the new health care bill.  Along with most Americans, the new bill will require the self-employed and independent contractors to carry health insurance coverage by 2014 or otherwise face a penalty.  Health insurance quotes for the self-employed can be expensive and many choose not to be protected because of this.  About 1/3 of the 22 million self-employed Americans do not currently have coverage.  This number is bound to change in the coming years.

For those who are eligible to receive subsidies, health insurance rates will fall by about 59% on average, but this is only available to those making less than $43,320 per year.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the non-group insurance market prices may go up by as much as 13% and this will prove very challenging for the self-employed with slightly higher incomes as they are finding health insurance.

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.

Young healthy adults are attractive targets for health insurance companies.  Consequently some insurers tailor affordable health insurance plans at this segment of the population with individual health plans between $40 and $70 per month.

Two health insurers who offer such products are Aetna (Bodyguard) and Wellpoint (Tonik).  Keep in mind in order to keep monthly premiums low, the insurers have shifted a greater portion of the health care costs to the member, and thus higher out of pocket expenses should be expected.

In a nutshell, the trade-off is lower monthly premiums in exchange for paying a larger amount out of pocket.

These low-cost health plans might be right for you if you are healthy, don’t currently require any perscription drugs and don’t participate in excessively risky activities where severe accidents would be likely.

Several individual health plans from AvMed have been introduced in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, states a press release. They suggest these plans would be most appropriate for these groups:

• self-employed individuals
• students
• early retirees
• people laid off/between jobs

The AvMed Individual Health policies’ benefits include some preventative care without a deductible, a maximum lifetime benefit of $5 million and full integration with Health Savings Accounts. An innovative three-month deductible carry-over lessens the burden of Florida health insurance costs by applying payments made in the last three months of one year to the following year’s deductible.

A variety of AvMed health insurance options with different levels of coverage are available to individuals and families; there are also plans specifically reserved for children (ages 2 through 17). If these new offerings are successful, the release claims that they will be expanded statewide.

Find more information about Miami health insurance.