Health Insurance Blog

The state of Utah has launched a “health insurance exchange”.  Through a state run website,  participating small businesses in Utah will be able to offer employees a health care stipend, which workers can in turn use to shop on the site and select an individual health insurance plan that best fits their needs.

Utah has partnered with eHealthinsurance.com to provide the comparison shopping engine, which includes five health insurance carriers collectively offering 72 different Utah health insurance plans.

Through the health insurance plans participating on the eHealthinsurance platform, Utah health insurance rates are as low as $35/mo for an individual or $135 for a family, according to a Salt Lake Tribune article.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s (BCBSAZ) is the next health insurance company that we will discuss in this continuing series of posts related to efforts by Blue Cross Blue Shield member health plans to undertake programs designed to increase access to affordable health insurance for the uninsured.

BCBSAZ launched a program called BlueSolutions which enables small businesses with fewer than 50 employees to offer low-premium, high-deductible health coverage to their workers.  BlueSolutions covers a broad range of healthcare services such as urgent care and maternity care, with affordable co-pays for in-network physician visits and generic prescriptions.

The small business’ served by BlueSolutions were previously unable to offer any type of health insurance to their employees.

More information about Arizona health insurance.

A representative in the U.S. House of Representatives will reintroduce legislation to help small employers pay for their employees’ small business health insurance, reports Astrid Fiano in DOTMed Business News. The CHOICE Act, according to sponsor and chair of the House Small Business Committee Nydia Velasquez, will do the following:

• Offer a tax credit equal to 65% of the cost of health insurance offered to employees
• Allow multiple small companies to pool their employees in voluntary health collectives, which will result in lower health insurance rates because of the reduction in insurers’ risk
• Set the stage for a possible health insurance mandate for small employers, to be partly paid for by the aforementioned tax refund

The bill promises to lift some of the burden off the small companies that are known to be major drivers of the American economy and has bipartisan support.

(Photo credit: gcoldironjr2003 under CC 2.0)

According to the Associated Press’ Melinda DeSlatte, the 2010 state budget may include tax breaks on Louisiana health insurance. Representative Gary Smith has proposed giving tax credits to small businesses that provide their employees with employer-sponsored health insurance. He also wants to offer tax credits to people who pay for individual health insurance policies, which is predicted to cost over $130 in lost tax revenue in its first year. These proposals would expand access to health insurance.

While the state currently has a billion-dollar budget deficit and plans to make cuts to health care programs, Smith believes that the health insurance tax credits will save the state government money in the long term, since fewer people would be uninsured and have to use state-funded health care services. Melinda says that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has not yet expressed his opinion about this proposal but plans to make recommendations later this week.

Due to economic struggles and the rising cost of health insurance, many small businesses have eliminated or cut back their coverage of employees. Eve Tahmincioglu of MSNBC has reported on the trend of employers dropping their health coverage. Small businesses are suffering from decreasing sales from customers who are struggling financially. With lower profit margins, it has become virtually impossible for these businesses to pay ever-increasing premiums for their employees.

Employers that haven’t yet resorted to eliminating health care coverage altogether are taking other cost-cutting measures. Popular options, according to Eve, are increasing the cost of family members’ coverage and raising deductibles. These actions pass more of the costs of health care onto the consumer.

A recent survey claims that 85% of small business owners do not offer medical coverage to their employees, and 36% of those that do are thinking about dropping it. That figure was 74% in January 2007 and 77% in January 2008. As a result, more people will have to fend for themselves in the health care marketplace. Workers whose companies no longer offer health insurance benefits should look into buying individual health insurance policies, although that may not help employees who can’t get it due to pre-existing conditions.

(Photo credit: llawliet under CC 2.0)

TradingMarkets.com reports that Aetna health insurance has made improvements to NYC Community Plan, its slate of health care offerings for small business owners and their employees. The plan, launched one year ago, is intended to make New York health insurance more accessible for groups that are traditionally underserved. It’s currently available in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx, and Queens. Hopefully, Aetna will soon introduce similar products in other markets.

Changes to the plan include:

• unlimited generic pharmacy benefits in a calendar year
• discounts on branded medications
• lower co-payments for hospital visits

With cooperation from doctors, hospitals, and other providers, Aetna has actually managed to lower premiums of small business health insurance to as little as $243 per month!

(Photo credit: fergusonphotography under CC 2.0)

Kevin Freking from the Associated Press has just reported the reaction to President-Elect Barack Obama’s health care plan from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). AHIP is the leading health insurance industry trade group.

At the National Press Club, AHIP announced that it generally supports the Obama administration’s ideas for health care reform. However, they strongly oppose a proposed requirement that large- and medium-size employers must either contribute to their employees’ health insurance or pay a percentage of payroll to a national insurance plan. President and CEO Karen Ignagni claims that given the current state of the economy, any sort of employer mandate is a bad idea.

AHIP also doesn’t support comprehensive coverage mandates imposed by the states, preferring a national plan for small businesses that covers essential services such as emergency and primary care. This plan would exclude services that significantly increase monthly insurance premiums and those that insurers consider unproven. Consumer advocate groups believe that this will reduce the effectiveness of individual health coverage.

Politicians and industry representatives agree that they would like changes in health care policy to happen soon, before the new administration gets distracted by other issues.

(Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times)

Individuals with employer-provided health insurance now pay, on average, over $1,000 in deductibles. That is an increase of over 17% from last year, when they paid $859. Employees with preferred provider organizations (PPOs) are primarily affected, as well as those working for small businesses.

Employers are increasing deductibles in order to reduce costs without changing premiums. Medical costs for a worker are currently $8,482 per year (an increase of 6.3%), and are expected to increase further in the coming years. As a result, many people are forgoing preventative care such as checkups, which could end up causing even higher costs in the long run.

If you are paying too much in deductibles, get free health insurance quotes from multiple providers.