Health Insurance Blog

State Farm Health Insurance understands the variety of needs their customers have.  They have a marketing relationship with Time Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (Assurance Health), which enables them to assist each individual.  This information was obtained from State Farm’s health insurance web page.

State Farm is offering individual medical insurance coverage, short term medical coverage and student select coverage.  They also have a high deductible health plan which can be used with a health savings account.  A health savings account is a special savings account which enables you to pay for health costs and save for future medical expenses tax free.  You own and control the money in your health savings account, and you also make decisions on what type of investments you participate in to make your savings grow.  This information was obtained from the US Treasury’s website on HSA’s. 

State Farm and Assurant health have combined company histories of 175 years which helps to make them a great team.  This alliance assists State Farm agents in fulfilling their customers’ unique needs and desires and manage the risks of life.

According to the article “NC high-risk pool an option for many seeking health insurance” by Vicky Eckenrode on starnewsonline.com, there is a new state program to cover high risk applicants to ensure North Carolina health insurance is made available to them.

In 2007, state legislators started the Inclusive Health program.  It’s also known as the North Carolina Health Insurance Risk-Pool and it’s intended to assist people who are struggling to get covered because the industry considers them high risk.  Michael Keough, the program’s executive director says that this is an alternative mechanism to provide affordable health insurance to those high risk applicants.  Enrollment began in January and is up to about 1,600 covered now. 

State risk pools have been in existence for decades.  North Carolina is the 35th state to start this type of program.  The health insurance premiums for Inclusive Health are capped at 175% of the standard risk rate.  In other words, it tops out at 75% more than what a healthy person would pay for a similar policy.  The average age for this program is 50 years old.  This is a great option for many as Congress continues to figure out the health care reform debate.

Many states have state sponsored health insurance plans that are designed for “the working uninsured”.  Generally the monthly premiums of these plans are subsidized by the state and in order to qualify, applicants must have household income levels that don’t exceed 200% of federal poverty level, and being a resident of the state.  Each state has their own set of eligibility requirements.  For example in some states applicant may not have access to an employer sponsored health plan.

Some examples of these state sponsored plans for adults include:  The Healthy Indiana Plan, Insure Oklahoma, Washington Basic Health Plan, CoverTN, and BadgerCare.

Even if you don’t qualify for a state sponsored health insurance plan, because you make too much money or other reasons, there are many quality affordable health insurance plans available in each state.   You can compare plans online here at healthinsurancesort.com with no obligation.

In the New York Post, Brendan Scott reported on shocking findings that New York City health insurance premiums have seen a significant increase over the past year, while many New Yorkers are already struggling economically. Here are some sobering statistics:

• From April 2008 to April 2009, the average monthly health insurance premium for a family has risen from $3,866 to $4,354; a 13% increase.
• Six out of the eight health insurers in the NYC area have increased their rates, including Aetna, Atlantis Health Plan, and Oxford Health Plans, Brendan says.
• Insurance companies blame the rate increases on an exodus of healthy policyholders leaving them with only the sickest (and costliest) patients, in addition to the state’s co-payment structure and high mandated coverage minimums.

On the bright side, Empire HealthChoice HMO actually decreased its premiums. Not to mention that patients who remained in-network for their health care pay less: a family who agreed to stick to in-network providers paid just $2,996 per month on average. That’s still a 12% increase over last year, but a significant savings nonetheless.

(Photo credit: bridgepix under CC 2.0)

The deadline for unemployed Kentucky residents to apply for health insurance assistance has been extended.  Under the plan, the state will provide 65% premium subsidization to those who have been involuntarily terminated between 9/1/2008 and 12/31/2009, for up to 9 months.

Those individuals who are eligible for subsidized Kentucky health insurance premiums will be notified by the health insurance companies which provided coverage while they were employed.

The plan will be funded by the American Recovery and Investment Act.

Kentucky residents who previously declined coverage via COBRA or state continuation plan, will be given the opportunity to receive health insurance coverage through this plan.

Since the Healthy Indiana government-subsidized health care program was opened to adults without children in January 2008, it has given thousands greater access to Indiana health insurance. According to the Courier-Journal’s Leslie Stedman Weidenbener, the plan has been so successful that many people are on a waiting list to enroll (due to limited program funds). State legislators negotiated an exception to Medicaid regulations that limit the program to families. 34,000 out of 49,000 enrollees are adults without children who are unable to afford individual health insurance.

People covered under the Healthy Indiana program must pay a sliding scale monthly premium based on their income (from $20 to $75).

What’s included under the Healthy Indiana plan?

1. $500 in free preventative care each year
2. An annual health savings account (HSA) of $1,100
3. After the HSA is spent, there is a traditional health insurance plan without co-payments or deductibles.

To qualify for the Healthy Indiana program, Leslie writes that a childless adult must meet the following requirements:

• They must work for a company that doesn’t offer health insurance (so employers can’t drop them from their coverage and shift the burden onto the state)
• A single adult can make no more than $21,660 per year, or 200% of the poverty level
• They must have been without health insurance for at least six months.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the health insurance industry trade group, has expressed support for the idea of reforming the health care system. However, in the L.A. Times, Michael Hiltzik warns that insurers may not be as gung-ho about the possibility of universal health care as they present themselves to be.

AHIP recently released a brochure outlining its stands on health care. Some of their proposals include:

• being allowed to offer limited benefit plans among their individual health insurance policies without limits on the premiums insurers are allowed to charge
• a government-run health care option that takes only the “high-risk” patients (with several chronic conditions) private insurers don’t want, which would be very expensive since it prevents the government from spreading risk among a wide population
• a decrease in the fees paid to hospitals and doctors

These proposals are actually quite similar to what the insurance industry has asked for in the past. Michael speculates that insurers seem cooperative now because there is no specific plan for health care reform, but are prepared to fight against specific policies.

Sarah Komuniecki of WABI News reported that Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine has filed a request to increase its rates by an average of 14.5%. Over 12,000 Maine health insurance customers with the following plans will be affected if the plan is approved:

• Health Choice
• Basic
• Health Choice Standard
• Lumenos Consumer Directed

The state’s Department of Insurance is currently asking residents to voice their opinions about Anthem BCBS of ME’s proposal in town hall meetings throughout the state or on their website.

John Dorchner reports in the Miami Herald that the state might consider a bill that would require gender equity in Florida health insurance premiums. Florida’s insurance consumer advocate Sean Shaw is looking to team up with a congressperson that would sponsor legislation that would ban the practice of gender rating. Women pay higher premiums than men, even when you exclude maternity coverage.

For example, a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida policy for a 30-year-old in Miami costs $246 for a man and $291 for a woman. Insurers claim that women use more health care services and are more likely to keep up with regular screenings; some believe that’s a perverse incentive to forgo preventative care.

However, due to that higher level of utilization, older women are in better health and have lower health insurance premiums than their male counterparts. Using the BCBSFL example above, a 60-year-old Miami woman pays a monthly premium of $593, while a man of the same age pays $644.

The Massachusetts health insurance mandate, passed in 2006 in an attempt at health care reform, is facing some unexpected challenges during this recession. Steve LeBlanc of the Associated Press says that increasing unemployment rates will make more people unable to fulfill the insurance requirement. Failing to buy health insurance will result in up to $1,000 in fines per tax year (taken from tax refunds), although the sentence is often waived. In 2007, only about 1% of the Massachusetts population did not buy health insurance, but experts predict that number will increase due to consumers focusing on other priorities.

While insurance is completely free for the poor and subsidizes plans for people making up to 300% of the poverty level, private individual health insurance can still be out of reach. The state does cover health insurance costs for as long as someone is collecting unemployment benefits, which helps those who have been laid off. However, the influx of new applicants to subsidized plans is expected to cost $800 million in the new fiscal year’s budget, an increase of $60 million.

Steve reports that some legislators believe the current law is unrealistic given current economic conditions and should be waived for the newly unemployed, but Democratic Governor Deval Patrick vows to continue the program and cut other spending to balance the budget instead.