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.

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.

The top five Tennessee health plans (based on prevention, treatment and customer assessment) according to US News and World Report’s annual rankings were as follows:

UnitedHealthCare Plan of the River Valley - Also rated as the #1 overall health plan for the Medicare market

CIGNA Healthcare of Tennessee - ranked #1 in Tennessee on the customer assessment measure.

Cariten Health Plan

UnitedHealthcare of Tennessee

Aetna Health of Tennessee

More information about Tennessee health insurance plans.

Tennessee residents who are between jobs can now purchase health insurance coverage through CoverTN.  A new category within CoverTN called Tennesseans Between Jobs, provides Tennessee health insurance coverage to individuals who have worked at least one 20 hour week in the last six months while earning less than $43,000annually.

Tennesseans Between Jobs is also open to individuals who have had their work hours reduced to below 20 per week in the last six months.

Those who are enrolled in the program pay two-thirds of their monthly health insurance premiums and the state of Tennessee picks up the remaining third.

With today’s state of the economy, and unemployment rates expected to continue their upward climb, this recent move by the state of Tennessee seems like a move in the right direction and one that other states should take note of — particularly states with above average unemployement rates.

In the absense of a state subsidized health insurance plan like CoverTN, the best option for individuals in-between jobs who believe that they will only be unemployed for a short period of time is a short term health insurance plan, but they can generally available for up to 180 days and many times cannot be removed