Health Insurance Blog

To fill the need of those looking for short term health insurance in these tough times, Humana One has extended its short term health insurance to five more states.  These states include Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Georgia, and Kansas.  With these 5 new states Humana One now offers short term health insurance to 20 states total according to their website.

This is great news for many consumers in these states as the need for short term health insurance is increasing with the unemployment rate.  The design of the program varies from state to state, but they are quality benefits throughout.

Short term health insurance offers immediate and affordable health care coverage for those who are in between jobs or in the middle of a transition.  It’s a great opportunity for students who are about to graduate, seasonal employees, recent retirees waiting to be eligible for Medicare and those who are unemployed looking for new work.  It can be a very convenient option for many and it’s worth getting Humana Insurance quotes if you are in a state of transition.

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.

According to the article “An Extended Subsidy for COBRA Health Coverage” by Kimberly Lankford on The Washington Post’s website, Congress has extended the COBRA Subsidy from 9 months to 15 months.  This is great news for those whose subsidy was coming to an end, still unemployed and worrying about finding affordable individual health insurance.

Last year’s stimulus package originally set up the COBRA subsidy for those who lost their job between 9/1/08 and 12/31/09.  It covered 65% of their COBRA health insurance premium for up to 9 months.  While this was extremely helpful to many, the 9 months is coming to an end for some and unemployment is still up.  With the newly amended law that occurred in late December, these individuals have another 6 months to find relief.

If you were receiving the subsidy, there is nothing you need to do to continue receiving it.  You continue to pay the 35% to COBRA and your former employer is reimbursed by the government for the remaining 65%.  Once your 15 month subsidy expires, you will be responsible to pay for 100% of the premiums in addition to an administrative charge.  COBRA coverage generally only lasts 18 months.

With health care reform just around the corner this may change as well, in addition to changes in medicare supplement plans. It’s important to ensure you have the most up to date information on COBRA and other government health insurance programs.

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.

Many Americans between the ages of 50-64 are losing their health insurance according to the article “Health Insurance Hard to Find for the Newly Unemployed” by Richard Martin TampaBay.com.  The reason these people are losing their insurance so rapidly is because of rising unemployment and an increasing number of businesses unable to afford health insurance for their employees.

The AARP estimates that approximately 7 million people between 50-64 are uninsured.  This number is growing rapidly and causing much stir in the health care debate in Washington DC.  Until recently, most of the focus has been placed on the young uninsured or Medicare for over 65. 

The main problem with this generation losing their health insurance is this is when they need it most.  Finding health insurance for this group can be challenging as well.  Individual health insurance plans for those over 50 cost much more than employer sponsored plans.  Many plans exclude pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, obesity, or depression, conditions that often come with age.  Studies show that uninsured people are more likely to put off treatment which can lead to declining health.  It’s a vicious cycle that hopefully Congress can end.

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.

According to an article on news.prnewswire.com the US Census Bureau just published 2006 estimates of health insurance coverage for each county in the nation.  Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) use a variety of sources for their survey models. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses SAHIE to support its National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.  Free cancer screenings are offered by the program to low income and uninsured women.

Marcus Plescia, the director of the CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in Atlanta says that the health insurance estimates are helpful in determining the level of need for cancer screenings in counties nationwide.  The data permits them to plan various programs and figure out how to allocate resources.

This SAHIE program includes data from various different ages, gender, income, race and low income children.  SAHIE offers a snapshot of those without health insurance that can be extremely valuable to officials as they plan to assist the uninsured.

The special enrollment period for those elgible for the COBRA Subsidy Program is coming to a close tommorrow.

The program was available to anyone who lost their jobs between September 1, 2008 and March 17, 2009.

With the COBRA Subsidy Program ending, some options for families in need of individual health insurance coverage include:

1. Enroll in your spouse or partner’s health plan if possible
2. Enroll in an individual health insurance plan
3. Enroll in a short term health plan - generally can purchase up to 12mo. of coverage
4. Enroll in a public health insurance program if available and eligible (ex. Healthy Indiana Plan, or Washington Basic Health Plan)
5. Purchase a low-cost health discount plan as a last resort.

Pfizer has announced that they will provide free prescription drugs to current customers who have lost their jobs and subsequently lost their health insurance coverage.  More than 70 medicines will be available through this temporary program.

To be eligible, a person must have lost their in 2009 and started taking an eligible Pfizer medicine at least three months before losing their job. In addition, to be eligible, customers must also be without prescription drug benefits and must be able to attest to financial hardship.

Pfizer stands to gain, by gaining favor among their customers as well as increasing the likelyhood that these financially strapped customers will continue to take the perscriptions once they get their feet back on the ground.

Eligible participants will receive 12 months of free refills of the eligible perscriptions or until they obtain a replacement health insurance plan.

Healthinsurancefinders.com has recently published a 2009 Guide for Health insurance for the Unemployed.  The free report can be found at http://www.healthinsurancefinders.com/unemployed/guide/

According to a press release announcing the publishing of the report, the objective of the report is to empower the recently unemployed to become more knowledgeable about finding and purchasing the best health insurance coverage for their needs.

The report includes:  FAQs, a comparison chart with pros and cons of health insurance aspects, and other tips and advice.

More information about various health insurance topics:  health insurance essentials, health insurance glossary, PPO health plans,