Health Insurance Blog

The state of Wisconsin is planning to require a open bidding process for private health insurance companies which seek to manage the BadgerCare Plus Health Insurance Program

BadgerCare Plus provides health insurance coverage for low-income families with children under 19, but now also offers a health insurance plan with more limited coverage to low-income adults who do not have young children.

In other BadgerCare news, applications for BadgerCare Plus Core (the plan for low-income families without children) have come in more quickly than expected and the state is currently working through the application backlog that has developed in the first two months since its launch.  In the first 7 weeks more than 37,000 applications were received and only 5,000 were processed.

More information about Wisconsin health insurance.

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.

State legislators in Wisconsin want to tighten individual health insurance regulations, reports Guy Bolton in the Milwalkee Journal-Sentinel. Currently, medical coverage can be denied or taken away if a person fails to disclose any pre-existing medical condition. The bill, which is supported by the state’s Insurance Commissioner, is said to be more consumer-friendly. For example, it would narrow the standard for a “pre-existing condition”: only conditions that were diagnosed by a doctor would qualify. 

Under the law, Wisconsin health insurance companies would also be allowed to look for only pre-existing conditions that occured in the past year, as opposed to being able to look back on whole lifetimes for the purposes of rescinding health insurance. Among other provisions, it would also appoint an independent regulator to examine rejections.

In the recently released US News & World Report commercial health plan rankings (which takes into account both customer satisfaction and a number of different healthcare related measures such as disease prevention), The top 10 Wisconsin health insurance plans were ranked as follows.

1. Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin - driven by very high scores in both disease prevention and treatment
2. Security Health Plan of Wisconsin
3. Unity Health Plans
4. Network Health Plan
5. Dean Health Plan
6. Medical Associates Health Plan
7. WPS Health Plan
8. Medica - Serving Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota
9. United HealthCare
10. Humana

Not all of the Wisconsin health plans listed above offer individual health plans (non-group health coverage), if you are a Wisconsin resident and shopping for a health plan for you and your family, you can find more information about Wisconsin health plans for individuals here.

The 2008 presidential election is now in he books, but there are still a number of states that have health care reform initiatives with unknown results.

A rundown of pending and decided state health care initiatives is as follows:

• Arizona’s Proposition 101 would prohibit the passage of any law that would prohibit an individual from having the freedom to purchase a family health plan from any private health insurer offering health insurance in Arizona.
• In Wisconsin, legislation appeared to be on the verge of passing that would ensure universal coverage (in the 20+ cities and counties for which it appeared on the ballot)
• South Carolina voted down a amendment to allow state and local governments to invest funds in the stock market funds that are earmarked for retired public employee health benefits.
• Montana voters approved a measure expanding their children’s health insurance program, to increase the household income threshold to $55,000.

President elect Barack Obama vowed while compaining to make sweeping changes to the counties health care system that would make it more affordable and available to Americans.   He will soon be under pressure to begin doing just that, and it will be interesting to see quickly and sharply these changes will take place.

Members of Wisconsin’s Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan (HIRSP) will experience either no rate increase or a single-digit increase to their health insurance rates in 2009 as a result of changes made to the plan, such as offering high-deductible health plan options.

Founded almost 30 years ago (1979), HIRSP has been Wisconsin’s health insurer of last resort since that date.  HIRSP offers health insurance to Wisconsin residents who, for one reason or another, can’t enroll in adequate and affordable health insurance coverage, from private health insurance companies due to their medical conditions, or because they have become unemployed and no longer have access to health insurance coverage through their employer.

More Information about Wisconsin health insurance options.