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About Jay Norris

Jay operates a health insurance brokerage in Colorado, where he helps individuals and small groups obtain and maintain health insurance coverage.
Complimenting his work as a health insurance broker, Jay is also a data analyst working to create visualizations that are easily understood by consumers and other stakeholders in Colorado’s health insurance market.

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Recent posts by Jay Norris
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Arapahoe County Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

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Home >> Statewide Network Size and links to all Colorado Counties >> Arapahoe County Totals By Carrier for Arapahoe County Anthem BCBS 947 Bright 2223 Cigna 105 Colorado Choice 431 Denver Health 12 Kaiser 3650 RMHP 1511 Per Carrier Breakdown Anthem BCBS Anthem BCBS has 870 unique providers in Arapahoe County. Anthem BCBS has 77… Read more about Arapahoe County Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

Alamosa County Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

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Statewide Results, Scientific Methodology, and links to other Colorado Counties Colorado Choice (now “Friday Health Plans”) is based in Alamosa, so it’s no surprise to see so many providers in their network here. Bright Health has an impressive 75. RMHP is only sells individual plans in Mesa County. Totals By Carrier for Alamosa County Anthem… Read more about Alamosa County Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

Adams County Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

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Home >> Statewide Network Size and links to all Colorado Counties >> Adams County Totals By Carrier for Adams County Anthem BCBS 569 Bright 510 Cigna 68 Colorado Choice 1425 Denver Health 6 Kaiser 684 RMHP 1760 Per Carrier Breakdown Anthem BCBS Anthem BCBS has 521 unique providers in Adams County. Anthem BCBS has 48… Read more about Adams County Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

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The size of insurers’ provider networks has been a headline grabber for the last few years, and there are some nascent efforts underway to make it easier to compare plans based on network size. Obviously, it’s in consumers’ best interest to search for specific providers if that’s a factor in their decision-making process, but what… Read more about Colorado Individual Market Network Size Rating Based on SERFF Data

Visualizing Kaiser CO 2018 Plan Popularity, Premium, and AV

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Have you ever wondered how popular your health plan is, compared with the other available options? Curious about how your plan’s actuarial value (a measure of the percentage of average medical costs it covers) compares with the premium, and how that metric stacks up against other plans? View Full Size PDF   Here’s a summary… Read more about Visualizing Kaiser CO 2018 Plan Popularity, Premium, and AV

Connect for Health Colorado and the OIG Audit Report

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On December 27, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an audit report (the full report is here) regarding Connect for Health Colorado’s use of federal start-up funding. This funding was provided for state-run exchanges to get their operations up and running in 2013 and 2014. To make a… Read more about Connect for Health Colorado and the OIG Audit Report

PEAK Issues

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As of now, it appears that PEAK has various errors. If you’ve had coverage through PEAK in the past, submitting a financial determination for 2017 also re-determines your 2016 financial eligibility. This can cause major problems with your 1095-A, your billing, and your insurance plan. **NO Confirmed Fix Yet** I will update this page when there… Read more about PEAK Issues

If you’re facing the subsidy cliff, enroll through Connect for Health Colorado

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The Canon City Daily Record published a story this week highlighting how expensive health insurance is in the Colorado mountains, and how few carriers offer coverage in the mountains. Despite the fact that the Division of Insurance combined some rating areas to alleviate the problem ahead of the 2015 open enrollment period, rates for 2016… Read more about If you’re facing the subsidy cliff, enroll through Connect for Health Colorado

Connect for Health Colorado and non-resident brokers

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At today’s Connect for Health Colorado board meeting, there was some discussion over the issue of whether or not Colorado’s exchange should work with out-of-state web brokers. Here’s the background on the issue, and I want to clarify my position in case there was any confusion. I’ve been a local broker in Colorado for 14… Read more about Connect for Health Colorado and non-resident brokers

The Coming Storm Over the 340B Rx Drug Discount Program

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We’ve invited Healthcare Lighthouse CEO Billy Wynne to share his posts with us. Today’s piece addresses the forthcoming regulation that will likely make sweeping changes to the 340B program. Keep an eye out for additional pieces in the coming weeks and be sure to check the Lighthouse Blog for some of our posts. Beneath the glare… Read more about The Coming Storm Over the 340B Rx Drug Discount Program

A Little Flurry of Snow in Northern Colorado Today!

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Just enough snow came through the Fort Collins area for the kids to plow… and mow. We’re hoping the mountains get a lot for skiers and snowboarders. We put the kids to work in the yard. Plowing…

Good exercise plowing the snow

And mowing…

Mowing the snow

Here is a video of the front end loader in action plowing the snow off of the porch! It was a gift from a friend and is their favorite toy…

Rocky Mountain Health Plans 2013 Rate Increase Announced

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Rocky Mountain Health Plans announces the 2013 new business rate increase for the “SOLO” individual/family health insurance plans in Colorado is 18%. As with all carriers, for existing clients on open plans, rate changes may be different due to age attainment and trend. Carriers may adjust rates differently for closed plans effective January 1, 2013.

RMHP posted the disclosure of the increase for new and renewing business on healthcare.gov.

For clients who pay monthly:

  • January renewals were mailed Friday, November 30, 2012.
  • February renewals will be mailed the end of December.
  • March renewals will be mailed the end of January.

I wish my health insurance _____________?

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I understand the trade off we got when we switched to a really inexpensive high deductible plan when even our high deductible HSA qualified plan was too rich and expensive. So I wish my health insurance had a monthly credit card billing option. Our current health insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross of Colorado used to have it, like most health insurance companies did. But then, like most other companies also did, they stopped offering that as an option about a year ago.

What would you change about your health insurance company or plan? It could be the coverage, billing, customer service, anything…

2012 Obamacare Premium Rebates (Infographic)

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Did you receive a health insurance premium rebate this year? If so, how much was it? We created a simple visualization of how the PPACA (Obamacare) health insurance premium rebates break down between the individual/family, small group and large group markets and how Colorado’s rebates compared to the national average.

2012 Obamacare Colorado Health Insurance Rebates

No 2013 CoverColorado Assessment

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CoverColorado announced that there will be no assessment in 2013 on Colorado health insurance carriers. The 2012 assessment was roughly $3.79/month/contract for individual/family insureds.

Anthem Blue Cross of Colorado has also announced that their membership this year was higher than expected this year. They were making up for a shortfall by charging $4.36/month/contract in 2012. Due to the higher enrollment, Anthem BCBS has enough funding to satisfy December without billing subscribers a CoverColorado assessment.

Colorado Selects Kaiser Permanente As Its Benchmark Health Insurance Plan

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Last December, HHS made it clear that they were giving states a lot of flexibility in determining what plan would serve as the benchmark for the state’s “essential benefits” for individual and small group health insurance policies that would be sold starting in 2014.

After months of consideration, Colorado has selected Kaiser Permanente’s small group plan as a benchmark.  This is the largest small group plan in the state, with almost fourteen thousand members, and was selected by a group of officials from the Colorado Division of Insurance, the Governor’s office, and the health benefits exchange.  The Division of Insurance will be taking comments until next Monday before making a final announcement, and you can contact them by email ([email protected]) if you’d like your comments to be considered.

The Kaiser plan covers services in the ten areas that are required by the PPACA (ambulatory patient services, emergency care, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance abuse services, prescription medications, rehabilitative services, lab work, preventive care/disease management, and pediatric care), which means that it will serve as a benchmark for services in those areas without the DOI having to add additional coverage minimums.  In addition, the Kaiser plan was generally considered to be a good balance between comprehensive coverage and affordable coverage.  It’s not the most comprehensive policy out there (the much maligned “Cadillac plans” offer more benefits), but it provides […]