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Future Healthcare Expenses Will Not Necessarily Mirror Past Expenses

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I recently wrote an article responding to the Americans for Prosperity video about Emilie Lamb that has been making its way around the internet.  I spoke with Emilie and took a good look at the plan she used to have, comparing it with her new Platinum plan.  To sum it up, her old plan was… Read more about Future Healthcare Expenses Will Not Necessarily Mirror Past Expenses

Going Without Health Insurance

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You may already be familiar with the blog Zen Habits.  It’s a very popular site with hundreds of thousands of readers.  It’s written by Leo Babauta, who has authored numerous ebooks and paper books and has over a hundred thousand followers on Twitter (he’s following three people – all those followers he has are just interested in what he has to say).  When he writes something, it gets read and shared and talked about.  I’ve been reading – and enjoying – his site for a few years, and I usually find myself nodding in agreement with whatever he’s written.

But his most recent post threw me for a bit of a loop.  He explains his rationale for not having health insurance for his family (he and his wife and six kids), and goes into a detailed description of how you, too, can make health insurance a bad bet.

The peace of mind not going without health insuranceI have no idea what his full financial situation looks like.  He often writes about being a minimalist, so I know he’s not spending lots of money on material stuff.  They do like to travel and recently spent several weeks in Europe – that doesn’t come cheap, but it’s a great experience for adults and children alike.  He has a very successful blog and several books, so I have to imagine he’s not poor.  And yet Leo Babauta considers going without health insurance to be a reasonable risk.

To be fair, I agree wholeheartedly with the tips he gives for “making health insurance a bad bet“.  Things like eating well, exercising, avoiding excess alcohol, not smoking, driving safely […]

AG Announces Settlement With Colorado Discount Medical Benefits Plan

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Last spring I wrote about the lawsuit that was filed by the Colorado Attorney General against Consolidated Medical Services, LLC.  Consolidated Medical Services was a discount plan (ie, not health insurance but a cheaper substitute that wouldn’t provide much in the way of benefits if a person needed medical care) run by Joseph Benedetto.  The Colorado discount medical benefits plans were, according to Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, “… fraudulent, frequently failing to pay patients’ claims as promised.”  However, the focus of the lawsuit was the manner in which Benedetto and his LLC went about recruiting affiliate salespeople.  According to the AG press release, “Consolidated Medical Services recruited individuals, many of whom are elderly, to market “medical benefits programs” that were advertised as valid substitutes for traditional health insurance.”  Salespeople were charged start-up fees and monthly hosting fees in order to sell the discount medical benefits, and virtually none of them made enough money selling the product to recoup the fees they had paid.  Only about three percent of the 12,800 affiliates who were recruited between 2008 and 2011 made any money at all selling the discount plan, and most of the few who did make money earned less than they had paid in fees.

Attorney General Suthers’ office announced today that a settlement has been reached with Joseph Benedetto and Consolidated Medical Services, LLC.  Benedetto must […]

Colorado Division Of Insurance Still Reviewing Rates

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We mentioned last week that the Colorado Division of Insurance had not yet approved rates past 9/23 for several carriers, and unfortunately, that is still the situation. For carriers that allow any effective date, quotes can still be generated for 9/22, but carriers that only allow 1st and 15th of the month effective dates are unable to quote new policies now (and have been since 9/15) if their rates have not been approved. This is causing a bit of a traffic jam for people who are searching for a new individual health insurance policy right now. […]

Disability Insurance Awareness Month

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[…] May is disability insurance awareness month, and it’s a good reminder to consider how well you’re protecting your greatest asset – your earning potential. Working adults are more likely to encounter a disability that prevents them from working for at least 90 days than they are to die, and yet people tend to be more proactive about securing life insurance than disability insurance. […]

Rescission Still Allowed In Cases Of Fraud Or Misrepresentation

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[…] Starting in 2014, pre-existing conditions will no longer be an issue when applying for individual health insurance, and one would assume that the practice of rescissions will also disappear at that time. But between now and then, applicants still have to be honest when completing applications for individual health insurance, as rescission will continue be allowed if it is deemed that the applicant committed fraud or intentional misrepresentation when applying for a policy.

Imerica Placed In Rehabilitation

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[…] If it is determined that Imerica can be rehabilitated, they will continue to do business under the rehabilitation plan. If not, Imerica would be liquidated, and policyholder claims not paid by Imerica would become the responsibility of the life and health insurance guaranty funds in the states where Imerica was licensed. In Colorado, this group is known as the Life and Health Insurance Protections Assocation (LHIPA). LHIPA has a maximum benefit of $500,000 for major medical insurance, which is significantly lower than most of the benefit maximums offered on private health insurance policies in Colorado (including Imerica, which offered policies with lifetime maximums ranging from $2 million to $8 million) […]

A Cost Saving Idea For Health Insurance Companies

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In the nearly seven years we’ve been selling health insurance in Colorado, we’ve seen a lot of technology advancements. These days, applications are online and there are broker websites where we log in to see the status of applications, current premiums for each client, renewal premiums, etc. But health insurance companies still send too much paper mail to agents.

Complaint Ratios Updated With 2007 Data

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The Colorado Division of Insurance has finished compiling and organizing the data for 2007. Visit the Colorado Health Insurance Company Complaint Ratio Comparison page to see the updated complaint, revenue, and market share statistics from the division of insurance along with the A.M. Best Rating information we’ve added alongside. We hope this makes it easier for you to shop for health insurance in Colorado, but you can always contact us for our expert assistance at no cost!

No Freedom Of Choice For CSU Grad Students

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[…] to be a graduate student at Colorado State University, and needs to get a health insurance policy. Last year, CSU made a requirement for graduate and international students to have health insurance. The students may either get a policy through CSU’s Hartshorn Health Plan, or they can show proof of comparable coverage obtained elsewhere. The Hartshorn policy costs […]

Individual Health Insurance Vs Government Intervention

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[…] regulations would also be eliminated. For example, state laws that mandate coverage for mammograms or hospital stays after childbirth could be ignored at will.” I’m not sure what they’re referring to here, as there are plenty of mandates on individual policies in Colorado, and I haven’t heard anything about individual health insurance carriers being able to ignore them.

The Caregivers Marketplace

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I found a website that may be helpful for our readers and their families. The Caregivers Marketplace allows users to get cash back when they buy eligible products. I checked out the site, and there don’t appear to be any strings attached. The eligible products range from blood pressure monitors to vitamins to diapers to… Read more about The Caregivers Marketplace

Preventing Diabetes

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Now researchers in a long-term study have found that a healthy lifestyle followed for six years continues to lower the risk for developing type 2 diabetes for another 14 years. That’s a pretty impressive result. Here in Colorado, nearly 221,000 people have diabetes […]

Health Insurance After Infertility Treatment

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I just read a post by ForHealth about infertility treatment and individual health insurance. Her experience is one we’ve seen with some clients over the years. She went through fertility treatment – Clomid, in this case – which was unsuccessful. Three years later, she applied for an individual health insurance policy and was declined. The… Read more about Health Insurance After Infertility Treatment

Risk is Everywhere

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The Digerati Life hosted a HUGE Cavalcade of Risk yesterday.  It took me a while to get all the way through it.  The Colorado Health Insurance Insider is included.  Also, in the “Insurance and Risk Management” section was a good article by Consumers Health Insurance Blog about the Consumer Reports article “12 Money Mistakes that… Read more about Risk is Everywhere

Continuing Discussion on Vaccines and Choice

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The Public Health Council in NJ has voted 5-2 to make flu shots mandatory for preschoolers. The Department of Health and Human Services has a vaccination schedule that calls for at least 34 vaccines by the time a child is six years old. As a parent-to-be, I am very uneasy about the ever-increasing number of… Read more about Continuing Discussion on Vaccines and Choice

Managed Care Matters Has Your Cavalcade of Risk

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Joe Paduda hosts the pre-holiday edition of the Cav and he’s done a great job explaining each article so you can just breeze through it and read what sounds interesting.  My favorite post was from Jonathan Pletzke who has just written a book called “Buying Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped Off“.  So he started a… Read more about Managed Care Matters Has Your Cavalcade of Risk

Health Insurance Choices – Emotions Versus Reason

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Amy Gillentine has written an article for the Colorado Springs Business Journal that points out many of the current concerns and confusion surrounding our health care system. When it comes to open enrollment for employer-sponsored plans, she sums it up clearly: Choosing among options for health insurance is often an emotional — rather than practical… Read more about Health Insurance Choices – Emotions Versus Reason

The Health of Colorado

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The Colorado Health Foundation funded a report released yesterday that graded the health of Colorado citizens, and compared us to the rest of the nation. Overall, we’re not doing too badly – we are the thinnest state in the country, but then again, the bar isn’t set too high for that factor. And even though… Read more about The Health of Colorado