EDIT, 9/25/2016: Rates were approved recently by the Colorado Division of Insurance. The following average rate changes (actual changes will vary by plan) will take effect January 1, 2017 for the seven carriers that will offer individual market coverage through the exchange. They will also apply off-exchange, as all of these carriers offer their plans both… Read more about 2017 Rate Increases for Colorado Individual Health Insurance Market
Colorado Division Of Insurance
Should Colorado become a single rating area? DOI conducting study
Earlier this month, Governor Hickenlooper signed HB1336 into law. The law directs the Colorado Division of Insurance to “study the impacts and viability” of merging the whole state of Colorado into a single rating area for health insurance premiums. DOI spokesman Vincent Plymell noted that the DOI was eager to get going on the study. Per… Read more about Should Colorado become a single rating area? DOI conducting study
Why is Colorado Health OP shutting down?
UPDATE, 10/20/15: On October 19, Colorado Health OP filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court, seeking an injunction and temporary restraining order to allow the carrier to continue to sell policies – and participate in the 2016 open enrollment period – while working for the next few weeks to secure funding from one of the… Read more about Why is Colorado Health OP shutting down?
Colorado making great progress covering the uninsured and underinsured
Last November, the 2013 Colorado Health Access Survey was released with a variety of updated data, including the number of Colorado residents who were uninsured in 2013: about 741,000. That was down from 829,000 two years earlier, but is still 14% of our state population. And it doesn’t include the people who are considered underinsured… Read more about Colorado making great progress covering the uninsured and underinsured
Carrier Contact Information And Updates For People Who Need To Pay January’s Premium
Today, January 10th, is the payment deadline for most Connect for Health Colorado policies with January 1 effective dates. A few carriers have pushed the deadline out a little bit: Updated Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is moving the payment deadline to 1/31 for 1/1 effective dates. Delta Dental: January 15. Premier Access Dental… Read more about Carrier Contact Information And Updates For People Who Need To Pay January’s Premium
Pediatric Dental on 2014 Individual Health Insurance Policies in Colorado
If you’re confused by the new pediatric dental requirements, you’re not alone. Here’s a rundown of how the ACA and HHS regulations impact pediatric dental coverage, with Colorado-specific details: The ACA defines pediatric dental coverage as one of the ten essential health benefits (EHBs) that must be covered on all new individual and small group… Read more about Pediatric Dental on 2014 Individual Health Insurance Policies in Colorado
How Does Obama’s Policy Continuation Announcement Impact Colorado’s Individual Market?
By now you’ve probably heard about the Obama Administration’s compromise over the policy cancellation uproar. The fix that Obama has offered is that health insurance companies can extend existing plans for one more year, allowing them to continue to exist in 2014. This has been incorrectly reported in some media outlets as allowing carriers to continue… Read more about How Does Obama’s Policy Continuation Announcement Impact Colorado’s Individual Market?
Getting Past The Health Insurance Plan Cancellation Hysteria
Much has been said recently about how the ACA is causing a tidal wave of policy cancellations, and resulting in people losing coverage that they would prefer to keep. The frustrating part about this – as has generally been the case with every big uproar about the ACA – is that we’re not really getting… Read more about Getting Past The Health Insurance Plan Cancellation Hysteria
Fewer Plans Available In Exchanges In 2013, But Maybe That’s A Good Thing
At the end of September, just as the exchanges were about to open for business, HealthPocket created a comparison of the number of individual and family health insurance policies available in each state in 2013 and compared that with the number of policies that would be available in each state’s exchange in 2014. It’s an… Read more about Fewer Plans Available In Exchanges In 2013, But Maybe That’s A Good Thing
Early Renewal Does Not Mean You’re Taking Advantage of a Loophole
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about our family’s health insurance policy and the changes coming in 2014. To make a long story short, our premiums are going to go up significantly and we don’t qualify for subsidies. We’re not complaining… we know that the ACA makes healthcare more accessible for a lot… Read more about Early Renewal Does Not Mean You’re Taking Advantage of a Loophole
Renewal Options for Each Individual Health Insurance Carrier in Colorado
Last week I explained how early renewal at the end of 2013 might be a good option for some people who have individual health insurance. If you’re happy with your coverage and aren’t going to qualify for a subsidy in the Colorado exchange, keeping your existing plan for most of 2014 might be a good way to save some money on premiums. This is especially true for people who prefer very high deductibles, as those plans are generally not ACA compliant and thus will not be available for purchase after the end of 2013. But if your carrier allows it, you can keep your current policy until it renews in 2014, and switch to an ACA compliant plan at that time. For people with plans that renew late in the year, this could mean keeping a lower-cost, higher deductible policy for most of 2014. If you’ll be eligible for a premium subsidy, it’s definitely worth your time to compare a subsidized exchange plan with what you have now. But if you’re happy with your coverage and you’re going to be paying full price for an ACA compliant plan, check with your carrier to see about keeping your current plan in 2014.
Keep in mind that each Colorado health insurance carrier is doing things a little differently in terms of 2013 renewals heading into 2014. It’s important to check with your carrier to make sure you’re aware of what steps you need to take – don’t assume that 
your plan will automatically renew – or automatically not renew. The Colorado Division of Insurance has left a lot of leeway for carriers to determine their own protocol for renewals going into 2014. There is no state requirement that existing policies be cancelled as of the end of 2013, although some carriers have opted for that as a default. All plans must be ACA-compliant by January 1, 2015. So when your policy renews in 2014, you will have to transition to an ACA compliant plan. But the date of that renewal can be anytime from January to December.
Here’s a brief summary of what we have heard so far from some of the main carriers in Colorado. This is subject to change, so check with us or your carrier before you make a decision.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield: The default is for your plan to just keep its current renewal date and continue unchanged until that date in 2014. But Anthem is also offering insureds an option […]
Your Health Insurance Will Probably Change in 2014
I frequently come across FAQs on various websites with a question along the lines of: “Do I have to switch to a new health insurance plan if I like my existing one?” And almost always, the answer is something like this: “No. The ACA allows grandfathered health insurance plans to continue unchanged, so if your plan was in effect when the ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and has not been significantly changed since then, it will be considered “qualified coverage” and you can keep it”.
This is frustrating to read, because I’m sure that people who aren’t familiar with the details of health care reform might just see that first word – no – and not pay attention to the significant caveat that follows it. Adding to the confusion is the partially true statement President Obama made in 2009, saying “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
The problem is that people who currently have health insurance might think that they can keep their plan – even if they’re not on a grandfathered plan – because there’s a lot of confusion about what exactly a grandfathered plan is. In 2012, just under half of people who get their health insurance from an employer were on a grandfathered plan, but that number is dropping and will continue to do so as plans change. There’s no way to know whether your health plan is grandfathered without calling your carrier and asking. A plan that was grandfathered as of 2011 might not be so today, since changes to the plan can happen at any time and can cause a plan to lose its grandfathered status.
The really bad health insurance plan that I wrote about earlier this year might be a grandfathered plan that was in effect when the ACA was signed into law. Insureds may have joined after that date and still be on a grandfathered plan. (although that still doesn’t explain the $5 million lifetime max that was being marketed on that plan as of this year – even grandfathered plans are not allowed to have lifetime maximums).
But especially in the individual market, health plans are constantly being redesigned. The way the process works in Colorado – and in many other states – is that existing plans are retired, or “sunset” and new ones are introduced. In most cases, insureds are allowed to remain on the sunset plan. If the carrier does away with the plan completely, they have to offer the plan’s insureds the option to purchase any of the other plans the company offers, guaranteed issue. So most carriers have traditionally let insureds remain on sunset plans, but the plan becomes a closed block, which means that no new insureds are being added to the pool. The result is usually that over time, premiums within a closed block start to rise faster than premiums in other plans that are enrolling new members (keep in mind that in the individual market, medical underwriting has long been used to make sure that new members are relatively healthy. So for individual plans, members who have been on the plan the longest tend to have higher claims expenses than new members). This leads healthy insureds who are on sunset plans to seek coverage in another plan in order to lower their rates.
There are lots of reasons for new plan designs: It’s a way for carriers to create product differentiation (especially true in robust markets like we have in Colorado). New plan designs also allow carriers to create products with lower premiums, as they’re well aware that price is one of the most important factors when consumers are shopping for coverage (a good example is the trend over the past decade towards health plans with separate prescription deductibles instead of integrated Rx deductibles or Rx coverage with traditional copays). New plan designs also […]
Colorado Health Insurance Options On the Exchange in 2014
Although we’re still at least a week away from knowing the specific details on rates and plan designs for policies that will be sold in the Connect for Health Colorado exchange, the Division of Insurance has approved 242 plans that will be available in the exchange from 13 Colorado health insurance carriers. In late May, the number of carriers stood at 11 and the number of plans was 250+. But as we noted last week, there was still a lot going on behind the scenes over the summer, and some carriers had to resubmit plan information that was not accepted in the spring. The final count is 150 plans that will be available to individuals and 92 for small groups (keep in mind that this is just for plans within the exchange. There will be lots of other ACA-compliant plans available outside the exchange).
The plans for individuals will be available from ten different carriers (All Savers, Cigna, Colorado Choice, Colorado Health Insurance Cooperative, Denver Health Medical Plan, HMO Colorado (Anthem), Humana, Kaiser, New Health Ventures and Rocky Mountain HMO). Although there are some new names in this list, there are also plenty of familiar ones (All Savers is a UnitedHealth company, which means that the main carriers that currently sell policies in the individual market in Colorado will all be represented in the exchange). Although we haven’t yet seen the final premium and plan details, it appears that Colorado will continue to have a robust individual health insurance market in 2014, both in and out of the exchange.
For consumers who will qualify for a subsidy, the exchange is definitely the place to be – subsidies are only available in the exchange. Consumers who do not qualify for a subsidy (either because their income is too high or because they have access to an employer group plan that is technically “affordable” but might actually be outside of their budget) can shop within the exchange (via an approved broker or directly through the exchange) or they can […]
Assurant and UnitedHealth Still Available In Colorado Individual Market
The Colorado Division of Insurance has announced that finalized health insurance rates won’t be available until the middle of August – about two weeks after the originally-scheduled August 1 release date. The preliminary rates, carriers and plan designs were announced in June, and it’s likely that the final rates will be in the same basic range. When we first saw the list of carriers that were going to be providing individual health insurance in Colorado starting in October (for 2014 effective dates), we were surprised to see that UnitedHealth Care was only listed as a carrier for small group plans (they have had a strong presence in the individual health insurance market in Colorado for many years, both as Golden Rule and UnitedHealthOne). And we also noticed that Assurant (Time) was not included at all in the list of carriers that had submitted rates and plans to the DOI earlier this year.
We’ve recently found out that Assurant will indeed continue to offer individual health insurance in 2014, outside of the exchange. They submitted rates and plans in May but the submission was incomplete and had to be refiled, which is why they were missing from the data that was released in June. The Assurant details should be included with the finalized rate information that will be released in mid-August.
In addition, UnitedHealth Care will be offering individual health insurance in the Connect for Health Colorado exchange, under the name All Savers Insurance Company. This was included with the June data, but many people might have been unaware that All Savers Insurance is a UnitedHealth Care company.
We wanted to clarify this information in case you’re looking for an individual policy from either of these companies. More info will be forthcoming once we have the finalized rate data, so stay tuned.
Avoiding Scams As The ACA Changes The Health Insurance Landscape
Nina Kallen did an excellent job hosting the most recent Cavalcade of Risk – be sure to check it out. It includes a good cautionary tale about avoiding scam artists, from Hank Stern of InsureBlog. (And for a little extra clarification about electronic and telephone applications, there’s also some additional commentary from Bob Vineyard (another… Read more about Avoiding Scams As The ACA Changes The Health Insurance Landscape
Subsidy Calculations Not As Simple As They Seem
If you’re confused about the subsidies for health insurance starting in the exchanges in 2014, you’re probably not alone. Although the basic math is quite simple in terms of the maximum amount a family or individual will have to pay based on their income if they earn less than 400% of federal poverty level, it’s still tough to pin down specifics in terms of who will end up getting subsidies, especially for people who are right on the border of the income cut-off.
There have been subsidy calculators online for quite some time. The first one we found was from the Kaiser Family Foundation, but numerous others have appeared recently. Connect for Health Colorado, the Colorado exchange, has a calculator on its website, but their calculations aren’t 
based on Colorado data yet. On the contrary, the calculator includes language explaining that “The premiums in this calculator reflect national estimates from the Congressional Budget Office for silver plans, adjusted for premium inflation and age rating.” So for the time being anyway, you can’t use the Connect for Health Colorado calculator to generate Colorado-specific subsidy numbers.
That might change after the Division of Insurance releases official rates at the end of July. Part of the confusion around rates and subsidies stems from the fact that rates are not yet finalized. There’s still a lot of number-crunching (and maybe some “do-overs” from carriers) going on, and July 31 has been set as the date for final numbers to be released in Colorado.
For now, it appears that most subsidy calculators are using generalized national average data, estimated by the CBO. But the numbers turn out differently depending on what calculator you use. Let’s consider a family of four, with an income right around the cut-off for subsidy qualification. We’ll do a calculation based on an income of $94,000 and another using $94,500 (which puts them just above the subsidy qualification limit of 400% of FPL). For two parents (age 37 and 35) and two young children with an annual household income of $94,000, the Kaiser Family Foundation calculator estimates a total subsidy of […]
Networks And Carriers Are Part Of The Big Picture With Exchanges
[…] Aetna, United and Cigna are all absent from the CA exchange, and Dan looks into several reasons why some of the bigger carriers might have opted not to sell in the exchange on day one, and why some large provider networks are not going to be covered by plans sold in that state’s exchange.
Here in Colorado, Aetna stopped selling individual policies a couple years ago, so we weren’t expecting them to be in the state’s exchange, Connect for Health Colorado. United Healthcare has been a mainstay in the Colorado individual market, and while they submitted numerous plans to the DOI for small group products, they are all to be sold outside of the exchange and there don’t appear to be any individual plans in their new lineup. Cigna, however, will be selling individual plans both inside and outside of the exchange in Colorado.
We’ve heard from carrier representatives – who are familiar with multiple state exchanges – that Connect for Health Colorado has been particularly great to work with, and that is no doubt part of the reason Colorado will have a large number of carriers and policy options available within the exchange. We’re happy to be in a state that has been actively working on healthcare reform for several years, and that moved quickly to begin building an exchange and implementing the ACA as soon as it was passed.
Balance Billing From Non-Network Providers Who Work At In-Network Facilities
We recently heard from one of our clients who is dealing with a balance billing issue resulting from a NICU stay. For her baby’s birth, she chose a large hospital in Denver that was on her Humana health insurance network. Her OB/GYN was also on the Humana plan, and she figured she had all of her ducks in a row. But complications necessitated an emergency transfer to the NICU, where her new baby was cared for by doctors who are contracted with the hospital, but are not part of the Humana network.
When patients are treated by out-of network providers, there’s no contractual obligation between the doctors and the health insurance carrier. The patient will usually be responsible for a higher deductible when using a non-network provider (although this is not typically enforced for 
emergency care), but even after the deductible is met, the provider is not obligated to accept the “reasonable and customary” payment from the health insurance carrier. The provider can choose to bill the patient the shortfall between what was originally billed and what was paid by insurance.
Our client has been balance billed over $5,000 by the NICU doctors. Humana paid the doctors their in-network amounts for the NICU stay and counted it as an in-network expense (ie, no additional out-of-network deductible was charged) because it was an emergency situation. But the doctors refused to accept the insurance reimbursement as payment in full, and billed the family for an additional $5,000+. I suppose it could be worse – this family ended up with a $50,000 balance bill from their baby’s NICU stay.
But it could also be better. People who are recovering from an illness or injury don’t need to also be finding out that an in-network facility where they were treated also has providers who are not […]
Colorado Health Insurance Exchange Won’t Be A Train Wreck
When Max Baucus predicted that the implementation of key aspects of the ACA could be a “huge train wreck coming down“, his comments were met with a lot of “see, I told you so!” comments from the right, and some surprise from the left, given how instrumental Baucus was in drafting the legislation. Now Harry Reid has stated that he agrees with Baucus. Reid noted that there is still much work to be done, and that significant 
additional funding is needed in order to make the remaining implementation of the ACA successful. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pointed out that her requests for additional funding were rejected in a recent short-term funding plan, but she’s optimistic about the ACA implementation, saying “…we are on track to fully implement marketplaces in January 2014 and to be open for open enrollment.”
I would say that the job Sebelius has in front of her is a monumental one, no doubt made harder by the propagation of misinformation and outright lies (there are no death panels!). In addition, a majority of the states opted to either have the federal government run their exchanges (26 states) or partner with the state on a joint exchange (7 states). Only 17 states plus the District of Columbia have taken sole responsibility for running their own health insurance exchanges (Colorado is in this category). So although HHS will likely be able to implement very similar exchanges in the 26 states where they will be fully responsible for running the exchange, making economies of scale work in their favor, the fact remains that they face a significant task: getting exchanges going in more than half the states, often in places where resistance to the ACA […]
The Impact Of the Colorado Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Regulation
Last month, Colorado became the third state to prohibit health insurance carriers from denying claims based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. At first, we were puzzled when we saw the headlines in the news, since they mostly mentioned discrimination based on sexual orientation or discrimination directed at LGBT insureds. We were thinking mainly in terms of gay, lesbian and bisexual clients, and we couldn’t remember ever dealing with a claims denial issue based on sexual orientation. We also had never seen any questions on a health insurance application regarding sexual orientation.
The only issue we had ever come up against in terms of LGBT discrimination had to do with same-sex partners who wanted to apply together for family health insurance policies in the individual market. Although individual health insurance for two people was the same total price regardless of whether they were on one policy or two, it was often inconvenient for families to have to have two separate policies, and in the case of HSA-qualified plans, it was also financially detrimental to have to split up the family for health insurance purposes.
But we never had any issues with applications being rejected or claims being denied based on sexual orientation. I posted last month on Google+ that although I’m always in favor of expanding equality, I was a bit perplexed by this new regulation, given that we weren’t aware of any carriers using sexual orientation as an initial underwriting and/or claims issue.
Then I started discussing this issue with Dede de Percin, Executive Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, and Ashley Wheeland from One Colorado, and I’ve learned a lot more about it in the last few days. As far as I’ve been able to tell, the DOI bulletin, titled “Insurance Unfair Practices Act Prohibitions on Discrimination Based Upon Sexual Orientation” is primarily a response to broad exclusionary language in health insurance policies that allowed for claims to be denied if the insured was transgender. The claims 
exclusions could range from specific treatment related to gender transitioning, to onerous exclusions for just about any medical care at all: De Percin notes that one transgender person was denied coverage for a broken arm because the health insurance carrier determined that the hormones the person was taking weakened the bone and thus led to the break. This is absurd, and it does sadden me to learn that such broad exclusions were being […]
Will Marketplace Customer Service Be On A Par With Private Industry?
One of our clients recently told us about a health insurance plan that was being marketed to him, and we were curious enough to want to look into the situation further. In a nutshell, it’s not a discount plan, not a mini-med, and not a traditional limited-benefit indemnity plan. All of those plans should be avoided in general, and the ACA has sort of skirted around them a bit: numerous mini-meds have been granted temporary waivers in order to continue to operate, discount plans aren’t addressed by the ACA at all (and aren’t regulated by most state Division of Insurance departments either, since they aren’t actually insurance), and limited benefit indemnity plans are exempted from ACA rules (although people who have them will likely have to pay a penalty for not meeting minimum benefit requirements).
Anyway, the plan that was marketed to our client resembled traditional health insurance, but was very convoluted and sold with numerous riders to cover all sorts of different scenarios. The brochure was 27 pages long and included numerous detailed examples showing how awesome the marketed coverage was when compared with “traditional major medical.” It noted that the plan isn’t subject to ACA mandates, and the policy is still being marketed with a $5 million lifetime maximum. When I spoke with an agent for the plan (a captive agent, of course – plans like that are never marketed by brokers who have access to other policies), he told me that the policy will not be guaranteed issue next year, and that they aren’t concerned about the potential penalties that their clients will have to pay starting in 2014 for not having ACA-compliant coverage. His reasoning (and the marketing pitch that they’re making to their clients) is that their premiums will be so much lower than ACA-compliant plans that their clients will save enough money to more than make up for the penalty (currently their premiums were roughly the same as those of reputable health insurance policies).
In short, everything about this policy sounded sketchy.
A rather lengthy Google search didn’t bring up much in the way of regulations pertaining to this sort of issue. I remembered my efforts in the fall of 2011 to get specific details about regulations regarding mini-meds… and I wasn’t encouraged. At the time, the Colorado Division of Insurance wasn’t aware of a solution to the problem our client was facing (although to give them credit, I was able to speak with someone as soon as I called them). They referred me to HHS, where I had to leave a voice mail. The outgoing message said that someone would get back to me within five business days, but that was a year and a half ago and I’m not holding my breath for a reply. I also left a message for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) about the issue and never heard back from anyone there. We ended up getting the client onto an Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, but we never heard back from any of the government agencies we contacted regarding his mini-med situation.
So back to our current questions about the sketchy-sounding health insurance being marketed to our client. I contacted HealthCare.gov via Twitter but got no response. I called the Colorado Division of Insurance and was told that I should send in an email with the specifics. I did that on Wednesday and haven’t heard anything back from them yet. I called them this morning to follow up, and they told me that they had received my email but didn’t know to whom it had been assigned yet – this is two days after I sent it, so I would assume that perhaps the employees there are overworked and understaffed. I didn’t contact the national HHS office again, because I didn’t feel like wasting my time any further. However, I did send an email on Friday morning to the regional HHS office in Denver, so hopefully I’ll hear back from them sometime soon.
I’m also hopeful that I’ll hear back from the Colorado DOI sometime next week. They usually end up being a helpful – and local – resource, even if we have to wait a few days. Once we get some more information, I’ll write a follow-up post about how an individual carrier is apparently able to operate entirely outside the regulations of the ACA.
But for now, I’m struck by how difficult it can be to obtain information from a government agency, or even speak with a real person as opposed to just leaving a message or sending an email that may or may not ever get read. I know that private companies aren’t always shining examples of customer service, but I can’t imagine calling the claims or customer service number on the back of our Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield card and being told […]
Health Insurance Premiums Mirror Healthcare Costs
[…] Colorado has taken a much more proactive and transparent position in terms of the rate review process, and we’ve written about it several times. Although rate increases on health insurance policies are frustrating when they continue to far outpace inflation, they’re being driven largely by the increases in the cost of healthcare. But most of us are very insulated from the cost of our healthcare. Since the bills go to our health insurance carriers, many people don’t really know how much it costs to have any sort of significant medical treatment. We know how much our health insurance costs though, and when the price goes up, we feel it. Even though the price increase is directly linked to the increases in healthcare spending, we’re much more likely to focus on the health insurance premiums, since those are the bills we pay ourselves (this is especially true for people who buy their own individual health insurance, without assistance from an employer). […]
No 2013 CoverColorado Assessment
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.
More About Colorado’s Kaiser Permanente Benchmark Health Insurance Plan
Yesterday’s article about Colorado selecting a benchmark health insurance plan for individual and small group policies sold starting in 2014 has raised a few more questions and I wanted to clarify some details.
This publication from the Colorado Division of Insurance, the Health Benefit Exchange and the Governor’s office is an excellent resource and answers a lot of frequently asked questions. It was released earlier this summer, before the Kaiser small group plan was selected, so it includes details about all nine options that were considered as possible benchmark plans. The Kaiser small group plan that was ultimately picked as the benchmark is listed on page 11 as option A, under “one of the three largest small group plans in the state”.
The 2011 Colorado health insurance plan description for the Kaiser policy is here if you’re interested in the plan specifics. We had a question from a reader who wondered whether chiropractic care would be covered, but it’s listed as “not covered” on the plan description form (item number 30). It’s important to note that cost sharing details like deductible, coinsurance and copays are not part of the benchmark program. The concept of benchmark here only applies to the benefits provided by the Kaiser Permanente health insurance plan. The deductible on the Kaiser health insurance plan is $1200, but that DOES NOT mean that all policies will have to have a $1200 deductible in 2014. In order to be sold in the exchanges, health insurance plans will have to cover at least 60% of costs in order to qualify for a “bronze” designation. And there will also be silver, gold and platinum ratings, so there will still be plenty of variation in terms of cost sharing.
If Colorado had not selected a benchmark plan, HHS would have picked one for us. HHS would have […]
Beware A Scam Targeting Health Insurance Consumers
The Colorado Division of Insurance notified us today of a new scam that is targeting Colorado health insurance consumers.
People have been getting phone calls from someone who claims to be with the “Colorado Insurance Commission” (there is no such agency – it’s called the Colorado Division of Insurance), telling the potential victim that his or her Colorado health insurance carrier has been taken over by the state. Then the caller says that the state sent the insured a check for $399 to refund copays, but that it was returned by the post office. The caller then offers to direct deposit the $399 into the insured’s bank account – and of course asks the person to provide bank account details in order to facilitate this.
As is pretty much always the case when someone calls and wants your bank account information over the phone, this is a scam. DO NOT GIVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT INFO TO ANYONE WHO CALLS YOU, no matter how legitimate their claim might sound.
If you get a call like this, you can report it to local law enforcement. If you ever get a call from someone who wants your bank account information – for any reason at all – you can hang up and then call the company in question directly (for example, in this case you could just call your health insurance carrier and find out right away that no part of the caller’s statement is true). Once you’ve determined that the original call was a scam, report it to law enforcement.
The Colorado Division of Insurance wants consumers to be aware of this scam. And again, legitimate organizations don’t call people and ask for banking information over the phone. A general rule is that you shouldn’t give out that information to anyone unless you were the one who initiated the communication.