[…] People who buy their own health insurance must pay the whole bill, every month. When it’s time for their rate increase, there’s no employer shouldering part of the burden. The option to continue or drop coverage is there every month when it’s time to pay the premium… and if it comes to a decision between the rent or the health insurance, it’s easy to understand how a healthy person might opt to go uninsured.
Individual/Family Health
Reform Needed, But No Consensus On The Details
[…] We’ll have to wait and see what congress comes up with next week during their summit with the president, but there’s no way they’re going to make something out of nothing. In order to provide health insurance for everyone, we’ll either have to give up some freedoms (in the form of a mandate requiring everyone to carry coverage) or pay a little extra in taxes or premiums.
Mandates And Health Insurance Premiums
[…] We cannot continue to just tack on more mandates that increase health insurance benefits without addressing the inevitable premium increases that will follow. We absolutely need to address the problem of people facing staggering bills when a medical condition is not covered at all by their health insurance, but if we continue to add mandates without looking for ways to bring down costs, we’re only going to push more people into being uninsured.
Maternity As An Option Rather Than A Mandate
[…] It would be nice to see more options available for our clients who are looking for maternity coverage. My preference would be if clients could select their health insurance policy based on all of the other features of the plan, and then add maternity benefits after they had settled on a policy, rather than choosing a policy by default simply because it is one of a very few options that offer maternity benefits.
A Good Alternative To Mandatory Health Insurance
[…] there wouldn’t be an incentive for people to remain uninsured and wait until they got sick to purchase health insurance. The choice to be uninsured would come with consequences, but it would still be a legal choice. This would allow people to make their own decisions, but would also protect health insurance companies and people who maintain continuous coverage.
Health Insurance Might Be Less Expensive Than You Think
Gary VanderArk and Gretchen Hammer, president and executive director of the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, have written an opinion piece for the Denver Post about how health care reform will benefit the people of Colorado. I agree with their analysis – there will be a lot positive changes once health care reform takes effect, especially for low-income Coloradans and those who are currently uninsured […]
Colorado Legislative Sessions Opens With Health Insurance Reform Bills
The 2010 legislative session in Colorado got underway this week, and included the introduction of a few bills aimed at health insurance reform on a state level. HB 1008 would make it illegal for gender to be used in the determination of health insurance premiums, HB 1021 would require reproductive services to be covered by health insurance, and HB 1004 would implement standardized explanation of benefit (EOB) forms for insureds. […]
Free Preventive Care Is Not Really Free
[…] In Colorado, a similar law took effect last week, requiring health insurance companies to cover various preventive care at the level of the policy co-insurance. It will be interesting to see how this law impacts both premium and health in Colorado over the next few years. Will more people seek out preventive care? Will we be healthier as a result? Will our health insurance premiums increase even more than they already do? We’ll have to wait and see.
HSA Helps To Balance Emergency Savings With Investing
[…] The number of people with HSA qualified plans has been steadily increasing over the last few years, and the plans are very popular with our Colorado clients who purchase their own health insurance. For anyone who doesn’t want to have to choose between investing and saving for a medical emergency, HSAs are a perfect fit.
Average Total Premium Not The Same As What Families Really Pay
[…] We know that there are families out there who are paying more than a thousand dollars a month for their health insurance. But they are the exception rather than the rule. The Daily Kos article makes it sound like the average family will end the year with nearly $7000 in their pockets from premium savings, and that just doesn’t add up.
Health Insurance Across State Lines Not As Simple As It Sounds
[…] I’m not opposed to the idea of health insurance companies that could operate on a national basis, allowing people to keep their health insurance if they move to another state. But such a plan would have to be overseen by federal guidelines. Simply opening things up to allowing health insurance companies to base themselves in any state they choose, operate under that state’s laws, and sell health insurance in all states, would take us to the lowest common denominator in terms of consumer protections.
Maternity Coverage And Access To Midwifery Care
[…] Amy Romano has written an outstanding article comparing modern American maternity care with SUVs. Since maternity care takes up such a huge portion of our health care budget, this article is a worthwhile read for anyone concerned about the spiraling cost of health care. Hopefully the points that Amy makes will be taken into consideration when lawmakers decide what services should be covered by all health insurance policies.
Why Health Care Reform Is Important
[…] Basically, we can’t have it both ways. If we want smaller government, we have to accept that it comes with fewer regulations. And that means more control in the hands of industry and less in the hands of consumers. If we want regulation over things like premium increases and pre-existing condition limitations, we have to accept that it means more government intervention. In the case of health care and health insurance, we’ve obviously got some flaws in our current system. In some states, a person without access to an employer-sponsored health insurance policy cannot get coverage at all. That is a problem any way you look at it.
Yes, some of the problems stem from personal irresponsibility (although hopefully mandatory health insurance will help to address this issue). But some of the problems are built into the health care system, and that is why reform in the shape of government intervention is such an important task. Because a consumer versus an industry isn’t really a fair match-up.
Reform Worth The Costs
[…] Because individual policies are medically underwritten in Colorado, and because our family is healthy, the individual option is quite a bit less expensive than a group policy would be.
If the health care reform bill makes it through the senate and ends up becoming law, that will probably change. We’ll still have a few more years of the status quo, but in 2013 we’ll likely see significantly higher premiums for those of us who are healthy and buy our own health insurance. The difference in premium between a group plan and an individual plan for our family will likely be much less than it is today, due to both the increased benefit mandates and the end of medical underwriting that is expected in the individual market […]
Premiums In The Individual Market
[…] I think that perhaps the WSJ article confused average group health insurance premiums with those in the individual market. Under current law, which allows for medical underwriting in most states, individual health insurance is significantly less expensive than group coverage – for those who can qualify based on medical history. If we end up with reform that adds additional mandatory coverage (like maternity care) to all individual policies and requires coverage to be guaranteed issue without mandating that everyone be part of the insurance pool, we might well end up with premiums for individual policies that are similar to what was mentioned in the WSJ article. But for now, individual health insurance premiums aren’t even close to that amount.
Not All States Have A Guaranteed Issue Option
[…] High risk pools are definitely better than nothing, but they don’t solve all insurance problems for people who have pre-existing conditions, and they don’t exist at all in some states. One of the aims of reform ought to include truly making health insurance available – in all states – to all applicants who want to purchase it. If we make all health insurance policies guaranteed issue (without also significantly expanding the pool of healthy insureds via a strong mandate), we’ll likely see higher costs for all insureds. But a good start would be to make sure that everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to at least one guaranteed issue health insurance policy (and no, discount plans and limited benefit policies don’t count).
Public Opinion Of A Mandate
[…] When it came to the mandate, however, things got a little stickier. I believe that lawmakers understood that allowing people to purchase health insurance without medical underwriting, while also allowing them to choose whether or not to obtain coverage, would amount to much higher premiums for the people who choose to have coverage. Initially they drafted a reasonably strong mandate, but caved in to criticism and weakened the mandate to the point where the fine for not carrying health insurance will only amount to a fraction of the cost of buying a policy […]
Imerica Placed In Rehabilitation
[…] 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) […]
HB1355 Now In Effect For All Small Groups In Colorado
[…] Critics are questioning why insurers keep bringing up HB1355, as the trend in national health care reform these days is towards guaranteed issue health insurance without underwriting – which is what HB 1355 was all about. But while HB1355 was beneficial to groups with unhealthy members, the majority of small groups in Colorado had a discount before HB1355 took effect. And if those groups are unable to afford their new, higher rates, they can opt to cancel their coverage – which leads to higher prices for groups that remain covered. On a national level, as far as individual health insurance is concerned, HB1355 should be considered a warning sign. Getting rid of medical underwriting is the right, and fair, thing to do. But not if people can come and go as they please in the insurance system. We’ve seen what the impact will be on premiums if guaranteed issue coverage takes effect without a strong mandate requiring people to carry health insurance. I think this is why insurers are still bringing up HB1355. It’s impacting all small groups in Colorado now – there’s no more putting it off. And significant rate hikes for healthy groups should serve as a warning for what we’ll likely see in the individual market if reform passes without a way to make sure that everyone is part of the insurance pool.
Health Insurance Premiums And The Public Option
David Williams has written an insightful article about how big business concerns about a public health insurance option might be overly dramatic. I do understand the concerns that business owners have, since they believe that a public option will lead to costs being pushed onto private health insurance carriers, who in turn would charge higher premiums. There is no doubt that businesses have felt the sting of rising health insurance premiums for years now. In Colorado, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums rose by almost 87% between 2000 and 2009, while wages increased by only 20.5% over those years. Employees are increasingly seeing higher premiums deducted from their pay, combined with higher deductibles and copays. But employers still pay the lion’s share of many employees’ health insurance premiums, and the prospect of even higher premiums isn’t likely to sit well with them […]
Women And The House Health Care Reform Bill
Not surprisingly, House Democrats are going after the female vote by including several provisions in the current draft of their health care reform bill that are designed to expand coverage and reduce premiums for women. For starters, the bill includes a ban on using gender as a factor in setting premiums. This will result in lower premiums for women, but higher premiums for men. In Colorado, men are currently more likely than women to be uninsured. Raising their rates to compensate for lowered rates for women might result in more men being uninsured. But in terms of overall fairness, it does make sense to charge the same rates for men and women.
Specifically forbidding the practice of denying coverage to domestic violence victims is also part of the House bill, and will likely receive widespread support from both women and men alike. But in the eight years since we started selling medically underwritten health insurance, I can’t remember a single time that an applicant was declined for being a victim of domestic violence, nor have I ever seen a question on any application asking if the applicant has been abused. So while this provision makes sense, and will no doubt be beneficial for a few people, I imagine its strongest impact will be in helping to rid us of “blaming the victim” mentality […]
Health Insurance Premiums And Age
How much should age play a part in determining health insurance premiums? That’s a question that lawmakers are debating, and one that might require an answer that is more strategic than it is fair. In general, older people have higher health care bills than younger people. Because of their lower claims, younger people currently pay much lower premiums for health insurance than older people. But they continue to be the most uninsured segment of our population.
In 2007, the Lewin Group released a report for the Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Reform. It showed that 38.7% of Colorado residents age 19 – 24 were uninsured. This was far more than the next highest category (27.1% of people age 25 – 34 were uninsured). Several factors contribute to the high percentage of young people who are uninsured. They tend to be healthy, and thus aren’t as likely to see the value in health insurance. They tend to work in entry-level jobs that aren’t as likely to provide health insurance benefits. And they usually have lower incomes than older workers, making health insurance – even if it is cheaper for them – harder to afford […]
How The Pharmaceutical Industry Drives Health Care Costs
My father has been on dialysis for eight years. He has Wegener’s Granulomatosis, a rare autoimmune disease, and it destroyed his kidneys very suddenly in 2001. His illness came out of the blue, following a lifetime of good health, and has given my parents an up-close look at our health care system. Because he has kidney failure, my father qualified for Medicare. But until the advent of Medicare Part D in January 2006, my parents had to pay for all of his medications out of pocket.
Dialysis does not remove phosphate, so my father has to be on a drug that prevents phosphate from building up in his blood. In 2002, he was on PhosLo, a brand name drug, because the generic wasn’t available. At that time, a three month supply cost $108.25. Now, seven years later, he takes the generic version (calcium acetate) and a three month supply is $528.29 (a 488% increase in price). Humana, his Medicare D carrier, picks up the tab, but we all know that claims […]
What Guaranteed Issue Without A Mandate Looks Like
[…] Yes, companies like Wellpoint are in business to make a profit. But that doesn’t mean that everything they say in the health care reform debate should be dismissed. If we don’t make sure that everyone becomes part of the health insurance pool, we’ll likely be looking at fewer health insurance companies and far higher premiums after a few years of guaranteed issue policies.
How Current Reform Proposals Would Impact Colorado Premiums
[…] Wellpoint actuaries have crunched the numbers and come up with their best estimates as to how premiums would be impacted in the 14 states where Wellpoint operates. Colorado is one of those states, and for the first time we’re able to see a detailed analysis of what would likely happen to premiums for people here. […]