[…] Jaan homes in on the notion Bob puts forth that health insurance carriers are responsible for spiraling healthcare costs, and should thus be accountable for keeping those costs in check. I agree with Jaan here – health insurance companies are already highly regulated entities, and don’t have as much say when it comes to costs as the public would like to believe. […]
Individual/Family Health
Medical Underwriting And Policy Rescission
[…] Electronic medical records that allow underwriters to see complete medical histories at the time of application would greatly reduce the number of policy recissions. Then again, there’s a lot of talk on the table right now about eliminating medical underwriting all together, which would solve the problem once and for all.
Some People Already Pay Too Much Of Their Own Costs
[…] I know that a lot of our clients in Colorado request HSA qualified plans, mainly because the premiums tend to be lower. But the perspective probably looks a whole lot different if you’re not only funding your own HSA and paying for your own high deductible health insurance, but also facing the prospect of meeting that deductible year after year.
Removing An Exclusion Rider On Our Policy
[…] It’s a lot of hoops to jump through, but if you have an individual health insurance policy in a state like Colorado that allows pre-existing condition exclusion riders, you might want to double check to see if your rider can be re-evaluated. Most carriers in Colorado require that the condition be resolved for at least a year before you can request a review of the rider. […]
Keep It Simple Senators
[…] I’m seeing lots of things that would be very beneficial to the clients we serve in Colorado who are purchasing individual health insurance: no underwriting, premiums that are not based on gender or health history, and no caps on benefits. I haven’t yet found any wording about how these changes would be financed though, and that could become a sticking point. […]
A La Carte Not Such A Good Idea For Health Insurance
[…] the al la carte insurance idea, written as a piece of satirical genius, reminded me of policies that are sold by some of the less scrupulous health insurance carriers in Colorado. If your health insurance application is asking you to decide whether you’d like to have coverage for cancer and ambulance rides, you might want to keep shopping.
Humana Approved Our Appeal
[…] We’re thrilled with Humana’s decision, and we’re glad to be able to offer their policies to our clients in Colorado. Jay’s knees are really the first time we’ve had to use our health insurance for anything more than preventive care, and we’re happy to be able to report that everything has worked the way it’s supposed to. […]
Public Option Not The Same As Medicare
[…] would a disproportionate number of sick people join the public system? Or perhaps more healthy people would switch to the public option? Would the premiums increase substantially over the first few years as the new system tried to balance costs? Would people be able to switch back and forth between the public and private systems? A lot remains to be seen. […]
Health Insurance Companies Performing Better
[…] health insurance companies are indeed working to be better stewards for the customers they serve – insureds and providers. In 2008 (vs 2007), health insurance companies paid providers 5.3% faster and denied 9% fewer claims. This is what the health insurance industry is in business to do: pay claims, and pay them quickly. […]
Subsidies Are Key To Making A Mandate Work
[…] As of 2007, Colorado ranked 33rd in the nation in terms of percentage of working age adults (18 – 64) without health insurance. One in five working-age adults in Colorado is uninsured. My guess is that the majority of those people would love to have health insurance – if they could afford it. Most of the people who don’t have insurance cite cost as the main reason.
Designing An Effective, Enforceable, Individual Mandate
[…] As readers of the Colorado Health Insurance Insider know, Insurance markets pool risk. An insurance system will only work if the exposures of low risk individuals are pooled together with the exposures of higher risk individuals. Life insurance, homeowner’s insurance, auto insurance; they all work the same way. If health insurers are required to offer guaranteed access without an effective mandate requiring all Americans to maintain coverage, there would be a clear disincentive for healthy people to secure or maintain coverage. […]
Gender, Age, Geography, and Health Insurance Premiums
The new proposal put forth by AHIP would take into account only age and geography (not gender) when setting rates. Jaan points out that while this is all well and good, doesn’t it leave things open to cries of foul regarding ageism and geographism? In my opinion, it does. Age and gender are both factors that are beyond our control, and to a large part, so is geographical location. […]
Gay Marriage And Health Insurance Benefits
I am not sure where to begin dissecting the logic in RNC Chairman Michael Steel’s recent attempt to sway public opinion on gay marriage. He is trying to turn gay marriage into an economic issue by maintaining that it will hurt profits for businesses if they have to provide health insurance benefits to partners of gay employees. […]
Steps Towards Health Care Reform
The House has pledged to have a sweeping health care reform bill on the floor by the end of July, and details are starting to come out about the direction they want to take. Requiring everyone to have health insurance coverage is one of the cornerstones of the reform, and I strongly believe that without this piece of the puzzle in place, no reform will truly be effective. […]
Insuring Low Income Children Through Tax Returns
[…] In Colorado, there are 100,000 children who are eligible for Medicaid or CHP+ but remain uninsured. The state is working to expand access to these programs, but getting those 100,000 kids enrolled would make a good dent in the number of uninsured children in Colorado. And tax returns are a great way to identify families that qualify for state-funded health insurance. […]
Colorado House Kills Oral Chemotherapy Bill
The Colorado House killed a bill today that would have required Colorado health insurance companies to cover oral chemotherapy pills. Diane Primavera (D-Broomfield), sponsored Senate Bill 250 in the House, and had support from patient advocate groups and the pharmaceutical industry. But the House Health and Human Services Committee voted 7 – 4 to kill the bill. […]
Hard To Please Everyone With A Single Health Plan
[…] There really is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to health insurance. In terms of health care reform, unless someone just starts handing out free health care (without tax increases or premiums…), it will be tough to get people to agree on a single plan, or even a handful of coverage options. […]
Many Laid Off Workers Not Getting COBRA Assistance
[…] People who worked for a company that went out of business or stopped offering health insurance won’t qualify, because there won’t be a health insurance policy for them to opt to continue via COBRA. In addition, people who were laid off from small businesses might not qualify if their state doesn’t have a “mini-COBRA” law allowing these workers to continue coverage […]
Colorado Single Payer House Bill Abandoned
[…] it really doesn’t make sense for an individual state to set up its own single payer health insurance system. We absolutely need to focus on providing access to health care for the people of Colorado who don’t have health insurance. But it makes more sense to expand programs that are already here.
Too Important To Fail
[…] I would argue that instead of being considered too big to fail, major health insurance carriers might be seen as too important to fail. AIG’s collapse would have been primarily indirect, but health insurance companies work directly with individual Americans. Even in large groups, individual employees are the ones who carry the id cards with the insurance carrier’s logo on them. […]
Looking For Solutions
[…] I have yet to see an article that is critical of the public health insurance idea and also proposes alternative solutions. Here in Colorado, we have 800,000 people who are uninsured. Nationwide, that number is 47 million, and that was last year, before the recession hit and unemployment numbers started to climb. I have no doubt that it is higher now. […]
Cesarean Risks
Kathy’s article highlights the importance of truly informed consent, and points out the ways that women are swayed (manipulated?) towards opting for repeat c-sections in the name of safety, without being truly informed about the risks on both sides of the issue.
Yet Another Out Of Network Charge
[…] it’s all fine and good for a surgeon to have assistants, but doesn’t it seem that those assistants should be part of the same health insurance networks as the primary surgeon? After all of the effort we went through to make sure that we wouldn’t get hit with another out of network charge, this is frustrating to say the least.
Health Insurance Reform Will Only Work With Cost Controls
[…] without mechanisms for cost control, health insurance premiums aren’t going to become more affordable anytime soon. If the government steps in with subsidies, premiums will go down, but what will happen to taxes? Or other public programs that get cut? We can shift costs around, but unless we lower them across the board, we’re not going to see much relief in terms of health insurance premiums paid by individuals and employers.
Getting Rid Of Underwriting Does Not Contain Health Care Costs
[…] So while reform that involves getting rid of underwriting and requiring everyone to purchase health insurance would help some people, it won’t make much of an impact for the millions of people who can’t afford health insurance, regardless of underwriting. It might end up being a piece of the puzzle, but it’s not going to dramatically expand access to health care.