In Mass, everyone has to have health insurance by January 1. Their new universal health insurance system has expanded government coverage options and driven down the price of private insurance with government subsidies and state collaboration with health insurance companies. But everyone has to sign up. If they don’t they’ll face tax penalties starting next… Read more about Health Insurance Can’t Be Optional
Individual/Family Health
Cavalcade of Risk #38 Is Up
“Super Saver” is hosting this weeks Cavalcade of Risk. This week’s Cavalcade concentrated on Insurance and Investing risk, with a smaller representation on Health, Business and Personal risk. Bob Vineyards submission, I Am Not a Carpenter, is a very entertaining read for experienced health insurance agents. By the way, ask him about his pantyhose. I am excited that… Read more about Cavalcade of Risk #38 Is Up
Putting A Price Tag On Life
Self Magazine published an article in their October issue titled “How Much Is A Life Worth?” written by Roxanne Patel Shepelavy. The article is a detailed analysis of the cost of heavy duty cancer-fighting drugs, who pays, and who profits. Michelle Diekmeyer’s story is highlighted in the article, and it would make anyone cringe. She… Read more about Putting A Price Tag On Life
Colorado "Health Report Card"
While Coloradans tend to be healthier than residents of other states, senior citizens are faring better than the state’s children and infants, according to a study by the Colorado Health Foundation.The nonprofit foundation’s 2007 “Health Report Card,” released Wednesday, found that based on 40 health indexes: Colorado residents overall got a B-minus grade when compared… Read more about Colorado "Health Report Card"
Just Put it on the Credit Card – It’ll All Work Out
Democrats obviously haven’t thought far enough ahead about their plans to fund SCHIP. On the other hand, Senator Trent Lott has: “They fund it with a 61 cent a pack tax increase and say by the way, that will discourage people from smoking. That’s good. But the problem is if people do stop smoking you… Read more about Just Put it on the Credit Card – It’ll All Work Out
Humana Acquires CompBenefits
It’s not as newsworthy as when United Healthcare acquires a company like PacifiCare or AMS, or the “Don’t taze me bro” loser getting tazed. But I figure I should still mention the fact that Humana acquired CompBenefits today. http://www.compbenefits.com/news/100107.html CompBenefits is a dental and vision provider. So this should make Humana even more competitive in… Read more about Humana Acquires CompBenefits
Back to School with HWR
In a back to school version of the Health Wonk Review, Joe Paduda put together an easily readable collection of the best health care policy discussions in the recent health policy blogosphere. He started out with a collection of posts about “HillaryCare 2.0”, which was very interesting. And David Williams of the Health Business Blog always… Read more about Back to School with HWR
Consumer Reports and Health Insurance
Yesterday we got an email from a health writer & editor at Consumer Reports magazine who’s in the middle of researching an article about individual health insurance. She’s been reading our blog and wanted to interview us for her article. We talked on the phone at length about the individual health insurance market (she’s in… Read more about Consumer Reports and Health Insurance
Health Insurance Hoops
One of our clients gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday, 9/2. She has health insurance through her employer, but her husband and daughter have an individual Colorado health insurance policy through our agency. She called me on Wednesday to see about adding the new baby to her husband’s policy, since it will cost… Read more about Health Insurance Hoops
SWF, 26, Uninsured, With Breast Cancer
A friend of mine was telling me a story about a lady she knows who has just found out that she has breast cancer. She’s 26 years old and has no health insurance. She earns $17,000/year and has been told that she does not qualify for Medicaid. My friend was asking me if there’s anything… Read more about SWF, 26, Uninsured, With Breast Cancer
United Healthcare Improves Plans, Lowers Rates
United Healthcare has just made some big changes to their individual/family health insurance plans in Colorado. Some of the best improvements are: More flexible underwriting, including a height and weight chart with expanded limits. A first-day wellness benefit. More deductible options United Healthcare was already one of our favorites for underwriting on impaired risk cases…. Read more about United Healthcare Improves Plans, Lowers Rates
A Pretty Lady, A Puppy, and Some Daisies
I was heartened today to see this article announcing that the FDA is going to start studying whether “relaxing, upbeat images featured in TV drug ads distract consumers from warnings about the drugs’ risks.” According to the article, drug companies in the US spent $29.9 billion on advertising in 2005 – up 330% from a… Read more about A Pretty Lady, A Puppy, and Some Daisies
Tax and Spend
Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo criticized the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill because, “it removes a requirement that children in the plan show proof of citizenship.” Again, the Democrats have proven their loyalty to illegal aliens over American citizens, Tancredo said. Sounds logical, right? We don’t want children of illegal immigrants taking advantage of… Read more about Tax and Spend
Check Out the Latest Health Wonk Review
Bob Laszewski spent some valuable vacation time in HI putting together the latest Health Wonk Review. He included a post from the Colorado Health Insurance Insider about how dealing with health care providers without the assistance of an insurance company is like dealing with the mafia. And a good one to check out is from The… Read more about Check Out the Latest Health Wonk Review
MEGA Story Left Out of SiCKO
Another family that was scammed by MEGA because of an agent leaving out important details of their policy, like “it’s actually not really going to cover anything”, almost had their story told in the movie SiCKO. However, the story was cut from the movie. When they were cut from the film, Hesper Main said that… Read more about MEGA Story Left Out of SiCKO
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Angelina Ortiz’s family income must not exceed $41,304 annually. If it does, she and her brother would no longer qualify for Colorado Childrens’ Health Plan Plus, and the family would be forced to pay $1200/month for Angelina’s lifesaving medications. Her condition? Asthma. The ubiquitous respiratory ailment that can range in severity from a minor tight-chested… Read more about Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Humana Says the Price is a Secret
Note: This is the fourth entry in my price transparency experiment. See the first entry here, the second entry here, the third entry here, and the fifth entry here. Jay has written several times over the last month about his lipoma surgery and the billing headache that it has become. When we got the bill… Read more about Humana Says the Price is a Secret
The Freedom of Individual Health Insurance
She said she realizes that the money they’ll be saving on their health insurance now is much greater than what she would have saved by having the group insurance through her employer for the 2 years she worked there. And the freedom it gave her and her husband is priceless.
Testimonials
We know we’re not perfect. Who is? And we want to constantly improve what we do and how we help you with your insurance needs. Consequently, getting honest testimonials and feedback from our customers is important to helping us serve you better. Most importantly, we don’t sell your name or email address. (privacy policy) During… Read more about Testimonials
I Got the Bill
Note: This is the third entry in my experiment with price transparency in the US health care system. See the first entry here, the second entry here, the fourth entry here, and the fifth entry here. I finally got the bill for the surgery (pdf). It was quite high compared to the estimate I received…. Read more about I Got the Bill
What is a Copay?
First of all, a plan with copays is usually going to be a waste of money. A copay is a dollar amount the health insurance company has specified that you’ll pay for either doctors visits or prescription drugs. A typical plan will have $25 doctors visit copays and $15 copays for generic Rx and $30… Read more about What is a Copay?
Colorado Health Insurance and Bariatric Surgery
For the last few days, I’ve been pondering how I feel about health insurance paying for gastric bypass surgery. My first reaction is ‘no way!’ I don’t want to be subsidizing the cost of this surgery with my health insurance premiums. I tend to take a very hard-line approach to the current obesity crisis. It’s… Read more about Colorado Health Insurance and Bariatric Surgery
Individual Health Insurance Jitters
Yesterday I was talking with a friend about what we would do if we had tons of money. One of those pie in the sky conversations that makes you thing about what’s important in life. Neither one of us is a big shopper – we’re both pretty frugal and didn’t think that would change much. … Read more about Individual Health Insurance Jitters
Scum
It’s easy to see how people can be against socialized medicine, or even an expansion of Medicaid. The more people you hear about like “Ashley” on Yahoo Answers, the more it seems like you’re just subsidizing their irresponsibility. She asks… Hey all. Just the other day I went to apply for Medicaid. I live in… Read more about Scum
Still No Transparency
Note: This is the second entry in this nightmare to get some transparency on a simple lipoma removal surgery. See the first entry here, and the third entry here. I found a dermatologist that could remove my lipoma (if you haven’t done so already – read part 1) in her office (Boulder Valley Center for… Read more about Still No Transparency