[…] Regardless of the practicalities involved, there’s no doubt that the headlines about insurers ceasing to issue child-only policies is generating some ill will and bad PR for insurance carriers. Either lawmakers knew that would happen, or else they put very little thought into considering the details of how insurers would go about making children’s coverage guaranteed issue a mere six months after the bill was signed into law, and just added the provision as a feel-good part of the bill.
United Healthcare
Three Of The Top Insurers Extending A Hand To Young Adults
Three of the nation’s top health insurance carriers – Wellpoint, United Healthcare, and Humana – have announced that they will automatically keep young adults under the age of 26 on their parents’ policies between now and September 23, when the health care reform legislation guarantees this option for all everyone under the age of 26. […]
Colorado Division Of Insurance Reconsidering Anthem Rate Increase
[…] But these numbers would seem to indicate that while Anthem’s rate increase may have been large, it seems to be in line with what other carriers are charging in Colorado. For the little test I conducted, Anthem’s premium was the second-lowest I found, and the only one with a lower premium had an additional thousand dollars in out of pocket exposure.
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.
Updating Communication Between Providers And Insurers
[…] What if our health insurance ID cards came with barcodes that could be scanned in the doctor’s office or hospital, immediately allowing the office staff to see our benefits, how much of our deductible still needs to be met, and any exclusions on our policy? Then admission and treatment data could be transmitted directly to the health insurance carrier, without the need for phone calls or extra staff. […]
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. […]
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.
Complaint Ratios Updated With 2008 Data
The Colorado Division of Insurance has finished compiling and organizing the data for 2008. 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 […]
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.
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. […]
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. […]
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.
Medical Home Pilot Program
[…] I’m curious to see what the outcome is for the IBM/United medical home pilot program. We work with United Healthcare here in Colorado, and are eager to see if United can come up with a program that would ultimately lead to lower healthcare costs (and thus lower health insurance premiums). If the pilot is successful, I imagine we’ll see other health insurance companies implementing similar medical home programs.
Expanding Health Insurance Coverage In Colorado
[…] Increasing the income limits and enrolling more people doesn’t require additional infrastructure or administrative changes. Working within our current framework, but with expanded enrollment, seems to be an efficient way of going about this process. It’s also probably the quickest way to actually get health insurance coverage to Colorado residents who need it.
Some Thoughts On Colorado HB1224
[…] I looked at premiums for $5,000 deductible HSA qualified policies from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Assurant, Cigna, Humana, and United HealthOne. If lawmakers disallow the use of gender to determine individual health insurance premiums in Colorado, younger women and older men will have lower premiums, while younger men and older women will have higher premiums. There won’t be any actual benefit to the overall population – health insurance premiums will just be averaged for men and women.
Non-Profit Does Not Necessarily Mean Low Cost
I recently posted an article on the Colorado Health Insurance Insider about my views on making Medicare available as an opt-in option for Americans younger than 65. I got a comment on the article that I thought brought up some good points and wanted to expand on some of the ideas. The reader pointed out that a good number of private health insurance plans are non-profit […]
United HealthCare Lets You Buy Future Insurability
[…] Golden Rule has launched Continuity in 25 states, and is working to roll out the program in the other states where they market policies. Colorado isn’t one of the first 25 states, although Golden Rule is a big part of the individual health insurance market here, so I expect that we’ll see the Continuity option here before long. […]
United Healthcare Eliminates FACT Fee
United Healthcare/Golden Rule has always required that members joined an association called “FACT” in order to purchase the health insurance. It was only $3/month, but it was still annoying. For applicants submitting new applications from today on, there is no more FACT fee!
Big Pharma Likes The Free Market
[…] What it really boils down to is that it doesn’t matter how great the drugs are if people can’t afford them. Here in Colorado we’ve seen more and more health insurance carriers increase copays for drugs, add prescription deductibles, or cover only generic drugs in an effort to keep prescription costs under control. […]
The Affordability Of Individual Health Insurance
[…] Colorado has average premiums below the national rate, at $141/month for an individual. If you’re healthy there are plenty of affordable options available, and in the event of a serious health problem, an individual health insurance policy will protect your assets. Which is why we have health insurance in the first place.
Leaving a Four Year Old Kid With No Options
[…] I realize that anecdotes are not statistical data. And the story of one family’s struggles with health insurance, regardless of how compelling that story may be, is indeed an anecdote. But I challenge anyone who believes that our health care and health insurance systems are not broken, to come up with a workable solution for the Wilkes family.
The Cost Of Individual Health Insurance In Colorado
[…] Of course Colorado – like most states – uses medical underwriting on individual health insurance policies. And if underwriting were no longer allowed on Colorado policies, we could very well see the average family premium exceed $700/month. But for now, $5000 goes a long way towards paying for a health insurance policy in Colorado. […]
Complaint Ratios Updated With 2007 Data
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
[…] 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 […]
United Healthcare Settlement
[…] needs to be focusing on efficiency, service, and honesty. Anything less is likely to be looked at sharply as lawmakers and industry insiders work to lower the cost of healthcare and increase access to care for all Americans. I’m glad to see that United Healthcare – one of our major Colorado health insurers – has laid the SEC problem to rest and seems to be headed in the right direction.