Health Insurance News

Long Term Care F.A.Q. and Glossary

QuoteCorral.com just added a Research Center to their web site, with LTC Insurance as the first subject. It has a frequently asked questions page and a glossary that defines such long term care insurance terms as "activities of daily living" and "non-forfeiture clause". Click Here to View the LTC Insurance Research Center

Affordable Individual Health Insurance Quotes

When shopping for health insurance, we would all like to find a low cost, inexpensive, affordable health insurance policy, but we also want all the best benefits, right? The easiest way to find the best health insurance for the money is to get competing medical insurance quotes from multiple health insurance agents.

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Arizona Job-Based Health Insurance Falling

From the Tuscon Citizen:

For decades, most Americans have counted on their employers for health insurance. But that system is crumbling, and it's crumbling faster in Arizona than it is elsewhere in the nation. Fewer than half of the state's residents are insured through an employer's plan, one of the lowest levels in the country. The rate of employer-based health coverage is falling in Arizona faster than in the nation as a whole. Job-based insurance took hold during World War II as companies offered health benefits to attract scarce workers. Encouraged by federal tax breaks, job-based benefits soon became the financial foundation of the U.S. health care system, eventually covering more than two-thirds of the population. Rising health care costs and the competitive pressures of the world economy have chipped away at that system. Now, slightly more than half of Americans have insurance through a job, a number that has been declining steadily since 2000. In Arizona, the percentage of residents with job-based insurance fell from 55 percent in 2000 to 48 percent in 2004, according to an analysis this fall by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Almost 1 million Arizonans were without insurance in 2004: about 20 percent of the population under age 65, one of the highest levels in the country. And more than 1 million residents get their insurance through the state's Medicaid program, costing state and federal taxpayers more than $5 billion per year. "We have a real serious problem in this state," said Bradford Kirkman-Liff, a professor of health policy at Arizona State University. "I think the job-based system is clearly no longer viable."

Health Insurance Concerns for Seniors

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

For years, demographers have predicted an explosion in demand for health care services as the baby boom generation reaches the point in life where complications from high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension and other disorders begin to take their toll. But what might be more frightening for the nation's health is that a lot of these same boomers will face expensive health care needs without adequate insurance coverage. In its annual statistical report to the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month noted that many people between 55 and 65 years of age are without adequate health insurance coverage. Unless they have income well below the poverty level, or have a major disability that qualifies them for Medicaid, they have to wait until age 65 to be covered by Medicare. With more and more Americans opting for early retirement in their 50s or early 60s, some are left with no insurance at all while others sign up for individual plans with marginal benefits. Retirement health benefits provided by former employers are also being eliminated or scaled back considerably, the CDC said. And because women are three times more likely to be widowed than men during these years, women are often left without coverage when their spouses die. The baby boom generation is going into the years when heart attack, stroke and complications from diabetes are common among American adults. The national survey found that people born in the 1930s were much less likely to have complications in middle age from these common conditions than those born in the 1940s and later. The one bright spot in that outlook was in the area of cholesterol control. Baby boomers' widespread use of lipid-lowering drugs has helped reduce their risk of coronary artery disease — an improvement over the generation before them, the CDC said. But those drugs, and others that can be taken to control high blood pressure and diabetes, for instance, often come at substantial cost. Without adequate insurance, many Americans may not be able to afford them. And if you have to give up adequate health coverage when you retire, many Americans might postpone their decision to do so. That fact alone should force a serious examination of whether an employment-based insurance system is the best prescription for the nation's health.

Individual Health Insurance Quotes

There are many reasons that people may need individual health insurance quotes. All Self Employed people need individual health insurance. If you are thinking about quitting your job or moving to a new company that doesn't offer group health insurance, you will definitely want to get competing health insurance quotes.

If you're looking into purchasing individual health insurance, it is very important that you talk to several agents. Some health insurance agents are only allowed to sell one company's products, so they may present you with biased information. By talking to a couple of different agents, you ensure that you'll find out about the best products available in your area.

If you're currently in the market for individual health insurance, and would like to have up to 4 agents call you with competing quotes, simply click the link below and complete the short form.

Individual Health Insurance Quotes

Part Time Employees Lack Health Insurance

According to a study released yesterday, four of every five part time workers in the United States lack employer sponsored health insurance.

By comparison, about one of every four full-time employees is without such insurance, according to the study conducted by the Iowa Policy Project, a nonprofit public policy research group in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

The study analyzed insurance coverage for ``nonstandard'' employees, such as part-time, temporary or contract workers. About 34.3 million Americans, or 25 percent of the nation's workforce, fall into that category, according to the study.

The research ``demonstrates the weakness in our health insurance system'' for a ``vulnerable group of workers,'' said Sara Collins, a senior program officer with the Commonwealth Fund, a New York nonprofit group that financed the research.

The study, based on 2001 census data and telephone surveys by the researchers in 2003 and 2004, found 21 percent of nonstandard employees had health insurance through their jobs, compared with 74 percent of full-time workers.

Health Insurance Costs Slowing Start-ups?

From USA Today:

The article begins by talking about Jeff Kushner being ready to start a new company to help families fight "cybercrime."

But Kushner, recently laid off from a tech job, is such a reluctant entrepreneur that he's only committing to self-employment for six months while he continues job hunting. Why? It's going to cost him $1,145 a month for health insurance for himself, his wife and two kids.

It goes on to say that because of the costs of proper health insurand for the self employed, many people are opting to work for large companies, which some people believe stifles growth and innovation.

That's worrisome because start-ups and other small firms have historically created most innovations and as much as 75% of new jobs. In Cincinnati, for example, health costs have slowed Wendy Hunt and her husband, Brian Germ, from starting a dog day care business that would employ up to 10 workers. That may not sound like much. But multiplied across thousands of start-ups, these new jobs would replace many lost when mature companies such as Eastman Kodak and Hewlett-Packard are slashing payrolls.

Some experts, however, beg to differ:

Princeton economist Harvey Rosen and other researchers reached the opposite conclusion, however. They did not find a link when they examined the matter more than a decade ago. Their 1994 research noted that entrepreneurs by definition are risk takers. Many are willing to fly without a health safety net, they said.

It is my humble opinion that this giant "problem" is simply a matter of perception. Whether you are on your company's group health insurance plan or you pay out of pocket for an individual health insurance policy, we all pay for our health insurance coverage. The money that an employer spends to insure an employee is money that the employee won't be taking home as pay, but since the money was never in the employee's pocket to begin with, it doesn't seem like a loss.

New Medicare Supplement News Site

Medicare Supplement Insurance News

This site is dedicated to keeping Senior Citizens up to date on Medicare and Medicare Supplement Insurance news. It is fairly new, but there are already several very informative articles about the new medicare prescription drug benefit. If changes to medicare have an effect on you or your family, I would highly recommend reading this blog.

tags: medicare supplement insurance

Gaps in Children's Health Insurance Coverage

From Newsday:

Statistically, for each child that is completely uninsured, there is another child uninsured for at least part of the year. Although it seems counterintuitive, a recent study shows that gaps in health insurance coverage can be worse than no coverage at all when it comes to children's health.

The researchers found that the children with intermittent coverage were more likely to postpone medical care than uninsured kids. For example, 20 percent of children who were uninsured for part of the year delayed getting medical attention because parents worried about cost compared to 16 percent without insurance and 4 percent with public and private coverage.

These gaps in coverage can come as a result of parents switching jobs or health plans without planning for the time in between. If you face a situation like this, I would strongly recommend considering short term health insurance, an inexpensive way to fill the gaps and make sure that you and your family are protected. tags: health insurance, children

Association Health Plans

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a handful of Atlanta executives and politicians are lobbying for legislation to allow small businesses in different states to pool together to save money on health insurance.

Health Insurance is legislated on a state level, so creating a federal program to form "association health plans" poses some challenges.

"If they're exempt from state regulation, there is no way on God's green earth that the federal government can check these organizations for solvency, and that's one of the main functions of state insurance departments," said Kirkland McGhee, executive director of the Georgia Association of Health Plans. "Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements in the 1980s were like that and they stole money from people ... and companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna had to pick up the mess that those people left. I'm afraid AHPs are like the second coming of that."

Insurance industry experts also believe that AHPs may lead to adverse selection for the existing insurance companies.

Charlie Harman, spokesperson for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Inc., said it would upset the balance of healthy and unhealthy that a typical insurance company covers. "More healthy people who may not see themselves going to the hospitals and needing the state-mandated benefits will select the [associated health plans] and Blue Cross Blue Shield will be left with the less healthy people, who will have higher claims and higher costs," Harman said.

Health Insurance Affordable for Young Adults

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/he...26671.html

The report cited Long Beach, Calif., as the city with the most affordable health insurance for single young adults. In that city, the cost of about 17 average-sized lattes (at $3.10 each) would cover the monthly premium for a health insurance plan.

The other cities in the top 10 of most affordable cities were: Sacramento, Calif.; Fresno, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; San Jose, Calif.; San Francisco, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; and Tucson, Ariz. Individual plan premiums in these cities ranged from $54 to $58.77 per month.

The "young adults" mentioned in this study were single 30 year olds. Hopefully this report circulates widely and helps people realize that they really can afford health insurance on their own.

tags: affordable health insurance

U.S. Health Care Costs Highest in World

http://www2.ljworld.com/news...inds/

This probably doesn't surprise anyone, but I still found the article quite interesting. The writer had some very specific statistics regarding how much more healthcare cost in the U.S., yet failed to explain their blatant dismissal of medical malpractice suits as a cause of the high cost.

U.S. citizens paid $5,267 per person for health care in 2002, the study found, 53 percent more than any other industrialized country and $1,821 more than Switzerland, the nation with the second highest per-capita spending.

While medical malpractice is a problem, its costs account for less than 1 percent of spending. And defensive medicine, where doctors run tests or do procedures to lower their chances of being sued, makes up no more than 9 percent of total spending, the study of spending in 30 nations found.

There was absolutely no mention of the exhorbinant cost of medical malpractice liability insurance that doctors are forced to cope with. As long as doctors are open to frivolous lawsuits, the cost of their liability insurance is going to continue to rise. This contributes to the general rise of health care costs, which in turn raises health insurance premiums, making it harder and harder for working citizens to afford quality health insurance coverage.

tags: medical malpractice, tort reform, healthcare costs

Mental Health Insurance in Michigan

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

Mark Reinstein, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association in Michigan is pushing for his state to pass laws requiring health insurance to treat expenses incurred due to mental illness the same as those from physical sickness and injury.

Federal laws require a degree of parity in health-insurance coverage, but it's "mostly symbolic," he said Tuesday at a Kalamazoo Gazette editorial board session.

The United Auto Workers Union, amongst others, opposes the proposed parity because they fear an increase to their already expensive health care premiums. Reinstein, however, pointed out that President Clinton's 2001 mandate providing comprehensive mental health and addiction disorder parity for 9 million federal employees only caused premiums to rise 1.3%

What does this mean for residents of Michigan? Only time will tell.

tags: mental health, Michigan, health insurance