Posts Tagged ‘individual health insurance’

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Free Surgery For The Uninsured

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Image: SurgeryOnSunday.org

People who lack medical health insurance and are in need of surgery are in a major bind. Hospitals are less willing to offer charity care, due to their own budget struggles. In Kentucky, where one-third of working-age adults are uninsured, some doctors are working to change that.

Dr. Andrew Moore has launched an innovative program called SOS (Surgery on Sunday). Once a month, doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and others donate their time and skills to provide free outpatient surgeries to the needy. There is a waiting list, but the order is based on the urgency of patients’ needs.

Most of the people they treat earn too much to qualify for government-provided health insurance like Medicaid, but are unable to afford individual health insurance on the open market. Some have pre-existing conditions–largely exacerbated by lack of care and treatment–that would make a health insurance plan even more costly.

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Posted in Individual | No Comments »

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Anthem Blue Cross Health Insurance Sued By Consumers

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

(Image: umjanedoan under CC 3.0)

The proposed health insurance rate increases by Anthem Blue Cross in California have been extremely controversial nationwide. Now, a consumer protection group has filed a lawsuit against the health insurer.

The group, known as Consumer Watchdog, claims that Anthem and its parent company WellPoint violated state law by leaving members with pre-existing conditions in closed policies–while preventing new members from joining certain health insurance plans. When Anthem then decided to jack up premiums, those people had nowhere to turn.

There is little competition, because people with pre-existing conditions can’t shop around for individual health insurance from other providers. Instead, they must either settle for inferior coverage and higher deductibles or pay more for the same coverage. Anthem Blue Cross’ actions may be considered an anticompetitive practice due to a provision in the California health and safety code, which requires health insurance companies to either expand the risk pool or offer a comparable alternative to closed plans.

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Posted in News | No Comments »

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Republicans: Underpants Gnomes in Health Insurance Summit

Friday, February 26th, 2010

(Image: Bill Ward’s Brickpile under CC 3.0)

Yesterday’s marathon bipartisan healthcare reform summit was interesting, but probably made little progress. There were definitely some areas of agreement. Most notably, Democrats and Republicans agreed that nobody should be denied individual health insurance coverage due to a pre-existing condition. They simply have different ways of going about it.

The problem with their differing methods is that Republicans would like to expand coverage without creating a mandate, which they consider to be unfavorable government intervention in private enterprise and consumer choice. In effect, their proposal is similar to the Underpants Gnomes of South Park fame. For those who have not heard of them, they have a business model that goes something like this:

  1. Steal underpants
  2. ????
  3. Profit!

Obviously, their strategy failed. The view presented by the GOP at the summit fell along those lines:

  1. Ban health insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions
  2. ????
  3. Access to affordable health insurance for all!

Unfortunately, our health insurance industry doesn’t work that way. Health insurers refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions because they fear that they will file too many claims and be unprofitable customers. In order to maintain profits for their shareholders, they can only accept those consumers if there is a larger pool of policyholders among which the cost of coverage can be spread around. Some younger, healthier people will continue to drop their individual health insurance plans if not encouraged to keep them. Therefore, as nice as it sounds, health insurance providers will not simply allow everyone to buy health insurance if it causes them to lose money.

A health insurance mandate is not an ideal solution, but there are few other options to accomplish the goal of eliminating barriers based on pre-existing conditions. Others include a government-run public option, or even a full scale single-payer system, which the Republican party is even more opposed to.

Admittedly, liberals have also been accused of using similar logic: that increased public spending on health care will eventually reduce the deficit.

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Posted in Issues and Opinion | No Comments »

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North Carolina Family Health Insurance Rates To Rise

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

(Image: Ed Yourdon under CC 3.0)

As the second half of the bipartisan healthcare reform summit continues, a story out of North Carolina highlights why health insurance is such a vital issue.

The state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield was recently allowed to increase their health insurance rates by an average of 12%. Some policyholders have seen their premiums increase by 50% or more! North Carolina residents are in a tight bind, since Blue Cross Blue Shield makes up 97% of the individual health insurance market in the state.

Gender rating, an issue that has garnered attention during the summit, plays a role. BCBS of North Carolina had a standard policy of charging higher premiums to young women under a family health insurance plan once they turn 18, but cost increases have led to them lowering the age at which the higher premiums apply.

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Posted in Family | No Comments »

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One in Four Young Adults Without Student Health Insurance

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

(Image: ralphbijker under CC 2.0)

A recent survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has found that nearly one in four young adults and students lack affordable health insurance. That’s probably the reason why one-fourth of American adults ages 18-24 haven’t seen a doctor in more than one year!

Putting off preventative care can lead to major health problems and higher costs in the long run. Young adults in college can buy student health insurance that covers primary care doctor visits; in fact, many universities require their students to be insured. Even if yours doesn’t, it’s still a good investment in your health care. Meanwhile, others can buy individual health insurance.

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Posted in Student | No Comments »

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Poll Shows Obamacare Branding Struggles

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

(Image: Beverly & Pack under CC 2.0)

Confused? Many are puzzled at the findings of this Newsweek poll. Republicans, independents, and even some Democrats have criticized President Obama for attempting to move forward on healthcare reform when a majority of Americans have expressed opposition to his plan. Meanwhile, the administration has claimed that the opposition is more of an issue of bad marketing than the actual merits or lack thereof of the proposal.

Although those justifications for ramming the bill through with budget reconciliation seem pompous, they may be onto something. There are legitimate concerns that the health insurance cost spiral will not be stopped by the bill, and that the amount of government spending and involvement is far too high. However, while the generic “Obamacare” legislation is opposed by 49% of Americans, 48% support the plan once they are told of its specifics.

In fact, a whopping 81% are in favor of a new national health insurance plan exchange, while 76% want health insurance companies to be required to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Three-quarters of respondents also want employers to be mandated to provide health insurance coverage to their employees (with tax incentives for small businesses that do so).

There may be some weight to those who claim that healthcare reform opponents have succeeded in framing the debate, and that the current bill shouldn’t be dumped completely. However, they shouldn’t cheer too much, because certain Democratic proposals–like a tax on high-cost “Cadillac” health insurance plans, and a mandate that would impose fines on those who fail to buy individual health insurance–are very unpopular.

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Posted in Issues and Opinion | No Comments »

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Many Women Unhappy With Health Insurance Experiences

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

(Image: Jaap Steinvoorte under CC 2.0)

According to a new survey by the Boston Consulting Group, many female consumers in America are dissatisfied with the health insurance industry. These days, that is an opinion shared by many seeking (or trying to keep) affordable health insurance; but what makes women especially dissatisfied?

The survey results seem to blame bad customer service above all. Women still tend to shoulder a greater proportion of family responsibilities, and are therefore often responsible for scheduling appointments for themselves and family members. If a child needs to visit the doctor, it is typically the mother who takes him or her. Although that is not necessarily the fault of health insurance companies, they may express frustration towards them as a symbol of the system.

Health insurance, however, may be partially responsible for one of their pet peeves:  long waiting times for lab reports and doctors. Primary care physicians, especially, have an increasing amount of their day eaten up by filling out paperwork to receive reimbursement from various health insurance carriers. Healthcare reform might simplify the process, but it may also come with its own problems and inconveniences.

Women may be more unhappy with their coverage because they tend to pay more for it than men, particularly when buying individual health insurance. Even if the policy excludes maternity coverage, the disparity still stands. Health insurers justify the cost difference by explaining that younger women, on average, file more medical claims than men of the same age. Cold comfort to women seeing the big bite out of each paycheck.

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Posted in Health Insurance Blog, Individual, Issues and Opinion | No Comments »

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Group Health Takes A Hit: Humana Latest To Announce Job Cuts

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Little more than a month after Philly-based Aetna announced it would lay off an additional 1,250 workers after it issued a similar pink slip notice to 900 employees last November, Humana announced today it would be cutting 2,500 people from its payrolls after losing 11 percent of its enrollments in group health plans. The layoffs amount to about 5 percent of its workforce.

In making the announcement, Aetna president and CEO Michael McCallister said, “This regrettable but necessary reduction in our work force is a direct result of Humana’s need to align the size of our company with that of our membership.”

Humana said most of the cuts would come from attrition, outsourcing some of its business functions and not filling open positions, but told investors it expects to ramp up operations in Medicare and its mail-order pharmacy unit; both of which posted stronger financial results. For the quarter ending December, 2009, Humana posted a 44 percent profit, mostly attributed to growth in its Medicare business.

The move comes at a pivotal time for group health insurance companies, as leading economists and Wall Street analysts report that the U.S. economy is starting to show signs of job growth while Congress is scrapping its health care reform initiatives and starting over. Industry observers expect the U.S. government to introduce changes to the health insurance industry that would, in effect, make it more affordable for individuals to purchase individual and family health insurance policies directly from carriers and brokers. If passed, the change is likely to put an even larger financial dent in the group health insurance market.

Insurers that issue work-based health insurance plans have struggled over the past year to increase revenues, as the economic recession continues to wipe away jobs from the private sector. In addition to the job cuts at Humana and Aetna, other health insurance companies that specialize in group plans; such as CIGNA and Wellpoint, have eliminated more than 1,000 jobs in the past year. President Obama recently announced new banking and grant programs aimed at small business owners in hopes of staging a revival in the national job market.

Anthem Blue Cross of California, among other health insurance plans administered by Wellpoint, announced today it would cancel its previously announced investor conference that had been scheduled next Tuesday so it could prepare for a Congressional hearing prompted after the company said it would hike insurance premiums by 38 percent in May.

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Posted in Health Insurance Blog | No Comments »

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Health Insurance Web Searches Spike, Says ComShare

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

If there ever was a proof-positive sign the economy and its lingering layoffs are driving people to find their own health insurance plans, this is a big one.

ComScore, the people who measure all-things-online (working behind the iron curtains at Google, Yahoo! and other search engines) just released a study of online health insurance activity in 2009. The study found that nearly 24 million Americans visited a health insurance company Web site during the fourth quarter of 2009, representing 10 percent of the total U.S. online population.

Aetna led the pack of health insurance companies that attracted the most traffic with nearly 5 million visitors during October, November and December of 2009, followed by Blue Cross Blue Shield sites with 4.1 million visitors (17.4 percent penetration). Kaiser Permanente clocked in with 3.1 million; UnitedHealthcare snatched 2.2 million visitors; CIGNA got 2.6 million and Wellpoint sites attracted a combined count of 2.2 million homepage hits.

All things considered, the Web is growing as the primary source of information people turn to first about everything. Internet searching has grown to 175 million per hour, according to comScore stats. In December 2009 alone, there were 131 billion Internet searches conducted around the globe. Health insurance companies comprise a small piece of the whole Internet search world, but significant nonetheless.

“Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet as one of their first destinations to research health insurance, whether it is gathering information to evaluate options or seeking answers to questions concerning their current provider,” said comScore director Susan Engleson in a press release accompanying the stats. “Having a strong online presence serves as both a gateway to consumers as well as an important branding opportunity for health insurance organizations.”

A Stanford University study following some 66,000 Americans and their use of the Internet for individual health insurance found very similar results. An excerpt of “Consumers’ Use of the Internet for Health Insurance” reveals greater opportunities for health insurance companies to attract more traffic to their Web sites:

“Analysis of Internet applications for consumer health has focused on the extent to which people use the Internet for information about health and healthcare. The role of the Internet in the relationship between consumers and health plans has received considerably less attention. Nevertheless, the potential impact of Internet applications in this area is large. Health insurance is a complex and information-intensive product, requiring extensive coordination among consumers, patients, insurers, and providers. In theory, consumers, purchasers, and health plans could benefit substantially from technological innovation that either improved the ability of consumers to obtain information about the types of health insurance available to them or reduced the cost or increased the quality of health insurance products.”

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Posted in Health Insurance Blog | 1 Comment »

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Don’t Try This At Home! DIY Operations

Monday, February 8th, 2010

(Image: IDS.photos under CC 2.0)

In these tough economic times, many people are struggling to pay for basic needs. Health care is one of those essentials. For pet owners, Fido or Fluffy is a part of the family, and their health is also a priority. Due to their smaller size and simpler physiology, health care for pets is far less expensive than human health insurance. However, some owners will go to desperate measures when their pets are very sick and uninsured–even if they are not in the pet’s best interest.

A man in Rhode Island was recently arrested for taking matters into his own hands and operating to remove a cyst from his 14-year-old dog’s leg. He was unable to afford a visit to the veterinarian, so he used local anesthetic. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong way to go about treating the Labrador mix. As it turns out, the surgery was completely unnecessary: the cyst was benign, and vets believe that the dog had been feeling no pain from it. What the man did was inexcusable, but it holds some lessons for people.

The dog required a second surgery by medical professionals to reverse the first surgery, which was even more expensive. Do-it-yourself surgery on another person is similarly dangerous. On a more realistic note, skimping on quality and visiting a quack physician–or skipping regular check-ups–to save money will also cost you more in the long run. It is better to save your money for individual health insurance, even if it’s only a catastrophic health plan for emergencies.

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Posted in Health Insurance Blog, Individual, News | No Comments »

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