beauty and health

Posts Tagged ‘health insurance plan’

Employer based Health Insurance

When looking for health insurance, the first question you should ask is, “Does my employer offer a health insurance plan?” Most companies provide health insurance as a benefit, and larger firms are required to provide health insurance. If your employer has a health insurance plan you should take the time to look into the costs and benefits. Very often employer-based health insurance is less expensive than comparable individual coverage.

Employer-based health insurance is cheaper for a number of reasons. Number one is your employer bears some of the cost for your health insurance. Another key reason employer-based health insurance can be less expensive than individual health insurance is rates and qualification requirements are typically lower. You can also save additional money with employer-based health insurance. One way is to have your employer pay the premium on a pre-tax basis to lower your overall taxable gross pay. Another way to reduce your taxable income is to participate in your employer’s flexible spending plan to save money for out-of-pocket health insurance expenses such as co-pays, some medications and certain medical devices.

COBRA benefits

A concern you might have about employer-based health insurance is what happens to your health insurance when you change jobs, are released by your employer or otherwise become unemployed? A government program called the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives you the right to carry your employer-based group health insurance coverage with you for up to 18 months. While COBRA will allow you to remain insured, you will have to pay the entire premium for your group health insurance. Previously both you and your employer contributed to the cost of your health insurance. If you find yourself requiring COBRA benefits make sure to fill out the appropriate forms available from your previous employer’s benefits department within 60 days of leaving the job. Otherwise you could be denied COBRA health insurance coverage.

No employer-based health insurance? No problem!

What if your employer doesn’t offer health insurance? Not a problem, you can always buy an individual health insurance policy. And it’s possible, if you are member of an organization or group that offers group health insurance, to retain the benefit of employer-based health insurance in terms of lower rates and qualification requirements.

Whether your employer offers health insurance or you are just looking for an individual health insurance policy, be sure to take your time and compare health insurance quotes to find a policy that best fits your family’s health insurance needs and saves you money. It pays to shop around for your health insurance policy.

Reform could mean end to state health care pool

Lynn Gruber is monitoring the health care debate in Washington more closely than most people. If Congress passes legislation this year or early in 2010, it could mean the end of organizations like the one she heads.

And that could be a good thing.

Gruber is president of the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA). It’s a health insurance plan created by the Legislature in 1976 for people who’ve been rejected by private insurers because they have cancer, diabetes, heart disease or other costly conditions.

With 27,000 members, it’s one of the oldest and largest of 35 high-risk pools in the country, all set up over the years by states to provide a safety net for those who are medically “uninsurable.”

The proposed federal legislation would stop health insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions — one of the industry’s most controversial practices — while also requiring everybody to buy health insurance. If insurers can no longer reject applicants, then organizations such as MCHA would become obsolete. Health reform could offer people with pre-existing conditions more plan choices, although there remain many questions about the timing and cost of the new options, Gruber said.

“Our goal is to have 27,000 members transitioned into the new world of federal health reform as it happens,” she said.

The change could be timely because MCHA — and the health insurance market itself — are beset by cost trends that may be unsustainable.

Insurer of last resort

For more than three decades, MCHA has been the insurer of last resort for people such as Kerry Koestler of Mankato.

After Koestler left his job at an imprinting company in 2002, he looked for an individual policy.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota wouldn’t cover him because of his diabetes — a pre-existing condition.

“I knew I’d be denied,” Koestler said. “To me, it was a formality.” With the denial letter, he could then apply to MCHA.
Koestler is now self-employed as a claims adjuster. His family of four pays ,980 a year for coverage.

Yet MCHA has never been a perfect solution.

For one thing, premiums are about 20 percent higher than for a comparable policy in the individual market — unaffordable for some. But those who sign up often have no choice. Many are self-employed or work for employers who don’t offer group insurance. Because they often have high medical costs, it would be worse to be uninsured altogether.

“For those who get their insurance through us, for sure it is lifesaving,” Gruber said. However, “not everybody can afford our premiums or they struggle to pay them.”

A second challenge is that MCHA premiums cover only about half the cost of care for this group of individuals — and that cost is rising.

In 2008, MCHA spent 6.5 million more paying for medical care and administrative costs than it collected in premiums and other revenue. In 2009, those losses are projected at 0 million.

To cover the shortfall, insurance companies pay an assessment, which they pass on in higher premiums — by 2 to 3 percent — to those with individual and small-group policies.

Out of whack

Over the years, MCHA has provided an inverse barometer to how well the private insurance market is working.

When the economy is good and people have access to other coverage, MCHA’s membership goes down. In a bad economy, as more people lose their jobs and group coverage, membership goes up.

After hitting an all-time high of 35,000 in 1993, membership fell because of a good economy and insurance industry reform. It rose again between 1998 and 2003 during an economic downturn.

Since then, the picture has been a little more mixed.

Membership has been falling steadily from 33,705 in 2003 to about 27,000 today, in part because those who used to buy Medicare supplement plans through MCHA have switched to new products introduced in recent Medicare reforms.
But while a wave of layoffs in the recent recession has thrown a lot more people off group coverage, overall MCHA membership didn’t rise between 2008 and 2009, making this recession something of an anomaly.

Between January and October 2009, more than 5,000 members left MCHA. About the same number of new members joined during that period. A significant proportion of those who left — 11 percent — said it was because they couldn’t afford the MCHA plan anymore.

“Not good news,” said Gruber. “Enrollment is decreasing and losses are increasing.”

Gruber would like to broaden the sources of funding for MCHA, an issue she may try to take to the Legislature next year. Meanwhile, she’s keeping one eye on Congress.

WASHINGTON-Cardinal Francis George is urging Catholics in the United States to tell the Obama Administration to retain Health and Human Services regulations governing conscience protections for health care workers.

The internet really makes searching for the best insurance coverage at the most affordable rate a lot easier to do. With comprehensive set of online tools helping you with the search, you can easily get quotes from multiple insurance companies in a matter of minutes, even seconds. You can also find additional information based on where you live, allowing you to understand different aspects of family health insurance without hassle. If you live in Florida, for example, you can get family health insurance information in Florida and quickly make the best purchase decision.

Comparing family health insurance plans is not the only important thing to do when it comes to choosing the best family health insurance policy. You also need to compare service providers and insurance companies to make sure you are getting the right coverage from top – reliable and trustworthy – insurance company that works for you.

First of all, check with the local or federal government offices regarding registered insurance company and their track records. The government regulates insurance companies strictly – especially those who provide health insurance policies – to make sure customers and buyers get to enjoy the benefits of having proper health insurance protection.

Using the data acquired earlier, you can start looking into insurance deals offered by registered companies. While you are at it, don’t forget to find out more about the insurance companies you are comparing as well. There are a lot of sites offering reviews and customer testimonials; use them to help you understand just how good the insurance companies are based on their previous customers’ testimonials.

Find the best family health insurance plan to purchase and you can rest assured knowing that the health insurance plan you pick is backed by solid insurance company that is trustworthy and has good reputation. Complete the purchase and start enjoying family health insurance coverage in no time at all.

Always follow these steps we just discussed whenever you are buying family health insurance – or other types of insurance – to make sure you are properly protected. You will have no trouble at all enjoying the benefits your insurance policy has to offer in the future.