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health-insurance
health-insurance
Here Is What The New Health Insurance Labels Will Look Like
By Chris Morran on February 9, 2012 2:02 PM
21 Comments
Back in August, we told you about how the Dept. of Health & Human Services was finalizing a template for new health insurance labels that would attempt to make it clear what a potential customer was buying and what sort of coverage they would receive. More »
New Legislation Would Pad Health Insurance Coffers While Screwing Over Consumers
By Chris Morran on February 3, 2012 4:15 PM
86 Comments
As part of the Affordable Care Act, health insurers must spend at least 80% of the money they earn from premiums on actually providing health care, with the remaining cash used to cover all administrative, advertising and payroll costs. Those insurers with plans that don't follow this ratio are soon supposed to start giving the extra money back in refunds and discounts. But new legislation introduced in the Senate this week could jeopardize this, while giving insurance companies even more money to stick in their dog pillows. More »
Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Thinks Smoking And Depression Are Basically The Same Thing
By Laura Northrup on February 1, 2012 8:00 AM
73 Comments
Wellbutrin is an atypical antidepressant used to treat patients with depression, but it's also effective when used short-term to help people quit smoking. As far as Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield is concerned, then, if you're using Wellbutrin, you're a smoker. For people whose health insurance comes from their employers, this isn't as much of a problem. But the individual health insurance market is a cruel, unforgiving place where smokers pay higher premiums. And so reader Elizabeth's husband, who quit smoking more than four years ago, is slapped with the smoker's rate because he has a prescription for Wellbutrin, which they consider an "atypical tobacco product." More »
(HHS.gov)
Consumers Union To Government Agency: Don't Delay Consumer-Friendly Wisconsin Health Insurance Provision
By Mary Beth Quirk on January 20, 2012 3:00 PM
39 Comments
Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of our benevolent benefactors at Consumer Reports, is urging the Department of Health and Human Services not to delay a consumer-friendly health insurance provision in Wisconsin. The delay could result in a loss of over $13 million rebates or lower insurance premiums to residents. More »
How Going To HR Made A Health Insurance Co-Pay Hike Less Huge
By Laura Northrup on January 13, 2012 11:33 AM
65 Comments
The beginning of a new year often brings an unhappy change: rate and co-pay hikes for your health insurance. E's insurer made a change to ER visit copays that, given that his daughter is being treated for cancer and makes more frequent emergency visits than most children, would have cost the family a lot more money. So he turned to his company's HR department for help...and actually received it. More »
(Keltose)
Keep It In Your Pants Until You Double-Check Your Insurance
By Phil Villarreal on December 29, 2011 11:15 AM
69 Comments
Maybe someday you'll sit your future child on your knee and reassure him he was created with budgetary responsibility in mind. Those who check out the quirks of their health insurance policies beforehand and babymake accordingly will be able to do just that. More »
Use Your Flexible Spending Account To Whip Medical Bills And Taxes
By Phil Villarreal on December 23, 2011 3:15 PM
82 Comments
If you get heath insurance from your employer, you can probably take advantage of a flexible spending account (FSA) to cut your taxable income and lessen the impact of medical bills that sting you throughout the year. The way things usually work is to require you to commit a dollar figure to the account, then use the money to pay medical bills as they arise. Since the money comes out of your check, you're never taxed on the amount. More »
More Americans Getting Their Medical Care At Retail Locations
By Chris Morran on November 23, 2011 2:30 PM
68 Comments
A growing number of supermarkets, drugstores and other retailers are opening in-store clinics offering everything from flu shots to dental, vision and general medical care. And the people aren't shying away from using these services. More »
Allstate Denied Man's Insurance Claim Because He Went To The Hospital 5 Hours Too Early
By Ben Popken on November 10, 2011 5:00 PM
139 Comments
Usually you're rewarded for showing up early. How could showing up 5 hours early cost you $10,000? More »
Blue Cross Blue Shield Says Man Should Pay $2,306 To Avoid Dying In His Sleep
By Ben Popken on November 3, 2011 11:00 AM
207 Comments
Jason has sleep apnea. When he sleeps, if it can be called that, he stops breathing up to twelve times per hour. His body's reflexive response is that his jaw shoots around wildly, chipping and grinding his teeth, and then he wakes up for a second. A dozen times every hour, every night, he wakes up to his teeth clanging around his mouth. As if that wasn't fun enough, of the $2,400 the mouth guard his doctor prescribed prescribed him, his insurance plan is only going to cover a max of $94. More »
4 Out Of 5 Metropolitan Areas Lack Competitive Health Insurance Markets
By Chris Morran on October 25, 2011 1:15 PM
38 Comments
If you've been thinking that your options for health insurance coverage have been dwindling in recent years, you're probably correct. A new report from the American Medical Association found that 83% of metropolitan areas in the United States lack a competitive commercial health insurance market. More »
(jaubele1)
Good Luck Trying To Find Out How Much A Medical Procedure Will Cost
By Chris Morran on October 24, 2011 4:15 PM
114 Comments
A new report from the folks at the Government Accountability Office has confirmed what anyone who has ever tried to get a clear estimate on what a medical procedure already knows: There's a good chance you can't. More »
(RowJimmy)
Walmart Won't Add Many Future Part-Timers To Health Insurance Rolls
By Phil Villarreal on October 24, 2011 8:00 AM
191 Comments
In health insurance-aimed cost-cutting maneuvers, Walmart won't subsidize health insurance for future employees who work fewer than 24 hours a week. Also, new part-timers who work fewer than 33 weekly hours won't be able to add spouses to their plans. And like workers at most any other company, full-timers with complete health benefits will have more deducted from their paychecks. More »
Businesses Try To Cut Insurance Costs By Coaxing Workers To Get Healthy
By Phil Villarreal on September 29, 2011 9:45 AM
85 Comments
With health insurance premiums rising fast, businesses are looking to keep expenses down by encouraging employees to improve their health, thus cutting down on the cost of care they'll use. More companies are offering on-site gym access and check-ups, discounts on healthy cafeteria food and incentives to get workers to quit smoking. More »
New Law Has Put 1 Million More Young Adults On Parents' Health Insurance
By Phil Villarreal on September 22, 2011 10:30 AM
58 Comments
A 2010 health insurance law that allows those under age 26 to stick to their parents' health insurance plans has allowed 1 million presumably uninsured adults in the age group to find coverage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the amount of young adults who lack health insurance has fallen from 34 percent from the beginning of 2010 to 30 percent in March. More »
(B Rosen)
Woman Loses Insurance Because She Paid With Credit Card
By Ben Popken on September 21, 2011 1:30 PM
124 Comments
Andrea has been a customer with Anthem since 1995, paying her bill all the time and never submitting any claims. So you can see why they canceled her coverage. More »
Nearly 50 Million Americans Lacked Health Insurance In 2010
By Phil Villarreal on September 14, 2011 9:45 AM
106 Comments
Unemployment and an erosion in employer-provided benefits are some of the major reasons the amount of uninsured American rose to 49.9 million last year. That's 900,000 more than in 2009, according to Census data. Gone are the days that it was a given that your workplace handed you an insurance plan. In 2000, 64.1 percent of the population were covered by employer-provided insurance, but those ranks slipped to 55.3 percent last year. More »
PA Judge Deems Health Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional
By Chris Morran on September 13, 2011 3:30 PM
122 Comments
Even though three U.S. Courts of Appeal have ruled on challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — though they haven't all agreed — and it will all inevitably be decided by the Supreme Court, lower courts are apparently still issuing rulings on the matter. More »
WellPoint Hiring Jeopardy-Champ Computer To Make Treatment Decisions For Customers
By Chris Morran on September 12, 2011 1:15 PM
59 Comments
We're sure that most of you were sitting around thinking that the one thing the U.S. health insurance business needs is to be even less human than it is currently. And it looks like the folks at the health insurance behemoth WellPoint have heard those thoughts, because they have decided to "hire" Watson, the IBM supercomputer that beat two humans on Jeopardy earlier this year to help them decide on issues of treatment for policyholders. More »
Federal Appeals Court In Virginia Tosses Out Challenge To Health Care Reform
By Chris Morran on September 8, 2011 12:50 PM
112 Comments
The final of three federal appeals court rulings on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has come down, and this round goes to the White House. More »
