When your health insurance is sponsored by your employer, it is easy enough to know which policy to choose because it has typically been selected for you, but when you are unemployed, self-employed, or employed by a company that doesn’t offer this medical benefits, then it is up to you to find your own coverage. Use the following tips to help you locate the right policy and price to fit your needs: • Healthcare.gov – this federal government site provides a number of questions that you can answer in order…
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Consumer Watchdog wants ballot measure seeking public option, 20 percent rate rollback, and strict management
Consumer Watchdog, a top consumer rights group from California, is working to divert the attention of the 2012 election away from the Obama administration’s health care overhaul in favor of a state ballot measure that seeks a public option, stricter premium oversight, and a rollback of 20 percent for insurance rates. The initiative by this Santa Monica-based group is aimed at the ballot in California in November 2012. Consumer Watchdog is the same group that brought about the landmark ballot measure in 1988, Proposition 103, which set cost and regulatory…
Read MoreCOBRA loses federal subsidy, future of the program questioned
The end is nigh for one of the federal government’s most popular and well-used insurance plans. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, more famously known as COBRA, will no longer be subsidized by the government beginning next week. The demise of the subsidy, which has provided insurance coverage to millions of unemployed citizens throughout the nation by lowering the cost of COBRA, has been met with little fanfare. After the subsidy ends, the options for those unable to afford conventional insurance coverage will become slimmer. Despite being designed to help…
Read MoreAnalysts: Enrollment in states’ pre-existing conditions insurance plans incredibly low
The health care reform law of 2010 is well known for a number of provisions that have succumb to a seemingly endless tide of controversy. These provisions generally garner the majority of public attention, but it is one provision that has been in effect for over a year now that may point to some fundamental flaws in the federal law. The provision in question is one that originally drew in public acclaim, but has since faded into obscurity. According to the law, each state must have a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance…
Read MoreOregon health insurance rates on the rise
Health insurance providers in Oregon have been seeking approval for rate increases for nearly a year. Some may be getting their wish, but will not be able to raise rates as much as they had originally planned. The Oregon Insurance Division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services has granted approval for half of the rate proposals they have been reviewing over the past year. While many companies will not see the increases they had hoped for, consumers stand to save more money on their policies. The Division approved…
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