The Texas Medicaid Director, Billy Millwee, spoke to the House Public Health and Insurance committees this week regarding the Affordable Care Act. The director has been tracking the trends and effects that the federal health care law has birthed in the state and has come to a promising conclusion. Currently, 74% of the state’s residents have some form of health insurance coverage. Millwee claims that when the Affordable Care Act is fully enacted in 2014, this will jump to 91%. By that time, only 2.3 million Texans will have no…
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Employees look to cancer insurance to fill the gap left by employers’ high deductible health coverage
Employers in California, as well as across the country, are attempting to cut the costs… associated with the skyrocketing medical insurance premiums by choosing higher deductible health coverage that shifts some of the expense to the employees. In response, many of those employees are looking to supplemental health plans like cancer insurance as a way to fill in the gaps that are being left behind by that employer sponsored insurance. Though these efforts were not very common as recently as two years ago, they are increasingly becoming the norm. That…
Read MorePennsylvania to answer consumer questions regarding state’s health insurance exchange
As Pennsylvania continues its slow and steady march toward building a health insurance exchange, residents of the state are coming to the Department of Insurance with questions about how the exchange will affect them. The state’s Department of Insurance has been awarded a $1 million grant from the federal government to help keep consumers informed over the matter. With the money, the department has hired additional staff, whose purpose it is to answer the questions consumers have about the exchange and the Affordable Care Act. Pennsylvania has stood in opposition…
Read MoreReport shows that employees in California will be paying more for their health insurance coverage
InstantHealthInsuranceQuotes.com, a premium aggregation website, has released a new report that shows how employees in California are beginning to pay more for their insurance coverage. The report suggests that employers are trickling down the cost of coverage to their employees in an attempt to offset the cost of insurance. This is largely due to the rate at which health insurance premiums are rising. Some employers claim that rates are rising to levels that they can no longer support without more help from workers. The company’s report is based on a…
Read MoreHighmark announces the launch of new low premium and deductible individual health insurance coverage
Highmark has announced the availability of a new form of individual health insurance plan called the Simply Blue PPO, which is designed to provide policyholders with simple coverage at a low premium, with a predictable structure for copayments and with low deductibles. According to Highmark’s senior vice president of health services strategy, product and marketing, Steven Nelson, “We listened to our members’ feedback, and we’ve heard them say that they would like a more affordable plan without a large upfront deductible.” The new plan is medically underwritten and offers policyholders…
Read MoreReport highlights the sluggish growth of health care spending due to U.S. recession
The worldwide recession has had a major impact on the health care system of the U.S. The effects are quite obvious in terms of insurance. As thousands of people throughout the country lost their jobs, they also lost their health insurance coverage. The recession, which lasted from late December 2007 to the middle of 2009, suppressed health care spending in the U.S. significantly, according to the federal government. The Obama administration released a report this week from the Department of Health and Human Services showing the impact of the recession…
Read MoreTips to save your money when purchasing health insurance coverage
With the start of the new year, many people have made resolutions to save more money, and in that effort, it is not uncommon to look over health insurance coverage to make sure that what has already been purchased or what will be purchased in the near future will include the best possible savings but with the coverage that makes the most sense to each individual. Use the following tips to help achieve this goal: • Do your homework and compare all of the different health plans available to you…
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