Senate Health Committee Chairman, Senator Kemp Hannon, announced a part of the recently adopted a new budget, which enables health insurance companies to carry individuals under their parent's policy to age 25, instead of age 19 for those who do not go to college and 23 for those who do.
The part of the bill, announced at a University Student Center during a June 1 press conference, will be a relief to many parents and young people facing extremely high COBRA costs when their child reaches the age of ineligibility under their plan, but is either still in school or searching for employment. The legislation also assists those young 20-somethings who are bearing the brunt of their own health insurance costs by enabling them to obtain health insurance coverage through their parents.
"We have to be realistic," Senator Hannon said. "With double and triple majors and five-year master's programs, many of our young people are not graduating college when they are 21 anymore. Burdening them and their families with COBRA costs is unfair."
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Health records on internet
Privacy groups are sounding alarms as the nation's largest insurance companies finalize plans to allow millions more customers to post their health records on the Internet.
Insurers like Aetna Inc. say Web-based tools help patients and physicians keep track of medical information while potentially holding down spiraling medical costs.
About 100 million insurance customers in the U.S. have access to Web-based tools, but companies don't have an estimate of how widely they are used. Insurers hope to at least double the technology's reach by the end of next year.
Aetna chief executive Ronald Williams says the change is as revolutionary to health care as the introduction of the ATM card was to banking in the 1980s.
But privacy advocates say there's no guarantee the records will be safe from hackers. Some worry patients may refuse to disclose some illnesses to their doctors to keep documents out of databases.
"As a former nurse, I know that back in the 1980s, patients who were alcoholics did not want to have paper records," said Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom "They just didn't want people to know & That could affect the quality of their care."
Aetna, which offers personal health records to its customers, says security procedures include a member login and an online registration Web site with secure sign-ons. In addition, customers can restrict elements of their records from being shared among health practitioners.
Aetna said personal health records are protected by the same security technology that is used for online banking.
Personal health records, which are available through insurers Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and others, are intended to help doctors and patients track medications and treatments.
The technology allows doctors to record test results, immunizations, prescriptions and other medical information into an online database that can be accessed by patients, the insurer and other physicians if needed. Patients can also add details about over-the-counter medications, plans of care, family health histories and other information.
Insurers like Aetna Inc. say Web-based tools help patients and physicians keep track of medical information while potentially holding down spiraling medical costs.
About 100 million insurance customers in the U.S. have access to Web-based tools, but companies don't have an estimate of how widely they are used. Insurers hope to at least double the technology's reach by the end of next year.
Aetna chief executive Ronald Williams says the change is as revolutionary to health care as the introduction of the ATM card was to banking in the 1980s.
But privacy advocates say there's no guarantee the records will be safe from hackers. Some worry patients may refuse to disclose some illnesses to their doctors to keep documents out of databases.
"As a former nurse, I know that back in the 1980s, patients who were alcoholics did not want to have paper records," said Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom "They just didn't want people to know & That could affect the quality of their care."
Aetna, which offers personal health records to its customers, says security procedures include a member login and an online registration Web site with secure sign-ons. In addition, customers can restrict elements of their records from being shared among health practitioners.
Aetna said personal health records are protected by the same security technology that is used for online banking.
Personal health records, which are available through insurers Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and others, are intended to help doctors and patients track medications and treatments.
The technology allows doctors to record test results, immunizations, prescriptions and other medical information into an online database that can be accessed by patients, the insurer and other physicians if needed. Patients can also add details about over-the-counter medications, plans of care, family health histories and other information.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Family Health Insurance Quote – Get the Best, for the Best
When it comes to your family, you only want the best, so when it comes to choosing your family health care insurance plan, you want only the best, too. To get the best family health insurance quote, there are three major areas you need to consider: cost, services, and quality.
Whether you’re trying to choose an independent health care insurance plan, or a plan through your employer, it’s a given that you’re going to want to get the most affordable family health insurance quote. It’s not wise to choose a health care insurance plan based solely on cost, because what you will be saving in money, you’ll be losing in services and quality, but it’s still possible to find a good health care insurance plan at a price that’s affordable for you. Figure out how much money you are able and willing to spend, and create a price range based on that amount.
Once you’ve decided how much you’re able and willing to pay, check out the services offered by each of the plans you’re looking at. Are the services offered services that your family currently needs, or will need? There’s no sense in getting a family health insurance quote for a plan that that isn’t going to provide the health care you need.
Last, check out the quality of the family health insurance plan. For this you’ll need to do some research. Find out about customer complaints, the reputations of the doctors and other health care facilities that are included in the plan, any ratings the plan has received, and any organizations to which the plan may belong. You should also talk to any friends and coworkers that also use, or have used, that plan and find out what their experiences have been.
Getting the right family health insurance quote for your family isn’t difficult once you look at only those that meet your cost, services, and quality standards.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_Newberry
Whether you’re trying to choose an independent health care insurance plan, or a plan through your employer, it’s a given that you’re going to want to get the most affordable family health insurance quote. It’s not wise to choose a health care insurance plan based solely on cost, because what you will be saving in money, you’ll be losing in services and quality, but it’s still possible to find a good health care insurance plan at a price that’s affordable for you. Figure out how much money you are able and willing to spend, and create a price range based on that amount.
Once you’ve decided how much you’re able and willing to pay, check out the services offered by each of the plans you’re looking at. Are the services offered services that your family currently needs, or will need? There’s no sense in getting a family health insurance quote for a plan that that isn’t going to provide the health care you need.
Last, check out the quality of the family health insurance plan. For this you’ll need to do some research. Find out about customer complaints, the reputations of the doctors and other health care facilities that are included in the plan, any ratings the plan has received, and any organizations to which the plan may belong. You should also talk to any friends and coworkers that also use, or have used, that plan and find out what their experiences have been.
Getting the right family health insurance quote for your family isn’t difficult once you look at only those that meet your cost, services, and quality standards.
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_Newberry
Saturday, December 30, 2006
3 Ways to Save Money on Health Insurance
Rising health care costs have outpaced inflation in a dramatic fashion for many years and that trend is not expected to slow down anytime soon. With health insurance rates trending upwards right alongside of health care costs there are many who are seeing their monthly health insurance premium payments slowly eat into their discretionary income.
It is obvious to many that something needs to be done to keep health insurance costs under control. The alternative of not having health insurance coverage presents a graver risk than many are willing to admit. It is not unimaginable for a 3-4 day stay in the hospital after even routine surgery to approach a six figure total medical bill. There are services that are springing up to assist consumers negotiate lower medical fees from hospitals and doctors but even if a $100,000 hospital bill is negotiated down to $70,000 – how many are willing to sacrifice their nest egg or teeter on the edge of bankruptcy?
In this day of skyrocketing medical costs health insurance is a necessity not a luxury. Here are 3 easy and practical ways to save on your monthly health insurance expense:
1. Take the free money!
If your employer will pay all or a portion of your health insurance premium through a group plan then enroll! However, note that many employers will only pay the premium for the employee and not the employee’s family members. This is where you will want to compare individual health insurance plans because individual health rates are much cheaper than group rates because of the differences in underwriting (it boils down to the fact that generally speaking in a group health plan everyone is accepted into the plan – even those with major health issues while on the individual side only people that are for the most part healthy are accepted).
2. Review your coverage annually.
Health insurance rates are constantly changing. You will want to review your coverage on an annual basis to be sure that the company and plan that you have is competitive with what is on the market. You and your family’s health insurance needs will change as well so be sure and add or remove options and benefits to customize the plan to best fit your needs.
3. Compare different company’s quotes.
It is quite amazing to see some people just accept the first plan that they happen to come across especially if they have never even heard of that particular health insurance company before. With the ease of the Internet you can do what used to be a days worth of research in about half an hour. You will want to go with a well known and dependable (probably nationwide) health insurance company but be sure and compare health insurance quotes from top companies in your zip code to get an idea of what is available.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Ohman
It is obvious to many that something needs to be done to keep health insurance costs under control. The alternative of not having health insurance coverage presents a graver risk than many are willing to admit. It is not unimaginable for a 3-4 day stay in the hospital after even routine surgery to approach a six figure total medical bill. There are services that are springing up to assist consumers negotiate lower medical fees from hospitals and doctors but even if a $100,000 hospital bill is negotiated down to $70,000 – how many are willing to sacrifice their nest egg or teeter on the edge of bankruptcy?
In this day of skyrocketing medical costs health insurance is a necessity not a luxury. Here are 3 easy and practical ways to save on your monthly health insurance expense:
1. Take the free money!
If your employer will pay all or a portion of your health insurance premium through a group plan then enroll! However, note that many employers will only pay the premium for the employee and not the employee’s family members. This is where you will want to compare individual health insurance plans because individual health rates are much cheaper than group rates because of the differences in underwriting (it boils down to the fact that generally speaking in a group health plan everyone is accepted into the plan – even those with major health issues while on the individual side only people that are for the most part healthy are accepted).
2. Review your coverage annually.
Health insurance rates are constantly changing. You will want to review your coverage on an annual basis to be sure that the company and plan that you have is competitive with what is on the market. You and your family’s health insurance needs will change as well so be sure and add or remove options and benefits to customize the plan to best fit your needs.
3. Compare different company’s quotes.
It is quite amazing to see some people just accept the first plan that they happen to come across especially if they have never even heard of that particular health insurance company before. With the ease of the Internet you can do what used to be a days worth of research in about half an hour. You will want to go with a well known and dependable (probably nationwide) health insurance company but be sure and compare health insurance quotes from top companies in your zip code to get an idea of what is available.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Ohman
Thursday, November 4, 2004
By the way...
www.ltc-consultant.com has a new design, and I think it looks pretty cool. I know the guy who did it, and he spent a lot of time upgrading to CSS-P so that the site will be available to lots of different types of devices. You should tell him what you think of it.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Will AIG's Legal Problems Affect Their Long Term Care Product?
I just finished reading an article about AIG and collusion allegations by the New York Department of Justice. AIG’s Chairman, Hank Greenberg, is defending the business practices.
As a businessman, I understand that a business must do what it can to increase profits. I also know that the executives of public companies are under extreme pressure to constantly drive up the share prices of their
As a businessman, I understand that a business must do what it can to increase profits. I also know that the executives of public companies are under extreme pressure to constantly drive up the share prices of their
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Medicare Recipients Who Have Heart Disease Should Think Twice
Is it safe to assume that if you have private insurance, you are better off than someone who has Medicare? According to researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, having extra private insurance apparently increases you chances of undergoing successful surgery and surviving it.
Patients who were hospitalized for a heart attack and also had some form of private insurance were more
Patients who were hospitalized for a heart attack and also had some form of private insurance were more
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