History Health Insurance:The rising unemployment rate is making not just job loss but the loss of valuable health insurance coverage for many people. In response, the federal government has enacted early legislation to help with COBRA coverage as well as state aid to families with children.
Changes to COBRA
COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986. Under COBRA, if you worked for a company that had more than 20 employees, then you are able to continue on the group health insurance plan for as much as 18 months. The downside of COBRA is that it could be quite not cheap . In most states, recipients report that COBRA payments account for more than 75% of their unemployment benefit. However, under the latterly passed Economic Stimulus Package, you could be eligible for assistance with 65% of your COBRA premium.
To qualify for the program you must have lost your job between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. Your income must be less than $125,000 for an individual and less than $250,000 a year for a family. If you did not take advantage of COBRA initially, you can still sign up for it. If you did sign up for COBRA coverage, you won't get any money back for the premiums you have already paid, but you will be eligible for assistance from the point after the law has taken effect. Under the new law you will pay 35% of the premium, and the government pays the other 65%. Your assistance could continue for as much as nine months.
State Children's Health Insurance Program
Another measure the federal government has taken recently to help people with health insurance coverage is to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program or SCHIP. The law will provide $32 billion to the program over the next five years and expand coverage to from 7 to 11 million children. SCHIP is designed to provide health care coverage for children up to age 19 and pregnant women, in families whose income is low, but not low enough to qualify for Medicaid. A portion of the funding will come from an increase in the tax on cigarettes.
Under SCHIP, the federal government provides the states with matching funds to provide health care for families with children. To qualify, families could earn only up to 200% of the poverty level. Under the new law, families can earn up to 300% of the poverty level and still qualify for SCHIP. Each state has set up their program differently, so programs can vary from state to state.
If you find yourself out of a job and out of health insurance, two recent measures by the federal government may provide many assistance. The first are changes to the COBRA program in which the government could pick up to 65% of the cost of your health insurance premium. The other is the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Either of these options could provide short-term assistance with health insurance coverage.
Kevin Kielty lives in North Carolina and writes articles on health insurance. If you are looking for rate quotes on health insurance in North Carolina, visit BCBSNC, also known as Blue Cross NC.
History Health Insurance:Government Measures to Help With Health Insurance....
Labels: rich_rich |
history health insurance: How to Get Low Cost Health Insurance in the Commonwealth of Virginia........
Labels: rich_rich |history health insurance:Did you know your credit score could be affecting your chances of obtaining low cost health insurance in the Commonwealth of Virginia? It's true. Many health insurance companies look at a potential policyholder's credit score when determining how much that person will pay for a health insurance plan.
Be careful not to confuse your credit score with your credit history -- they're very similar, but still different things. Your credit history is a entire outline of your financial past -- payments made, credit applied for, credit received, foreclosures, bankruptcies -- you get the idea. Your credit score is an abstract of all of the factors included in your credit history summed up in one number.
So why could your credit score be affecting your chances of obtaining low cost health insurance in the Commonwealth of Virginia?
Well, if you have a poor credit score, health insurance companies may charge you more for a health insurance policy than someone with a good credit score. Large insurance companies may create a specific list of health insurance companies under them that able to offer you a health insurance policy based on your credit score.
If you have no credit at all, i.e., you have no credit score, the health insurance company will treat you in one of two ways: as if you had a neutral credit score, or, specialize their underwriting policy for your health insurance policy based on the fact that you have no credit score.
Remember, a health insurance company could indeed refuse to offer you a health insurance policy -- much less a low cost health insurance policy -- in the Commonwealth of Virginia if they aren't pleased with your credit score. They can not, however, refuse to renew your health insurance policy based completely on your credit score.
To give yourself a heads up, check out your credit score before you begin your search for low cost health insurance in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
History Health Insurance:The Rise of Health Insurance Rates
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:There are things that will make an enormous dissimilarity on your health insurance rate. However, the most of them will need certain form of adjustment, commitment and/or investigation on your role.
As maintained by a latest study, health insurance rates are on the rise due to of increased request and new treatments. Developments in medical technology are accountable for raise in its rates as well. Factors connected to way of life contribute to add to in insurance prices too.
In latest years, health insurance rates have curdled at an unpleasant rate. It seems as if gas and health insurance are opposing with one another. As the cost increases more people are struggling to preserve enough plans. Affordable healthiness indemnity is becoming an uncommon entity.
Certainly there are other factors which add to health insurance rate raises. A number of examples are Technology and research, Prescription medicine price increases, and Lack of prevention.
There are a number of things that you could do to assist decrease your rate raises. These include select a low employment plan type, put in a deductible to your prescription drug card, select a plan with a rate guarantee time period, Don't abuse your plan, choose for a plan with no a doctor's visit co-pay.
Health insurance rates differ to a great extent from insurance company to company. Consequently, see its quotes sites. The more the amount of these sites you see, the higher the chances that you'll make massive investments as you'll have broader basis for comparison. Obtain the best cost. It will just take you five minutes on every healthiness indemnity quotes site. For this you'll find quotes from up to 5 "A" rated health insurance providers. See minimally three for best results.
You will lessen your health insurance rate by an enormous margin if you could shop around utilizing quotes sites and make appropriate comparison. Visiting not less than three quotes sites increase the possibilities that you would make more investments. This is since proffers not acted for by one site will be represented by another.
If you want to get some excellent resources on health insurance, please visit my site on All about Health Insurance or Health Insurance Rates
History Health Insurance:Health Insurance, Kids, and You.....
Labels: rich_rich |Three percent of children do not have health insurance. Kids need this insurance, possibly more than anybody else. Their small bodies are constantly growing and adapting to the world around them, which leaves them open to disease and injury. A sick or injured child who is uninsured can quickly create a financial burden that is much higher than any insurance premiums.
If you have kids, you know that they can be clumsy on the playground. Playground injuries are extremely common and often go beyond just a skinned knee. Broken bones can happen quickly on a playground, where children are not as careful as they should be while they are going about their fun activities. Young children are not the only ones susceptible to injuries. Teenagers often get into car accidents as they are learning to drive, and while many of them are lucky, some of them get hurt badly and need insurance.
Having health insurance is something that is important for everybody to have. Whether you are young or old, requiring medical assistance is unpredictable and you never know when you will have to use it. By insuring your kids, you are ensuring that if they got sick or injured, it would all be taken care of and you wouldn't have to worry about a major debt that you would be paying off, possibly for the rest of your life. Health insurance is a great idea for any child.
When it comes to health insurance, kids are often overlooked because they are "young and healthy". As you can see, no matter how careful you are, children can get injured or sick. They need health coverage, and all it takes is a little time and money to make that happen.
Want to know more about health insurance kids? John S. Willard can help! John is an expert on insurance and a director of the popular website Frickaseed.Com. He provides honest information and advice on all things insurance-related. Check out the site for more info or better yet, get your own quote today!
Affordable Group Health Insurance Turns Out To Be the Best Choice for Employers...History Health Insurance:
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Traditionally many companies offered group health insurance to their employees, but with the recent economy downswing many companies have had to either cut their group health insurance all together or are being forced to switch plans to a more affordable group health insurance rate. The reason why they are doing this is because for many of these employers the group health insurance rates can cost the company a lot of money and now these companies are looking for ways to cut expenses and one of the ways is by changing to more affordable group health insurance companies or even worse, cutting the group health insurance all together. There are many families across the country where the entire family is dependant on the group health insurance that is offered to one parent who works at a company where the group health insurance is offered. In companies where the group health insurance is completely cut out of the budget there is a good likelihood that many of the employees may have to look elsewhere for work because they cannot pay the expensive rates of individual or family health insurance.
Any size company can normally find affordable group health insurance rates before they cut their group health insurance. One of the best ways to go about finding affordable group health insurance rates is by looking online. Many people overlook this way of looking for affordable group health insurance because most of them already have a deal with an insurance company and tend to overlook other companies that may be less expensive. If you just go into a major search engine page like Google and type in the keyword “affordable group health insurance” you likely will be able to find some great options for your company after filling out some paperwork on things that the company may need to know such as the company, and the number of employees in the company.
One of the best things about group health insurance is that personal factors that may normally injure a company’s chances of getting insurance may not be applicable when a company is looking of Affordable Group Health Insurance. This is because instead of considering each person individually the entire group is looked at as a pool, this pool has an average age, sex, and risk factor. This means that the people who normally would be considered high risk are balanced out by the people who are low risk, this is one of the reasons why group health insurance tends to be much less expensive than individual insurance, so instead of considering canceling group health insurance it may be much more beneficial for a company to search online for affordable group health insurance. This will not only help employees, but it will also help the company keep employees happy, happy employees means better work!
Oh Health Insurance...History Health Insurance:
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Some states in the US require that all citizens of their state be covered for Health Insurance. Ohio is one of the states that allows Ohio citizens to receive Free Ohio Health Insurance. There are 2 free health insurance programs Healthy Start and Healthy Families. However a Ohio resident must qualify first. Ohio Health Insurance Quote
Healthy Start & Healthy Families are Medicaid programs that provide eligible Ohio families with comprehensive health coverage. This means families get coverage for all of the following: doctor visits, prescriptions, hospital care, immunizations, vision & dental care, substance abuse, mental health services and much more! Not only is this a great benefit package, but families who qualify for Healthy Start & Healthy Families will receive covered services at no cost
Who Qualifies:
* U.S. citizens of Ohio
* Ohio residents
* Ohio residents with a social security number
* Ohio residents who meet the financial requirements listed below.
Who is covered? Income Eligibility Guidelines Gross Monthly Income Gross Monthly Income Gross Monthly Income Gross Monthly Income Family Size 1 Family Size 2 Family Size 3 Family Size 4 Children (to age 19) 200% FPL $1,734 $2,334 $2,934 $3,534 Pregnant Women 200% FPL $1,734 $2,334 $2,934 $3,534 Families 90% FPL $780 $1,050 $1,320 $1,590
The following services are included in the plan:
* Ambulance services
* Chiropractic services (children only)
* Community alcohol and drug addiction services
* Community mental health services
* Dental services
* Durable medical equipment
* Family planning services and supplies
* Home and community-based services waivers (restricted enrollment)
* Home health services
* Hospice
* Inpatient hospital services
* Lab and X-ray services
* Nursing home care
* Nurse-midwife, certified family nurse practitioner, and certified pediatric nurse practitioner services
* Outpatient services, including Rural Health Clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
* Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy
* Physician services
* Podiatry
* Prescription drugs
* Screening and treatment services to children under age 21 under the HEALTHCHEK (EPSDT) program
* Transportation to medical appointments
* Vision care, including eyeglasses
History Health Insurance:Health insurance could lift you out of recession-related doldrums.....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:By all accounts, 2009 looks to be a year of frugality - a period in which households attempt to reign in their monthly budgets as the prospect of redundancy looms forbiddingly on the horizon, if it has not already arrived. However, while this may mean poor prospects for retailers, some sectors could benefit from the changing economic attitudes of today - and health insurance could be one of them.
Unlike in the USA, where private health insurance is an essential precursor for medical care, health cover in the UK has long been considered a luxury. Yet as the number of recession-related illnesses accelerates and NHS waiting times get longHistory Health Insurance:er, many people are considering health insurance as a sound investment in a fragile economic environment.
Health insurance: helping you stave off 'recession flu'
Earlier this year, The Telegraph newspaper drew parallels between a series of medical studies which suggested that the current economic downturn is adversely affecting people's health. The most recent study from Central Michigan University found that socio-economic factors - such as unemployment, risk of redundancy and business failure - could potentially speed up death from heart disease.
Health insurance policies offer a range of benefits that could help you and your family ward off the effects of 'recession flu'. For example, investing in a simple health cash plan could offer you money back towards treatments not fully covered by the NHS - such as dental treatment and optical care. Regular check-ups at the optician can be particularly important if you work in front of a computer all day, as your sight could be affected without your knowledge. With a healthcare policy, the cost of going to the optician's or getting new glasses is often covered, saving you valuable pounds.
Health insurance policies may also offer cover for physiotherapy and alternative treatments - both of which may be crucial in staving off the physical effects of the downturn. For instance, physiotherapy sessions could be the ideal way to alleviate any back pain or repetitive strain injury that may deter you from seeking new employment with a heavy physical emphasis. In addition, alternative therapies - like acupuncture - could provide an excellent medium through which to deal with stress-related afflictions, such as migraines.
Some health cash plans even cover a full body check-up - a procedure that could offer invaluable peace of mind if you're concerned about the effect that the recession could have on your overall physical and cardiovascular health.
Getting the most out of your health cover
Despite the wide-ranging benefits of a health insurance policy, it's still a likelihood that some households will be unwilling to part with the money required to pay the premiums - which is why it's so important to shop around for the best deal before choosing your cover. Health insurance comparison sites provide valuable insight into health cash plans and could help you seek out potential deal-breaking offers, such as free cover for children or partners. And when it's your health and your family's well-being that's at risk, investing in cover for future medical protection is a decision that's sure to pay long-term dividends.
History Health Insurance:Cobra Health Insurance Options For Small Business Owners.....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor recently reported that employment continued to fall sharply in February (-651,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 8.1 percent. Payroll employment has declined by 2.6 million in the past 4 months. In February, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all-major industry sectors. Are you or your spouse one of the 8.1% Are you worried about joining this group? If you own a small business or are thinking about starting that small business then you need to understand how COBRA can have a dramatic impact on your financial future. Here are 7 things you need to know right now!
1. What is COBRA continuation health coverage? Congress passed the landmark Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health benefit provisions in 1986. The law amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code and the Public Health Service Act to provide continuation of group health coverage that otherwise might be terminated.
2. What does COBRA do? COBRA provides certain former employees, retirees, spouses, former spouses, and dependent children the right to temporary continuation of health coverage at group rates. This coverage, however, is only available when coverage is lost due to certain specific events. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer pays a part of the premium for active employees while COBRA participants generally pay the entire premium themselves.
3. Who is entitled to benefits under COBRA? There are three elements to qualifying for COBRA benefits. COBRA establishes specific criteria for plans, qualified beneficiaries, and qualifying events:
Qualifying Events for Employees:
* Voluntary or involuntary termination of employment for reasons other than gross misconduct
* Reduction in the number of hours of employment
Qualifying Events for Spouses:
* Voluntary or involuntary termination of the covered employee's employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
* Reduction in the hours worked by the covered employee
* Covered employee's becoming entitled to Medicare
* Divorce or legal separation of the covered employee
* Death of the covered employee
Qualifying Events for Dependent Children:
* Loss of dependent child status under the plan rules
* Voluntary or involuntary termination of the covered employee's employment for any reason other than gross misconduct
* Reduction in the hours worked by the covered employee
* Covered employee's becoming entitled to Medicare
* Divorce or legal separation of the covered employee
* Death of the covered employee
4. How does a person become eligible for COBRA continuation coverage?
To be eligible for COBRA coverage, you must have been enrolled in your employer's health plan when you worked and the health plan must continue to be in effect for active employees. COBRA continuation coverage is available upon the occurrence of a qualifying event that would, except for the COBRA continuation coverage, cause an individual to lose his or her health care coverage.
5. What Do I do if I Don’t Want To Take COBRA? Group Health Plans are very benefit rich. This means that you probably have dental, vision, low co-pays for doctor visits etc. Things you take for granted. Your employer if often paying 80% or more of your premium and your portion of the premium is just 20% or less. You don’t realize the true cost of your health plan until you qualify for COBRA and get that letter from your HR Department that gives you STICKER SHOCK. Why? Because you see that your new monthly premium could be up to 400% more that what was being pulled out of your paycheck. What do you do? You get on the computer and start looking for Health Insurance quotes and see a lot of quotes that look appealing as an alternative but you are comparing apples and oranges.
Here are three main points that are not clear when you look at these computer quotes
* First of all, Group Plans in Georgia are "guarantee issued" which means that everyone MUST be accepted. Individual plans go through an underwriting process, so you have to qualify and may not be accepted.
* Most insurance carriers usually decline major pre-existing conditions like diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Minor pre-existing conditions like weight, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol etc. are rated up which means you’re charged more. This underwriting process can take up to a month, if done properly.
* Also many of the benefits you take for granted on your benefit rich group plan are extras or "riders" with individual policies that increase your premium.
So what are my alternatives if I just lost my job?
6. How Does The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 affect COBRA and save me more money? The Act provides a 65% government subsidy to employees who are involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. The premium reduction relates only to premiums for the coverage period beginning after the new law was enacted on February 17, 2009. The law does not allow reimbursement of premiums for coverage periods beginning before February 17, 2009. Qualified individuals can, however, receive the premium subsidy going forward, for up to nine months. So if you are already on COBRA you can get this subsidy for up to nine months. Also if you declined COBRA during this period, you can now enroll in the subsidized coverage. This a great deal if you are planning on finding another job that will provide Group Health Insurance because you only have to pay 35% of the COBRA costs and can keep your benefit rich coverage for up to 18 months.
BUT……
What If you are planning to focus on your business full time now, rather than get another job? Then you really need to look much closer at individual plans.
7. How does buying your own portable individual health plan protect your financial future? Let me tell you a story about how one of the most financially savvy guys I know got the surprise of this life after riding his bike one day in Florida. I lived in South Florida and played tennis with a friend who retired from a Fortune 100 Company when he was 49 years old. After many years of hard work he took early retirement and built his dream home in Florida. After several years his wife became bored and wanted to move to Atlanta. They bought into one of the most prestigious new developments in metro Atlanta. Six months after construction began my friend was riding his bike and got shortness of breath. He called a tennis buddy and neighbor who was also a cardiologist and the doctor said, "Come to my office and let me check you out". The cardiologist sent him straight to the hospital and discovered that one of my friend’s coronary arteries was narrowed and a "heart stent" was inserted to relieve the condition. Within a few days my friend was busy playing tennis and riding his bike. Thinking about his upcoming move to Georgia, my friend decides to call his Health Insurance Company to move his plan from Florida. Mind you this was not some fly-by-night company but one of the best-recognized names in the insurance industry today! You can imagine his surprise when this insurance company told him that he was "UNINSURABLE" in the state of Georgia. What happened? When he retired my friend elected COBRA and when he moved to Florida took an individual plan in Florida. He assumed that because the insurance company had such a big name that is was a national company but it WAS NOT so he could not get health insurance, at any price, in Georgia because he had this MAJOR pre-existing condition of heart disease.
You might be subject to similar consequences or worse if you get sick or have a major accident during the period you’re on COBRA. To avoid this type of situation or worse you need to work with a licensed Health Agent who specializes in Small Business Entrepreneurs.
History Health Insurance:Georgia Health Insurance Is A Great Option....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:When looking for health insurance, Georgia health insurance is a great option available. It can help you in a health emergency. It can also help you for your regular doctor visits and even with your medications. It is truly a valuable thing to have. Without health insurance a person risks getting into a serious accident and not being able to pay off their bills.
Georgia health insurance can help you in the case of an emergency. Just having an ambulance called can be very expensive. The price of getting brought somewhere in an ambulance is even more expensive. There are health insurance plans that can help you so that you do not need to pay the thousands of dollars that would normally cost. Georgia health insurance also helps to lower the price of going to the emergency room. It is unfortunate but people do very often get sick or injured at times when their primary doctor is not available. Not all illnesses or injuries can wait for business hours. Emergency rooms can cost a lot of money so health insurance is and important thing to have.
When seeing ones primary doctor, it is also important to have health insurance. Many doctors will not even take on patients without health insurance. Georgia health insurance can cover your regular check ups or offer you a co-pay for the times you need to see your primary doctor. Most companies require their employees to get a yearly physical. Out of pocket that can be pretty pricey. No one wants to have to shell out fifty dollars once a year. That money being saved can easily go to all sorts of other more important things. Another place Georgia health insurance can help you is in co-pay for and specialists you may need to see. This can range from anything to a nutritionist to a physical therapist.
Most people are on some kind of medication. There are a growing number of people who have allergies, asthma and diabetes. All of these are treated with medications. Also there are a number of women who are on birth control pills. These medications without health insurance can be very expensive. Georgia health insurance can help so that a person is not spending a large chunk of their monthly pay on medicine. For a person in a wheel chair or a person with diabetes, health insurance is very important. A person with diabetes needs insulin and blood sugar meters. These things can be very expensive on their own. There are also many types of wheel chairs on the market for people with disabilities. People are really only limited by their budgets. Georgia health insurance is then a really valuable thing to have.....
History Health Insurance
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HEALTH INSURANCE,
Assurant Health Insurance
EH.Net Encyclopedia: Health Insurance in the United States
Health insurance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Health insurance in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
History - Health Insurance News & Opinion
NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE,
The Ultimate Health insurance - American History Information Guide and ...
http://www.staysmartstayhea...In the 1940's American companies began offering health insurance as part of a more attractive benefits package to workers. -Stay Smart Stay Healthy
History of Health Insurance
Combined Insurance History: Supplemental Health, Life, Disability ...
How Can I Get Cheap Health Insurance Coverage?.....
Labels: rich_rich |Lately the costs of medical treatment have increased. Because of this, the demand for less expensive health insurance plans increase everyday. Less expensive health plans are what people are looking for. Nevertheless, these plans provide limited facilities.
Cheaper health coverage plans involve the cost of doctors' visit, medicines, hospital stay and other medical costs. Sometimes a health plan will exclude the expenses incurred at the doctors' offices and the price of prescriptions. Thus each person must make sure that he chooses the correct basic coverage policy and that it suits his individual needs. You can save money on coverage by getting a family plan. This is less costly than buying individual health insurance.
To receive inexpensive health insurance plans, people may have to sacrifice a few things they have always loved to do. Different companies are given different quotes for insurance. No medium surpasses the Internet when it comes to finding the best prices.
Compared to the monthly premium option, yearly premium payments offers the best value in health coverage. Monthly payments are easier to make many insurance companies reason. If you want to get this scheme, you need to pay more. A transaction tax is included in this plan when a check has to be processed. If you pay monthly, you will be charged twelve transaction fees. The scheme of annual payment requires only one check. There is only one payment per year. Your monthly premiums could increase due to administrative and service rates.
You never know if you are going to get a serious health condition in the years to come. As a precaution, it's always smart to buy low cost health insurance coverage. The two primary factors which play a role in deciding your rate for a medical plan are your age and health status.
Group health insurance needs to be a well thought out decision. It is a terrific option if it is affiliated with a group or an association. Organizations may offer affordable medical insurance to their members. Using an association group is another great option Some credit card companies offer low cost group health insurance coverage.
Some consumers might prefer looking into private health insurance, if money is a particular concern. As an example a man whose age is 30 years and who is in good health in Texas will need to pay just $37 every month if he has taken a private policy. National employees with individual coverage pay $250 more each year. But the thing is that you require a lot of time to buy cheaper private insurance.
Many states will sponsor programs and are willing to provide health coverage for less than the commercial companies. Females and kids have a better shot at getting coverage. For instance, a pregnant women living in California can make up to $63,000 a year and still get free health care through Medicare, the state insurer.
To be eligible for government health insurance a person must be at least 65 years old. (Medicare insurance). Find out if the previous company offers health insurance for retired people included with their retirement package. There is a big chance that retired people pay higher premiums. It is less expensive than buying health insurance yourself......
History Health Insurance:Health Insurance Savings Tips -- You Might Not See Some Of These Time-Tested Suggestions Often.....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Health insurance savings tips: There are the usual recommendations for getting better rates (And we'll talk about them here). However, we'll go a little further and touch some of the not-so-popular but highly suggested considerations while shopping for a better rate...
1. Using emergi-centers or no-appointment ambulatory care centers will help you reduce your rates. This is especially correct if you are always healthy and find it tough to pay for traditional health insurance. Ask to know if your community has a center of this kind.
2. There are health insurance guides that the government publishes yearly. You'll know more about health matters and health insurance policy if you can get these publications. They will give you information that will put you in position to save a lot and also take the right safety measures. More relevant information in health insurance is crucial to attracting the best rate for your profile.
3. Take it or not, the way you drive can have a negative effect on your health insurance rate. Being convicted of traffic offences isn't only bad for your auto insurance rate it also has an effect on your health insurance premium. The simple reason is that if you're such a driver, you will most likely need medical attention for crash related injuries than a very cautious driver.
You will reduce your rates if you cultivate a good habit behind wheels. If you drive a sports car or super bike, you'll likely pay much more in health insurance. This is because they are more likely to cause you injuries because they have a higher risk of accidents.
4. Deciding to be flexible about the doctors and health care facilities you can use will result in cheaper rates. Your favorite health care providers may not belong to the network that attracts great rates. And in such a situation you might have to adjust to health care providers in their network and not those who are your preferred.
It would be easier for you to get more affordable rates if you can make such adjustments. But in being flexible don't joke with the quality you get.
5. Cross check your health insurance coverage from time to time. This will help you ensure you always have adequate coverage. While doing this routine check you can also discover coverage no longer need.
Canceling such unnecessary coverage will lower your premium. For instance, if you bought coverage for your family and one of your kids has just gone to college or got married, you may not remember to remove them from your family coverage if you do not review your entire policy routinely. It may only become obvious when you get your annual payment notice.
6. Visit not less than five insurance quotes sites. Using a minimum of five quotes sites raise the chances that you'd obtain better health insurance quotes. This is because insurers not represented by one site would be covered by the other.
And, you know that because the likelihood of receiving lower health insurance quotes is proportional the range of quotes you receive, the more insurers you obtain quotes from, the better your chances will be. Obtaining your health insurance quotes online will help you save far more if you sacrifice just 25 minutes to ask for quotes from not less than five insurance quotes sites.
Here are great pages for health insurance quotes........
History Health Insurance:Women short-changed in health insurance, Kerry says.....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Senator John F. Kerry today introduced a bill that would stop insurers from charging women higher premiums, or denying or limiting coverage based on whether they are pregnant.
Kerry cited a September 2008 report by the National Women’s Law Center that found insurance companies can reject applicants for reasons that affect women; that it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that covers maternity care; and that women often face higher premiums than men for identical coverage.
“The disparity between women and men in the individual insurance market is just plain wrong and it has to change,” Kerry said in a statement. “With Mother’s Day around the corner, there’s no better gift to American women than discrimination-free, affordable and accessible insurance that meets their health needs.”
Coincidentally, the main health insurer group said today it would end its practice of charging higher premiums to women if all Americans are required to obtain coverage, the industry's latest concession as it tries to stave off the creation of a government plan that would directly compete with private insurers.
"We don't believe gender should be a subject of rating," Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, told the Senate Finance Committee, the Associated Press reports. "We are ready to be accountable to those rules."
A summary of Kerry's bill is below:
The Women’s Health Insurance Fairness Act would:
· prevent insurers in the individual market from charging women higher premiums than men;
· prevent insurers in the individual market from denying or limiting coverage based on a current or past pregnancy or past or future method of delivery (such as a Cesarean section);
· require all insurance policies offered on the individual market to provide comprehensive maternity coverage for the full scope of maternity services from preconception through postpartum;
· provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services with the authority to monitor compliance with the requirements of this Act and assess fines of at least $10,000 against any health insurance company that fails to submit the required data; and
· direct the Government Accountability Office to issue a report by December 31, 2010 about problems remaining for women on the individual insurance market in all 50 states and DC following enactment of this Act.
This legislation is supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Children’s Defense Fund, Consumers Union, Families USA, National Partnership for Women & Families, OWL - The Voice of Midlife and Older Women, and the Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.....
History Health Insurance:Keeping The Best In Texas By Offering Health Insurance Benefits.....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Every small business in Dallas, Houston and throughout Texas wants to attract high quality individual employees who will contribute to the growth and success of the company. In order to recruit and retain these people, many larger business owners offer health insurance coverage, specifically group health, as an employee benefit.
If your company is small, especially if has ten or fewer employees, there are still ways to offer your employees health insurance coverage. In most states, insurance companies which offer small group health insurance plans are required to accept any employer group of two to 50 employees, provided the employer agrees to insure 100% of the eligible employees.
Before you can offer any health insurance coverage, you must decide how much your employees will pay, as well as the kind of insurance that you wish to offer.
It’s expensive. So who pays?
Most businesses that offer their employees group health insurance plans contribute towards the cost of the coverage. Some pay for all of the employees' premiums (for single coverage) and let the employees pay the premium if they need coverage for their families. Other businesses pay a percentage of the total cost.
The amount you choose to pay will depend on your own situation. First, think about how your contribution will affect your budget. Second, think about how it affects the desirability of your plan to your present and future employees.
Many businesses choose to have their employees make a contribution towards some of the cost, especially as health care costs and insurance premiums continue to increase.
Plan designs
There are three major types of health plans — managed care, preferred provider, and fee-for-service. The plan that's best for your business is determined largely by your business location, the physicians and hospitals available through the plan, the options offered by insurance companies, and the constraints of your budget.
Managed care
Managed care plans are agreements between certain doctors, hospitals, and health care providers, and are designed to offer a range of services to members at a reduced cost. Managed care plans are typically HMOs. They may also be referred to as an Individual Practice Association (IPA) or Point of Service (POS) plan.
· Most HMOs minimize the out-of-pocket expenses members pay for medical care, as long as members use the HMO's preferred providers and facilities. If members go outside of the network, they may be responsible for paying the entire bill.
· In addition, members must choose a primary care physician, and see that person first whenever they need medical attention. The primary care physician will make necessary referrals to specialists.
· With HMOs, the per-visit or annual deductibles are usually lower than with other plans.
Preferred provider
Preferred provider plans, known as PPOs, negotiate price discounts with health care providers. They refer to the health care providers that they have discounts with as “network” providers. PPOs pay a higher percentage of your employees’ claims if they use network providers.
· Unlike HMOs members, PPOs members can see physicians without referral and can use physicians outside the network if they are willing to pay the non-network cost sharing.
· PPOs generally require more cost sharing than HMOs, even for in network care. The per-visit or annual deductibles are usually higher than with HMO plans.
· There may be some managed care elements with PPOs, but not as extensive as HMOs. For example, you may need pre-authorization for a hospital stay, surgery, or an expensive diagnostic test.
Fee for Service
Fee-for-service plans, also known as indemnity plans, allow employees to choose health care providers themselves. This gives them a wide range of options that includes specialists such as cardiologists and surgeons. But because these plans do not give members incentives to use low cost providers, the plans are expensive. Some insurance companies limit the fee-for-service expense by imposing low maximum benefits and/or fee schedules. As with any insurance plan, carefully read the benefit description for a fee-for-service plan.
Check out the insurance company
Along with selecting the right group health plan, selecting an insurance company is important, because the service delivered will directly impact each of your employees. Look for an insurance company with a good network of health care providers, timely claims service, and relatively stable premiums.
In addition, check with other small business owners in the area, or with your Small Business Association. The Texas Department of Insurance will also have information about the financial stability of the insurance companies that you are considering, as well as any history of customer complaints.
Can I choose my own small business health insurance provider?
Sure. Small business group health plans are available from reputable insurance companies who are using the Internet to help reduce administrative expenses.
Do I need an agent to help me select a plan?
No. Keep in mind that many agents only represent a small number of insurance companies. If you use an agent, you should expect him/her to ask questions about your goals and objectives and to learn about your business and employees before recommending a plan.
Health insurance for your employees can be expensive. The following tips will help you ensure you're offering the best option for employees and the most cost-effective option for you.
Do your homework:
* Survey your employees for their insurance needs. Do their families require insurance?
* Consider insurance plans that require second opinions and include built-in cost containment features.
Talk to your employees:
* Design a plan that includes employee contributions towards cost and keeps employees informed of health care costs and rate changes.
* Create a committee to investigate the group health insurance market.
* Survey your employees to make sure you understand their needs and objectives before launching a plan.
Educate your employees about the cost of appropriate health care:
* Encourage employees to request second opinions and alternative, less invasive treatments.
* Help employees understand what is and is not covered under the plan.
Create a health-conscious work environment:
* Limit smoking at work to designated areas or eliminate it entirely.
* Offer healthy choices in vending machines and alternatives to pizza and beer at employee events.
* Promote moderation in use of alcohol and establish a zero tolerance drug and alcohol abuse policy.
If you’re a small business owner who would like to offer an affordable health insurance plans to your employees but can’t afford group health insurance, you should take a look at the revolutionary, comprehensive individual health insurance solutions created by Precedent specifically for young, healthy individuals. Precedent offers affordable, individual health plans with catastrophic coverage, but without a high deductible, and we’ll work with you to make these plans available to your employees at a discount. For more information, visit us at our website, www.precedent.com. We offer a unique and innovative suite of individual health insurance solutions, including highly competitive HSA-qualified plans and an unparalleled “real time” application and acceptance experience.
History Health Insurance:Women's Health Insurance Coverage Fact Sheet
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Health insurance is a key element in health care accessibility for women, as women with coverage are more likely to obtain preventive, primary, and specialty care services. However, many women face barriers to obtaining coverage because they have limited access to private insurance or do not qualify for public programs.
This fact sheet provides new statistics on health coverage and describes the major sources of health insurance for non-elderly adult women ages 18-64, including employer-sponsored coverage, Medicaid, individually purchased insurance, and Medicare. It also summarizes the major policy challenges facing women in obtaining health coverage, and provides data on nearly 17 million women who are uninsured.
History Health Insurance:Family and Individual Health Insurance Plans.....
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Deciding which individual and family health insurance plan
is just right for you and your family can seem as challenging as judging which apple is the very best out of an entire barrel at the supermarket. The apples are all different sizes, shapes and colors, and the health insurance plans all offer different fees, types of benefits, and levels of coverage.
For many people, the group health insurance plan sponsored by their employer offers them the most affordable coverage. Group health insurance is exactly what it sounds like: a health insurance plan or plans offered to groups of people through their employers. Individual and family health insurance, on the other hand, is offered to individuals and families instead of employer groups, and it can be a much more attractive and affordable option than many people believe.
Because individual and family health insurance is not offered through an employer, those who choose this type of insurance will pay the entire cost of the regular premiums. However, there is a wide range of plan types available, allowing smart consumers to maximize the coverage they are receiving for the money they're investing in the plan. In some situations, they may even be able to save money compared to what they would have spent in premiums for an employer's group health insurance plan. Either way, consumers should never forget that the money they're spending each month for health insurance is 100% tax-deductible.
There are two basic types of individual and family health insurance plans: indemnity and managed-care. An indemnity plan gives its policyholders more freedom to choose the source of their health care, allowing them to receive treatment where and from whom they choose. It is also likely to require them to pay out-of-pocket for the services they receive and file the paperwork themselves in order to be reimbursed. Many indemnity plans also require higher deductibles that must be met before the plan coverage will begin, and they also pay claims based on a percentage of the cost for the care. Managed-care plans, on the other hand are usually based on a network of approved health care providers from whom their policyholders can receive treatment. Because this network of providers has, in most cases, agreed to provide the treatment at a pre-set price, the care will cost less out-of-pocket for the consumer. The paperwork is generally taken care of by the health care provider instead of the policyholder, and the care is covered with only a low percentage coinsurance or set co-payment amount required from the policyholder.
There are three types of managed-care plans: HMOs, PPOs, and POS plans. These options are all based on provider networks and require their policyholders to pay for their health care depending on their tendency to seek care from in-network or out-of-network providers.
In each category, there are dozens of available plans offering different levels and types of coverage that allow users to choose based on personal needs. Many plans require a deductible amount to be met for each plan year before coverage begins, and monthly premiums are likely to be lower for plans that have higher deductibles. This along with other factors affects how much the plan will cost the consumer to use. Therefore, a person who expects to seek health care only a few times a year will likely benefit by choosing a plan with a lower monthly premium. On the other hand, those who seek routine care and have a history of more physician visits, and/or who regularly fills expensive prescriptions, can best serve their medical needs with a plan requiring a higher monthly premium and low or no deductible.
These are not the only factors that should be considered when choosing a plan. Someone who travels often may want to consider the possibility of needing to seek care while far from home and the advantages of an indemnity or a more flexible managed-care plan, so that unexpected out-of-network expenses can be covered. Women who expect to become pregnant during their plan year must carefully study the coverage offered to them during pregnancy and delivery. No plan is right for everyone; that's part of the reason there are so many from which to choose.
Making a smart choice requires thorough study of the plans available. The needs of every person who will be covered by the plan should be taken into account. With careful consideration and planning, those needs can all be met affordably through family and individual health insurance.
Know About Aarp Health Insurance......History Health Insurance:
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:AARP Health Insurance:
The idea of introducing the AARP health insurance first suggested by a retired school principal from a high school in the United States. This AARP Health Insurance is helping members around the age of about 50 years and more in which not only the insurer but also other senior members of the society are also benefited by this organization. AARP Health Insurance is the only largest non profit organization that helps members in the United States. There about 35 million insurance members in this AARP Health Insurance organization.
The reason behind choosing the members with the age of 50 years is that AARP Health Insurance not only provides the basic insurance products alone. Along with the health insurance they also provide the members even more products like the long term care, life insurance and medical care, a supplementary policy also that ensures the members of the organization with the best health care in the nation. This AARP Health Insurance provides all the health care need for its members.
AARP Health Insurance generates its profits from the portion of finance used for sales and the member policy maintenance and in turn the members receive good health care facilities. Like the other Health Insurance organizations AARP Health Insurance do not hold any of their policy instead they built a relation with the United Health care associations. The AARP Health Insurance organization always works as a third party member only. AARP Health Insurance also has some strategic partnerships with others that helps it members to receive product at low costs there by making it members happy.
private health insurance...History Health Insurance:
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:private health insurance (PHI) A form of insurance that covers all the normal costs associated with private medical treatment. PHI enables those who wish to do so to choose their own consultants, choose when and where they are hospitalized, and to have private rooms (with private telephones) in hospitals. Because these facilities are often important for managers and executives, businesses often offer PHI to senior employees as a fringe benefit. Many companies offer group schemes at discounted premiums.
Health Insurance in the United States...History Health Insurance:
Labels: rich_rich |History Health Insurance:Health Insurance in the United States
Melissa Thomasson, Miami University
This article describes the development of the U.S. health insurance system and its growth in the twentieth century. It examines the roles of important factors including medical technology, hospitals and physicians, and government policy culminating in the development of Medicare and Medicaid.
1900-1920: Sickness Insurance versus Health Insurance
Prior to 1920, the state of medical technology generally meant that very little could be done for many patients, and that most patients were treated in their homes. Table 1 provides a list of pioneering early advances in medicine. Hospitals did not assume their modern form until after the turn of the century when antiseptic methods were well established. Even then, surgery was often perfohistory health insurancermed in private homes until the 1920s.
Table 1: Milestones in Medical Technology
1850-1870: Louis Pasteur, Joseph Lister and others develop understanding of bacteriology, antisepsis, and immunology.
1870-1910: Identification of various infectious agents including spirochaeta pallida (syphilis), typhus, pneumococcus, and malaria. Diphtheria antitoxin developed. Surgery fatality rates fall.
1887: S.S.K. von Basch invents instrument to measure blood pressure.
1895: Wilhelm Roentgen develops X-rays.
1910: Salvarsan (for syphilis) proves to be first drug treatment that destroys disease without injuring patient.
1920-1946: Insulin isolated (1922), sulfa developed (1935), large-scale production of synthetic penicillin begins (1946).
1955: Jonas Salk announces development of vaccine for polio.
Medical Expenditures Initially Low
Given the rudimentary state of medical technology before 1920, most people had very low medical expenditures. A 1918 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of 211 families living in Columbus, Ohio found that only 7.6 of their average annual medical expenditures paid for hospital care (Ohio Report, p. 116). In fact, the chief cost associated with illness was not the cost of medical care, but rather the fact that sick people couldn't work and didn't get paid. A 1919 State of Illinois study reported that lost wages due to sickness were four times larger than the medical expenditures associated with treating the illness (State of Illinois, pp. 15-17). As a result, most people felt they didn't need health insurance. Instead, households purchased "sickness" insurance -- similar to today's "disability" insurance -- to provide income replacement in the event of illness.1
Insurance Companies Initially Unwilling to Offer Health Insurance Policies
The low demand for health insurance at the time was matched by the unwillingness of commercial insurance companies to offer private health insurance policies. Commercial insurance companies did not believe that health was an insurable commodity because of the high potential for adverse selection and moral hazard. They felt that they lacked the information to accurately calculate risks and write premiums accordingly. For example, people in poor health may claim they to be healthy and then sign up for health insurance. A problem with moral hazard may arise if people change their behavior -- perhaps engaging in more risky activities -- after they purchase health insurance. According to The Insurance Monitor, "the opportunities for fraud [in health insurance] upset all statistical calculations.... Health and sickness are vague terms open to endless construction. Death is clearly defined, but to say what shall constitute such loss of health as will justify insurance compensation is no easy task" (July 1919, vol. 67 (7), p. 38).
Failure of Compulsory, Nationalized Health Insurance
The fact that people generally felt actual health insurance (as opposed to sickness insurance) was unnecessary prior to 1920 also helped to defeat proposals for compulsory, nationalized health insurance in the same period. Although many European nations had adopted some form of compulsory, nationalized health insurance by 1920, proposals sponsored by the American Association for Labor Legislation (AALL) to enact compulsory health insurance in several states were never enacted (see Numbers 1978). Compulsory health insurance failed in this period for several reasons. First, popular support for the legislation was low because of the low demand for health insurance in general. Second, physicians, pharmacists and commercial insurance companies were strong opponents of the legislation. Physicians opposed the legislation because they feared that government intervention would limit their fees. Pharmacists opposed the legislation because it provided prescription drugs they feared would undermine their business. While commercial insurance firms did not offer health insurance during this period, a large part of their business was offering burial insurance to pay funeral costs. Under the proposed legislation, commercial firms would be excluded from offering burial insurance. As a result, they opposed the legislation, which they feared would also open the door towards greater government intervention in the insurance business.
1920-1930: The Rising Price of Medical Care
As the twentieth century progressed, several changes occurred that tended to increase the role that medicine played in people's lives and to shift the focus of treatment of acute illness from homes to hospitals. These changes caused the price of medical care to rise as demand for medical care increased and the cost of supplying medical care rose with increased standards of quality for physicians and hospitals.
Increases in the Demand for Medical Care
As the population shifted from rural areas to urban centers, families lived in smaller homes with less room to care for sick family members (Faulkner 1960, p. 509). Given that health insurance is a normal good, rising incomes also helped to increase demand. Advances in medical technology along with the growing acceptance of medicine as a science led to the development of hospitals as treatment centers and helped to encourage sick people to visit physicians and hospitals. Rosenberg (1987) notes that "by the 1920s… prospective patients were influenced not only by the hope of healing, but by the image of a new kind of medicine -- precise, scientific and effective" (p. 150). This scientific aura began to develop in part as licensure and standards of care among practitioners increased, which led to an increase in the cost of providing medical care.
Rising Medical Costs
Physician quality began to improve after several changes brought about by the American Medical Association (AMA) in the 1910s. In 1904, the AMA formed the Council on Medical Education (CME) to standardize the requirements for medical licensure. The CME invited Abraham Flexner of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to evaluate the status of medical education. Flexner's highly critical report on medical education was published in 1910. According to Flexner, the current methods of medical education had "... resulted in enormous over-production at a low level, and that, whatever the justification in the past, the present situation... can be more effectively met by a reduced output of well trained men than by further inflation with an inferior product" (Flexner, p. 16). Flexner argued for stricter entrance requirements, better facilities, higher fees, and tougher standards. Following the publication of the Flexner Report, the number of medical schools in the United States dropped from 131 in 1910 to 95 in 1915. By 1922, the number of medical schools in the U.S. had fallen even further to 81 (Journal of the American Medical Association, August 12, 1922, p. 633). These increased requirements for physician licensure, education and the accreditation of medical schools restricted physician supply, putting upward pressure on the costs of physicians' services.2
After Flexner's report, a further movement towards standardization and accreditation came in 1913, when the American College of Surgeons (ACS) was founded. Would-be members of the ACS had to meet strict standards. For a hospital to gain the accreditation of the ACS, it had to meet a set of standards relating to the staff, records, and diagnostic and therapeutic facilities available. Of 692 large hospitals examined in 1918, only 13 percent were approved. By 1932, 93 percent of the 1,600 hospitals examined met ACS requirements (Shyrock 1979, p. 348).
Increasing requirements for licensure and accreditation, in addition to a rising demand for medical care, eventually led to rising costs. In 1927, the Committee on the Costs of Medical Care (CCMC) was formed to investigate the medical expenses of American families. Comprised of physicians, economists, and public health specialists, the CCMC published 27 research reports, offering reliable estimates of national health care expenditures. According to one CCMC study, the average American family had medical expenses totaling $108 in 1929, with hospital expenditures comprising 14 percent of the total bill (Falk, Rorem, and Ring 1933, p. 89). In 1929, medical charges for urban families with incomes between $2,000 and $3,000 per year averaged $67 if there were no hospitalizations, but averaged $261 if there were any illnesses that required hospitalization (see Falk, Rorem, and Ring). By 1934, Michael M. Davis, a leading advocate of reform, noted that hospital costs had risen to nearly 40 percent of a family's medical bill (Davis 1934, p. 211). By the end of the 1920s, families began to demand greater amounts of medical care, and the costs of medical care began to increase.
1930-1940: The Birth of Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Blue Cross: Hospital Insurance
As the demand for hospital care increased in the 1920s, a new payment innovation developed at the end of the decade that would revolutionize the market for health insurance. The precursor to Blue Cross was founded in 1929 by a group of Dallas teachers who contracted with Baylor University Hospital to provide 21 days of hospitalization for a fixed $6.00 payment. The Baylor plan developed as a way to ensure that people paid their bills. One official connected with the plan compared hospital bills to cosmetics, noting that the nation's cosmetic bill was actually more than the nation's hospital bill, but that "We spend a dollar or so at a time for cosmetics and do not notice the high cost. The ribbon counter clerk can pay 50¢, 75¢, or $1 a month, yet.... it would take about twenty years to set aside a large hospital bill" (The American Foundation 1937, p. 1023).
Pre-paid hospital service plans grew over the course of the Great Depression. Pre-paid hospital care was mutually advantageous to both subscribers and hospitals during the early 1930s, when consumers and hospitals suffered from falling incomes. While the pre-paid plans allowed consumers to affordably pay for hospital care, they also benefited hospitals by providing them with a way to earn income during a time of falling hospital revenue. Only 62 percent of beds in private hospitals were occupied on average, compared to 89 percent of beds in public hospitals that accepted charity care (Davis and Rorem 1932, p. 5). As one pediatrician in the Midwest noted, "Things went swimmingly as long as endowed funds allowed the hospitals to carry on. When the funds from endowments disappeared the hospitals got into trouble and thus the various plans to help the hospitals financially developed" (American Foundation 1937, p. 756).
The American Hospital Association (AHA) encouraged hospitals in such endeavors ostensibly as a means of relieving "... from financial embarrassment and even from disaster in the emergency of sickness those who are in receipt of limited incomes" (Reed 1947, p. 14). However, the prepayment plans also clearly benefited hospitals by giving them a constant stream of income. Since single-hospital plans generated greater competition among hospitals, community hospitals began to organize with each other to offer hospital coverage and to reduce inter-hospital competition. These plans eventually combined under the auspices of the AHA under the name Blue Cross.
Blue Cross Designed to Reduce Price Competition among Hospitals
The AHA designed the Blue Cross guidelines so as to reduce price competition among hospitals. Prepayment plans seeking the Blue Cross designation had to provide subscribers with free choice of physician and hospital, a requirement that eliminated single-hospital plans from consideration. Blue Cross plans also benefited from special state-level enabling legislation allowing them to act as non-profit corporations, to enjoy tax-exempt status, and to be free from the usual insurance regulations. Originally, the reason for this exemption was that Blue Cross plans were considered to be in society's best interest since they often provided benefits to low-income individuals (Eilers 1963, p. 82). Without the enabling legislation, Blue Cross plans would have had to organize under the laws for insurance companies. If they organized as stock companies, the plans would have had to meet reserve requirements to ensure their solvency. Organizing as mutual companies meant that they would either have to meet reserve requirements or be subject to assessment liability.3 Given that most plans had little financial resources available to them, they would not have been able to meet the requirements.
The enabling legislation freed the plans from the traditional insurance reserve requirements because the Blue Cross plans were underwritten by hospitals. Hospitals contracted with the plans to provide subscriber services, and agreed to provide service benefits even during periods when the plans lacked funds to provide reimbursement. Under the enabling legislation, the plans "enjoy the advantages of exemption from the regular insurance laws of the state, are freed from the obligation of maintaining the high reserves required of commercial insurance companies and are relieved of paying taxes" (Anderson 1944, p. 11).4 Enabling laws served to increase the amount of health insurance sold in states in which they were implemented, causing growth in the market (Thomasson 2002).
Blue Shield: Insurance for Physician Services
Despite the success of Blue Cross and pre-paid hospitalization policies, physicians were much slower in providing pre-paid care. Blue Cross and Blue Shield developed separately, with little coordination between them (McDavitt 1946). Physicians worried that a third-party system of payment would lower their incomes by interfering with the physician-patient relationship and restricting the ability of physicians to price discriminate. However, in the 1930s, physicians were faced with two situations that spurred them to develop their own pre-paid plans. First, Blue Cross plans were becoming popular, and some physicians feared that hospitals would move into the realm of providing insurance for physician services, thus limiting physician autonomy. In addition, advocates of compulsory health insurance looked to the emerging social security legislation as a logical means of providing national health care. Compulsory health insurance was even more anathema to physicians than voluntary health insurance. It became clear to physicians that in order to protect their interests, they would be better off pre-empting both hospitals and compulsory insurance proponents by sculpting their own plan.
Thus, to protect themselves from competition with Blue Cross, as well as to provide an alternative to compulsory insurance, physicians began to organize a framework for pre-paid plans that covered physician services. In this regard, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted a set of ten principles in 1934 "... which were apparently promulgated for the primary purposes of preventing hospital service plans from underwriting physician services and providing an answer to the proponents of compulsory medical insurance" (Hedinger 1966, p. 82). Within these rules were provisions that ensured that voluntary health insurance would remain under physician supervision and not be subject to the control of non-physicians. In addition, physicians wanted to retain their ability to price discriminate (to charge different rates to different customers, based on their ability to pay).
These principles were reflected in the actions of physicians as they established enabling legislation similar to that which allowed Blue Cross plans to operate as non-profits. Like the Blue Cross enabling legislation, these laws allowed Blue Shield plans to be tax-exempt and free from the provisions of insurance statutes. Physicians lobbied to ensure that they would be represented on the boards of all such plans, and acted to ensure that all plans required free choice of physician. In 1939, the California Physicians' Service (CPS) began to operate as the first prepayment plan designed to cover physicians' services. Open to employees earning less than $3,000 annually, the CPS provided physicians' services to employee groups for the fee of $1.70 per month for employees (Scofea, p. 5). To further these efforts, the AMA encouraged state and local medical societies to form their own prepayment plans. These physician-sponsored plans ultimately affiliated and became known as Blue Shield in 1946.
Blue Shield plans offered medical and surgical benefits for hospitalized members, although certain plans also covered visits to doctors' offices. While some plans were like the Blue Cross plans in that they offered service benefits to low-income subscribers (meaning that the plans directly reimbursed physicians for services), most Blue Shield plans operated on a mixed service-indemnity basis. Doctors charged patients who were subscribers to Blue Shield the difference between their actual charges and the amount for which they were reimbursed by Blue Shield. In this manner, doctors could retain their power to price discriminate by charging different prices to different patients.
1940-1960: Growth in the Health Insurance Market
After the success of Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the 1930s, continued growth in the market occurred for several reasons. The supply of health insurance increased once commercial insurance companies decided to enter the market for health coverage. Demand for health insurance increased as medical technology further advanced, and as government policies encouraged the popularity of health insurance as a form of employee compensation.
Growth in Supply: Commercial Insurance Companies Enter the Market
Blue Cross and Blue Shield were first to enter the health insurance market because commercial insurance companies were reluctant to even offer health insurance early in the century. As previously mentioned, they feared that they would not be able to overcome problems relating to adverse selection, so that offering health insurance would not be profitable. The success of Blue Cross and Blue Shield showed just how easily adverse selection problems could be overcome: by focusing on providing health insurance only to groups of employed workers. This would allow commercial insurance companies to avoid adverse selection because they would insure relatively young, healthy people who did not individually seek health insurance. After viewing the success of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, commercial health insurance companies began to move rapidly into the health insurance market. As shown in Figure 1, the market for health insurance exploded in size in the 1940s, growing from a total enrollment of 20,662,000 in 1940 to nearly 142,334,000 in 1950 (Health Insurance Institute 1961, Source Book, p. 10). As the Superintendent of Insurance in New York, Louis H. Pink, noted in 1939
... There are twenty stock insurance companies which are today issuing in this state Individual Medical Reimbursement, Hospitalization, and Sickness Expense Policies. About half of these have only recently gone into this field. It is no doubt the interest aroused by the non-profit associations which has induced the regular insurance companies to extend their activities in this way (Pink 1939).
Figure 1: Number of Persons with Health Insurance (thousands), 1940-1960
Source: Source Book of Health Insurance Data, 1965.
Community Rating versus Experience Rating
The success of commercial companies was aided by two factors. First, the competitiveness of Blue Cross and Blue Shield was limited by the fact that their non-profit status required that they community rate their policies. Under a system of community rating, insurance companies charge the same premium to sicker people as they do to healthy people. Since they were not considered to be nonprofit organizations, commercial insurance companies were not required to community rate their policies. Instead, commercial insurance companies could engage in experience rating, whereby they charged sicker people higher premiums and healthier people lower premiums. As a result, commercial companies could often offer relatively healthy groups lower premiums than the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, and gain their business. Thus, the commercial health insurance business boomed, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Enrollment in Commercial Insurance Plans v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Source: Source Book of Health Insurance Data, 1965.
Figure 2 illustrates the growth of commercial insurance relative to Blue Cross and Blue Shield. So successful was commercial insurance that by the early 1950s, commercial plans had more subscribers than Blue Cross and Blue Shield. In 1951, 41.5 million people were enrolled in group or individual hospital insurance plans offered by commercial insurance companies, while only 40.9 million people were enrolled in Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans (Health Insurance Institute 1965, Source Book, p. 14).
Growth in Demand: Government Policies that Encouraged Health Insurance
Offering insurance policies to employee groups not only benefited insurers, but also benefited employers. During World War II, wage and price controls prevented employers from using wages to compete for scarce labor. Under the 1942 Stabilization Act, Congress limited the wage increases that could be offered by firms, but permitted the adoption of employee insurance plans. In this way, health benefit packages offered one means of securing workers. In the 1940s, two major rulings also reinforced the foundation of the employer-provided health insurance system. First, in 1945 the War Labor Board ruled that employers could not modify or cancel group insurance plans during the contract period. Then, in 1949, the National Labor Relations Board ruled in a dispute between the Inland Steel Co. and the United Steelworkers Union that the term "wages" included pension and insurance benefits. Therefore, when negotiating for wages, the union was allowed to negotiate benefit packages on behalf of workers as well. This ruling, affirmed later by the U.S. Supreme Court, further reinforced the employment-based system.5
Perhaps the most influential aspect of government intervention that shaped the employer-based system of health insurance was the tax treatment of employer-provided contributions to employee health insurance plans. First, employers did not have to pay payroll tax on their contributions to employee health plans. Further, under certain circumstances, employees did not have to pay income tax on their employer's contributions to their health insurance plans. The first such exclusion occurred under an administrative ruling handed down in 1943 which stated that payments made by the employer directly to commercial insurance companies for group medical and hospitalization premiums of employees were not taxable as employee income (Yale Law Journal, 1954, pp. 222-247). While this particular ruling was highly restrictive and limited in its applicability, it was codified and extended in 1954. Under the 1954 Internal Revenue Code (IRC), employer contributions to employee health plans were exempt from employee taxable income. As a result of this tax-advantaged form of compensation, the demand for health insurance further increased throughout the 1950s (Thomasson 2003).
The 1960s: Medicare and Medicaid
The AMA and the Defeat of Government Insurance before 1960
By the 1960s, the system of private health insurance in the United States was well established. In 1958, nearly 75 percent of Americans had some form of private health insurance coverage. By helping to implement a successful system of voluntary health insurance plans, the medical profession had staved off the government intervention and nationalized insurance that it had feared since the 1910s. In addition to ensuring that private citizens had access to voluntary coverage, the AMA also was a vocal opponent of any nationalized health insurance programs, suggesting that such proposals were socialistic and would interfere with physician income and the doctor-patient relationship. The AMA had played a significant role in defeating proposals for nationalized health insurance in 1935 (under the Social Security Act) and later in defeating the proposed Murray-Wagner-Dingell (MWD) bill in 1949. The MWD bill would have provided comprehensive nationalized health insurance to all Americans. To ensure the defeat of the proposal, the AMA charged every physician who was a member $25 for their lobbying efforts (Marmor 2000).
While serious proposals for government-sponsored health insurance were not put forth during the Eisenhower Administrations of 1952-1960, proponents of such legislation worked to ensure that their ideas would have a chance at passing in the future under more responsive administrations. They realized that the only way to enact government-sponsored health insurance would be to do so incrementally -- and they began by focusing on the elderly (Marmor 2000).
Offering insurance to aged persons age 65 and over provided a means to successfully counter several criticisms that opponents to government-sponsored health insurance had aimed at previous bills. Focusing on the elderly allowed proponents to counter charges that nationalized health insurance would provide health care to individuals who were generally able to pay for it themselves. It was difficult for opponents to argue that the elderly were not among the most medically needy in society, given their fixed incomes and the fact that they were generally in poorer health and in greater need of medical care. Supporters also tried to limit the opposition of the AMA by putting forth proposals that only covered hospital services, which also stemmed criticism that said nationalized health insurance would encourage extensive -- and unnecessary -- utilization of medical services.
Medicare Provisions
The political atmosphere become much more favorable towards nationalized health insurance proposals after John F. Kennedy was elected to office in 1960, and especially when the Democrats won a majority in Congress in 1964. Passed in 1965, Medicare was a federal program with uniform standards that consisted of two parts. Part A represented the compulsory hospital insurance program the aged were automatically enrolled in upon reaching age 65. Part B provided supplemental medical insurance, or subsidized insurance for physicians' services. Ironically, physicians stood to benefit tremendously from Medicare. Fearing that physicians would refuse to treat Medicare patients, legislators agreed to reimburse physicians according to their "usual, customary, and reasonable rate." In addition, doctors could bill patients directly, so that patients had to be reimbursed by Medicare. Thus, doctors were still permitted to price discriminate by charging patients more than what the program would pay, and forcing patients to pay the difference. Funding for Medicare comes from payroll taxes, income taxes, trust fund interest, and enrollee premiums for Part B. Medicare has grown from serving 19.1 million recipients in 1966 to 39.5 million in 1999 (Henderson 2002, p. 425).
Medicaid
In contrast to Medicare, Medicaid was enacted as a means-tested, federal-state program to provide medical resources for the indigent. The federal portion of a state's Medicaid payments is based on each state's per capita income relative to national per capita income. Unlike Medicare, which has uniform national benefits and eligibility standards, the federal government only specifies minimum standards for Medicaid; each of the states is responsible for determining eligibility and benefits within these broad guidelines. Thus, benefits and eligibility vary widely across states. While the original legislation provided coverage for recipients of public assistance, legislative changes have expanded the scope of benefits and beneficiaries (Gruber 2000). In 1966, Medicaid provided benefits for 10 million recipients. By 1999, 37.5 million people received care under Medicaid (Henderson 2002, p. 433).
Growth of Medicare and Medicaid Expenditures
Figure 3 shows how Medicare and Medicaid expenditures have grown as a percentage of total national health care expenditures since their inception in 1966. The figure points to some interesting trends. Expenditures in both programs rose dramatically in the late 1960s as the programs began to gear up. Then, Medicare expenditures in particular rose sharply during the 1970. This growth in Medicare expenditures resulted in a major change in Medicare reimbursement policies in 1983. Instead of reimbursing according to the "usual and customary" rates, the government enacted a prospective payment system where providers were reimbursed according to set fee schedules based on diagnosis. Medicaid expenditures were fairly constant over the 1970s and 1980s, and did not begin to rise until more generous eligibility requirements were implemented in the 1990s. By 2001, Medicare and Medicaid together accounted for 32 percent of all health care expenditures in the U.S.
Figure 3:
Medicare and Medicaid as a Share of National Health Expenditures, 1966-2001
Source: Calculations by author based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (http://cms.gov).
Notes: Percentages are calculated from price-adjusted data for all consumer expenditures, 1996=100.
Endnotes
1 In Canada, fraternal societies were the primary source of sickness benefits and access to a physician in the event of illness. The role of fraternal lodges in insurance declined significantly after 1929. See Emery 1996 and Emery and Emery 1999.
2 These changes may also have increased physician quality, thus leading to an increase in demand for physicians' services that put additional pressure on prices.
3 Stock companies are companies that are owned by stockholders and who are entitled to the earnings of the company. Stock companies are required to hold reserves to guard against insolvency (see Faulkner 1960, pp. 406-29 for a detailed discussion on reserves). Mutual companies are cooperative organizations in which the control of the company and its ownership rest with the insureds. Mutual companies may be required to have reserves, or to engage in assessment liability (in which insureds must pay additional amounts if premiums fall short of claims). Both stock and mutual companies pay taxes.
4 However, the enabling legislation did not give the Blue Cross plans free rein. They required the plans to be non-profit, and to allow free choice of physician by subscribers, and some specified additional requirements. New York was the first state to enact such enabling legislation in 1934, and 32 states had adopted special enabling legislation for hospital service plans by 1943. Other states exempted Blue Cross plans by categorizing them strictly as nonprofit organizations (Eilers 1963, pp. 100-07).
5 Scofea, p. 6. See also Inland Steel Co. v. NLRB (170 F. 2d 247 (7th Cir. 1948) and Eilers, p. 19.
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