| Florida Health Insurance Consultants Needed For Best Rate Quote
Jean Chatzky of Money Magazine said in a recent interview, "the leading cause of personal bankruptcy is not wasteful spending or reckless investing but unpaid medical bills. Thats surprising, but only until you consider that at any moment some 40 million Americans are without health insurance and another 40 million have experienced a gap in coverage sometime over the past two years." Q: WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? A: With the slow economy, some employers particularly small ones are faced with a choice, they can cut jobs or they can cut benefits. Many, for understandable reasons, opt to cut the latter. If you are laid off, you can often maintain your health coverage for up to 18 months through your former employers plan under a law called COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act).
Self-employed losing health care options
A major source of health insurance for people who work for themselves has all but disappeared, casting thousands of contractors, freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured with little hope of obtaining new coverage. Health plans offered by professional associations were once safe havens for millions of people who couldn't obtain coverage anywhere else. But, as medical costs have soared, groups representing professions as varied as law and golf have been forced to stop offering the benefit or been dropped by insurers. More than 8,000 California Realtors and their families could be next if Blue Shield of California succeeds with its plan to cancel their association health coverage. "It's a real stab in the heart," said Marcy Garber, 62, a Los Angeles real estate agent whose history of breast cancer makes her an almost-certain reject if she seeks similar coverage on her own.
Health insurance options dwindle for self-employed
A major source of health insurance for people who work for themselves is disappearing, casting thousands of contractors, freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured with little hope of obtaining new coverage.
Health plans offered by professional associations were once havens for millions of people who couldn't get coverage anywhere else. But as medical costs have soared, groups representing professions as varied as law and golf have been forced to stop offering the benefit or been dropped by insurers.
More than 8,000 people with coverage through the California Assn. of Realtors could be next if Blue Shield of California succeeds with its plan to cancel the group's health coverage.
"It's a real stab in the heart," said Marcy Garber, 62, an Encino real estate agent whose history of breast cancer makes her an almost-certain reject if she seeks similar coverage on her own.
A few questions about pre-existing conditions
If I buy a Medigap policy this summer when I become eligible for Medicare, will I have to wait for my pre-existing conditions to be covered? A: If you buy your Medigap policy during your Medigap open enrollment period, which is the six-month period following the eligibility date on your Medicare card, then you may not have a waiting period. It depends on whether you had at least six months of creditable health insurance coverage immediately prior to the open enrollment period month in which you want to buy the Medigap policy. If you had less than six months of creditable coverage, this waiting period will be reduced by the number of months that you did have creditable coverage. Creditable coverage is generally any other health coverage you had immediately prior to applying for a Medigap policy.
AM Best Places Ratings of Sierra Health Services and Its ...
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A.M. Best Co. has placed the issuer credit rating (ICR) and debt ratings of "bb+" of Sierra Health Services Inc (Sierra) (Las Vegas, NV) [NYSE: SIE] under review with positive implications. Additionally, A.M. Best has placed the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) and the ICRs of "bbb+" of Health Plan of Nevada, Inc. and Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company, Inc., both subsidiaries of Sierra, under review with positive implications. These rating actions follow Sierra's March 12, 2007 announcement of a signed definitive agreement that it will be acquired by UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UnitedHealth) (Minnetonka, MN) [NYSE:UNH]. The ratings of UnitedHealth and its insurance subsidiaries are unchanged by this transaction. The proposed transaction is valued at $2.6 billion.
Sentenced for Health Insurance Claims Fraud
TRENTON: (Thur. 4.5) Joseph Venziano, 66, of Wildwood was sentenced today for health insurance claims fraud, according to state Attorney General Stuart Rabner. In a joint release from Rabner and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw, it was announced that Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown, Venziano was sentenced to five years probation by Superior Court Judge Raymond Batten in Court House. He was also ordered to pay $9,393 in restitution to Aetna Life Insurance Company. Venziano was sentenced pursuant to his guilty plea to third-degree theft by deception, a charged contained in a Cape May County grand jury indictment returned in November 2006. At his guilty plea hearing on Feb. 1 before Batten, Venziano admitted that, between Oct. 19, 2002 and Dec.
The State Of Citizens
No crystal ball is needed to see the future of Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurance pool. It will be getting bigger, possibly much bigger, in coming months. The massive insurance reform bill passed during the legislative special session in January will let Citizens compete with private insurers for homeowner business in the state's windstorm area. It also allows Citizens to expand commercial coverage. Now, during the regular session, Gov. Charlie Crist and several lawmakers would like to see a Senate bill move forward that paves the way for Citizens to be a full-fledged insurer. In making a case for Citizens, the bill claims the state's economic health and public safety are at risk without affordable property insurance. Citizens will be moving far beyond its original concept as a market of last resort for home, condo owners and renters who couldn't find available policies from private insurers.
Top 8 Assembly GOP Health Reform Ideas
Assembly Republicans this week got around to unveiling their proposals to improve health care and health insurance availability. They came up with a lot of good ideas. Their overall plan also has one gigantic huge advantage over Arnold's plan and the proposals from Fabian Nunez and Don Perata: It's legal. It doesn't violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the 1974 federal law which bans states from telling companies which offer benefits what those benefits must entail. We are now in the 10th week since Arnold's plan was unveiled, and I'm still waiting for any expert not in Arnold's employ to say it's legal, or for any such expert to say so to another journalist in a story in a publication that's part of the Nexis database. Anyway, here are my Top 8 Assembly GOP Health Reform Ideas (the descriptions are from a press release on the GOP package): 8.
The Big Tangle
In the aftermath of the fatal I-90 ceiling collapse, a complicated legal fight has drawn in a phalanx of attorneys to defend pocketbooks and reputations. Such maneuvering has drawn comparisons to famed disputes in Boston history. By Sean P. Murphy and Scott Allen, Globe Staff | April 8, 2007 .
Independence Holding Company Announces Acquisition of Actuarial ...
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2007--Independence Holding Company (NYSE: IHC) today announced that it has closed on the previously announced acquisition of Actuarial Management Corporation ("AMC"). AMC is a leading, full-service actuarial firm headquartered in Concord, CA that focuses on fully insured health coverage for small groups, individuals and families, short-term medical and employer medical stop-loss. AMC is responsible for all actuarial aspects of IHC's entire book of fully insured health business, but will remain an independent business unit providing services and resources to clients outside the IHC Group of Companies. AMC's team of 19 professionals has extensive experience providing clients in the health insurance industry with development and management services, underwriting and benefit design review, data reporting, compliance support and strategic and tactical management services.
|
