Posts tagged ‘Insurance’

August 21st, 2010

Why We Choose Health Insurance

Why we choose health insurance

We all tend to buy health insurance for the same reasons. We want to bypass the NHS waiting lists and receive treatment when we need it.

Going into hospital is a stressful occasion and as a patient you want to be as comfortable as possible, private health cover will often mean your own private room with en-suite and home comforts such as television, internet and a choice of food when you want it.

Health insurance is not designed to replace the NHS, a health plan is designed to provide cover for the treatment of acute conditions. The private sector has very limited resources for Accident and Emergency and the treatment of chronic conditions, so both will tend not to be covered on your health insurance.

Health insurance for women who are pregnant

If you take any of the leasing insurers and look through the policy terms the health insurance tends not to cover normal pregnancy.  In the majority of cases midwives and doctors carry out the everyday care of the pregnancy through the NHS.  A pregnant woman will have regular appointments and scans with their general practitioner and midwife to ensure the pregnancy progresses as it should and this will continue after the birth to ensure the baby and mother is in good health.

Now although a standard health plan may not cover normal pregnancy you do have the option of going private and paying for the services of a midwife and obstetrician should you require. However given the quality of the antenatal care through the NHS the private sector resources for everyday pregnancy care is limited.

Cover you can expect for pregnancy

Now although many plans will not cover normal pregnancy it is important to note that each insurer has its own terms and any cover relating to pregnancy can differ significantly. Some insurers provide cover for pregnancy related issues and it’s important to understand the differences between the policies.

Although health insurance for women is not technically specific below are some of the benefits you could expect from your insurance during pregnancy.

Cover for some complications of pregnancy and childbirth
Cash benefit if child is born using the NHS
Cover for certain obstetrics procedures.

If you are looking for health insurance for women which specifically covers pregnancy some of the more comprehensive plans after a period of membership, say 2 years include cover often capped at a monetary limit for private consultations and tests as long as you have a normal pregnancy.

Additional Health insurance options to consider

Outpatient cover

Health insurance is built around inpatient treatment, as a policy becomes more comprehensive so it provides a greater level of outpatient cover, with increasing levels of outpatient cover comes increasing premiums. It is important you read the terms of the policy to understand the level of cover it provides for your specific needs, cover for pregnancy will increase the more comprehensive your plan.

Alternative medicines

An additional option in many health plans which will add around 6% to your premiums, providing cover for complementary treatments such as physiotherapy and chiropractic treatment.

Excess

An excess can help reduce your monthly premiums, by including an excess you are agreeing to pay the value of the excess either pre policy year or per claim to help towards the cost of treatment. Excesses can range from as little as £50 up to £1,000. A £100 excess could reduce your premiums by approximately 5%.

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August 18th, 2010

Health Insurance Reform Weekly Easy To Insure Me Health Insurance Quotes

February 17, 2010

The Week in Health Reform–Federal Legislative Overview

House and Senate
Things were quiet last week in Washington due to the 30 plus inches of snow the area received.  On Feb. 9 House leaders announced that due to the heavy snow in the area they would suspend votes in the House for the remainder of the week. Congress will not be in session this week due to the President’s Day recess and will reconvene the week of Feb. 22.

As a result of the congressional schedule, the timeframe for a floor vote on the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust legislation will be pushed back until the week of Feb. 22 at the earliest.  Reports have stated that the antitrust bill is part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) strategy of moving smaller pieces of health care legislation quickly to help build momentum for a comprehensive health care reform bill. The Speaker also continues to urge House Democrats to pass the Senate bill as long as it is accompanied by a separate “reconciliation” bill that would “fix” key provisions in the Senate bill (e.g., raising the threshold for the Cadillac tax and dropping the Nebraska Medicaid provisions) to satisfy some members of her caucus.

The Senate remained in session last week, despite the weather, although Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated that the Senate would not conduct any votes.  On Feb. 11, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) released the highly anticipated “jobs bill” – The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act.

Senators Baucus and Grassley issued a joint statement, emphasizing that this bill was drafted with bipartisan input.  They further stated:  “We also agree that, once properly reviewed, the package should be considered in a deliberate, but expeditious manner.  Any efforts to needlessly delay Senate completion of consideration of this package through partisan means will undermine our goal of timely action in the current economic climate.  Action on the expired provisions is long overdue.  Timely action on incentives for economic activity and job creation also is needed.”
Hours after details of the “HIRE” legislation were released, Majority Leader Reid publicly stated that he was scrapping the bill.  Reid told reporters that when the Senate returns from its recess on Feb. 22, “we will move to a smaller package than has been talked about in the press.”  Reid went on to state that some of the tax provisions included in the legislation – key to garnering Republican support for the deal – “confuse” the bill.  Reid went on to say that, “we don’t have a jobs bill. We have a jobs agenda.”

The draft “HIRE” legislation addresses a number of key health care issues:

* The bill extends, by three months, the eligibility period for premium subsidies for state continuation coverage and COBRA continuation coverage to include persons who are unemployed on or before May 31, 2010.  The bill also clarifies that these subsidies are available to persons who are involuntarily terminated from their jobs after previously losing their employer-sponsored coverage due to a reduction in hours.  The premium subsidies originally were enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the “stimulus bill.”

* The bill provides for a seven-month Medicare physician payment fix (sometimes known as the “doc-fix”), maintaining physician payment rates at their current levels through Sept. 30, 2010.  Under current law, in the absence of congressional action, physicians are scheduled to face a steep rate reduction on March 1.

* The bill provides for a one-year extension of both Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans (section 626) and Medicare Cost Plans (section 627).

* The bill includes numerous provisions addressing Medicare fee-for-service reimbursement issues.
White House Health Care Reform Summit
In a pre-Super Bowl interview on CBS, President Obama said that he would like to host a televised health care summit with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on Feb. 25.  While specific details are not yet available, the summit represents the Obama Administration’s latest strategy to jumpstart the health care reform debate and seeks bipartisan cooperation following the loss of the Democrats’ supermajority in the Senate.  Republican leaders expressed interest in the summit, and House Republican Leader John Boehner (OH) issued a statement saying that, “The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access.”  In response, White House officials insisted that the President is not interested in starting from scratch on health reform.

This week Democratic and Republican congressional leaders also met with President Obama at the White House to discuss the jobs bill, health reform, energy, trade and other legislative priorities.

Following the meeting, the President spoke with reporters and he made the following comments about health reform:  “I’m going to be starting from scratch in the sense that I will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals.  What I will not do, what I don’t think makes sense and I don’t think the American people want to see, would be another year of partisan wrangling around these issues; another six months or eight months or nine months worth of hearings in every single committee in the House and the Senate in which there’s a lot of posturing.  Let’s get the relevant parties together; let’s put the best ideas on the table.  My hope is that we can find enough overlap that we can say this is the right way to move forward, even if I don’t get every single thing that I want.

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July 29th, 2010

Keeping Your Health Insurance Premiums Low

Health Savings Accounts offer tax deductions for medical expenses, and the opportunity to set up an additional retirement account. But regardless of any other positive benefit of HSAs, lower premiums are the primary reason that thousands of Americans have chosen Health Savings Accounts as the best way to protect their family’s health and assets. Here are some key suggestions on how to keep your health insurance premiums low.
1. Choose an HSA-qualified plan for lower rate increases.
Average group health insurance premiums rose by 9.6% last year and rose over 10% for each of the previous six years. Individual plans went up even more. Yet it is expected most HSA plans will experience much lower rate increases. A very large study was recently published showing that rate increases over the past year for consumer-driven plans such as HSA plans was only 3.4%. Blue Cross of Minnesota has reported that its HSA customers spent 8% less than their traditional insurance clients. Humana has reported claims’ costs of 4.9% for consumer-driven plans, versus a 19.2% increase in claims for other plans. In fact, average HSA premiums for individuals have actually dropped 19.5% over the last two years.

The reason these plans have lower rate increases is that people who have HSA-qualifying high-deductible health plans are likely to pay closer attention to costs, and take better care of their health. For instance, an HSA owner offered a statin drug to lower her cholesterol may be more likely to request a generic version, or ask her doctor if inexpensive nutritional supplements such as niacin or fish oil may be a solution. These actions save the insurance company money and should result in lower rate increases.
2. Raise your deductible as your HSA account grows.
When you fund your account you build up a financial “cushion” which allows you to raise your deductible as your account grows. Every time you raise your deductible, your premium should go down.
By the way, don’t forget that every time you fund your account you get an instant tax-deduction. When you offset the tax savings against your premiums, you’ll find your net cost for an HSA plan can be very low.
The maximum allowable contribution goes up every year with the rise of the Consumer Price Index. Currently, the individual contribution limit is $2,700, and the family limit is $5,450. So each year you can deposit greater amounts into your HSA and continue to raise your deductible, if you choose.

3. Stay healthy, so you can switch plans.
All health insurance plans have rate increases, and weve even seen premiums jump on some HSA plans. If a rate increase happens to you, you can switch to a different insurance company but only if you pass their underwriting requirements. If chronic disease develops, you may be stuck with your current plan, and its accompanying rate increases, for eternity. Or at least it may seem that long
If you pay attention to the pharmaceutical commercials, you learn lifestyle really has nothing to do with disease, and it is natural and healthy to be on many medications for the rest of your life, which will then solve your health problems.
If you pay attention to the science, you know the truth is quite different. It appears lifestyle is probably 95% of the picture, and we know the occurrence of degenerative disease can be dramatically reduced and even prevented.
Fortunately, most HSA owners are interested in health, wellness, and disease prevention. After all, theyre paying for their own doctor visits if they do get sick. HSA owners are also “forward thinking” people, and like to plan for their future both financial and physical. You can improve your odds of excellent health with just a few key habits:
Eat very high quantities of fresh vegetables and fruits. Shoot for 35% of your calories. This will lower your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and much more.

Limit your intake of sugar and starchy carbohydrates like bread and pasta. The majority of health problems in the U.S. are related to metabolic diseases that involve insulin resistance.
Exercise and lift weights. Exercise guru Jack La Lanne turns 93 on September 26, and he says if you have muscles you never feel old.
4. Compare your plan to other available plans at least once a year, or whenever you get a rate increase.
Often-times people keep their plan much longer than they should, and end up paying too much. If your rates go up, you should compare a wide variety of plans to determine if you are in the right plan for your needs and budget.
By using these four strategies, the typical family can save thousands of dollars in health insurance premiums and still protect themselves against unexpected major medical expenses.

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