“As open enrollment for health insurance begins Wednesday, Nov. 1, and several changes have occurred or been proposed, I decided to check in with two industry experts for their advice on what you need to know.
Posts Tagged ‘Chicagoland’
Health insurance and open enrollment – what you need to know
Monday, October 30th, 2017Rauner plays it safe on likely doomed GOP Senate Obamacare bill
Wednesday, October 11th, 2017“The potential for Senate Republicans to unravel Obamacare this week diminished on Sunday, when two GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Ted Cruz of Texas said their support was unlikely.
Even though the bill drafted by Sens. Lindsey Graham R-S.C. and Bill Cassidy R-La., is on the verge of failure — and may not even get a vote by the end of the month — as long as Republicans control the House, Senate and the White House, attempts may continue to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature health insurance plan.
How Safe Is Your Medicare?
Friday, August 18th, 2017“There are several popular misconceptions about the financial condition of Medicare, which virtually all American senior citizens rely on to cover healthcare expenses in retirement. Many people believe Medicare is broke, or that there’s virtually no chance that Medicare will still be around by the time they retire. Spoiler alert: Neither of these assumptions are true.
BCBSIL to Stop Offering SHOP Plans (Small Group 1-50) Starting Jan. 1, 2018
Friday, August 4th, 2017Blue Cross and Blue Shield reports:
“We want to let you know that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) will not be participating in the Federally Facilitated Small Business Health Options Program (FF-SHOP) marketplace with BCBSIL health insurance plans starting Jan. 1, 2018.
Health insurance plans to be rated based on size of network
Thursday, April 28th, 2016Live Insurance News reports:
” The Obama administration will now use the number of included doctors and hospitals in the ratings.
In response to complaints from consumers with respect to the way health insurance plans are rated on the exchanges, the Obama administration has now said that it will provide a rating for each plan based on the number of hospitals and doctors that are included within that plan’s network.
Equally, there will also be an increase to the maximum annual out-of-pocket amount that consumers can pay.
For individuals, the maximum out-of-pocket expenses for health insurance next year, will be $7,150. For families that figure will be $14,300. Consumer advocates haven’t been impressed with those numbers, as they have said these additional costs could pose a considerable financial burden for middle-income individuals and families who require a large amount of medical care. These new rules were published within the Federal Register, this week. Under these regulations, insurance companies will be able to sell health plans with limited provider networks. (more…)
UnitedHealthcare launches a smaller, ‘very, very different’ insurer
Thursday, April 28th, 2016Star Tribune Business reports:
” UnitedHealthcare is facing competition this year in Atlanta and Chicago from a new name in health insurance — a carrier that’s actually one of its subsidiaries.
For the first time, individual shoppers are buying coverage from Harken Health, a company with about 100 employees based at an office on the UnitedHealthcare corporate campus in Minnetonka.
Harken is being run as an independent entity, executives said, with a distinct approach to selling coverage. Subscribers receive unlimited access to primary care, without copays, if they visit a health center owned by Harken Health.
“It’s like an automobile company that makes a brand of car, and then with better luck or worse luck they also make a Saturn,” said Roger Feldman, a health insurance expert at the University of Minnesota.
The Federal Government’s $146 Billion Obamacare Boo-Boo
Thursday, April 28th, 2016According to The Motley Fool:
” Bad things can happen when a government forecast proves to be way off.
There are mistakes, and then there are big mistakes. What the Congressional Budget Office’s latest report on federal subsidies revealed was a mistake of monstrousproportions on the part of the federal government.
Here’s what a forecasting error looks like
The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, has been making projections on the future of Obamacare, and healthcare in general, for years. Initially, the CBO had projected that up to 21 million people would sign up for private health insurance using Obamacare’s transparent marketplace exchanges by 2016. However, that estimate has been substantially reduced to just 12 million. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Obamacare enrollment totaled “about 12.7 million” as of the end of third enrollment period (Jan. 31, 2016). Ultimately, the CBO foresees private health enrollment via Obamacare topping out at between 18 million and 19 million people between 2018 and 2026.
Why such a huge difference in actual enrollment versus initial projections? To begin with, the government appears to have overestimated just how many people would sign up on private exchanges versus being enrolled via their employer. The data has thus far shown that nowhere near as many people as expected dropped out of employer-sponsored insurance to sign up on Obamacare’s marketplace exchanges, meaning there was a considerably smaller uninsured pool than initially anticipated. (more…)
Obamacare Encounters Another Bump in the Road
Thursday, April 28th, 2016According to News Max Finance:
” Well, the hammer has fallen: The largest health insurer in the U.S. has started pulling out of select Obamacare exchanges.
Five months ago UnitedHealth, which had been singing sunny songs to investors about its bright future on the exchanges, abruptly began crooning the blues. In an earnings call barely a month after executives assured investors that all was going swimmingly, they confessed that they were losing a ton of money on their Obamacare policies and described a pattern that sounded as if consumers were gaming the system — signing up for a few months, using a ton of services, and then canceling their policies. If this continued, they said, they would have no choice but to pull out of the exchange business. (more…)
How Obamacare Makes Tax Filing Trickier
Thursday, April 21st, 2016
According to Time Inc.
“Many Americans will get new tax forms for the first time. Here’s what to do with them.
This year, you may be receiving tax forms you’ve never seen before, all thanks to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. For the most part, these documents won’t make tax filing too much harder—with one big exception. Here’s what you need to know about this paperwork, depending on what kind of health insurance you had in 2015.
If you had health insurance from your employer all year…
