Indiana Hospital Compare
The Government website www.healthcare.gov has just released a free service for comparing hospitals services. This tool provides a listing of Indianapolis hospitals, and 44 quality measures. This kind of information is cutting edge when it comes to healthcare. Recently companies like Anthem and Unitedhealthcare have released these kinds of tool to their clients. Now everyone can access this type […]
Indiana HealthCare Reform
As we move through and have a better understanding of this very complicated health care reform it becomes clearer the disconnect from the white house and real life. This is so complicated and the effects are only going to raise costs. For Small group health plans there is very little chance they can be grandfathered […]
HHS Releases Final Interim Guidance on Several PPACA Provisions
HHS Releases Final Interim Guidance on Several PPACA Provisions On June 22, 2010, the Departments of Health & Human Services, Labor, and Treasury issued new regulations that better define the following PPACA provisions: No Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions for Anyone Under Age 19 No Arbitrary Rescissions of Insurance Coverage No Lifetime Dollar Limits on Coverage […]
Health Care Reform Impacts Indiana Maternity Coverage
Starting in the fall, all new health plans must cover certain preventive screenings and other services for pregnant women at no additional cost to the patient. Those include folic acid supplements, which reduce the risk of neural tube defects in developing fetuses, and counseling to help pregnant women stop smoking. Medicaid will also begin to […]
Keeping Grandfathered Health Plans?
The Grandfathered clause of the new health care reform gave individuals and group plans the right to keep their current plans. To keep that grandfathered status you can not make any changes to the plan. So that means you can not raise the deductible or coinsurance to lower the premium. From a employer standpoint the […]
The Repeal Of The McCarran-Ferguson Act
The McCarran-Ferguson Act that created that antitrust exemption for the health insurance industry has been repealed through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). This will prevent the health and medical malpractice insurers from being exempt from antitrust regulation. An example of how the health industry has had problem is in a case in […]
White House Launchs PR Blitz for Health Care Reform
The White house is getting ready to launch a new campaign to sell the public on health care reform that was passed. This is going to be a difficult sell. Being a health insurance broker dealing with all types of health plans and I have major concerns about the reform. As of right now, I don’t know […]
Indiana COBRA Subsidy Expires
As of June 1st 2010 the COBRA Subsidy has expired. The program provided individuals who involuntarily lost their employer-sponsored health insurance benefits with a 15-month 65% subsidy of their COBRA health insurance premium. Going forward all new COBRA Eligible people will have to pay the entire premium. All eligible individuals that are still in […]
Possible Extension of COBRA Subsidy
Congress is poised yet again to consider another extension of the current May 31, 2010, eligibility deadline for the COBRA subsidy program provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Eligibility for the Federal COBRA premium subsidies would be extended through year-end and employers would have more time to fund their pension liabilities under […]
Simple Cafeteria Plans Changes
A cafeteria plan is an employer-sponsored plan that allows employees to choose certain pre-tax benefits or cash. For example, an employee may choose to pay his or her share of premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance before taxes through the plan. A cafeteria plan must have a written plan document governing the plan and may not […]
