Friday, April 25, 2008

Insurance for college graduates

New data gathered by insurers shows that parents continue to be the driving force in a college graduate’s decision to buy short term medical insurance following graduation. Parents pay the premium in more than half of the short term medical insurance policies issues to those in the 21-24 age group. Without this parental financial support, a college graduate is four times more likely to go without medical insurance for a period of two months or more following gradation.

College graduates and their families are often surprised to learn how affordable health plans can be. MedSave.com, a leading provider of low cost medical insurance for college graduates, reports that the average cost of the six most popular health plans to young adults has dropped this year to for the first time in recent history. The price drop is due to the expansion of limited benefit plans rather than a reduction in overall health care costs.

But more health plan choices also means that there is more potential for selecting the wrong coverage. Not surprisingly, the least expensive health plans tend to be the most popular among young adults. This can lead to less than adequate protection. These health plans tend to provide up-front benefits for smaller medical expenses like doctors office visits but offer the least protection for catastrophic risks. It is important that college graduates choose the right plan for their own health situation. It appears that parents may be less likely to be involved in the selection of the insurance than in helping with the cost. Many college graduates are purchasing insurance for the first time and purchase trends indicate that some are making uninformed choices based solely on the cost of coverage or misperceptions of the risk/benefit aspects of insurance choices.

In most cases a high deductible short term medical insurance policy provides a young adult with the best protection at the lowest cost. Most college graduates and other young adults do not benefit financially by purchasing health insurance that covers routine health care like doctors office visits, lab tests and prescription drug costs.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Detriot business owners mirror national trends

A newly released survey of Detroit area businesses showed that while they are highly concerned with the effect of uninsured on their health costs, few support proposed legislation to require health insurance.

The results of this survey mirror those of other groups around the county. We want everyone to have health insurance, but we draw the line at requiring it by law.

The survey was conducted by John Bailey & Associates Inc. in preparation for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Mackinac Policy Conference. Surveyors found that 46% of members would vote “no” on the proposed constitutional amendment to require health insurance; 27% would vote “yes,” and 27% had no opinion or were undecided.

In Michigan, as in most other states, there are more low cost health insurance options available this year than at any time in the past. Yet without a requirement to carry insurance, about 16% of the population is uninsured and those with insurance wind up paying for the cost of health care for the uninsured.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Short term medical insurance in New York

New York residents face a triple threat when it comes to short term health insurance. First, the insurance products used in most states that are specifically designed for this purpose are not available in New York. Second, the coverage that is available is slow; often taking at least a month just to get through the manual application process. Third, the coverage is expensive. No pricing discount is recognized for the likelihood that this insurance will not be in force long enough to accrue catastrophic claims.

The easiest solution is to buy temporary insurance while staying in another state. Insurance issued in another state is valid in New York and allows treatment with any doctor or hospital in the U.S. There is no requirement that the address on temporary health insurance be your permanent residential address. Some New Yorkers residents purchase health insurance while staying at their out-of-state colleges, while at their second home in another state or while on vacation or visiting relatives. The insurance covers treatment while they are away from home as well as with the doctors and hospitals at home in New York. Almost all short term medical insurance is purchased online and most offer immediate download of the policy and insurance ID cards. Most insurance companies allow you to have the policy mailed back to a New York address if you will be returning from your trip soon.

The only other possible alternatives we can offer are:
1. Core Health Insurance – a limited benefit policy that does a fairly good job at mimicking the benefits of major medical insurance
2. International Medical Insurance - for individuals who are not permanent residents of U.S.
3. Inbound Immigrant Insurance – for individuals who have recently moved to the U.S.

If none of these options will work then it is especially important to explore all options to keep, extend or convert prior health insurance regardless of the higher cost.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Masschussets learns that "insurance is not health care"

A flood of articles in recent weeks discuss the difficulties triggered by Massachusetts' experiment in mandadted health insurance.

The Kaiser Founation published an excellent summry report at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=51517 .

Several other states including California have declined similar proposals. Pols show that the majority of Americans do not wnt mandated health insuance, yet this provision remains a key provision in Hillary Clinton's campaign platform.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Health insurance in a recession

A new article titled "Health Insurance in a Recession" points out some general strategies that may prevent costly mistakes when making desicions about health insurance in financially difficult times.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

great quote on nationalized health care

Nationalized health care will have: the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of the postal service, the failure rate of government schools, the enforcement tactics of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and all at Pentagon prices!
-- Albert V. Burns

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Bloggers condemn Families USA Report

Families USA, a liberal lobbying group launched a nationwide media campaign this month to push its agenda of universal health insurance. The campaign is based on propaganda that the lack of health insurance is contributing to an increase in pre-mature deaths. The press releases titled “Dying for Coverage…” are prepared separately for each state in order to peak local interest manipulating statistics on the number of uninsured people on state by-state basis as the basis for calculating a number of deaths for maximum media impact. The problem is that the re is no factual basis for the mortality calculations or for jumping to the conclusion that health insurance is the controlling factor in cases of inadequate health care. The majority of information published on this topic would directly contradict the Families USA opinions.

Surprisingly, a large number of mainstream media reporters picked up on the press releases and published stories that present the opinions without checking the background. These are a few headlines that appeared around the country:

“Lack of health insurance can be lethal for Alaskans”, 4/12/08, Anchorage Daily News

““Report: 460 Hoosiers die each year due to lack of health coverage”, 4/5/08, Lafayette Journal & Courier

““Deaths tied to lack of insurer: 1,000 in N.C. died for want of health plan, study says”, 4/5/08, Winston-Salem Journal

““Report: Thousands die from lack of insurance; Several Missourians of working age with no coverage die each week, study shows”, Springfield News-Leader

Normally the mainstream media would recognize this type of press release as a political spin and ignore it. We do not know whether reporters simply took the easy route of writing their story by reproducing the press release without gathering additional information or whether perhaps the writers personally support the efforts of Families USA. Some of the reporters indicate that they are covering only the published report, and are not implying that their article is a balanced news report on the topic. In either case, it is clear that the newspapers readers were not been as easily fooled.

Public comments on Web sites are sharply critical of the campaign. These are a few comments (without citations) posted by boggers on the newspaper articles:

“Lack of insurance doesn't kill people. Lack of treatment, lack of living a healthy lifestyle, lack of exercise, lack of a healthy diet.....those things are much more likely to kill someone. It might take some effort to find insurance or health care, but it's available”.

“Uninsured who live a healthy lifestyle will lead longer, healthier lives without the side effects from the pharmaceuticals that modern medicine uses as a band-aid. Modern medicine does not attempt to find the cause of a medical condition, but only treats the symptoms”.

“merely having health insurance is no guarantee that you will be able to seek out treatment”.

“the affordability of health care is not directly related or controlled by employment status, income or insurance”.

"5 out of 6 people who die prematurely do have health insurance! What does that say about the importance of health insurance in causing deaths?"


We did not reproduce any of the more crudely worded criticisms but a strong majority of bloggers found the report objectionable. Other comments pointed out that we have long known that 80% of our nation's health care costs are directly tied to five behavioral factors – smoking, over-eating, lack of exercise, lack of stress management, and poor nutrition. There is no indication that there is any connection between health insurance and these five key behavioral issues. Other writers pointed out that no one in America who actively seeks treatment is denied basic health care – regardless of their ability to pay. Every state has adequate welfare type health care for those who are willing to spend their own money before requesting public assistance for medical expenses. Free basic medical treatment clinics and hospitals that provide free care based on demonstrated financial need operate in most geographical areas.

The consistency of the theme of the strong majority of these public responses indicates that Americans are increasingly aware that additional regulation of health insurance without addressing the underlying health care affordability issues is pointless and will only cause further harm. The most comprehensive public opinion studies including a massive survey by the AFL-CIO covered in U.S. News and World Report in March 2008 indicates that the majority do not support mandated health insurance or additional government intervention in health insurance.

At MedSave.com, we consider ourselves to be activists in the health care reform movement and we support the lobbying efforts of many reputable organizations like America’s Health Insurance Plans, Kaiser Foundation and Covertheuninsured.org and we would financially benefit from national health insurance reforms, but we feel that it is ethically necessary to distance ourselves from the intentionally deceitful strategies of Families USA. This type of propaganda will not help promote a solution to the national health care affordability crisis.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Health insurance scams in Maine





Maine Department of Insurance warns that consumer insurance scams increase during economic downturns. The logo above is designed to help inusrance buyers focus on verifying the legitimacy of dels that seem too good to be true. Consumers are also welcome to use the free independent OnlineAdviser service simply by emailing onlineadviser@medsave.com to verify the legitimacy of any suspected insurance plan. All of the low cost health insurance plans listed at MedSave.com at http://medsave.com/low-cost-health-insurance-listing/me.htm have been verified as legitimate legal plans in Maine.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

1 in 9 people know "HSA"

The same study cited in the previous post indicates that only one out of nine people recognize that "HSA" stands for "Health Savings Account".

Insurance survey reveals consumers' lack of understanding

A survey by Fleishman-Hillard Research indicates that almost twice as many people know the co-payment on their health insurance policy as the maximum out-of-pocket costs. The co-payment has little economic importance compared with the total out-of-pocket expense. The variance between different policies in their maximum out-of-pocket expenses is much more significant than the difference in co-payments. For example, policy co-payments range from $5 to $50, a difference of only $45. Maximum out-of-pocket range from $1,250 to more than $15,000. Obviously the out-of-pocket expense has more impact on the policyholder’s overall financial well-being. Yet only one in three people know the maximum out-of-pocket of their policy. Buyers who are aware only of the co-payment are more likely to make wrong policy selection decisions.

Racial differences in U.S. health care

Pointing out racial differences is always a touchy are, and health insurance should be no different. Two publications this past week pointed out sharp differences in medical insurance issues between African-Americans and white Americans.

An article in Penn State Live said that African-Americans under age 65 are three times more likely to be covered by Medicare than whites.

Health Affairs Policies Institute reported that “Minorities have, in general, equal or better mental health than white Americans, yet they suffer from disparities in mental health care.”

The differences are likely to be at least partly attributable to income differences between blacks and whites. But what really caught our attention and caused us to reference these publications is that they underscore and confirm the implication of numerous other reports from various source that seem to be saying that the typical uninsured person in America is a young adult middle-class working white person.

South Africa Supreme Court Approves Short Term Medical Insurance

The Supreme Court in South Africa ruled that short term insurers are allowed to sell medical insurance. The ruling has little bearing on citizens of the United States and other countires, however it appears possible that a similar legal contest could occur in the U.S. where state legislators show willingness to disallow this popular type of healh insurance within its borders. Some people question the authority of individual states to disallow an insurance that is considered a blessing by many people in most other states because of it affordability, liberal coverage and ease of use.

But because short term medical insurance buyers tend to be younger and healthier than those who pay much more for other types of medical insurance, some lawmakers want to level the playing field an have the younger healthier people pay the same insurance rate as the older less healthy people.

Friday, April 4, 2008

War on Affordable Health Insurance

A sampling of this week’s political headlines would lead a reader to believe that our nation’s War on Terror had been replaced by a War on Affordable Health Insurance. The most severely affected were Montana residents where Celtic Insurance Company announced a temporary suspension of new applications. The suspension applies not only to the low priced short term medical insurance but also to the popular renewable “CelticCare” and “CelticSaver” Health Savings Account plans for individuals and families. Because of the relatively small number of low cost health insurance carriers in Montana, the suspension will immediately affect the state’s insurance residents.

Celtic Insurance issued a statement saying “We are currently in discussion with the Montana Department of Insurance to gain new product approval for our filing. We are working closely with the Department to ensure a quick reentry into the Montana market.” The company gave no reason was given for the suspension but we presume that Montana’s notoriously difficult insurance regulatory system is to blame.

Another insurance product that covered emergency room treatment administered by Value Benefits was withdrawn from the market, according to the administrator, and was then quickly announced as reinstated in 22 states by the end of the week. As of today, “Value ER” policy is available only to residents of AK, AL, AZ, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, LA, MA, MI, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NM, OK, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, WI, WV, and WY . Emergency Room insurance has grown in popularity as the deductibles of most group health policies increased to eliminate any benefit in the event that immediate care is needed. This supplement insurance ensures that covered members won’t avoid treatment because of the cost when they need emergency care. A report released last month by the ALF-CIO showed that almost a third of Americans surveyed said that they had avoided necessary medical care due to the cost.

Announcements of proposed legislation in several other states including Pennsylvania and Florida drew fire for the effects it could have on eliminating more affordable coverage like short term medical insurance. An increasing number of states are considering laws that would have everyone purchase substantially the same type of insurance coverage. This type of legislation was enacted in New Jersey more than a decade ago and resulted in ridiculously high individual health insurance rates. More than half of the uninsured people in the U.S. qualify for health insurance and could afford coverage but are either unaware of the more attractive insurance choices or do not perceive the value of coverage. They tend to be uninsured for less than a year and find coverage in their next job or through some other means other than government paid coverage.

MedSave.com joined with other consumer advocate groups earlier this year in proclaiming that the proliferation of many new limited benefit health insurance plans meant that there were now more affordable health insurance choices to most people than ever before. Limited benefit health plans are used by large employers like Wal-mart to provide affordable health coverage for their lower income employees. These policies can be purchased by individuals to supplement other health insurance (for example, to lessen the risks of a $5,000 deductible health savings account policy) or may be used alone when no other insurance is available or affordable. Some limited benefit plans like Core Health Insurance do a reasonable job in bridging the affordability and coverage gap between today’s most common health plans and traditional major medical insurance.

The practice of regulating health insurance through legislation instead of dealing with the underlying cost of medical care continues to hurt consumers. It appears that our celebration of the increase in affordable health insurance choices available in the market might have been premature.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

health insurance requirement for Texas college students

The Texas state legislature is considering a measure that would require all students at state-supported colleges and universities to have health insurance. About one in four of the state’s college students are uninsured. Some students who are already struggling with the cost of tuition and board are worried that the new requirement would put the cost of college out of reach.

If enacted, Texas would be the only state to single out college students for this requirement. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a new law that requires all residents to have health insurance. Similar proposals were defeated in California and other states. The most recent polls show that a slim majority of Americans are opposed to mandated health insurance coverage.

The state gives colleges the option of providing campus-based health coverage but does not require this service. Such plans are great for providing routine health care at a reasonable cost, but are inadequate for providing catastrophic care or medical care with other medical providers outside of the school location.

MedSave.com surveyed the major medical insurance carriers available in Texas and priced the coverage for an 18-22 year old living in several metropolitan areas of the state. While many full coverage health insurance plans would cost more than $3000 per year, at least one reputable insurance carrier offers catastrophic major medical insurance for less than $50 per month. The most affordable plans were offered by Celtic Insurance at www.celticenrollment.com. Celtic offers short term medical insurance than can be purchased in one semester (6 months) or one year policies and paid on a month-to-month basis. Longer term renewable policies are also available, but college students typically change insurance coverage too frequently for the renewable policy features to have much value. The cost of a policy with a high $5,000 deductible would be about $500 per year. Cost varies slightly with age, sex and location. Houston, Dallas and Austin areas have the state’s highest medical costs. Details, pricing, coverage options and enrollment are available directly online.

High deductible health insurance policies are becoming increasingly common in pace with the growth in popularity of Health Savings Accounts. A typical student health insurance policy has a deductible of $1000 or more, compared with a $500 deductible only five years ago.

Ideally, a college student would combine a university based health plan at a cost of about $350 per semester for routine care with a high deductible insurance plan at about $300 per semester for peace of mind that the best care would be available with any medical provider in the event of a serious accident or illness. The combined cost of providing full health coverage for a student would be slightly more than $100 per month. While this is substantial for a college student on a tight budget, it is significantly lower than the cost of health care for older adults. The national average cost of full coverage health insurance for adults is now more than $400 per month.

We conclude that as long as insurance coverage is available under $50 per month then the cost of minimal health insurance coverage would not likely be a financial impediment for the majority of Texas college students. We are concerned that the majority of health insurers are priced considerably higher and that market average prices may prevail in the longer term.