Tag Archive for 'Health Insurance'

Ways to Lower Your Health Insurance costs

Published
by
Jana
on June 10, 2009
in Health Insurance and Health and Wellness
. 0 Comments

There are currently 45.8 million Americans that don’t have health insurance, according to the Census Bureau survey results. Among these, 60% have full time jobs and 3.5 million earn more than $75,000 annually. There are a lot of people without health insurance coverage, like the self employed, who are taking a big risk by not getting covered because they are afraid of the high cost of personal health insurance plans.

Yes, health insurance is an extra expense, but the cost involved with just one severe injury can greatly surpass the cost of any annual health care plan. Health insurance doesn’t have to be outrageously expensive. There are some ways that everyone can decrease their monthly health insurance costs.

First of all, try to stay at a healthy weight. If you are able to maintain your weight within the average range for your height and age, this can help you qualify for the lowest health insurance rates. On the other hand, being morbidly obese can cause insurance rates to climb by as much as 7 times the quoted rate.

Then there is the issue of tobacco use. What should you do if you smoke or chew? Well, it is plain and simple; just don’t use tobacco period! Using any kind of tobacco can bring your insurance rates by as much as 30%! This substantial increase should tell you just how damaging tobacco use is to your health. So, if you smoke and you stop, you can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, because your health will improve tremendously and you can bring down your health care costs.

Now let’s talk about Type 2 Diabetes. Insurance for people with this condition, is automatically 30% higher – and that is with a healthy A1C. People who have an unhealthy A1C may even have to pay more. The good news is that in most cases, eating right, exercising and controlling your weight can cause this dreaded disease to just disappear.

Next, we all are under a lot of stress, especially during these difficult economic times. But instead of depending on anti-depressants and anti-stress medications, try to find natural ways to deal with stress and anxiety. Using anti-depressants and anti-stress medications are big health insurance rate increases. Illnesses due to stress are one of the stimulating elements in driving up health care costs. Check out different ways other than medicine to bring your stress down, like lifestyle changes, yoga and meditation.

Finally there is the cholesterol issue. Having high cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease can cause insurance rates to increase significantly. So what can you do? Eating healthy, exercising and monitoring your cholesterol can all help to reduce your risk for getting heart disease.

Increased risk of death linked to lack of insurance

Published
by
Jana
on November 10, 2008
in Health Insurance
. 0 Comments

If you are not insured, you should get health insurance to avoid getting a devastating diagnosis that could mean an early death.

David Noonan, in his Newsweek (11, 3) column, writes that “what insurance (and the lack of it) often represents, as numerous studies have shown, is the difference between care and no care, between an early cancer diagnosis and a late diagnosis.” According to one study lead by a John Hopkins surgeon, “what insurance represented was nothing less than the difference between life and death.”

In the study, they found that “uninsured patients were 50 percent more likely to die from their injuries than insured patients.” Noonan writes, “The findings by Haider and his colleagues erase any illusion that emergency care is the great equalizer in our health care system that our differences are left behind when we are rolled through those double doors, injured and in danger of dying.”

New Medicare rules attempt to defend elderly from fraudulent marketing

Published
by
Jana
on September 16, 2008
in Health Insurance
. 0 Comments

According to CMS, there have been complaints of hard sale methods that have caused some people to sign up for inadequate health plans. For this reason, CMS has set up some new Medicare rules that limit contact between insurance agents and the elderly and disabled, when selling Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans. Some of these changes handed down from Congress are: “No unsolicited contacts with beneficiaries; no selling of other insurance products, such as annuities or life insurance to beneficiaries; no free meals at promotional or sales events; and new requirements for training or testing of agents,” the AP (9/15, Freking)

CMS will also monitor about 900 “secret shopper” visits “using undercover agents who will attend sales presentations and report violations to the agency. Medicare officials will review print and broadcast advertisements, listen to recordings of calls between plans and customers, and confirm whether plans are reporting agents and brokers who break the rules to federal and state authorities,” The Hill (9/15, Young).

BCBSNC Member Guides is going paperless

Published
by
Jana
on September 3, 2008
in BCBSNC and Health Insurance
. 0 Comments

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) is definitely changing with the times. They always want to make sure that subscribers continue to get the best quality service for their lifestyle needs. They know that more and more people are managing everything from banking to shopping online, so they are now offering subscribers the convenience of acquiring Member Guides online. These guides are available through the Web, 24 hours a day. That means subscribers can check on their benefit information whenever they like.

Effective since February 1, 2008, groups are provided with their Member Guides through online use only. Subscribers can still request a paper copy of their Member Guide any time by calling BCBSNC Customer Service . They understand that some groups still want their employees to keep receiving paper Member Guides, and they will be provided at no cost. These employers just need to work with their BCBSN account representative upon renewal to request paper copies.

All enrolled employees will be shown how to receive their Member Guides online and how to get a paper copy if needed. Subscribers receiving a new ID card will get an informative buckslip included with the card. A letter with the new online guides will be mailed to the home of subscribers who do not need a new ID card.

This is just one more way that BCBSNC is continuing to make life easier, more flexible and convenient for so many people with health insurance needs.