We know we’re not perfect. Who is? And we want to constantly improve what we do and how we help you with your insurance needs. Consequently, getting honest testimonials and feedback from our customers is important to helping us serve you better. Most importantly, we don’t sell your name or email address. (privacy policy) During… Read more about Testimonials
Archives for June 2007
I Got the Bill
Note: This is the third entry in my experiment with price transparency in the US health care system. See the first entry here, the second entry here, the fourth entry here, and the fifth entry here. I finally got the bill for the surgery (pdf). It was quite high compared to the estimate I received…. Read more about I Got the Bill
It’s All About Inspiration
Grand Rounds is up at the Wandering Visitor. She made the theme “things that inspire you”. She got over 3 dozen posts. I think you’ll find the inspiration to read what medbloggers find inspiring themselves. Enjoy!
What is a Copay?
First of all, a plan with copays is usually going to be a waste of money. A copay is a dollar amount the health insurance company has specified that you’ll pay for either doctors visits or prescription drugs. A typical plan will have $25 doctors visit copays and $15 copays for generic Rx and $30… Read more about What is a Copay?
Cavalcade of Risk
Julie of the Workers Comp Insider has put together a good collection of risk related posts in the latest edition of the Cavalcade of Risk. Check it out…
Diabetes – An Ounce of Prevention
“We are spending as much on diabetes as we are on the entire Department of Education.” That statement, from Dana Haza, a senior director for the National Changing Diabetes Program (NCDP) is an eye-opener. The numbers are staggering. 12% of the government health-care budget in 2005 was spent on treating diabetes. And a recent study found… Read more about Diabetes – An Ounce of Prevention
Anthem Blue Cross Leads The Way
Over the past couple years, I’ve made a push to eliminate bigotry from the Colorado health insurance market. My main focus has been to persuade Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado into making those positive changes first. They’ve got the biggest market share of the Colorado individual and small group health insurance markets, so… Read more about Anthem Blue Cross Leads The Way
Health Wonk Review at Health Business Blog
You’ll find an interesting Health Wonk Review over at the Health Business Blog. I enjoyed the article from Michael Cannon at Cato@Liberty: Michael was able to negotiate 50% off his MRI bill. He had to do it because he has a high deductible HSA qualified health insurance plan and was paying out of pocket. This… Read more about Health Wonk Review at Health Business Blog
Colorado Health Insurance and Bariatric Surgery
For the last few days, I’ve been pondering how I feel about health insurance paying for gastric bypass surgery. My first reaction is ‘no way!’ I don’t want to be subsidizing the cost of this surgery with my health insurance premiums. I tend to take a very hard-line approach to the current obesity crisis. It’s… Read more about Colorado Health Insurance and Bariatric Surgery
Individual Health Insurance Jitters
Yesterday I was talking with a friend about what we would do if we had tons of money. One of those pie in the sky conversations that makes you thing about what’s important in life. Neither one of us is a big shopper – we’re both pretty frugal and didn’t think that would change much. … Read more about Individual Health Insurance Jitters
Cavalcade of Risk – Anniversary Edition
Congratulations to Hank Stern of InsureBlog for completing his first year with the Cavalcade of Risk. Hank usually hunts for extra risk related blogs to include in each edition, but for the anniversary edition he decided to stick with just us “regulars”. That was still enough to get 15 top quality posts. It was interesting… Read more about Cavalcade of Risk – Anniversary Edition
Even More Thoughts On Pregnancy Coverage
Over the past few weeks, I’ve written here and here about paying for pregnancy. I think that my ideas are sound, but Jay’s post yesterday made me rethink some of my plan. The program I envisioned would separate maternity care from health insurance, and would pay for pregnancy using tax money combined with contributions from… Read more about Even More Thoughts On Pregnancy Coverage
Scum
It’s easy to see how people can be against socialized medicine, or even an expansion of Medicaid. The more people you hear about like “Ashley” on Yahoo Answers, the more it seems like you’re just subsidizing their irresponsibility. She asks… Hey all. Just the other day I went to apply for Medicaid. I live in… Read more about Scum
Grand Rounds
Inside Surgery hosts this weeks Grand Rounds. It was a fitting blog post to include my article about how hard it is to get pricing transparency on a surgery if you’ve got an HSA qualified plan in Colorado.
IRS Announces 2008 COLA Amounts for HSAs
The Internal Revenue Service has announced the 2008 cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for high deductible health plans (HDHPs) that are offered in conjunction with health savings accounts (HSAs). The minimum required annual deductibles for HDHPs will remain unchanged in 2008. However, the annual contribution limits and the maximum out-of-pocket limits will be raised. For… Read more about IRS Announces 2008 COLA Amounts for HSAs
More Incompetence
Keeping with the status quo of his administration, President Bush has chosen to nominate an extremely unqualified buddy of his to be the next Surgeon General, Dr. James Holsinger. Holsinger was the Chief Medical Director at the Department of Veterans Affairs under George Bush Sr. Under his watch, the VA was found to be incompetent… Read more about More Incompetence