December 2008

New Year’s Eve Cavalcade Of Risk

by Louise December 31, 2008

Thanks to everyone who submitted articles to the COR throughout the year; I always enjoy reading what you write. Risk – particularly financial risk – has been on a lot of minds lately with the state of our economy. Here’s hoping that things get better in 2009, but for now, here’s the best of the risk-related blogosphere as we close out the year. [...]

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Medicare Buy In Option A Good Idea

by Louise December 30, 2008

[...] I wonder what would happen if they did decide to open Medicare up to anyone who wanted it and was able to pay for it? If the premiums were lower than what you pay now, would you switch? I’m guessing that a lot of the 744,000 uninsured people here in Colorado would be willing to take a chance on government-run health care if they could afford the premiums. [...]

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Brainstorm Means All Views Are Welcome

by Louise December 29, 2008

[...] There are plenty of people in the health care industry who are genuinely interested in making the system more efficient and inclusive. And regardless of their views on health care reform, people who are in the health care industry should have just as much of a voice in this as anyone else.

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A Cost Saving Idea For Health Insurance Companies

by Louise December 23, 2008

In the nearly seven years we’ve been selling health insurance in Colorado, we’ve seen a lot of technology advancements. These days, applications are online and there are broker websites where we log in to see the status of applications, current premiums for each client, renewal premiums, etc. But health insurance companies still send too much paper mail to agents.

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Your Health Insurance Company Prefers Generics

by Louise December 19, 2008

[...] But even if you have coverage for brand name prescriptions on your policy, asking for a generic will likely save you money. And it will save your health insurance company money. They are well aware of that fact, and apparently employ a lot more tactics than most of of realize to get doctors to prescribe generics and patients to request them. [...]

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Most Americans Unaware Of PCP Shortage

by Louise December 17, 2008

[...] People whose employers pay the majority of their health insurance premiums are often unaware of just how expensive health insurance really is. People with health insurance are often unaware of how expensive health care really is. And people who aren’t experiencing a PCP shortage in their own lives tend to be unaware of the overall PCP shortage. [...]

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Lowering Our Health Insurance Premiums

by Louise December 16, 2008

[...] We did the same math that we always encourage our clients to do when considering various deductible levels. Our current health insurance policy has a $3,000 deductible, and costs $498/month. We found an option with a $5,000 deductible for $341/month. Switching to the $5000 deductible saves $1,884/year in premiums. [...]

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eCare Management Has the Health Wonk Review

by Louise December 12, 2008

At the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, we’ve written about how PCPs are an effective weapon in the battle against overuse of technology and increasing costs in health care. We’ve also written about how a salary (based on quality and outcomes) for PCPs would make more sense than the piecemeal income they currently earn.

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Huffington Post Digs Grand Rounds

by Jay December 12, 2008

Thanks to Alvaro Fernandez at Sharp Brains, the Huffington Post has cross posted the latest Grand Rounds. And the neat thing is that a Colorado Health Insurance Insider article is the first one mentioned (about the cost of treating the uninsured at Denver Health). Check it out.

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