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Best Health Insurance Companies In Colorado

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We recently got a call from a client who mentioned that he had done a Google search for the “best health insurance companies in Colorado” and his concern was that Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield was not on the top ten list that he said came up as the first search result.  We were a… Read more about Best Health Insurance Companies In Colorado

Aetna Purchasing Genworth’s Medigap Business

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The first of the Baby Boomers turn 65 this year, and health insurance carriers are paying attention. Aetna has agreed to purchase Genworth’s Medicare supplement business for $290 million. Going forward, Aetna expects to post yearly gains from the Medicare supplement (also known as Medigap) business. This makes sense given that the Baby Boomers will be flooding into the Medicare (and Medicare supplement) system over the next two decades. […]

Aetna Withdrawing from Colorado Individual Health Insurance Market

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Aetna no longer offers health insurance plans for individuals, families and the self employed plans in Colorado.  Their explanation: After reviewing our portfolio of Individual health insurance plans in Colorado, we determined we can no longer meet the needs of our customers while remaining competitive in the individual health insurance market. While this decision was not… Read more about Aetna Withdrawing from Colorado Individual Health Insurance Market

Consumer Reports Health Insurance Rankings

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I recently picked up a copy of the November issue of Consumer Reports, which included a section about health insurance. The article featured an interview with President Obama, and a good overview of how the changes included in the PPACA will impact consumers. In addition, Consumer Reports published a ranking of 227 HMO and POS (point-of-service) plans (you have to subscribe to Consumer Reports Health in order to be able to see the details online), according to data compiled by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). […]

Maternity Coverage In The Individual Health Insurance Market

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The House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a memorandum this week detailing the practices of the four largest private health insurance carriers (Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group and Wellpoint) regarding maternity coverage on individual policies. For anyone who is familiar with the individual health insurance market, the details of the memo will come as no surprise. But since the majority of Americans are covered by group health insurance plans that cover maternity just like any other claim, the details of how maternity coverage works in the individual market may be eye-opening for a lot of people. […]

Regulators And Insurers Still Working On Child-Only Coverage Issue

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[…] So far, none of the carriers who had backed out of the child-only market have commented on whether the open enrollment periods might make them change their minds, but AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans) has said that they are continuing to work with regulators to try to find solutions that would make the child-only market feasible for insurers in the future.

Healthcare.gov A Good Resource For Brokers

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I spent some time on the Healthcare.gov website this morning, and found some great resources that could be particularly helpful for people with pre-existing conditions who are unable to obtain coverage in the individual market. The website was set up in conjunction with the PPACA and was designed to help people navigate the myriad of health insurance options available, along with the changes that will happen over the next few years as the provisions of the PPACA go into effect. […]

Quoting Blackout On Most Plans and Effective Dates

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Many plans with most carriers still haven’t gotten the rates approved past 9/23. These plans with carriers like Anthem BCBS can still be quoted with effective dates of 9/22 and before.
Carriers like Cigna only have 1st and 15th of the month effective date options. Therefore, rates and plans are not being quoted at all until the DOI approves their rates. Hopefully any moment.
Make sure to subscribe via email or follow us on Facebook for rate approval updates.

Guaranteed Issue Policies For Children Happened Too Quickly

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[…] Regardless of the practicalities involved, there’s no doubt that the headlines about insurers ceasing to issue child-only policies is generating some ill will and bad PR for insurance carriers. Either lawmakers knew that would happen, or else they put very little thought into considering the details of how insurers would go about making children’s coverage guaranteed issue a mere six months after the bill was signed into law, and just added the provision as a feel-good part of the bill.

Not Many Details Yet On Maternity Coverage In Colorado

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[…] We still have several months left in 2009 for regulators and insurance companies to work out the details, and I’m sure we’ll know more by the end of the year. When you combine this with the new Colorado law banning gender rating on health insurance policies, and the myriad of reforms coming from the federal government, I’d say that health insurance regulators in Denver are going to have their hands full for a while.

Eligibility For Colorado State Mandated Basic And Standard Plans

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[…] All individual health insurance applications in Colorado ask a set of questions to determine if the applicant qualifies as a group of one. If the applicant does, and is declined for the individual coverage, the insurance carrier must offer group of one coverage instead (although it will be significantly more expensive than the individual policy). If the person does not meet the definition of a group of one, he or she will be sent a notice by the insurance carrier regarding eligibility for Cover Colorado.

Colorado Division Of Insurance Reconsidering Anthem Rate Increase

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[…] But these numbers would seem to indicate that while Anthem’s rate increase may have been large, it seems to be in line with what other carriers are charging in Colorado. For the little test I conducted, Anthem’s premium was the second-lowest I found, and the only one with a lower premium had an additional thousand dollars in out of pocket exposure.

Efforts To Reduce Never Events

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[…] Ideally, we should have enough safeguards in place that “never events” truly never happen. But even if we eliminate the worst errors, there are still a lot of medical errors that could be prevented with extra checks and fail-safe systems in place. A trend towards not paying for mistakes could go a long way towards reducing the number of preventable medical errors in our hospitals.

Complaint Ratios Updated With 2008 Data

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The Colorado Division of Insurance has finished compiling and organizing the data for 2008. Visit the Colorado Health Insurance Company Complaint Ratio Comparison page to see the updated complaint, revenue, and market share statistics from the division of insurance along with the A.M. Best Rating information we’ve added […]

Too Important To Fail

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[…] I would argue that instead of being considered too big to fail, major health insurance carriers might be seen as too important to fail. AIG’s collapse would have been primarily indirect, but health insurance companies work directly with individual Americans. Even in large groups, individual employees are the ones who carry the id cards with the insurance carrier’s logo on them. […]

Some Thoughts On Colorado HB1224

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[…] I looked at premiums for $5,000 deductible HSA qualified policies from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Assurant, Cigna, Humana, and United HealthOne. If lawmakers disallow the use of gender to determine individual health insurance premiums in Colorado, younger women and older men will have lower premiums, while younger men and older women will have higher premiums. There won’t be any actual benefit to the overall population – health insurance premiums will just be averaged for men and women.

Non-Profit Does Not Necessarily Mean Low Cost

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I recently posted an article on the Colorado Health Insurance Insider about my views on making Medicare available as an opt-in option for Americans younger than 65. I got a comment on the article that I thought brought up some good points and wanted to expand on some of the ideas. The reader pointed out that a good number of private health insurance plans are non-profit […]

The Cost Of Individual Health Insurance In Colorado

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[…] Of course Colorado – like most states – uses medical underwriting on individual health insurance policies. And if underwriting were no longer allowed on Colorado policies, we could very well see the average family premium exceed $700/month. But for now, $5000 goes a long way towards paying for a health insurance policy in Colorado. […]

Health Insurance Premiums For Smokers

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Individual health insurance carriers in Colorado typically consider tobacco use when setting premiums. Rate increases vary from one company to another, and sometimes depend on other factors like age, BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. When Aetna entered the individual market in Colorado, their underwriting did not call for a increase in price for a… Read more about Health Insurance Premiums For Smokers

What Drives Health Insurance Premiums

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Aetna CEO Ron Williams, who spoke today with the Senate Finance Committee about rising health insurance premiums. Williams cited the 6.6% profit margin reported for Aetna last year, and made the case that rising health insurance premiums are a reflection of rising health care costs, and that health insurance carriers have to raise prices in order to […]

Colorado Health Insurance Companies Walking the Walk

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Some popular health insurance companies in Colorado are making the news with their healthy employee incentive programs. A growing number of companies in Colorado and nationwide are offering free medical screenings, discounts or cash incentives to motivate employees to exercise more, eat better and quit smoking. They hope that a healthier work force will contain… Read more about Colorado Health Insurance Companies Walking the Walk

Online Application Video Tutorials

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We’ve been trying to figure out a convenient way to help people with the online application process for the various health insurance companies in Colorado that they can use at any hour. Our clients can call or email us with questions, but sometimes they just want to see a tutorial that they can just reference… Read more about Online Application Video Tutorials