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Colorado Health Insurance Insider

Cutting edge health insurance analysis. Licensed broker assistance.

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underwriting

Health Insurance Exchange Payroll and Admin Expenses

October 20, 2011 By Louise Norris

[…] One of the comments on the post was from Dede de Percin, the Executive Director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI). […] Dede’s comment on my article referenced the point I made about consumers not having to pay additional fees to have a broker. Basically, health insurance is priced the same whether you go directly through a health insurance carrier (calling Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield directly, for example) or through a broker (who will compare options from multiple carriers for you). Dede made this point:
“While a consumer or business doesn’t not pay a health insurance broker directly, broker fees and commissions are paid by the insurance companies – and rolled into […]”

Filed Under: Anthem Blue Cross, Cigna, Colorado Division Of Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance Exchanges, Health Insurance Reform, Individual/Family Health, Insurance Companies

Low Enrollment And Adverse Selection In High Risk Pools

September 7, 2011 By Louise Norris

[…]CoverColorado – the high risk pool that Colorado has had in place since the early 90s – instead allows eligible applicants to enroll as soon as they are without another coverage option, but makes them wait to receive coverage for pre-existing conditions if they have been uninsured prior to applying. That system encourages people to sign up as soon as they are eligible rather than waiting until they need care. It would seem that the federally-funded high risk pools might be able to boost their enrollment and also avoid adverse selection by switching to a similar eligibility model.

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Care Reform

Colorado Bill Would Allow Employers To Reimburse Employee Premiums

January 13, 2011 By Louise Norris

The 2011 Colorado legislative session is now underway, and Senate Bill 19 will be particularly interesting to watch. Since 1994, Colorado has had a law that bans employers from reimbursing employees for individual health insurance premiums. If any portion of the premiums for such plans are paid or reimbursed by the employer, the Colorado Division of Insurance considers the employer to have created a small group health insurance plan, and the plan must adhere to small group regulations (this impacts things like underwriting, and also has tax implications for the employer). […]

Filed Under: Group Health, HRA, Individual/Family Health, Policy

Not Many Details Yet On Maternity Coverage In Colorado

August 13, 2010 By Louise Norris

[…] 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.

Filed Under: Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Group Health, Health Insurance Reform, Humana, Individual/Family Health, Maternity/Pregnancy, Policy

Public Opinion Of Health Care Reform Improving

July 12, 2010 By Louise Norris

[…] It will be interesting to watch public opinion of health care reform over the next few years. I imagine a lot of it will depend on what happens to premiums. If health insurance carriers can comply with the requirements of the new law without substantial premiums increases, we’ll probably see even more favorable public opinion of the law, especially once government subsidies kick in to help people pay for health insurance.

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Insurance Reform

Colorado Governor Ritter At Odds With Attorney General Suthers

June 24, 2010 By Louise Norris

Colorado is an interesting place to be this summer, as the health care reform debate continues to play out – in the courts now, rather than in town halls and legislative sessions. Our Attorney General, Republican John Suthers, is part of the group of AGs from 20 states who are challenging the legality of a federal mandate requiring people to have health insurance. And our Governor, Bill Ritter Jr., is one of four Democratic governors of those states who disagree with the position taken by the Attorneys General. […]

Filed Under: Health Insurance Reform, Individual/Family Health, Policy

Continuous Coverage Does Not Eliminate Underwriting

June 7, 2010 By Louise Norris

[…] People with pre-existing medical conditions can get guaranteed issue coverage through Cover Colorado, but are definitely not “guaranteed access to the individual market”. When a person with pre-existing conditions applies for an individual policy in Colorado (and in most other states), the insurance company can deny the application, place exclusions on the pre-existing conditions, or offer the policy at a higher initial rate based on medical history. It doesn’t matter whether the applicant has had continuous coverage or not. […]

Filed Under: COBRA, Individual/Family Health

Balancing Individual And Group Health Insurance After Reform

May 10, 2010 By Louise Norris

[…] It remains to be seen how health care reform will actually impact the breakdown of individual versus group health insurance. Currently, there are far more people with group coverage than individual policies. The balance might shift a bit as health care reform takes effect, but I doubt that there will be a mass exodus away from group plans in favor of individual coverage.

Filed Under: Group Health, Health Insurance Reform, Individual/Family Health

An Alternative To Rescission

May 3, 2010 By Louise Norris

[…] One way or another, my guess is that if all individual health insurance policies had to be thoroughly underwritten at the time of application, health insurance carriers would figure out a way to make the process as efficient as possible. And the happy result would be that if people were approved for coverage, they could rest assured that there would be no possibility of rescission in their future. It’s likely that thorough underwriting would result in more people being declined for coverage, but at least those people would then have the option of applying for coverage through a high risk pool like Cover Colorado. […]

Filed Under: Health Care Goodies, Health Insurance Reform, Individual/Family Health

Genetic Testing Anti-Discrimination Law

April 28, 2008 By Louise Norris

InsureBlog made some good points last fall about the bill, and why it’s not really all that helpful. In terms of the small group market, I would agree, since small group plans are guaranteed issue, and in Colorado, the state has restricted insurers from increasing premiums for small groups based on medical history – regardless of how the medical information was obtained […]

Filed Under: Group Health, Health Insurance Reform, Individual/Family Health, Policy

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