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1 in 5 rejected?
A newly released HealthPocket study found that average rate of health insurance application rejections was 22%. Some of the insurance companies in the study have declination rates greater than 70%...
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Another Worry About Premiums…
Forbes published an article earlier this week that quoted a California health insurance broker who is warning her clients that local health insurance companies ”are hinting to her that premiums may...
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Will Accountable Care Organizations Live Up ToTheir Promise?
In today’s MarketWatch, there is a good introductory article on Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). For those of you unfamiliar with an ACO, it is a health care organization whose reimbursement model...
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Obamacare Plans & Adverse Selection
Recent stories about the IRS’ expensive premium examples for the Bronze Plan failed to explore how these higher premiums for the entry-level plan in the Affordable Care Act exacerbates existing...
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Obamacare & Out-of-Pocket Costs
HealthPocket compared annual out-of-pocket spending limit for the Bronze Plan and other new Obamacare plans to the out-of-pocket limits for 9,752 existing health insurance plans to determine the extent...
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Pricing Medical Procedures
The Journal of the American Medical Association released a study that investigated the price differences for a common medical procedure. What interested me was their finding that 40% of the 100+...
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New InfoStat Study on Premium Increases
HealthPocket has released its third InfoStat report examining consumer issues in the healthcare market. The latest InfoStat examined the prevalence of increasing the premium after a consumer has...
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‘Weak Signal’ for ACA or Unrelated Issue?
The Obama Administration has suspended new enrollment for the Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan (PCIP) as well as cut benefits for existing enrollees. The PCIP was created by the Affordable Care...
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New Study on Essential Health Benefits
HealthPocket released a new InfoStat investigating how may existing health plans meet the ACA’s new Essential Health Benefits standards. Approximately 30 coverage features representing the ten...
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Should Exchanges Require Insurers to Bid?
Both Vermont and California are requiring health insurance companies to submit bids for the opportunity to sell health plans within their respective state exchanges. Will this lead to more affordable...
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Coverage, Adherence, Medical Claims
As I’ve had the benefit of trading predictions of future health reform results with people from all political persuasions, I’ve been thinking back to the implementation of Medicare Part D, the...
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Smoking & Insurance Premiums
Within the Affordable Care Act, a health insurance company can offer an applicant who smokes a premium up to 50% higher than the amount offered to a nonsmoking applicant of the same age and region....
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Nonprofit Health Plans Vs. For-Profit Health Plans
Today I’m releasing a new InfoStat study on premium differences between nonprofit and for-profit plans within the individual & family health insurance market. The study began with my interest in...
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Limits on Out-of-Pocket Costs
Back in February, we released a study on the average limit for out-of-pocket costs in current health plans and compared these limits to those mandated by the Affordable Care Act. I thought I’d revisit...
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Premiums & Pent-Up Demand for Healthcare
Given that historical rates of medical service use influences health insurance premiums, HealthPocket decided to explore pent-up demand for healthcare as well as the potential for increased use of...
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Another Aspect of the Pent-Up Demand Story…
Earlier this week, I published the results of a nationwide consumer survey indicating that enhanced insurance may result in higher utilization of medical services. Part of the higher utilization...
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Early Trend for Bronze Plan Out-of-Pocket Costs
The media’s focus on Obamacare premiums has left the matter of out-of-pocket costs neglected. Using state rate filings for 2014 that have been made public, I released a study today examining...
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Employer Mandate Postponed
The online health news services were lighting up last night from the announcement by the Treasury Department that enforcement of the Obamacare employer mandate would be delayed by one year. The early...
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Obamacare Drug Coverage: Extends Drug Coverage to More People but Comes with...
This morning we’ve released our study of drug costs under the upcoming Affordable Care Act health plans. The Affordable Care Act makes prescription drug coverage an Essential Health Benefit, which...
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Health Insurance Subsidies
According to a recent Reuters article, on July 5th the Department of Health & Human Services allowed Washington D.C. and 16 other states with their own health insurance exchanges to use “random –...
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