Informative articles on individual medical insurance to empower your healthcare coverage decisions.
Unless an employer decides to contribute a portion of the premium for dependent coverage (and employers get no credit for this contribution under the ACA) then employees will shoulder the entire financial burden of health insurance for their family.
In 2014, when the new market rules take effect, a business owner may be able to choose between the small group and individual market to purchase coverage for employees... Same product in two separate markets offered at different prices. A small business owner’s arbitrage opportunity would be to purchase health insurance for employees in the market with the lowest price.
"The BIG, hugely impactful decision Covered California, DOI and DMHC must make is: must an insurance company consider an employee enrolled in an individual health insurance plan.. to have a valid “waiver”. or [is it] a “declination” of group coverage."
Covered California, the new name for the California Health Benefit Exchange, has just released a report on its activities. Addressed to the Governor and Legislature, the report describes the reasons for creating the exchange and the progress in that effort. The report states that the high cost of medical insurance is the [...]
United Health Care (UHC), the largest health insurance company in the US, yesterday held a webinar for agents on changes they will be making to their products to comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is the first time that I have seen a major carrier give specific [...]
I've written 4 articles on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the newsletter section of BenefitsCafe.com. The articles will help employers and individuals who purchase their own coverage understand a few aspects of the law. The articles include: Five Things Everyone Needs to Know about Health Care Reform (ACA) Five Things [...]
To mark the two year anniversary of President Obama's signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act we've written a summary of the most important changes that impact individuals and small businesses who purchase medical insurance. Click through for an accounting of the changes that have occurred since 2010 and changes planned for 2014.
On April 7, 2011 California enacted Assembly Bill 36 which allows employees and the self employed to deduct the cost of health insurance premium for dependents under the age of 27. This conforms California state tax law with the Federal guidelines passed into law with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that extend eligibility for group health insurance to adult children, regardless of student status, through age 26. Thank goodness that California legislators fixed the discrepancy between Federal and State law regarding the deductibility of dependent health insurance premium. Allowing the deduction means that California forgoes the tax revenue on adult children's health insurance premium. At the same time allowing the deduction removes a major head ache for employers who have been trying to comply with conflicting State and Federal guidelines. Read the post here.
With summer and graduation upon us, we wanted to help people understand issues related to college health insurance. Incoming freshmen have different concerns than recent grads; who have different needs than graduate students and we've written an article for each situation. Parents of these students will also find these [...]
Blue Shield of California has announced that they will raise rates on many of their individual and family plans effective July 1, 2009. The rate increases state-wide range from +7% for the Vital Shield plans; +14-15% for the Balance Plans; and a whopping +23-24% for the Essential 1750 plan. [...]