by healthcaredeciphered | Jun 30, 2015 | Blog, Deciphering Healthcare
Do you think you pay too much for health insurance? This might be the case. How can you know for sure? Below is a list of indicators that could be driving up how much you spend on healthcare each year. If your health plan includes any of the below “benefits”, it might be time to re-evaluate. These indicators could explain the overwhelming aggravation, expensive physician bills, and the confusion you feel while attempting to navigate the system. (more…)
by healthcaredeciphered | Jun 16, 2015 | Blog, Deciphering Healthcare
Health insurance premiums for 2016 are on the rise. Yesterday, we posted a blog on the difficulties of reducing healthcare costs. It has been hard for universal or single payer healthcare systems to keep costs low and Affordable Care Act is no exception. The exchange health insurance plans, which vary by state, will have increasing premiums for 2016. The amount of the increase is unclear as no specific figures have been released.
However, Avalere reported that the average increase could be as high as 5.8% for the silver plans*. These projected cost increases could have a significant economic impact as the majority of Americans who enrolled in the healthcare exchange selected silver plans. The other plans under the exchange are gold and bronze, which will have premium adjustments for 2016 too
Again, the increase at this point has yet to be determined. For the majority of Americans who selected the silver plans, let’s hope the final rates are much lower.
If you enrolled in a state exchange health plan, please ask us how this will affect you. In order to keep premiums low, you may need to switch plans for 2016.
Footnote: In the marketplace, the plans are listed hierarchically: gold, silver, and bronze. Major distinctions include premium price, cost of deductible, and benefits included.
Read more: Health Insurance Premiums Will Go Up In 2016, But By How Much?
by healthcaredeciphered | Jun 14, 2015 | Blog, Deciphering Healthcare
Since 2011, Vermont has held the distinction of both designing and implementing the best healthcare system in the country. The single payer option seemed to make the most sense to policymakers due to the state’s small population and low levels of economic inequality. In other words, there was a small amount of people that shared, more or less, the same socioeconomic status. Early reports in 2011 marked the successful implementation of the healthcare model, which was shared around the county as the “solution” for our healthcare industry problems. However, it only lasted 4 years. (more…)
by healthcaredeciphered | Jun 12, 2015 | Blog, Deciphering Healthcare
The truth is preventive services will not reduce healthcare costs as a stand-alone plan. There is no simple solution to a $1.3 trillion dollar healthcare problem. The reality is “we” need to be strategic.
The only way to reduce healthcare cost is to offer a multi-tier approach. Offering free services are not enough to resolve preventable chronic diseases. To be strategic, we should target the highest costing and preventable illnesses. There are seven chronic diseases that contribute to the majority of the cost, according to the Milken Institute. A good portion of these costs are preventable. (more…)
by healthcaredeciphered | Jun 9, 2015 | Blog, Deciphering Healthcare
This Supreme Court case could cause a massive change to the Affordable Care Act, impacting roughly 6.4M Americans. The case is around the Federal health insurance subsidies given to Americans to help them pay for health insurance on the exchange. The impacted group of Americans would lose $1.7B a month in subsidies, resulting in anyone with a subsidy having to pay in full for health insurance. This ruling may eliminate the mechanism to subsidize health insurance premium costs.
While premiums have been set for this year already, the impacted Americans would have to pay the remaining full cost of their medical premiums. This cost is subject to vary depending on when the ruling could take effect. The Kaiser Foundation has estimated this will cost an increase of 287% to the member’s cost in premium without the subsidy. Therefore, depending on financial status, this may be a significant impact to Americans with health insurance subsidies. If you are among the 6.4M Americans, it might be a good idea to follow the case closely. If the ruling confirms the subsidy is unethical, the impact could be brutal.
The point to the case is Americans can only receive a subsidy, if there state offers an exchange i.e. health insurance marketplace. For the states that did not create a health insurance marketplace, these Americans do not have an option to receive a subsidy to reduce health insurance costs. Therefore, the option is unbalanced.
by healthcaredeciphered | Jun 4, 2015 | Blog, Deciphering Healthcare
It’s true, you can receive certain healthcare services for FREE! The Affordable Care Act, aka ObamaCare, constitutes health insurance companies to provide certain services to you for preventive care. This is great news!
Now what does this mean? Preventive services are vaccinations and screenings that can be rendered to limit the onset or early detection of larger illnesses. For example, screening for cholesterol allows physicians to identify high sugar levels that may lead to Diabetes.
Preventive services are divided into 3 categories: adults, women, and children. All together there are 65 preventive services you can receive each year for Free! If you would like the complete list, email us at healthcaredeciphered@gmail.com.
There is fine print you should be aware of to receive these services. First, you must have active health insurance coverage that is required to provide preventive services. Second, you must use an In-network provider from your participating health plan. Third, the physician can still bill separately for the office visit, which may require co-pays. This may not be the case if the visit is specifically to receive a preventive service.
Before you visit the physician for these services, double-check your coverage. However, the good news most people should qualify.
ur health plan includes any of the below “benefits”, it might be time to re-evaluate. These indicators could explain the overwhelming aggravation, expensive physician bills, and the confusion you feel while attempting to navigate the system. (more…)