insurance
Test your knowledge of CT’s individual insurance market
June’s CT Health Policy Webquiz tests your knowledge of CT’s non-group insurance market.
Read MoreReport finds one in five CT residents have pre-existing conditions and risk of insurance denial
A new report by Families USA finds that 593,000 CT residents have been diagnosed with one or more condition that could result in denial of insurance coverage. In September, under the new national health reform act, insurers will be prohibited from denying coverage to the 44,200 CT children with pre-existing conditions, but the other half…
Read MoreNew webinar on risk adjustment models
The success of health care payment reforms rests on the ability to fairly adjust provider rates to reflect the expected health costs of each patient. Accurate risk adjustment can reduce incentives to over treat or avoid high cost patients. The science of risk adjustment has evolved significantly. Hear from experts about the methodologies and models…
Read MoreGovernor interested in creating a CT high risk pool
Among other things, national health reform gives states an opportunity to create an insurance pool for people with pre-existing conditions. The law gives CT up to $50 million, possibly more, to implement a high-risk pool through 2014. At that point the law prohibits insurers from denying coverage to adults based on pre-existing conditions and it…
Read MoreHigh risk pools in federal health reform
Questions are surfacing about the federal reform bill’s provision to create a high risk pool will be implemented. The pool is meant to provide temporary coverage for people locked out of the insurance market until the bill’s pre-existing condition ban for adults becomes effective in 2014. People who need high risk pools include those timing…
Read MoreBuying insurance can be confusing
When I was at a friend’s house recently, his parents were in the process of choosing a health plan because his mother had just gotten a new job, and they were finally going to have health insurance through her employer. There were several plans to choose from, and all of them looked similar, except that…
Read MorePressure is building to improve health insurance premium regulation
Calls are increasing from advocates, legislators and public officials to better regulate health insurance rates in CT. A bill being heard today in the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, SB-194 An Act Concerning Rate Approvals for Individual Health Insurance Policies, would tighten the CT Insurance Dept. procedure for approving insurers’ proposed rate hikes. A recent…
Read MoreUnited Health Group profits up 30%
Rising unemployment, and consequent rising uninsurance, reduced United Health Group’s lucrative commercial enrollment by almost a million people compared to last year. Despite that, United posted rising profits for the third straight quarter. Raising premiums and a 12.5% increase in taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid enrollment contributed to the profits. United Health Care (Americhoice) is one…
Read MoreInsurance Dept. approves insurer rate increases 85% of the time
A report by the CT’s Office of Legislative Research on rate increases approved for the five largest health insurance companies, found that the CT Insurance Dept. (CID) sided with insurers in 22 cases out of 26 since 2006. The average approved rate increase was 12%. This analysis covers a small number of health plan rate…
Read MoreInsurance Dept. approves United-Health Net acquisition
Not surprisingly, the CT Insurance Dept. (CID) has approved United Health’s proposal to purchase information on all Health Net members, past and present. Advocates and providers have raised grave concerns about the merger including privacy of sensitive health information, consolidation in CT’s already anti-competitive insurance market, and large increases in premiums for consumers and small…
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