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More people are shopping online today – be it consumer goods, electronics, and clothes. Does this also include health insurance? Definitely! Online insurance shopping websites are increasing every month. Some of these sites are just bait websites – these sites will take your personal information and then sell them to one or more insurance agents. These insurance agents will purchase this data from companies like these for about $10-$30 each. It is a numbers game for these salesmen and a guaranteed revenue source for these online brokerages. Before you know it, multiple agents are calling you and requesting appointments to meet you.
Lawmakers looking into solutions in lessening the number of uninsured are looking at tax credits to provide effective health insurance to the uninsured. Government intervention and assistance will be required in order to meet the goal to provide health insurance to the low-income workers and their dependents.
Tax credits, although modest, will allow people to avail of health insurance coverage that is both comprehensive and affordable. Tax credits can purchase benefits relevant to a population both geographically and demographically. Continuous development of tax credits and reevaluation of current insurance regulations is one key way to help expand health insurance coverage to a large number of uninsured.
by: Christine Zafra
There are about 45 million Americans who are not insured, and among those 45 million, about a little over 1/3 die of a rather wasteful death. Their deaths could have been prevented if they only received the right amount of medical assistance.
Bad healthcare system can result to dwindling economic implications.
1. The rising costs of premiums put unwanted strains on jobs, businesses and wages;
2. Less efficient workforce is the result of ineffective healthcare;
3. Increasing public health expenses is a serious cause of financial challenges;
4. Health care is a vital piece of the puzzle of economic safekeeping.
Photo taken from http://erichamilton.pbwiki.com
By year end of 2006, the number of uninsured Americans increased by 2.1 million which brings the total number of uninsured non-elderly Americans to 46.5 million. With employer based coverage dropping and premium payments rising, many Americans of different income levels are caught in a bind. Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program may help to cover lower income children who lost access to employer based coverage; the same cannot be said with those belonging to middle income families where Medicaid and SCHIP is in short supply. Majority of the increase in uninsured children come from the income levels between 200 percent and 399 percent of the federal poverty level.
Leaders in the community recognized the rising number of uninsured residents that cannot avail of traditional health insurance. In an effort to arrive at a solution, health care providers, business leaders and community groups were involved in the process. Together they came up with a health care plan that would benefit the working people and the indigent. Residents can avail of this until such time that their economic condition improves and can move to private health insurance.
This innovative step helped provide effective health insurance coverage to those who were previously uninsured. This program also included coverage for families with children.
Source: aspe.hhs.gov
The Department of Defense is offering Tricare Prime to active duty members, retirees and their families. This is the equivalent of the civilian Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). Qualified active member military personnel are encouraged to take advantage of this program although enrollment is optional. Tricare Prime will provide effective health insurance coverage at a lesser cost and with wider coverage.
The program offers optional coverage to those stationed in remote areas. This will ensure that they will be getting the best health insurance possible at any given time. Beneficiaries enrolled in the program can avail of priority access to health care at military treatment facilities.
Source: militaryfinance.umuc.edu
The cost of health care keeps on growing faster than the economy while employers and health insurance companies that provide coverage to employees try to reconcile the difference between the demand for more health services and the ability to pay for those services. An emergence of a new strategy that may influence how private insurance will shape up in the future is seen on the horizon. The main thrust is the need for individual healthcare consumers to shoulder more financial responsibility when deciding what type of coverage and benefits they want to avail for themselves and their dependents. Even employers subscribe to the view that if employees have the power to manage their own health insurance coverage, they take greater responsibility for their health in accordance with their healthcare spending.