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Experient Health Recommends Staying Active As Cold Weather Sets In

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Instead of skipping a workout, follow simple suggestions to exercise in the safety, warmth and comfort of a home, Experient Health writes in its latest post in its living well Blog series.

Richmond, Va. (PRWEB) November 27, 2013

Winter has arrived, and whether it's a storm on the horizon or the dropping temperature, many people lack the motivation to go to the gym.

To fight those seasonal sedentary habits, Experient Health suggests in its latest post in its Living Well Blog series to follow a few simple suggestions to exercise in the safety, warmth and comfort of a home.

Clear space. Find or create an area with room move around.

"It doesn’t need to be too large, just enough space to avoid bumping into a lamp or falling over the coffee table," wrote Experient Health, the health insurance arm of the Virginia Farm Bureau.

Keep it simple.

"The great thing about exercising at home is you don’t need complicated equipment," according to the health education series by Experient Health. "Perform exercises that don’t need extra machinery, like push-ups, crunches or jogging in place, or be creative and use cans of soup or a gallon of milk as light weights."

Think fun.

"Blast your favorite music...watch a movie or catch up on a sitcom series," Experient Health wrote. "You don’t have to share the space with other gym-goers, so you have more freedom to make your workout time fun."

Set the timer.

"Even though you’re working out in your living room, sticking to a routine is important," according to the Blog post. "Pick a time that works, and don’t get distracted by dirty dishes or laundry that needs to be folded. Use your allotted time for exercise and avoid the temptation of taking a nap on the couch that’s only two feet away."

ABOUT EXPERIENT HEALTH:

For years, Experient Health, a Virginia Farm Bureau company, has helped people find the right insurance coverage and get the most for their health care dollars. The Richmond, Va.-based group is dedicated to providing high quality health insurance options to customers in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. As a result, its consultants, with an average of more than 20 years experience, are intimately familiar with the states’ provider networks, products and regulations.

Representing the top national insurance carriers, Experient Health provides customers with multiple policy options designed to meet wellness needs and financial requirements.

Experient Health grew out of Virginia Farm Bureau and is a “hometown agency” in that it operates a network of more than 100 offices. However, it boasts the resources and technology of larger firms.

Consultants are available online, via phone and through their offices.

Learn more at http://www.experienthealth.com, utilize the online health insurance quote calculator or contact a consultant directly at 855.677.6580. Reported by PRWeb 3 days ago.

Applying for health insurance over the holiday weekend?

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*Applying for health insurance over the holiday weekend?*

One item on the holiday weekend to-do list at my house is to get my daughter and her boyfriend, both freelance musicians, enrolled in new health plans. They are among the million-plus people whose plans are being discontinued at the end of the year, so they need to get new ones in place by Dec. 23 to ensure continuous coverage starting Jan. 1.

If you have the same item on your list, be aware that in the new world of Obamacare, applying for individual health insurance is nothing like it used to be. It formerly involved a deep dive into your medical history going back years, if not decades. But the new law no longer allows insurance companies to turn you down for pre-existing conditions, so those questions are no longer relevant or asked.

Instead, applying for health insurance is now pretty much indistinguishable from doing your income taxes. I’m serious: your eligibility for financial help to pay for health insurance depends on your projected household income for 2014, which encompasses the same financial information you report on your annual tax return. (Here’s a cheat sheet we created that shows exactly what goes into the calculation.)

Your tax return comes into play in another way as well. Subsidies are calculated on the basis of how many people are in your “tax filing unit.” For most households, that means everyone who’s on the same tax return. (If you’re a teenager or young adult who makes enough to have to file your own tax return, but are still carried as a dependent on your parent’s tax return, your household is the parental household.)

So leave those old immunization records in the drawer. Instead, dig out these records or information for everyone in your household, whether applying for coverage or not:

· Most recent income tax return.
· Recent pay stubs.
· Social Security number.
· Recent bank statement or two.
· If self-employed, at least a rough idea of what you expect to earn in 2014.
· Information on other income sources, such as alimony, capital gains., investments, pensions, rental properties, Social Security, and unemployment compensation,

Good luck, and happy Thanksgiving.

Got a question for our health insurance expert? Ask it here; be sure to include the state you live in. And if you can't get enough health insurance news here, follow me on Twitter @NancyMetcalf.

*Health reform countdown: We are doing an article a day on the new health care law until Jan. 1, 2014, when it takes full effect. (Read the previous posts in the series.) To get health insurance advice tailored to your situation, use our Health Law Helper, below.*

*Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers or sponsors on this website. Copyright © 2007-2013 Consumers Union of U.S.*

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    Reported by Consumer Reports 2 days ago.

Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on How to Reimburse Exchange Health Insurance

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Read How Employers Can Use an HRP to Reimburse Exchange Health Insurance Premiums

Park City, Utah (PRWEB) November 27, 2013

Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on how to reimburse exchange health insurance.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, a common question from employers is "can we reimburse employees' subsidized exchange premiums?" The answer is yes. According to current regulations employers can use a limited-purpose Section 105 Medical Reimbursement Plan, sometimes called a Healthcare Reimbursement Plan (HRP), to reimburse employees for their qualified health insurance premiums, including the unsubsidized portion of individually-purchased subsidized exchange policies.

As employers plan their health benefits strategy for 2014 and beyond, many are looking at ways to incorporate the advantages, and cost savings, of individual health insurance, the health insurance exchanges, and the individual health insurance tax subsidies. Others are just tired of group health insurance, or have never been able to afford it. One of the strategies growing in popularity is setting up an HRP to reimburse employees for their eligible health insurance expenses. This type of health benefits strategy is also called a "pure" defined contribution approach because the employer provides a healthcare allowance instead of a traditional group health insurance plan.

IRC Section 105 is the foundation of employer-sponsored medical reimbursement plans, including an HRP. Section 105 of the IRS Code allows employers to reimburse an employee for medical and insurance expenses incurred by the employee or his or her dependents. A Section 105 HRP is different than a Section 125 "Cafeteria" plan, and is designed to be compliant with ACA, ERISA, and HIPAA regulations.

Employees can use the employer-funded HRP to reimburse the nonsubsidized premium of their individually purchased, exchange-based policy.

Click here to read the full article.

--

About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHealth") for defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about Zane Benefits, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 3 days ago.

City workers to pay less for insurance; Health insurance premiums to clost 5% less in 2014

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BRANSON, Mo. — Branson city employees will pay 5 percent less for health insurance in 2014, and the city’s payments will be less for its share of premiums. Reported by Harrison Daily 3 days ago.

Get real: covering contraception doesn't violate employers' religious freedom | Jill Filipovic

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The supreme court is hearing arguments that Obamacare violates company owners' religious freedom. It's a bogus claim

Are for-profit companies persons entitled to First Amendment free religious exercise protections? Should the religious beliefs of the controlling stakeholders of your employing company dictate the healthcare you receive? Does providing healthcare to employees substantially burden a corporation's religious freedom when that healthcare includes contraception coverage? Those are the questions the US supreme court will address in its review of two cases brought by companies who don't want to pay for contraception under Obama's healthcare law. The court's answer could significantly alter the landscape of the American workplace and First Amendment rights forever – quite possibly in dangerous ways.

The supreme court is hearing two of the 70 pending cases on the issue, one brought by the conservative Christian owners of a chain craft store with 15,000 employees of various faiths (the Hobby Lobby), and one brought by the Mennonite owners of a wood cabinet company. No one debates that the owners of these companies have sincerely-held religious beliefs. The question is whether, by mandating that the companies provide healthcare for their employees, the religious beliefs of the company are being violated.

On its face, it seems odd to even consider the question seriously. After all, no one is forcing the owners of the company to take contraception or purchase contraception. The belief in question – that certain types of contraception are "abortifacients"– is also far from scientific fact. Also, the company owners issue their employees a pay check and have no say over how the employees spend it; they have no say over the activities their employees participate in on a vacation day.

It's certainly not violating the company's religious freedom for an employee to use the money paid to them by the company for a whole series of things that the company owner may find religiously objectionable, including buying contraception. It's certainly not violating the company's religious freedom for an employee to use a company-issued vacation day to enjoy a whole series of things that the company owner may find religiously objectionable, including, say, a full-day contracepted sex-fest, a trip to Mecca or a pork barbecue.

So why is it a problem for employees to use their health insurance for the care they and their doctors agree upon?

The cases the supreme court will hear were brought under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which bars the government from "substantially burden[ing] a person's exercise of religion" unless that burden is justified by a "compelling reason". Free religious exercise is burdened when the government forces an individual to participate in activities that violate their religious beliefs, but not every infringement on religious beliefs is a substantial burden. As the ACLU points out in their amicus brief to the supreme court, the contraception law doesn't force the owners of the Hobby Lobby craft store to violate their own religious beliefs. It requires them to cover health insurance, which may subsidize someone else's activities that violate the Hobby Lobby owners' religious values – but again, the same could be said for issuing a pay check.

By refusing to cover contraception, the Hobby Lobby owners (and the owners of the other companies claiming the healthcare law infringes upon their religious freedom) are in fact using their own religious beliefs to deny benefits to their employees who may not share those beliefs at all. That's not religious freedom; it's religious tyranny.

The company heads bringing these claims want to have it both ways. By incorporating, owners and shareholders create separate entities and are not personally liable for their employees' salaries or health insurance costs – the entire point of incorporating is to create a legal entity separate from the individuals who created it. Yet these owners and shareholders want the court to consider their personal religious beliefs indistinguishable from those of the corporation, and allow those beliefs to dictate the kind of healthcare coverage their employees receive.

Never before has the supreme court held that a for-profit corporation, rather than an actual person, has the right under the RFRA to refuse to abide by generally applicable laws and regulations. Doing so opens the door to a slew of issues: If you work for a Christian Scientist who believes illness should be cured by prayer, are they obligated to cover medical care at all? Should for-profit companies be allowed to refuse to hire or cover healthcare for married women if they believe that it's a woman's religious duty to raise children and stay in the home? If you sincerely believe that Aids is God's punishment for homosexuality and promiscuity – a belief expressed by some of the most prominent members of the Christian right – should your company be able to opt out of covering HIV care for your employees? Since Obama's healthcare law also requires that employee health plans cover vaccinations, which some religious people oppose, should companies be allowed to refuse vaccine coverage for all employees and their dependents?

Protecting the religious freedom of individuals is crucial. But at issue here isn't the religious freedom of individuals. It's the ability of a corporation to dictate what kind of healthcare its employees have covered, under the guise of the stated religious views of the company owners.

And don't be fooled; this is more about the current political tides than long-held religious values. The constitutional issues at play here aren't all that grey. But the supreme court's calculus is made more complex simply by virtue of the issue being attached to the controversial Affordable Care Act.

Notably, the Hobby Lobby used to have an employee insurance plan that covered the very same birth control methods it now claims violate its religious freedom. It wasn't until the GOP raised a stink about the contraception rules in Obama's healthcare legislation that the Hobby Lobby "re-examined" its insurance policies. Is the religious belief sincerely held? Probably. But it's as much political and cynical as it is faith-based.

Similar cases have been tried in appeals courts and the supreme court itself, but in instances where individuals and not companies claimed a law violated their free exercise of religion. One woman, a Quaker, claimed that federal income taxes violated her religious freedom under the RFRA; the supreme court disagreed. In another case a religiously-affiliated school gave male employees a "head of household" supplement not offered to female employees because, according to their sincerely-held religious views, men should be the family's breadwinner. The fourth circuit held that the supplement violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and that paying female employees in compliance with the FLSA had no impact on the school's "freedom to worship and evangelize as they please". In yet another case, public university students claimed that registration fees violated their rights under the RFRA, since the university's health insurance program covered abortion care. The ninth circuit also rejected the students' claims.

Health insurance should be no different. The federal government should have no right to dictate that individuals engage in activities that violate their religious beliefs. But individuals shouldn't have a right to impose their religious beliefs on their employees and deny them federally-mandated benefits.

With any luck, the supreme court will address the root issues of these cases on their merits and in accordance with existing religious freedom jurisprudence. The GOP and the religious right are banking on the opposite: That the conservative and moderate justices, troubled by both Obamacare and the very mention of the word "abortion", will find some convoluted way of justifying religiously-motivated discrimination under the guise of "religious freedom".

Do you even know the details of the religious beliefs held by your company's controlling shareholder? Cross your fingers you don't find out the hard way – when they start making healthcare decisions for you and your family. Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.

Oregon Newspaper Publisher Cuts Health Insurance Benefits To Employees

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Oregon newspaper publisher Western Communications informed its employees on Monday that they could no longer provide them with health insurance benefits, cutting off 280 employees from the company health insurance plan starting January 1 2014.

Jim Romenesko reported the story first on Tuesday, stating that the family-owned company claims that cutting health care was the only way to avoid serious lay-offs. President and publisher of the Bulletin newspaper owned by Western Communications, Gordon Black, wrote a memo to his employees in an effort to provide explanation:

“This decision was not made lightly,” he wrote. "We would not be doing this if it wasn’t absolutely essential for the well-being of the company and by extension, you as an employee. We remain committed to the success of Western Communications, its mission and its employees."

The company emerged from bankruptcy protection last year, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting, and has been a self-insured health care plan.

Read the full memo from Gordon Black below:
TO: WesCom Employees
FR: Gordon Black
RE: Health Insurance

2013 has been another expensive year for WesCom with regard to health care costs. As you know, we are self-insured. That means that the company pays all medical costs for employees and their famiiies, over­ and above the portion paid by the empioyee.
Gordon Black
Gordon Black

In a still struggling economy, and today’s changing world of health care, we can no longer provide that benefit. That means, effective January 1, 2014 our company-sponsored plan will cease. This decision was not made lightly. We considered and researched every conceivable alternative. We found nothing was fair or affordable. We determined that we could not be competitive with the various plans offered by Cover Oregon or Cover Cafifornia. And if we offered a pian, employees would not be eligible to take advantage of the federal subsidies offered through these state exchanges.

It’s important to know that through Cover Oregon and Cover California financial subsidies are available to help many pay for their insurance. For example, a family of four making less than $94,200 may be eligible for financial assistance, as may a family of three making less than $78,120, or single individual making less than $45,960. Frankly, if your household income exceeds these limits you’re probably better off buying a policy outside of the state exchange.

Fortunately, other options are available in the marketplace in addition to CoverOregon or Cover California. we have engaged insurance experts to help each of us through this process and we are committed to doing everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible. There will be no administrative cost for this assistance. As soon as the details are finalized, you will get a schedule of available times when you can meet with a professional to walk you through the process.

On a more positive note, it appears that we will again be able to participate in Oregon’s Work Share program in 2014. That additional benefit, combined with a possible federal subsidy and the money you are already spending for coverage should ensure a manageable transition. We are also working to maintain the flex plan option to pay for out-of-pocket medical, dental and child care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

And finally, let me reiterate something very important. We would not be doing this if it wasn’t absolutely essential for the well-being of the company and by extension, you as an employee. We remain committed to the success of Western Communications, its mission and its employees.
Reported by Huffington Post 2 days ago.

Here's Why Both Parties Lie All The Time About Health Care

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A lot of the recent complaints about the Affordable Care Act go back to one theme: The law makes health care more expensive for some people with moderate incomes. This is true and it's a design feature of the law. And Democrats didn't want people to understand this about the law, so they lied.

The question for conservative critics is, what's the alternative?

The coverage expansion provided by Obamacare is expensive, and in part it's funded through higher insurance premiums on healthy people. If you dislike that, you either have to abandon certain goals of Obamacare, or you have to come up with another way to pay for them. That's the "replace" component of "repeal and replace," and ugly though the politics of Obamacare are, Republicans haven't come up with a good answer for it.

First, let's look at what the ACA seeks to do. It has three key objectives, and it's objective (2) that's leading to cost increases for some middle-income people:

1. *Help people with low incomes afford insurance.* The law expands Medicaid to people earning up to 133% of the poverty line and offers subsidies on a sliding scale to help people making up to 400% of the poverty line buy health insurance. This is all paid for with tax dollars, and therefore mostly financed by rich people.
2. *Equalize insurance costs across people, so sicker people don't have to pay extra for health insurance.* People pay the same premium regardless of whether they have pre-existing conditions and regardless of sex. Premium variation based on age is limited. This makes insurance available and affordable to people who have a lot of medical expenses, and is an implicit fiscal transfer towards them. This isn't paid for with tax dollars; instead, it tends to raise premium costs for people who are relatively healthy.
3. *Control overall costs.* The law does this by reforming how doctors and hospitals are compensated for the care they provide; holding down reimbursement rates paid by Medicare; imposing an excise tax that will discourage employers from offering extremely comprehensive health insurance plans; and other mechanisms, though it probably does not do as much to control costs as it should.

For many healthy people, the added costs created by (2) will be offset by subsidies made available under (1). But for families earning over 400% of the poverty line (about $90,000 for a family of four) there will be no subsidy. And as David Freddoso points out, while people in this position aren't poor, they often aren't exactly rich either.

Designing health reform so a significant part of its costs would fall on households with modestly above average incomes probably wasn't ideal. But what are the alternatives? When we walk through them, we find where the conservative objections break down.

1. *Instead of sending the bill to middle-income healthy people, send it to richer people.* Single payer is the most obvious way to do this: Instead of using premium cross-subsidy to fund the sick, the government levies a broad-based tax to pay for health costs and therefore most of the costs accrue to the people with the highest incomes. Of course, conservatives don't want to do this.
2. *Don't bother equalizing insurance costs across people.* Maybe we shouldn't view it as a public policy problem that being sick is expensive. This is most commonly the position of conservative health care wonks, who want to turn health insurance into a true insurance product (covering only expenses that would be financially ruinous) rather than a comprehensive product covering most medical expenses. This approach might well encourage cost savings and entail less public expenditure than Obamacare, Medicaid and Medicare. Coupled with the right subsidies, it would achieve some kind of universal coverage and protect people from medical bankruptcy. The problem is that the high deductibles this approach entails would be a real problem for people with chronic medical conditions. They would suddenly find themselves spending 15% or more of their incomes on medical care every year, on top of their insurance premiums. Today, conservatives are fretting about the plight of the middle-income healthy. What about the middle-income sick who would be screwed by these plans? Oh also, this approach costs money so actual Republican elected officials will never go for it.
3. *Save money by not expanding health insurance to so many poor people.* This is the de-facto position of most Republican electeds, who know the catastrophic-insurance approach favored by their policy wonks would be a political disaster. So they resist spending money on subsidies for poor and middle-income people, leaving them uninsured. But they still usually can't quite bring themselves to say they oppose universal coverage as a matter of policy, because universal coverage is popular. And then they do a certain amount of mumble-mumble-mumble about cost equalization, often saying that they too favor rules that bar insurers from charging more for pre-existing conditions, even though such a rule does not work without the surrounding Obamacare apparatus they oppose.
4. *Control costs better so that the goals of Obamacare can be achieved more cheaply.* This is a great idea. But here's the problem it creates for conservatives. The sort of cost control they like comes from turning insurance into a catastrophic product and making individuals bargain for lower costs from providers. This approach, which focuses heavily on shifting costs to the patient, screws the chronically sick. Conservatives tend to oppose top-down cost controls that don't involve screwing the sick, such as lower Medicare reimbursement rates. They even have opportunistically opposed cost controls they should support, such as the Cadillac Tax on high-cost health plans which mimics a proposal John McCain ran on in 2008.
5. *Mumble mumble mumble tort reform sell insurance across state lines and empty hand wave in the direction of high risk pools.* Given conservatives' dislike of the Obamacare approach and the unpalatability of their alternative approaches, this is the point they tend to land on, and it's not a real health policy agenda.

That's a long tour but it helps explain why we're in such a mess on health policy. Both parties implicitly realize that the American public is completely nuts on this issue. It is the official position of most politicians in both parties that the pre-Obamacare status quo needed sweeping reform, whether in a conservative direction or a liberal direction, while most voters just didn't want their cheese moved.

Both parties favor big reform because America's health care system sucks: We have astronomically high costs, outcomes no better than countries that spend half as much, and tens of millions of people with no insurance coverage.

And yet, most Americans seem to inexplicably like the coverage they have today, and want any reform to the health care system to proceed with minimal disruption to them personally so they can keep the high-cost, middling-quality products they currently enjoy.

The huge disconnect between public preferences and partisan preferences on health care has led politicians in both parties to lie constantly, but about different things.

Democrats chose to lie about how disruptive their proposed reforms would be. The president reassured people that they could keep their plan (which sometimes, oops, they can't) and that premiums would fall by $2,500 per family (the savings were never supposed to be specific to premiums, and the projected savings in overall costs haven't fully materialized). He probably lied about this stuff because he saw what happened to Bill Clinton when he didn't lie about it enough in 1993.

Republicans instead lie about whether they are interested in implementing the reforms they propose. Republicans have spent the last two months crowing about how disruptive Obamacare has been. This had led to warnings from conservative policy wonks that conservative health policy plans are disruptive, too, so Republicans should avoid staking out the position that disruption is bad per se.

But Republican electeds need not heed these warnings because they never have any intention of implementing health reform in a conservative direction. When Republicans have changed health policy, it has been in the direction of more public expenditure (Medicare drug benefit), more tax subsidies (Health Saving Accounts as an add-on to our system of health care subsidies rather than a substitute), and more comprehensive insurance (Medicare drug benefit, again).

Politically, Republicans have come up with the smarter set of health care lies. But Democrats, because their political coalition includes the people who are most acutely screwed by the American health care status quo, had to pick a set that actually led to policy change. And that's how we got to where we are today.

*SEE ALSO: Here's Why Health Insurance Is So Weird*

Join the conversation about this story »

 
 
 
  Reported by Business Insider 2 days ago.

U.S. delays online health insurance enrollment for small businesses

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a one-year delay in online health insurance enrollment for small businesses with 50 or fewer full-time workers that could qualify for subsidized coverage under Obamacare. Reported by ChicagoTribune 2 days ago.

Crucial Test Of Obamacare Exchanges Coming This Weekend

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After Thanksgiving comes Black Friday. After Black Friday comes ... Obamacare Saturday?

Saturday is the deadline for President Barack Obama to make good on his vow that HealthCare.gov, the online portal to health insurance enrollment in more than 30 states, will be much improved by the end of November, compared to its bad first month and somewhat better second month.

"We're now poised to gain health coverage for millions of Americans," Obama said during a Tuesday speech in Glendale, Calif., outside Los Angeles. "The website is continually working better, so check it out."

Saturday represents the unofficial start of what could be the first major wave of health coverage enrollments across the nation. A mad rush may ensue as consumers scramble to sign up for health benefits, testing the administration's technological fixes and offering a clearer glimpse of how the first year of Obamacare will turn out. A deadline looms on Dec. 23 for people to choose a health plan that will be in place on Jan. 1.

"There is a fair amount of pent-up demand and, assuming that the websites are working better, I think people will sign up in large numbers in December," said Jon Kingsdale, a Boston-based director at Wakely Consulting who was the executive director of the Massachusetts health exchange when it launched in 2007.

Weighty questions remain, and health coverage for millions of Americans hangs in the balance, including for uninsured people who have waited a long time for assistance and for those currently insured people whose policies expire Dec. 31.

Will HealthCare.gov really "work smoothly for the vast majority of users," as the Obama administration has repeatedly, if vaguely, claimed? Will troubled state-run insurance exchanges in Oregon, Maryland and elsewhere overcome their poor starts? Can insurers and online brokers handle high volumes of customers seeking a way around the sometimes balky exchange websites? Will there be enough telephone and in-person help available? And can the exchanges and the insurance industry process applications and secure coverage in time for patients who want to visit a doctor, hospital or pharmacy on Jan. 1?

In the meantime, consumers like Michael and Danice McGrath of Illinois are stuck in a "holding pattern," Michael wrote in an email to The Huffington Post.

"We’re trying to use the Obamacare online marketplace and it’s just not working," he wrote. The McGraths are among those whose current policies can't be renewed because they don't meet the Affordable Care Act's standards. "I’m an Obama supporter (still am) who is extremely frustrated because this 'fumbled rollout' was so utterly avoidable and has given enormous ammunition to his political opponents," he wrote.

The enrollment period for next year runs until March 31. After that date, consumers can only use the exchanges if their life circumstances change, like if they get married, have a child or move to a different state, until the beginning of the 2015 sign-up period on Nov. 15, 2014.

With just over 100,000 enrollments into private insurance nationwide as of Nov. 2 -- only about 27,000 of which were on the federally run exchanges -- the White House is far from the 7 million sign-ups for private health insurance and 9 million new Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program enrollments the Congressional Budget Office projected for next year.

Behind those disappointing early results are signs that enrollment could spike soon. During the same time period, 1.5 million people completed applications for tax credits to cut their insurance costs and more than 200,000 more had applications pending. And sign-ups appear to be accelerating in states like California and New York that are running their own insurance exchanges.

"These are people who persevered through a lot to get to that point, so I have to believe they're motivated to sign up for insurance and are likely to come back," said Larry Levitt, co-executive director of the Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, Calif.

*HuffPost readers:* Do you plan to try HealthCare.gov or a state-run health insurance exchange website in December? Tell us about your experience -- email jeffrey.young@huffingtonpost.com. Please include your phone number if you're willing to be interviewed.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told local and state government officials that it's time to send their constituents back to the HealthCare.gov website. "I would urge you and your folks on the ground to not hesitate to recommend that people go to HealthCare.gov and get signed up," she said during a conference call Tuesday. And Organizing for Action, the successor of the president's campaign operation, is urging families to talk about health coverage during the Thanksgiving holiday.

A swarm of users could still disable the federal website if the volume approaches the levels seen on Oct. 1, when 4.7 million people tried to sign on. HealthCare.gov will be able to serve 800,000 visitors a day and 50,000 users at a time, as it was originally designed to do, Jeffrey Zients, the Obama adviser overseeing the fixes to the technology behind the website, said last Friday.

Illustrating the administration's lingering worries about the website's capabilities, the White House is asking organizations to gradually refer contacts to HealthCare.gov in an effort to avoid clogging up the system, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The administration also has recommended consumers use other methods to enroll, such as going directly to an insurance company or online brokerage.

During the rocky first two months of the exchanges, health insurers and advocates scaled back their outreach, promotion and marketing, because enrolling via HealthCare.gov was so unreliable. Administration allies and health insurers will start gearing back up for these activities soon, and their efforts will be crucial to boosting enrollment and winning over consumers who are skeptical of the exchanges, Levitt said.

"The outreach campaigns between now and the end of the year are critical. It's now a bigger hill to climb than it even was in the lead-up to Oct. 1," Levitt said. "It's not just informing people about their options and encouraging them to enroll, it's kind of overcoming the perception of this as being messed up."

HealthCare.gov may already be performing well enough for consumers to shop for coverage, said DeAnn Friedholm, the Austin, Texas-based director of the health reform campaign at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports. "We're hearing stories from people who are being able to get through fairly easily to the point of at least being able to review the plans," she said.

Serious problems do persist, such as consumers caught in limbo waiting for their identities to be verified by the federal exchange system. And insurance companies still aren't getting reliable data about their new customers from the exchanges.

These potential troubles aren't a reason to hold off on shopping for and enrolling in health coverage, though, Friedholm said. "The longer you wait, the greater the chance is you will be stuck, as the Dec. 23 date is quickly approaching," she said. Reported by Huffington Post 2 days ago.

Small Businesses Get One-Year Delay In Health Insurance Process

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The Obama administration says it is delaying until November 2014 a requirement that small businesses shop for health insurance via the troubled federal HealthCare.gov site, which has been blamed for many problems since its launch last month. Reported by NPR 2 days ago.

Experient Health Publishes Healthy Pork Stew Recipes in Living Well Blog Series

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There are few foods more comforting on a cold evening than a warm stew for dinner. This pork stew recipe combines the comfort factor with good nutrition.

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) November 28, 2013

There are few foods more comforting on a cold evening than a warm stew for dinner, Experient Health wrote in its latest post in in its Living Well Blog series.

"This pork stew recipe combines the comfort factor with good nutrition, making it a wintertime winner," wrote the health insurance arm of Virginia Farm Bureau, which is using its Blogging platform to help educate the community not only on health care reform and health insurance, but also on healthy living, nutrition, and trends in healthcare.

For this recipe, provided by the USDA, Experient Health said the following ingredients are needed:· 2 pounds of lean pork stew meat
· 3 cups baby carrots
· 1 large onion, sliced
· 1½ tsp. dried thyme leaves
· ½ tsp. coarse ground black pepper
· ¼ tsp. salt
· 1 clove garlic, minced
· 1½ cups bran and wheat flakes cereal, crushed to ¾ cup
· 1 cup dried tart cherries
· ¾ cup 100% apple juice or apple cider
· 4 cups hot cooked brown rice

First, Experient Health wrote, trim fat from pork.

Spray large pan with non-stick cooking spray. Cook pork 1 pound at a time until browned. While pork is browning, in 4-6 quart crockery cooker layer carrots, onion, thyme, pepper, salt and garlic. Sprinkle with cereal and cherries. Top with browned pork.

Pour apple juice or cider over all. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 7-8 hours or on high heat setting for 3 ½ to 4 hours.

Prepare the brown rice according to package directions toward the end of the stew cooking. Brown rice typically takes about 40-45 minutes to cook. When rice is done cooking, stir pork mixture and serve over rice.

This recipe makes eight servings, with each serving containing 360 calories, two grams of saturated fat, 220 mg of sodium, 658 mg of potassium, 89 mg of calcium, 37 IU (0.91 mcg) of vitamin D, and six grams of dietary fiber.

About Experient Health:

For years, Experient Health, a Virginia Farm Bureau company, has helped people find the right insurance coverage and get the most for their health care dollars. The Richmond, Va.-based group is dedicated to providing high quality health insurance options to customers in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. As a result, its consultants, with an average of more than 20 years experience, are intimately familiar with the states’ provider networks, products and regulations.

Representing the top national insurance carriers, Experient Health provides customers with multiple policy options designed to meet wellness needs and financial requirements.

Experient Health grew out of Virginia Farm Bureau and is a “hometown agency” in that it operates a network of more than 100 offices. However, it boasts the resources and technology of larger firms.

Consultants are available online, via phone and through their offices.

Learn more at http://www.experienthealth.com, utilize the online health insurance quote calculator or contact a consultant directly at 855.677.6580. Reported by PRWeb 2 days ago.

KANETIX Partners with Blue Cross to Offer Health Insurance Quotations for Quebecers

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New product offering will give consumers in Quebec more choices for health insurance coverage.

(PRWEB) November 28, 2013

KANETIX is excited to announce the addition of Health insurance quotations for consumers living in Quebec; with the addition of Blue Cross as its new partner in the region.

Quebecers can take advantage of the new Health Insurance coverage that KANETIX offers French and English consumers by simply entering their information in the quotation form to find the coverage that suits their lifestyle.

“KANETIX is giving consumers in Quebec the most convenient option to find the best policy for their health insurance needs,” says Janine White, vice president, Marketplaces, KANETIX. “Adding Blue Cross as a partner to the Health insurance offering in Quebec gives consumers more choice to make informed decisions.”

The Health Insurance offering through Blue Cross on KANETIX.ca will feature a variety of policies available to Quebecers ranging anywhere from a basic plan for drug coverage to a complete plan featuring health, dental and prescription drugs. The Blue Cross AMI and Blue Flex plans will give consumers not only flexible, but affordable options for their lifestyle.

“Blue Cross is excited to be a part of this initiative with KANETIX. We recognize there is a growing trend of consumers shopping for Health insurance online and it just made sense for Blue Cross to partner with KANETIX to address this trend,” says Marc Roussin, vice president, Sales and Marketing, Blue Cross.

Consumers in Quebec can obtain Health insurance quotes at KANETIX to complete a quotation.

About Blue Cross
For over 70 years, Blue Cross has focused on providing health and travel insurance products for Quebec residents. Despite the major changes that have shaped Quebec over the last century, the mission of Blue Cross has never changed. The Blue Cross brand is synonymous with high-quality, affordable insurance products from a brand Canadians can trust.

Contact:

Marc Roussin
Vice-President Sales and Marketing
514.904.4731

About KANETIX®

Launched in October 1999, KANETIX was Canada's first online insurance marketplace and today provides over a million quotes per year to consumers looking for insurance, as well as comparisons for mortgage rates and credit cards.

The KANETIX comparison service is a one-stop shopping environment for consumers. Each day, thousands visit KANETIX to comparison shop their various financial needs. Shoppers choose what they want to compare, obtain a quotation and complete an online application or, with the help of KANETIX connect with the provider to purchase or apply for the product over the phone.

Through its Software as a Service team, KANETIX is also the leading provider of online insurance quotation technology, developing online quotation systems, mobile solutions, actuarial tools and websites for many of Canada's largest insurance brands.

For more information, visit KANETIX.ca or contact:

Natasha Carr
416.599.9779 ext. 343
publicrelations(at)kanetix(dot)ca
Kanetix Ltd. Reported by PRWeb 2 days ago.

Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on Tips for Health Reform 2014

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Here’s Four Tips for Small Businesses as 2014 Approaches

Park City, Utah (PRWEB) November 28, 2013

Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on tips for health reform 2014.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, January 1st is quickly approaching and many major provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be taking effect. Small businesses are considering now how to offer the best benefits at the most affordable price in 2014, and what the ACA means to their business and to their bottom line.

1. Identify Your Health Insurance Goals

Most small businesses have goals such as affordability, reducing administrative time, retaining key employees, improving productivity, and having an attractive benefits package to offer prospective employees.

2. Consider Non-Traditional Health Insurance Options

Many small businesses have been priced out of a traditional small group health insurance plan. Or, they identify their health benefits goals and realize a traditional route does not match up. Because of these reasons, and because of the new advantages with individual health insurance in 2014, small businesses are adopting "pure" defined contribution health benefits. With a "pure" defined contribution health benefits approach, you set your budget (any amount) and provide healthcare allowances to employees to use to purchase their own individual health insurance.

3. Communicate with Employees

To help ease employees' concerns and increase their knowledge, communicate with employees now, and on an on-going basis, about how the ACA is impacting health benefits and what they personally need to know about the ACA.

4. Understand New ACA Requirements for 2014

Make sure the requirements as a small business under ACA are well understood.

Click here to read the full article.

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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHealth") for defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about Zane Benefits, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 2 days ago.

6 Simple Facts About Health Insurance Reform

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If we put aside the politics and finger pointing this holiday season, we’re left with six simple facts about health insurance reform. Reported by Forbes.com 1 day ago.

Michigan Pro-Life Group Pushes 'Rape Insurance'

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Michigan Pro-Life Group Pushes 'Rape Insurance' 'Rape Insurance'
Health
Legal
Local
Politics
Michigan Rape Insurance

Michigan Right to Life, a pro-life organization, recently gathered enough signatures to advance what pro-choice advocates call "rape insurance" to the state legislature.

The legislative initiative would ban abortion coverage in all health insurance plans, including in the cases of rape or incest. Women would have to buy an additional plan to be covered for abortion. However, they would not be able to buy the extra plan after being raped.

That is why pro-choice advocates have dubbed it “rape insurance.”

“It’s not like, oh, I was raped and so now I’ll buy this rider,” Meghan Groen, of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, told RHRealityCheck.org. “Nobody is anticipating being a victim of crime.”

"We think this is an incredibly dangerous proposal, not only for the health of a woman, but also the risk that the health-care industry will have to undertake,” added Shelli Weisberg, of ACLU of Michigan.

Even though there is an exception in the legislative initiative for abortion in the cases when a woman's life is in danger, Weisberg explained to RHrealityCheck.org that if a health insurance company doesn’t agree the woman’s life was in danger, then the hospital and doctor wouldn't get paid. But the same hospital and doctor could get sued if an abortion were not provided in a life-or-death situation.

The Michigan Secretary of State approved the legislative initiative this week, which will not need a signature from Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R).

Last year, Gov. Snyder, who is pro-life, vetoed a normal bill containing the same language.

"It just went too far," said Gov. Snyder at the time, noted The Huffington Post.

“Michigan citizens don't want to pay for other people's abortions with tax dollars or through their insurance premiums,” Pam Sherstad, of Michigan Right to Life, told the Detroit Free Press. “This doesn't have to do with legalized abortions, it just has to do with who pays for it.”

However, according to a recent poll, 47 percent of voters in Michigan oppose the bill, while 41 support and 13 had no opinion, reports the Detroit Free Press.

While some Democrats in the Michigan legislature oppose the legislative initiative, there are enough pro-life lawmakers to pass it.

If it gets voted down, then voters would decide on it in 2014.

Sources: Detroit Free Press, The Huffington Post, RHRealityCheck.org

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Health insurance access varies across Nebraska

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Nebraska is faring better than the nation when it comes to health insurance, but access to coverage may depend on where you live. Reported by ajc.com 17 hours ago.

Experient Health Explains Changes in Rules Governing Health Flexible Spending Accounts

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Previously, any money put into a health flexible spending account could not be carried over into the next year.

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) November 29, 2013

A big change to the rules governing health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) was recently announced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Experient Health wrote in its Blog that highlights changes in health insurance regulations, health care reform and health education.

Experient Health is the health insurance arm of the Virginia Farm Bureau.

On Oct. 31, the IRS released Notice 2013-71, which relaxes the “use-or-lose” rule for health FSAs.

"Previously, any money put into a health FSA could not be carried over into the next year, although reimbursements were allowed to be paid for qualified expenses incurred in a “grace period” of up to two and a half months after the end of the plan year," Experient Health explained in its Blog post.

"Under the relaxed rule, employers will now be able to allow participants to carry over up to $500 in unused funds into the next year. Any unused FSA amount above $500 will be forfeited. This modification applies only if the plan does not also incorporate the grace period rule."

This new carryover does not affect the $2,500 limit on salary reduction contributions.

"This means the plan may permit the individual to elect up to $2,500 in salary reductions in addition to the $500 that may be carried over."

For ease of administration, a cafeteria plan is permitted to treat reimbursements of all claims for expenses that are incurred in the current plan year as reimbursed first from unused amounts for the current plan year and, only after exhausting these current plan year amounts, as then reimbursed from unused carryover amounts from the preceding plan year.

To implement the new $500 carryover option, a cafeteria plan offering a health FSA must be amended to include the carryover provision.

To learn more, Experient Health recommends contacting a Benefits Consultant.

About Experient Health:

For years, Experient Health, a Virginia Farm Bureau company, has helped people find the right insurance coverage and get the most for their health care dollars. The Richmond, Va.-based group is dedicated to providing high quality health insurance options to customers in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC. As a result, its consultants, with an average of more than 20 years experience, are intimately familiar with the states’ provider networks, products and regulations.

Representing the top national insurance carriers, Experient Health provides customers with multiple policy options designed to meet wellness needs and financial requirements.

Experient Health grew out of Virginia Farm Bureau and is a “hometown agency” in that it operates a network of more than 100 offices. However, it boasts the resources and technology of larger firms.

Consultants are available online, via phone and through their offices.

Learn more at http://www.experienthealth.com, utilize the online health insurance quote calculator or contact a consultant directly at 855.677.6580. Reported by PRWeb 20 hours ago.

Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on Nonprofit Health Insurance

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Three Questions All Nonprofits Should Ask When Considering Health Insurance

Park City, Utah (PRWEB) November 29, 2013

Today, Zane Benefits, the number one online small business health benefits solution, published new information on nonprofit health insurance.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, nonprofit organizations face important decisions about employee health benefits, especially as the Affordable Care Act creates new regulations, and new opportunities, for employers. Just like for-profit employers, the key reason nonprofits offer health insurance is for recruiting and retention.

With limited access to capital, small nonprofits often feel hard-pressed to offer or maintain health insurance coverage for their employees -- even though it is something leadership, the board of directors, employees, and donors/funders value.

1. Should a nonprofit offer health benefits, or not?
Health benefits can be a cost-effective (and tax-free) way to boost employee compensation.And, considering the recruiting, training, and general cost of losing and replacing an employee, investing in health benefits up-front can actually save the nonprofit money in the long run.

2. How much can we afford to spend?
Many nonprofits decide how much they can budget for health benefits and look at options from there. Other nonprofits assess current rates to build their budget.

The average group health insurance premium, usually shared between the employer and employee, have more than doubled since 2002, and increased 168% since 1999.

Because of the high costs of group health insurance, nonprofits also look at and compare the cost of individual/family health insurance rates. And as of 2014, massive tax subsidies are available to eligible employees to reduce what they pay for health insurance.

3. Which health insurance strategy should we choose?
Group Health Insurance Plan: Also called 'employer-sponsored health insurance' or 'job-based health insurance', a group health insurance plan usually covers all employees and their family members. These plans are generally uniform in nature, offering the same benefits to all employees or members of the group. Group health insurance is chosen and purchased by the nonprofit, and employees are usually asked to share the premium cost.

Defined Contribution Health Plan: Rather than paying the costs to provide a specific group health insurance plan, nonprofits can fix their costs on a monthly basis by establishing a defined contribution health plan. A defined contribution health plan is like a business expense account for health insurance. The plan can be set up to provide different allowance amounts by type of employee, and there are no minimum contribution amounts or participation requirements.

Click here to read the full article.

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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits was founded in 2006 to provide a revolutionized SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) administration platform ("ZaneHealth") for defined contribution health care. The flagship software provides a 100% paperless administration experience to small businesses and insurance professionals that want to offer better health benefits without a traditional group health insurance plan at lower costs. For more information about Zane Benefits, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 11 hours ago.

U.S. Healthcare Website Down Overnight For Upgrade

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By Roberta Rampton and Sharon Begley
WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. government said it would take down the website at the center of President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms for an extended 11-hour period overnight on Friday as technology experts push to complete upgrades by a Nov. 30 deadline.
The website, HealthCare.gov, was supposed to make it easy to shop for health insurance required by the Obamacare law when it launched on Oct. 1, but quickly turned into a political disaster after errors and timelags prevented most people who visited the site from signing up.
Obama officials tasked with rescuing his signature initiative pledged that they would have it working well for most people by Nov. 30.
They had worked on software and hardware upgrades through the U.S. Thanksgiving week to double its capacity so as many as 50,000 people could shop at the same time on the site.
Just ahead of that self-imposed Saturday deadline, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said the website would be down for an unusually long period, from 9 p.m. EST on Friday until 8 a.m. EST on Saturday.
"We will be making upgrades to the system and will require more than our usual four hours to complete," said a Health and Human Services official.
The agency, which is in charge of the website, has been taking the site down regularly overnight to make fixes, and will do so again early on Sunday morning from 1 a.m. EST until 5 a.m. EST.

HARD TO ASSESS THE FIX
The flopped launch has hurt early enrollment numbers - and Obama's polling numbers, which have sunk to the lowest level of his presidency.
"But the good thing about when you're down is that usually you got nowhere to go but up," Obama said in an interview set to air late on Friday on ABC Television.
Republicans have said the early failures justify their opposition to the program. Democrats have put pressure on Obama to extend deadlines for signing up.
Americans wanting insurance by Jan. 1 have until Dec. 23 to enroll, and other uninsured Americans have to sign up by March 31, or face penalties.
Several experts told Reuters it will be hard to independently assess on Saturday whether the site has met the administration's goals of functioning for most users most of the time, including handling 50,000 concurrent users.
"There won't be anything you can tell from the outside," said Jonathan Wu, an IT expert and co-founder of the consumer financial website ValuePenguin.
When the site opened for enrollment on Oct. 1, the widespread failures started with the simple act of trying to create an account. But now, any remaining problems lie much deeper within the site, he said.
"We really have no idea what down-the-line-problems still may exist," including the system for paying insurers when a consumer enrolls in one of their plans, he said in an interview. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler) Reported by Huffington Post 2 hours ago.

Health care website getting...

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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Key parts of the government's beleaguered health insurance website will be down longer than usual this weekend as the site continues to undergo maintenance and repairs. Reported by WTNH.com 15 minutes ago.
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