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Zane Benefits Publishes New Consumer Tips on Buying Personal Health Insurance in 2014

February 2, 2014, 5:03 am
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Four new ObamaCare changes to personal health insurance all consumers need to know.

Park City, Utah (PRWEB) February 02, 2014

Today, Zane Benefits, the #1 Online Health Benefits Solution, published new consumer tips on buying personal health insurance in 2014.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, more consumers than ever before will purchase an individual health insurance policy, separate from their employer. Whether consumers are shopping for a personal health insurance plan for the first time, renewing their health plan, or exploring options, it's important to know how personal health insurance has changed in 2014. These changes are part of healthcare reform ("ObamaCare"), and impact consumers purchase a plan, how much they will pay, and what services are covered.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, here are the four ways personal health insurance has changed in 2014:

1. Pre-Existing Conditions No Longer Matter
2. New Premium Discounts via "Tax Credits"
3. Plans Now Cover "Essential Health Benefits"
4. Consumers Can't Enroll at Any Time During the Year

Click here to read the full article.

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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits, the #1 Online Health Benefits Solution, was founded in 2006 to revolutionize the way employers provide employee health benefits in America. We empower employees to take control over their own healthcare, while helping employers recruit and retain the best talent. Our online solutions allow small and medium-sized businesses to successfully transition to a health benefits program that creates happier employees, reduces costs and frees up more time to serve their customers. For more information about ZaneHealth, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.
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Ann Coulter Tells Fox News Obamacare Killed Her Friend’s Sister (Video)

February 2, 2014, 9:13 am
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Ann Coulter Tells Fox News Obamacare Killed Her Friend’s Sister (Video) Ann Coulter Tells Fox News Obamacare Killed Her Friend’s Sister (Video)
Politics

Ann Coulter told “Fox & Friends” cohost Tucker Carlson that Obamacare killed her friend’s sister.

Coulter said the woman lost her coverage because Blue Shield pulled out of California.

“This does have real world consequences: I got up the other morning and got an email from a friend saying, ‘My sister almost died because of Obamacare,’” Coulter said Sunday. “She had been thrown off her insurance plan.”

She said the woman tried to sign up for Obamacare, but “couldn’t get through the website.”

“She started to get a fever, but she didn’t want to go to the emergency room – she didn’t know what it was – until she got her insurance. So she put it off, she put it off. Thursday she went into septic shock," she said.

Coulter reportedly gave a speech on Friday and when she returned to her hotel room she received an "email saying ‘My sister died from Obamacare.’”

“That is completely shocking,” Carlson said.

“But it isn’t,” Coulter said. “It’s expected. We knew this would happen. It’s a horrible story, and people need to know about these stories. I emailed her and asked her ‘Can I could tweet this?’ and she said, ‘Julie would be very happy for you to tweet this.’”

“Everything provided by the government gets worse and more expensive over time,” she explained. “Everything provide by the private sector gets better and less expensive over time.”

Health insurance through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is provided by private health insurance companies.

“I kind of knew all of this was going to happen,” she said.

Carlson added that Democrats continue not to take responsibility for the ACA.

“We have Obamacare for one reason and one reason only: For a brief, ghoulish period in recent history, Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives,” Coulter wrote in October. “We don't have Obamacare because the public was clamoring for it. We have it because Republicans lost elections.”

Sources: Mediaite, Town Hall

1 Reported by Opposing Views 8 hours ago.
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HealthCare.gov can’t handle appeals of enrollment errors

February 2, 2014, 5:25 pm
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Tens of thousands of people who discovered that HealthCare.gov made mistakes as they were signing up for a health plan are confronting a new roadblock: The government cannot yet fix the errors.

Roughly 22,000 Americans have filed appeals with the government to try to get mistakes corrected, according to internal government data obtained by The Washington Post. They contend that the computer system for the new federal online marketplace charged them too much for health insurance, steered them into the wrong insurance program or denied them coverage entirely. Reported by Washington Post 4 minutes ago.
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Obama Spars With Bill O'Reilly In Testy Pre-Super Bowl Interview

February 2, 2014, 4:42 pm
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WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama accused Fox News on Sunday of keeping alive controversies the White House believes have been settled in a testy interview that aired before the NFL's Super Bowl, the most-viewed sports event in the United States.
Host Bill O'Reilly asked Obama why he did not fire his health and human services chief over the botched rollout of the healthcare law last year, whether there was "widespread corruption" at the Internal Revenue Service, and whether the White House had tried to play down the significance of a 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Obama said "some boneheaded decisions" were to blame for extra scrutiny the IRS had given to conservative Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status, and that the issue had been cleared up during "multiple hearings" in Congress.
"These kinds of things keep on surfacing in part because you and your TV station will promote them," Obama told O'Reilly.
O'Reilly, who hosts a popular program on the most-watched U.S. cable news network, told Obama that many people believed his campaign team sought to downplay the cause of insurgent attacks in Benghazi, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
"They believe it because folks like you are telling them that," Obama said, rejecting the allegation, which became a heated issue in the last stages of the 2012 presidential election.
O'Reilly pressed Obama to explain why he did not fire Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after the website used to enroll people in the new healthcare program known as Obamacare, failed to work during its launch last October.
"My main priority right now is making sure that it delivers for the American people," Obama said, telling O'Reilly that enrollment in health insurance was "about a month behind" projections because of the early problems.
"I promise you that we hold everybody up and down the line accountable," Obama said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Peter Cooney) Reported by Huffington Post 47 minutes ago.
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Study: Patients need training on new health insurance

February 2, 2014, 9:19 pm
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Study shows that ignorance of health insurance hurt Oregon Medicaid patients. Reported by USATODAY.com 20 hours ago.
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Report: HealthCare.gov Can't Correct Enrollment Errors

February 3, 2014, 3:09 am
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Report: HealthCare.gov Can't Correct Enrollment Errors Filed under: Health Care, U.S. Government, Health Insurance, Financial Education

*Jon Elswick/AP*

By Peter Cooney

WASHINGTON -- The HealthCare.gov website isn't yet equipped to handle appeals by thousands of consumers seeking to correct errors the system made when they were signing up for the new federal health care law, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

The newspaper, citing sources familiar with the situation, said appeals by about 22,000 people were sitting untouched in a government computer.

"And an unknown number of consumers who are trying to get help through less formal means -- by calling the health care marketplace directly -- are told that HealthCare.gov's computer system isn't yet allowing federal workers to go into enrollment records and change them," according to the Post.

It added that the Obama administration hadn't made public the problem with the appeals system.

Despite efforts by legal advocates to press the White House on the situation, "there is no indication that infrastructure ... necessary for conducting informal reviews and fair hearings has even been created, let alone become operational,"
attorneys for the National Health Law Program were quoted as saying in a December letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which oversees HealthCare.gov.

The Post quoted two knowledgeable people as saying it was unclear when the appeals process would become available.

The system is designed to allow people filing appeals to do so by computer, phone or mail. But only mail is currently available, the newspaper said.

Officials at the White House and CMS couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The Post quoted a CMS spokesman as saying the agency was working "to fully implement the appeals system."

The health care law, known as "Obamacare," is designed to provide health coverage to millions of uninsured people in the United States, but was plagued by a botched rollout in October.

The Obama administration said in late January that enrollment soared in recent weeks to about 3 million.

-Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Reported by DailyFinance 14 hours ago.
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LIFE Foundation Seeks Applications For 2014 Life Lessons Scholarship Program; Will Award Record $175,000 To Deserving Students

February 3, 2014, 6:03 am
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46 Scholarships will be awarded to provide tuition assistance to young people who have endured the loss of a parent or guardian.

Arlington, VA (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

The nonprofit LIFE Foundation is now accepting applications for its annual LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program. Now in its tenth year, the scholarship benefits college students and college-bound high school seniors who are facing challenges achieving a higher education following the death of a parent or legal guardian who did not have life insurance.

This year, the LIFE Foundation will award its highest level of scholarship money since the program’s inception - $175,000. 46 deserving students will be awarded scholarships ranging from $2,000 – $15,000 based on a 500-word written essay or 3-minute video that describes the ways their lives have changed since the death of their loved one.

The cost of higher education in the United States is at an all-time high and has increased more than 500 percent over the past 20 years.** The LIFE Foundation recognizes the severity of student debt and seeks to alleviate this stress for young people who may not receive financial support from their families.

"Paying for college is a significant challenge for most families today, and the inspiring stories young people share through our LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program illustrate just how much more difficult it becomes when a parent dies without a financial safety net in place," said Marvin H. Feldman, CLU, ChFC, President and CEO of the LIFE Foundation. "We are extremely pleased to be able to offer $175,000 this year to help students who have persevered in the face of tragedy achieve their dream of a college education. Life insurance is vital to protecting the futures of the ones you love and we want to encourage more parents to ensure their families are protected."

The LIFE Lessons Scholarship program is open to students between the ages of 17 and 24 who have been accepted to, or are currently enrolled in, a college, university, or trade school, and have suffered the loss of a parent or legal guardian without a life insurance policy. Candidates must apply to the program online at http://www.lifehappens.org/scholarship. The deadline for submissions is March 3 at 4pm ET.

The LIFE Foundation will award a total of 46 scholarships in 2014, including two $15,000 grand-prize scholarships, and for the first year a $10,000 scholarship thanks to contributions made by LIFE’s board of directors. An additional four $7,500 scholarships, nine $5,000 scholarships and 30 $2,000 scholarships will be awarded between the two categories.

The 2013 LIFE Lessons essay category grand prize winner, Shane LaBarge, had just entered his first year of college when he received the shocking news that his father had died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition. Not only was his family going through emotional hardship, but without his father’s income and no life insurance in place to provide financial support, they were faced with piling bills and expenses. With the help of his LIFE Lessons Scholarship, Shane’s education is no longer a burden for Shane and his mother, who suffers from a disability and is unable to work.

This will be the fifth consecutive year that the LIFE Foundation will award more than $100,000 in scholarships through the LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program. LIFE would like to recognize the generous financial support it receives from the NAILBA Charitable Foundation, the MDRT Foundation and NAHU Foundation, whose grants help fund the scholarship money awarded to students. LIFE also accepts contributions from individual donors. For information about making a tax-deductible donation to the scholarship program to support future applicants, visit: http://www.lifehappens.org/donate.

All inquiries regarding the LIFE Lessons Scholarship Program can be emailed to: scholarship(at)lifehappens(dot)org.

**Source: U.S. Labor Department

About LIFE

The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) inspires the public to take personal financial responsibility through the ownership of life insurance and related products. LIFE is the voice of choice for the industry providing the highest quality independent and objective information about life insurance and related products. To learn more about LIFE, go to http://www.lifehappens.org.

Contact:
Arielle Patrick
212-445-8470 Reported by PRWeb 12 hours ago.
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Cheap Life Insurance Quote Tool Modified for Consumer Use at News Portal Website Online

February 3, 2014, 9:12 am
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Cheap life insurance quote tool is now modified this year for consumer usage at the Cherry News company. A new system is in place that distributes easy quotes at http://cherrynews.com/life-insurance.

Memphis, TN (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

New strategies are available for consumers who use the Cherry News company for services information this year. This company has included a new cheap life insurance quote tool modified for public usage at http://cherrynews.com/life-insurance.

The use of this public system is designed to introduce the American public to different life insurance agencies in the U.S. that are underwriting multiple types of plans for coverage. Some of these agencies are national providers while others are local companies.

The inexpensive policies that are found through the quotes system are mixed between basic and customized plans. Not all insurers selling plans to the public offer customization of plans to meet certain lifestyle needs for adults seeking coverage.

"The different quotes that consumers can review through our system is creating a much faster resource to find pricing instead of calling individual agencies by phone," said one CherryNews.com company source.

The different levels of pricing is one aspect of the search system that adults are expected to appreciate this year through system use. The updated privacy controls in the system have removed any input of health information or personal questions that some insurers ask before calculating a policy quote.

"Our system is private and designed to allow any adult the anonymous research that can be hard to locate online in the insurance industry," said the source.

The CherryNews.com company has introduced more than one insurance product finder databases this year. Aside from basic life insurance plans, a new health provider search platform has been installed at http://cherrynews.com/health-insurance.

This extra lookup system for adults is meant to produce companies in all states of the U.S. providing affordable health care plans. A zip code is used to connect adults with companies at the state and local levels online.

About CherryNews.com

The CherryNews.com company is one of the leading consumer portals online offering instant research and price data for insurance and other consumer services. This company is staffed by research specialists who take part in creating the content that is distributed daily through the media channels this company uses. The CherryNews.com company has constructed a research platform for locating insurance products and complete pricing online. These services are expected to continue and to expand in 2014 with different research options for the American public. Reported by PRWeb 8 hours ago.
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Massachusetts Tackles Next Phase of Health Care Reform: Controlling Costs

February 3, 2014, 10:14 am
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While lawmakers in Washington and state capitals continue to obsess about Obamacare -- either how to make sure it is being implemented as Congress intended, or how to make sure it isn't -- Massachusetts legislators have focused their attention on the next phase of reform: health care costs.

Massachusetts is where the nation's most sweeping reform bill was enacted in 2006 -- when Mitt Romney was governor. But like the federal Affordable Care Act, the Bay State's "Act Providing Access to Affordable, Quality Accountable Health Care" sought primarily to change the way health insurers do business and to reduce the number of uninsured residents.

The state has made good progress. Because low-income Bay Staters were among the first to buy subsidized coverage on the country's first Obamacare-like exchange, and because insurers there could no longer discriminate based on gender or health status, the percentage of uninsured residents fell from 8.4 percent in 2006 to 3 percent last year. Another reason for that drop is the Obamacare-like requirement that most residents must get health insurance or pay a penalty.

But while bringing more people into coverage can help reduce health care spending -- in part by enabling previously uninsured folks to get care in more appropriate settings than a hospital ER -- neither Romneycare nor Obamacare went far enough.

Now, once again, Massachusetts lawmakers are leading the nation, or at least trying to. And this year, we'll likely begin to see if a broad-based and far-reaching law that passed there in 2012 will ultimately be a model for the rest of the nation.

The official name of that Romneycare follow-up law -- An Act Improving the Quality of Health Care and Reducing Costs Through Increased Transparency, Efficiency and Innovation -- is cumbersome, but does a pretty good job of capturing its goals. Among the first initiatives to be undertaken as a result of the law: finding out just how much waste there is in the system -- and why waste exists in the first place.

After a year of data collection and analysis, the state's newly created Health Policy Commission estimated last month that between 21 percent and 39 percent of all health spending in Massachusetts in 2012 could be considered wasteful. The panel found, for example, that the average hospital readmission rate in Massachusetts was higher than the national rate for Medicare beneficiaries for many major conditions. The group also concluded that diagnostic tools were often being used far more than necessary. More than 20 percent of patients with uncomplicated lower back pain were getting imaging studies against established medical guidelines.

Lawmakers have given the commission responsibility for ongoing monitoring of health care utilization and costs, and for setting and enforcing a benchmark for annual health care cost growth. That benchmark will be tied to growth in the state's economy.

Among the Commission's areas of jurisdiction: mergers and acquisitions among health care providers. Hospitals nationwide have been consolidating, which has reduced competition in many markets. As a result of the 2012 law, health care providers in Massachusetts must give 60 days' notice to the Commission before going forward with a planned merger or acquisition.

The ability of the panel to slow or halt consolidation already is being tested. A review of a proposed merger between Partners HealthCare, the state's largest hospital and physician network, and a smaller Boston area hospital raised red flags. Regulators are pressuring Partners to drop its plans because of concerns that the merger will lead to higher costs. Partners is pushing back, contending the merger will save $27 million a year in health care costs.

The outcome undoubtedly will depend on how successful Partners' lobbying and PR efforts are.

Another issue on which regulators can expect pushback from doctors and hospitals is how health care providers are paid. The 2012 law requires the Medicaid office and other state agencies to implement alternatives to the prevailing fee-for-service reimbursement scheme.

The law also seeks to improve transparency around health care costs and quality. Massachusetts health plans have to offer a toll-free number and a website that allow consumers to obtain information on the estimated price of medical care and how much they likely will have to pay out of their own pockets.

In addition, the Commission has some carrots that might encourage health care providers to offer more cost-effective, patient-focused care. Last month, for example, it awarded Charlton Memorial Hospital $400,000 to improve the care of high-risk patients. The hospital will spend the money hiring three registered nurses to coordinate certain patients' ongoing care after they're discharged. The focus will be on complex cases and patients with multiple diagnoses who make frequent trips to the ER.

Policymakers from around the country will be watching Massachusetts closely to see if the state really can get a handle on health care costs. Reported by Huffington Post 7 hours ago.
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Aetna and GNP Create Insurance Alliance to Give Mexican Families Access to Doctors in the U.S. and Abroad

February 3, 2014, 9:51 am
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Aetna and GNP Create Insurance Alliance to Give Mexican Families Access to Doctors in the U.S. and Abroad HARTFORD, Conn. & MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aetna (AET), one of the United States’ largest health care benefits companies, and Grupo Nacional Provincial (GNP), Mexico’s largest health insurance company, today announced a strategic alliance. Reported by Business Wire 8 hours ago.
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Our Two Most Onerous Taxes: College Tuition And Healthcare Insurance

February 3, 2014, 10:27 am
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Our Two Most Onerous Taxes: College Tuition And Healthcare Insurance Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

It is not coincidence that these two unofficial taxes--healthcare and college tuition--are soaring in cost, outpacing all other household expenses.

*I have long argued that to make an apples-to-apples comparison of real tax rates in the U.S. and other equivalently developed advanced democracies, we have to include two enormous expenses that are funded by the central state in countries such as Denmark and France: healthcare and college tuition/fees.*

In The Real-World Middle Class Tax Rate: 75% (July 5, 2012), I estimated that healthcare insurance (if paid out of gross income, as we self-employed workers do) in the U.S. is roughly equivalent to a 15% tax.

Now that the Orwellian-named Affordable Care Act (ACA) is raising costs and deductibles, the true cost of healthcare (a.k.a. sickcare, because being chronically sick is so darned profitable for the cartels) is more like 20% in America.

*Correspondent Tim L. (whose daughter is attending a prestigious STEM--science, technology, engineering, math--university) recently called $40-$50,000 per year college tuition what it really is: a tax:*



College tuition is just another tax. If you can afford to pay it, you have to. If you cannot, you do not. Anytime you have to pay more for something because you can, you are paying a tax. Between traditional taxes, the college tuition tax, and the health insurance tax (also paid only by those who can afford to), I figure this year and the next three I'm in a 100+% tax bracket.



*Middle-class Scandinavians famously pay around 65% to 75% of their gross incomes in taxes, but these taxes fund national healthcare for all and nearly free college tuition and fees.* Add $200,000 (four years of tuition/fees at $50,000/year) in tax to the already-high U.S. real tax rate, and the real tax rate for middle-class households exceeds 100% of gross income.

*Since only those with significant savings can possibly afford to pay a $200,000 tuition tax, the average-income household is left with one choice: the debt-serfdom of student loans.* This is the acme of a morally bankrupt system of higher education: you need a college degree to have any hope of succeeding in America, but the only way to get that degree is to enter debt servitude, with no guarantees of future income needed to pay off the debt.

*It is not coincidence that these two unofficial taxes--healthcare and college tuition--are soaring in cost, outpacing all other household expenses.* The only other household item that is skyrocketing is debt:

The two unofficial taxes--paid by debt, either student loans, or Federal deficits-- have no restraints: if you can't pay, then the upper-middle class taxpayers who are paying most of the Federal tax will, one way or another:

Meanwhile, guess what's been flat to down for the past 40 years--yup, the earned income of the bottom 90%:

*With an unofficial tax rate for healthcare and college tuition that makes Scandinavian countries look like low-tax havens, no wonder the middle class in America is vanishing like mist in Death Valley.* The political class is now bleating about the erosion of the middle class and rising wealth inequality. There are two primary sources of rising inequality in America: the Federal Reserve and the higher-education and healthcare cartels that so generously fund the campaigns of the bleating politicos.

Want to Reduce Income/Wealth Inequality? Abolish the Engine of Inequality, the Federal Reserve (January 28, 2014)

Healthcare "Reform": the State and Plutocracy Stripmine the Middle Class (Again)(November 9, 2009)

*Higher education needn't be a bloated, ineffective, obsolete, morally bankrupt cartel: we could have a Nearly Free University system that is available to all.* Reported by Zero Hedge 7 hours ago.
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Metro Maryland Ostomy Association's Top Legislative Initiative Introduced in the Maryland Senate

February 3, 2014, 12:21 pm
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Senator John Astle (D-30) and co-sponsor Senator Joanne Benson (D-24) have introduced SB 671, legislation that would require insurers, non profit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations (HMO's), that provide health insurance policies and contracts, to provide coverage for Ostomy Equipment and Supplies.

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

Metro Maryland Ostomy Association, Inc. (MMOA), the state and Mid-Atlantic region's largest and most tenured ostomy support group has garnered the support of two ranking Maryland lawmakers in its legislative initiative to require health insurance companies and HMO's to cover the cost of certain Ostomy Equipment and Supplies.

Association President & CEO, Scott Bowling outlined the top three reasons this legislation is needed:

1. Ostomy surgery is NOT elective. It is necessitated by a number of different conditions including inflammatory bowel disease (crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis), cancer, birth defects and injury. People of all ages can be affected; babies, children, and adults. The surgery involves the removal of all or part of the bowel or bladder and the formation of an uncontrolled surgical opening: a colostomy, ileostomy, or urostomy.

2. The costs of ostomy equipment and supplies are NOT covered by every policy.

a.) Not all ‘private’ major medical insurance policies cover the cost of the supplies that are needed after ostomy surgery. United Healthcare policies, for example, often cover the surgery but do not cover ostomy supplies unless the employer buying the insurance specifically both requires it and pays more for it.

b.) “Patients whose health insurance policy does not cover the cost(s) of Ostomy equipment and supplies pay upwards of $250/month.

c.) In light of such uncertainty of coverage with the new Affordable Care Act and the fact that a large proportion of people will still be insured through their (or a family member’s) employer-sponsored insurance, which will not be subject to the ‘essential benefits’ requirements, we cannot afford to leave it to individual insurers to decide whether or not ostomy supplies should be covered.

3. Covering the costs of ostomy supplies ultimately SAVES costs. The cost of one outpatient visit to the hospital, especially the ER, would far exceed the costs of ostomy supplies for a significant period. Of course, any complication which arise and require hospitalization (skin burns and breakdown, infection) would be the equivalent (in cost) of 10+ years of ostomy supplies in most cases.

"This is common sense legislation," Bowling said, "I cannot imagine any reasonable person making the argument that paying for the surgery is where the health insurance company's responsibility should end. Not guaranteeing coverage for Marylander's requiring ostomy supplies is like providing a person with diabetes, a glucose monitor but saying we will not cover the costs of the test strips."

The bill has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee and will likely receive a committee hearing within the next two weeks. "We are prepared," Bowling said. "We have two panels of witnesses which will include Doctors, Wound Ostomy Continance Nurses (WOCN's), patients, and industry experts who will testify to the necessity of these supplies and the need for them to be covered by all insurance carriers and HMO's. Reported by PRWeb 5 hours ago.
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So Right and So Wrong on Health Care

February 3, 2014, 3:15 pm
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I cannot remember the last time I read an article here on HuffPo (1/22/14) with so many correct statements of fact leading to so many erroneous conclusions or implications as Ben Veghte's recent piece.

Health economist Veghte offers a graph that is worrisome for all Americans, but immediately relevant for us old folks. He shows that in 1992, healthcare costs consumed 21% of retired Americans' social security checks, and in 2010, that percentage had increased to 37%. So, millions of retired Americans, mostly on fixed incomes, are forced to spend more without getting any value, clearly a inefficient use of dollars.

If you wonder why some in the Golden Years have to choose between prescription drugs and food, that graph gives the answer.

The following are statements taken verbatim from Veghte's article.
"Our Social Security and Medicare systems are indeed "designed to provide seniors and people with disabilities with a measure of economic and health security...which they earned by contributing to Social Security and Medicare throughout their working lives."
The quote above is both accurate and important. It reiterates that Social Security and Medicare, though often called entitlements, they are *not entitlements*. Generations of Americans paid hundreds of billions of their hard-earned dollars over many decades into these Programs. By contrast, Medicaid *is* an entitlement: its beneficiaries contribute nothing to the Program.
"If the cost-shifting proposals [to pay for Obamacare] on the agenda now - such as requiring ill seniors to have 'more skin in the game,' a crude term for them bearing a greater share of rising provider costs [italics per this author not by Veghte; explained below] ... - become law, this would cut net Social Security benefits even further."
The above quote is simultaneously so right and so wrong. There is no doubt that the cost-shifting aspects of PPAHCA will hurt seniors even further both by making them pay more while providing less care. What does Congress expect to happen when they cut $716 billion from Medicare reimbursements to providers of services to seniors?

The "so wrong" aspect is the phrase in italics - rising provider costs - particularly the last two words. In common parlance, providers refer to the doctors and nurses who "provide" care. The phrase implies that the costs to We The Patients, i.e., money we have to pay to care providers, that amount is going up. But as you can see, payments to providers are *going down*, even as our out-of-pocket spending is going up. What is happening?

The answer is this: the increase in our costs - our mandatory spending - is money going *not* to providers but to bureaucracy. That is called "bureaucratic diversion" in The Cancer In Healthcare. It is a theft that makes Bernie Madoff seem like a piker by comparison.
"Our system of health-care provision is inefficient: we spend twice as much as those of similar countries, with worse public health outcomes."
The U.S. clearly spends more on healthcare than any other nation on earth both in relative terms and in absolute dollars. It is equally true that we do not get anywhere near the best outcomes, whether in infant mortality, post-operative mortality statistics, or nosocomial infections.

The key is the word "inefficient." The U.S. is possibly the most dollar-inefficient nation on earth, at least in healthcare. If you compare the total dollars spent here on the healthcare system - $2.7 trillion in 2012 - to the dollars that actually produce health CARE in any form whatsoever - $1.7 trillion - you see how 40% of our healthcare spending produced no care.

Imagine a company where its bureaucracy took forty percent of revenue off the top, and only after that, the company had to produce its products or provide its services, and pay its workers, and offer dividends to stockholders with only the remaining 60%. That company wouldn't stay in business long.

But the healthcare business can survive because the bureaucracy taking that money is the same bureaucracy that can print money: the federal government.
"...manifold perverse incentives and inefficiencies in our health-care system...perpetuated by an army of provider lobbyists in Washington, DC. "
Again and last, above is a quote that is right on target and yet misses the mark. Healthcare does have manifold perverse incentives, from pay-for-performance (rather than for patient health outcomes) to making money by delaying, denying, or deferring care (insurance companies). Healthcare inefficiencies are legion. Besides the dollar inefficiency shown above, just ask any nurse or doctor how many hours a day they must spend doing work that helps not a single patient.

If, by "provider lobbyists," Veghte means promoters of doctors and nurses, those lobbyists must be the least effective in Washington. Who keeps getting the short end of the stick when the dollars are being handed out? Answer: providers. If, however, he means all the healthcare bureaucracy lobbies, then Veghte is dead on.

Who are the big winners from PPAHCA (Obamacare), i.e., to whom are the 1.3-2.7 trillion dollars going? Answer: actuaries, accountants, billers and coders, compliance officers, insurance sales and management, IRS agents, Information Technologies (our small State Exchange will likely spend over $50 million* just on PPAHCA-mandated IT services), lawyers, oversight reviewers, rule writers, and regulation enforcers. Did I miss any healthcare bureaucrat groups? If so, I apologize.

Who are the big losers in healthcare generally and Obamacare specifically? Answer: We The Patients, with special emphasis on those enrolled in Medicare.

(*) As a pediatric cardiologist, I keep dreaming about how many children with congenital heart disease we could repair if providers had that 50 million dollars to use for patient care!

PS. I have never understood why people living on Social Security are required to sign up for Medicare or lose their Social Security benefits. Can someone justify this to me?Deane Waldman MD MBA ("Dr. Deane") is a member of the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange; Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, Pathology, and Decision Science at University of New Mexico; host of the free newsletter, The Hidden Enemy; and author of The Cancer in Healthcare. Opinions expressed here are purely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Exchange or the University. Reported by Huffington Post 2 hours ago.
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The President's Vision Depends on the States

February 3, 2014, 3:15 pm
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The president spoke eloquently in this year's State of the Union address on a number of issues critical to America's future. But I was struck this year by how much the president's vision -- any president's vision -- has come to depend on willing partners in state legislatures.

Three of President Obama's top priorities for 2014 clearly illustrate why that's the case: The minimum wage, Medicaid expansion, and voting reform. Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have said explicitly that they are not interested in any of these three issues.

But it's a vastly different story in the states. Democrats won eight new legislative majorities in 2012, and it's in Democratic-led states where the president's vision is already coming to fruition. If this resurgence continues as it has, then America will continue moving in the progressive direction voters demanded in 2008 and 2012, even if Republican obstruction continues in Congress.

Just weeks into 2014, dozens of states are considering legislation to raise the minimum wage or tie it to inflation -- an idea nearly 80 percent of Americans support.

But of the states that already considered the issue in 2013, only four took action: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. All eight of those states' legislative chambers have more Democrats than Republicans. And in New Jersey, majority Democrats were forced to go directly to the people, who voted overwhelmingly to raise the minimum wage after Republican Governor Chris Christie vetoed the bill.

The story is largely the same when it comes to Medicaid. 5 million working uninsured Americans were supposed to get health insurance through Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, paid for by federal dollars. Most states have accepted the offer, but nearly two-dozen state governments chose to take that insurance away, leaving those 5 million Americans out in the cold.

There are real differences of opinion about the Affordable Care Act, but what can possibly be gained by a state denying its citizens' health care when it would cost state taxpayers nothing? What could possibly justify leaving 5 million families just one accident or illness away from financial ruin?

The individuals responsible for taking that coverage away, in every one of those states, were either a Republican majority in at least one legislative chamber or a Republican Governor (or both).

Voting reform is no different. The president's bipartisan election reform commission -- headed by the lead attorneys for both his own 2012 campaign and Mitt Romney's -- has produced a widely-praised roadmap for how to prevent the 7-hour voting lines that marred Election Day in 2012.

Early voting is the centerpiece of the commission's roadmap. Voters love the convenience of voting early, and more take advantage of it with every passing election cycle. As more do so, Election Day grow shorter. And voters who encounter some problem -- say a typo in the voter rolls, or an improper ID, or an accidental voter purge -- have more time to correct the problem. It's only of best safety-vales we have to protect voters' rights.

Some legislatures are moving to make early and absentee voting easier, and with one important exception, this is mostly happening where Democrats hold the majority - states like Minnesota, Colorado, and Maryland. Florida's GOP-led legislature recently agreed to slightly expand early voting, but only after their earlier decision to cut early voting in half led directly to those 7-hour lines that caused the state national embarrassment on Election Day 2012.

But incredibly, some Republican-majority legislatures are actually cutting early voting, despite the lessons from Florida in 2012. North Carolina and Wisconsin cut early voting in half, and now Wisconsin GOP legislators have come back with a new bill to abolish early voting on weekends. Ohio Republicans have proposed similar cuts.

It's clear with strong progressive allies in the states, the president's vision on these and other important issues will be enacted. Without them, it will not. Reported by Huffington Post 2 hours ago.
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Florida to launch discount health insurance exchange

February 3, 2014, 4:37 pm
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Florida officials hope Florida Health Choices will offer health insurance alternatives - but critics say the coverage will be minimal. Reported by Miami Herald 58 minutes ago.
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Zane Benefits Publishes New FAQs on Small Business Health Insurance

February 3, 2014, 6:11 pm
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Small Businesses Struggle to Understand Health Insurance Options Post-ObamaCare

Park City, UT (PRWEB) February 03, 2014

Today, Zane Benefits, the #1 Online Health Benefits Solution, published new FAQs on small business health insurance in 2014.

According to Zane Benefits’ website, small businesses have important choices to make when offering health insurance, especially with new Affordable Care Act regulations and the increasing cost of traditional small business health insurance.

The most common questions from small businesses are:
1. What small business health insurance options are there in 2014?
2. How does the Affordable Care Act impact small businesses and their employees?
3. How are small businesses dealing with the cost of health insurance?
4. What is the best way for small businesses to understand their health insurance options?
5. What are the benefits of offering small business health insurance to employees?

Click here to read the full article.

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About Zane Benefits
Zane Benefits, the #1 Online Health Benefits Solution, was founded in 2006 to revolutionize the way employers provide employee health benefits in America. We empower employees to take control over their own healthcare, while helping employers recruit and retain the best talent. Our online solutions allow small and medium-sized businesses to successfully transition to a health benefits program that creates happier employees, reduces costs and frees up more time to serve their customers. For more information about ZaneHealth, visit http://www.zanebenefits.com. Reported by PRWeb 1 day ago.
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Speakers for Upcoming Virtual Conference on Private Exchanges Include Top Consultants from Booz & Company, Moody’s, PwC

February 4, 2014, 2:02 am
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Speakers for Atlantic Information Services’s Feb. 25 virtual conference include top consultants from companies such as Booz & Company, Moody’s Investor Services and PwC.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) February 04, 2014

Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is pleased to announce the speakers for its upcoming Feb. 25 virtual conference, “Making Private Exchanges Work for Insurers,” offering details of how private exchanges work, which models are most successful at gaining members, and the pros and cons for insurers of taking part in nonproprietary exchanges versus building their own. Led by many of the nation’s private exchange experts, including top industry consultants, lawyers working in the health care sector and Wall Street analysts, the program will provide participants with a solid understanding of the current legal, marketing and general business strategies for insurers and their employer clients, with an eye on future developments.

The speakers are:· Jim Fries, director of sales for ConnectedHealth,
· Barbara Gniewek, a principal in PwC’s Global Human Resource Services practice,
· Jonathan Har-Even, manager in PwC’s Global Human Resource Services practice,
· Martin Hill, a director in the Health Care practice of PwC,
· Akshay Kapur, a principal with Booz & Company,
· Fred Karutz, senior vice president of business development for ConnectedHealth,
· Ashish Kaura, a partner at Booz & Company,
· Howard Lapsley, a partner in Oliver Wyman’s Health and Life Sciences practice,
· L. J. “Mac” McCarthy, president of McCarthy Actuarial Consulting,
· Ed Pudlowski, chief operating officer of American Fidelity Administrative Services, LLC,
· Chantel Sheaks, a health care consultant for American Fidelity Administrative Services,
· David E. Williams, co-founder of the Health Business Group and MedPharma Partners, and author of the Health Business blog, and
· Steve Zaharuk, senior vice president in the life and health insurance group at Moody’s Investors Services.

This comprehensive program will be split into four sessions, each session concluding with generous time allocated to answering individual questions.

AIS’s virtual conference allows participants to attend a live conference without having to travel to a meeting site. Plus, the registration fee includes a free On-Demand recording of each session, so any agenda items can be reviewed at a later time.

For more information, including a full agenda, speaker biographies and how to register, visit http://aishealth.com/private-exchanges.

About AIS

Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is a publishing and information company that has been serving the health care industry for more than 25 years. It develops highly targeted news, data and strategic information for managers in hospitals, health plans, medical group practices, pharmaceutical companies and other health care organizations. AIS products include print and electronic newsletters, websites, looseleafs, books, strategic reports, databases, webinars and conferences. Learn more at http://AISHealth.com.

Contact
Shelly Beaird-Francois
Atlantic Information Services, Inc.
202-775-9008 ext. 3064
sbeaird-francois(at)aishealth(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 16 hours ago.
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Medical Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

February 4, 2014, 3:21 am
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Medical Services Medicare Doesn't Cover Filed under: Health Care, Home Health Care, Health Insurance, Retirement Living, Financial Education

*Alamy*

By Emily Brandon

While Medicare covers a wealth of preventive and medically necessary doctor's visits and procedures, there are some common medical services Medicare don't cover or covers only under specific circumstances. "Medicare doesn't cover eyeglasses, hearing aids or dental benefits," says Juliette Cubanski, a Medicare policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "If you don't have supplemental coverage, then most people who need those services would end up having to pay out of their own pocket."

Here are some common medical services many older people need that traditional Medicare won't pay for:

*Eye exams.* Most Medicare beneficiaries are eligible for a simple vision check at preventive care visits, but Medicare doesn't cover routine eye exams for eyeglasses or contact lenses. However, some preventive and diagnostic eye care services are available to Medicare Part B recipients, including tests for glaucoma and macular degeneration. And people who have diabetes are eligible for an annual eye exam for diabetic retinopathy.

*Eyeglasses.* Although huge numbers of seniors need glasses or contacts to see clearly, Medicare typically won't pay for them. "For the Medicare population, things like eyeglasses are something that most of them are using," says Allison Hoffman, an assistant professor of law at the UCLA School of Law. "Most people pay for those out of pocket." However, for seniors who have cataract surgery that implants an intraocular lens, Medicare Part B will chip in for one pair of eyeglasses or one set of contact lenses.

*Dental care.* Medicare doesn't cover routine dental care, including cleanings, fillings and tooth extractions. The health plan also won't pay for dentures or dental plates.
However, Medicare Part A might pay for certain dental services you get while hospitalized during an emergency.

*Hearing aids and exams.* Medicare Part B covers diagnostic hearing and balance exams that are ordered by a doctor to access function, but it won't cover routine hearing exams. Hearing aids and the exams for selecting and fitting an appropriate hearing aid are also not covered by Medicare.

*Cosmetic surgery.* Medicare doesn't cover cosmetic surgery unless the procedure is needed because of an injury or illness. For example, Medicare will cover a breast prostheses if you had a mastectomy due to breast cancer.

*Acupuncture.* Medicare will not cover this form of traditional Chinese medicine that involves sticking needles into the skin at specific points on the body.

*Routine foot care.* Medicare Part B covers podiatrist services for the treatment of foot injuries or diseases, such as hammer toes, bunion deformities and heel spurs. Foot exams and treatment are also covered if you have diabetes-related nerve damage. However, routine foot care, including the cutting or removal of corns and calluses or preventive maintenance of the feet, won't be paid for by Medicare.

*Long-term care.* Medicare Part A covers care in a skilled nursing facility only after a three-day inpatient hospital stay. And retirees are limited to 100 days of covered care, after which the Medicare beneficiary becomes responsible for all costs. For people with low incomes and assets, Medicaid will pay for some forms of long-term care, including nursing home costs. People with assets to protect may want to purchase a long-term care insurance policy to help defray potential nursing home costs. "If you're of moderate income, you probably should get long-term care insurance before you get into your old age," says John Palmer, a Syracuse University professor and former public trustee for the Medicare and Social Security programs. "If your means are modest, you are going to spend down your assets and become eligible for Medicaid, so it probably doesn't make a lot of sense to spend money on insurance. And if you are very well off, you can self-insure. But for the broad band of people, the only way to protect your savings and assets from a high long-term care cost is to insure."

*Medical care outside the U.S.* Medicare typically won't pay for health care received while traveling outside the U.S. However, there are a couple of exceptions where Medicare will pay for services received in a foreign hospital. For example, if you're in the U.S. but a foreign hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital, Medicare will cover the services received there. Or if you're traveling through Canada between Alaska and another state when a medical emergency occurs, a Canadian hospital can be used to treat the emergency. Services you get while on board a ship in the territorial waters adjoining the U.S. are also covered.

Retirees may be able to get coverage for some of these common medical services by purchasing supplemental insurance, such as a Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan. "Some of the Medigap and Medicare supplement plans and Medicare Advantage plans might offer some vision coverage or hearing aids or things like that as part of supplemental coverage, but outside of Medicare," says Jack Hoadley, a health policy analyst at Georgetown University. "That is part of something you are paying extra for in premiums." Without additional coverage, you will likely need to pay for eyeglasses, hearing aids and dentures out of pocket throughout your retirement.

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-*More from U.S. News*-

· 10 Things Everyone Should Know About Medicare
· Retirement Benefit Changes for 2014
· Best Places to Retire for Longevity

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Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments Reported by DailyFinance 15 hours ago.
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Florida health insurance marketplace to go live soon

February 4, 2014, 5:02 am
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Rose Naff, CEO of Florida Health Choices, intends to launch the Florida Health Insurance Marketplace within days and possibly this week. In a conference call Monday, Naff said the centralized Web portal will allow businesses and individuals to shop and compare prices on a variety of options. The portal - www.FloridaHealthChoices.net - initially will have discounted medical plans and then add limited benefit plans and prepaid health clinics. Two vendors have contracted with the state to provide… Reported by bizjournals 13 hours ago.
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Brightway Insurance Opens First Missouri Store

February 4, 2014, 5:12 am
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Insurance Retailer Continues National Franchise Expansion

St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) February 04, 2014

Brightway Insurance, a leading national independent insurance retailer, recently opened its first Missouri store.

Associate agency owner Gary Silverman opened the 125 Long Rd. Ste. C location in Chesterfield. With his new store, Silverman, 43, will provide consumers with a variety of reliable insurance carrier choices and give local consumer access to Brightway’s unique insurance experience. He and his agents will receive assistance through Brightway’s back office support.

Brightway plans to open 20 Missouri stores in the next five years. Aside from the greater St. Louis area, additional cities in Missouri that Brightway seeks additional expansion include Kansas City and Springfield.

“I am lucky to open Missouri’s first Brightway Insurance store,” said Silverman, a St. Louis native. “There aren’t many people who can say they opened the first store in a state.”

Chesterfield and St. Louis area residents now have more than 100 high-quality insurance carriers available through Brightway’s powerful insurance network.”

Silverman attended the University of Missouri and majored in business administration. He previously owned Insurance Solutions of Missouri for two years before taking this new position with a focus on life and health insurance. He chose to invest in Brightway because of its shared vision on how to operate an efficient property and casualty independent insurance agency with customer-focused service centers.

“Gary is a welcomed addition to Brightway, its emerging growth in Missouri and its overall nationwide expansion,” said Brightway Insurance President Talman Howard.

The company is growing in multiple states: Brightway opened its first stores in North Carolina and Kentucky in fourth-quarter 2013. It plans to earn its licensing in nearly all 50 states by July 2014.

Founded in 2003, Brightway Insurance has quickly become a leading national independent insurance retailer. The company’s focus on creating the “ideal customer experience” has resulted in an industry-leading customer retention rate of 93 percent and increasing growth. Sales grew in 2013 to $276 million. Brightway Insurance is already an Inc. 500|5000 Fastest-Growing Company, making the list for the last six consecutive years. In 2013, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Brightway Insurance the No. 1 insurance agency franchise in the nation in its annual ranking of the top 500 franchises. For the previous three years, Florida Trend has ranked Brightway Insurance on its list of the top 100 “Florida’s Best Companies to Work For,” and in 2012, it also recognized Brightway as one of the top 350 companies in the state, based on revenue. For more information, visit http://www.brightway.com or call 888-254-5014.

###

For additional information, interview and image requests, contact public relations firm Axia Public Relations at 866-999-2942, ext. 700. Reported by PRWeb 13 hours ago.
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