Air Ambulance Services in the US Industry Market Research Report Now Available from IBISWorld

February 19, 2014, 12:11 pm

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Revenue will remain healthy, but new regulations may pose a threat. For this reason, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Air Ambulance Services industry to its growing industry report collection.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 19, 2014

The Air Ambulance Services industry comprises air medical transports, including helicopters and fixed winged aircrafts, specifically outfitted to transport ill or injured people. Transports in this industry are staffed with qualified medical personnel who provide comprehensive and emergency treatment. The industry experienced significant growth during the decade leading up to the recession, spurred by a healthy overall economy and a stable health insurance environment. According to IBISWorld Industry Analyst Stephen Morea, “Increases in the number of individuals covered by private health insurance and a rise in Medicare expenditures boosted industry revenue receipts, as insurance institutions cover the majority of expenses related to ambulatory transportation expenses.”

However, the Air Ambulance Services industry has encountered a number of difficulties from 2009 through 2014. Industry revenue was hurt by high unemployment during the recession, leading to a drop in the number of people with private health insurance, a primary source of revenue. More recently, in 2010, the passage of the Patient Care Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) created considerable uncertainty over future government funding and private health insurance reimbursements. “Nevertheless, industry revenue remains healthy and is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 2.8% to $3.8 billion in the five years to 2014, including a forecast 2.9% growth in 2014 alone,” says Morea.

Going forward, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is poised to implement new safety regulations. A stricter regulatory environment will prove costly to the industry during the next five years, increasing costs and constraining profit margin during the next few years. However, favorable demographic trends will ultimately benefit industry revenue, which is expected to increase in the five years to 2019. The graying of the US population will continue to bolster industry demand, as older individuals are more likely to need emergency medical treatment and transport, provided by this industry.

For more information, visit IBISWorld’s Air Ambulance Services in the US industry report page.

Follow IBISWorld on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/IBISWorld.
Friend IBISWorld on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBISWorld/121347533189.

IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics

The Air Ambulance Services industry provides air transportation and critical-care services to patients. These services are often provided during a medical emergency, but they are not restricted to emergencies. The vehicles are equipped with lifesaving equipment operated by medically trained personnel.

Industry Performance
Executive Summary
Key External Drivers
Current Performance
Industry Outlook
Industry Life Cycle
Products & Markets
Supply Chain
Products & Services
Major Markets
Globalization & Trade
Business Locations
Competitive Landscape
Market Share Concentration
Key Success Factors
Cost Structure Benchmarks
Barriers to Entry
Major Companies
Operating Conditions
Capital Intensity
Key Statistics
Industry Data
Annual Change
Key Ratios

About IBISWorld Inc.
Recognized as the nation’s most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every US industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772. Reported by PRWeb 2 days ago.

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Austin Lands Innovative Healthcare Advisory Retail Store

February 20, 2014, 6:08 am

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Embracing Austin’s openness to healthcare innovation, Bernard Health opens new store in Austin to help people sort through health insurance confusion. Bernard Health’s new store is located at 13376 Research Blvd. in Austin, Texas.

Austin, TX (PRWEB) February 20, 2014

Bernard Health, the nation’s first retail healthcare advisory firm, founded in 2006, has landed in Austin at the Galleria Oaks Shopping Center. Adding the Austin store is part of Bernard Health’s plan to expand its geographic reach, which is funded by a recent investment raise of $1.9 million.

With six brick-and-mortar retail stores in four states—Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and now Texas—Bernard Health has helped more than 10,000 people save an average of $2,000 a year on their health insurance. The innovative company has also helped 200 employers establish health savings accounts (HSA) that have an average adoption rate of 80 percent – considerably above the seven percent national average.

“We’re excited to bring Bernard Health’s consumer-centric healthcare approach to Austin,” said Pete Mittelholzer, head of Bernard Health’s Austin office. “Since all of our advisors are non-commissioned, our advisors aren’t motivated to select certain health plans or carriers for their personal monetary gain. They select the plan that is truly most cost-effective and best tailored to meet an individual or employer’s unique healthcare situation. Our only motivation is to obtain the best plan at the lowest price for our client.”

Since Texas has a high percentage of citizens who do not have health insurance, Bernard Health sees a strong market for its services here, as its unique approach to helping people obtain healthcare coverage can make the entire process much more affordable.

Bernard Health has found a way to help individuals and employers buy healthcare like they buy most everything else—that is, by checking prices and shopping for the best deal. The company’s business model is similar to that of a retail tax preparation firm in that it is a storefront business that helps people navigate a complicated system to their best advantage. Clients note that they are not only able to make sense of the numerous options available, but can also compare those to coverage that might be available through a spouse's plan or a government program.

“We’re here to help people control their healthcare costs by making more informed healthcare choices,” said Mittelholzer. “Our retail store is open five days a week from 8 to 5 p.m., and anyone interested in talking with a store advisor can walk in or call to schedule an appointment.”

In addition to offering healthcare advice to individuals, Bernard Health has helped Austin businesses, like the Spanish immersion preschool Escuelita del Alma, select the right health strategy for employees. Under the direction of Bernard Health, the 27-employee school began implementing an HSA-based health plan in January, which has provided many employees with their first insurance plan.

“For many business leaders, it can be intimidating and difficult to select a healthcare strategy that meets the needs of all employees and controls costs,” said Mittelholzer. “We understand that people who run a business don’t have time to sort through the healthcare confusion. To fully evaluate and make sound healthcare choices for your employees, it’s a good idea to have a trusted advisor, like Bernard Health, on your side.”

To get more information about how Bernard Health can help, visit http://www.bernardhealth.com or call 1-800-505-0750.

About Bernard Health

Bernard Health's mission is to be the world's most trusted advisor when it comes to helping people plan for their healthcare. We work toward this mission through three business units: Retail Advisory, Employer Advisory and Web Services. Retail Advisory serves individuals and families through a network of healthcare retail stores, the current footprint of which is Nashville, Tenn., Indianapolis, Ind. and Cleveland, Ohio. Employer Advisory helps employers manage their health plan strategy more effectively. Web Services' foundational product is BerniePortal, a web-based benefits administration platform that helps employers and individuals manage their health and benefits plans more efficiently. For more information on Bernard Health, visit http://www.bernardhealth.com and http://www.bernieportal.com, find them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter or view their YouTube channel. Reported by PRWeb 19 hours ago.

Does Health Insurance Improve Health? Evidence From Massachusetts

February 20, 2014, 6:26 am

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It is always important to remember that healthcare and health insurance are two very different things, and neither of them is a guarantee of good health. Therefore, when people talk about Obamacare providing people with medical care, we have to remember that it primarily provides people with health care insurance. And as I have written about previously, insurance coverage does not guarantee the receipt of quality healthcare, with many Medicaid recipients having a hard time finding doctors willing to see them. Reported by Forbes.com 19 hours ago.

Championing Coverage

February 20, 2014, 8:33 am

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Let's say you've always supported having a national health plan that extends coverage to as many people as possible. Or, maybe you have health coverage at work and so haven't paid all that much attention to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Maybe you desperately need coverage, but have been waiting until the last minute to sign up on the ACA's health insurance marketplace because you heard so much about the glitches.

What do we all have in common? Each of us needs the new law to work. We need it to keep health care costs down by dramatically expanding preventive care, especially for women. We need it to keep non-emergency cases out of the emergency room. We need it to cut down on uncompensated care that those with insurance wind up paying for. We need comprehensive health care reform for many, many reasons, but the most important is that we need it to save each other's lives. Before the ACA, an estimated 40,000 people died prematurely because they lacked health care. To make that figure a distant memory, we need to get as many people as possible to sign up now for health care coverage through the marketplace.

The health insurance marketplace puts affordable, quality coverage within reach of more individuals and families -- but only if they sign up by this year's enrollment deadline, March 31, 2014. By exploring their options in the marketplace, most people are learning they are eligible for financial assistance to afford coverage; in fact, that has been the case for more than 80 percent of people who signed up for private plans through early February. They are getting coverage they can count on. Plans in the marketplace can't deny adults and children coverage due to pre-existing conditions or kick them off when they get sick, among other protections. They can also have peace of mind knowing key health benefits are covered, from prescriptions to maternity care, as well as a range of preventive services like cancer screenings and contraception without co-pays.

There is a role for absolutely everyone in making our vision of fully accessible, affordable, quality health care a reality. This week more than 20 Jewish organizations joined together for a Jewish Community Day of Action for Health Care to champion access to coverage -- to educate our constituencies and the public at large about the coverage options available in the health insurance marketplace created under the ACA. Here are some of the ways we are doing it, and how you can be a part of it.

The simplest, low-tech thing that everyone can do is talk. We are talking to our family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, our classmates. We are asking them if they have health insurance and if they don't, we are offering them the info they need to sign up. We are using our social media networks to do the same thing, reaching out beyond those we know personally. You can do all this and more. Put up a poster. Write a letter to the editor. Write an op-ed yourself under your own name or ask the leader of your religious community to submit one. Host a gathering to explain what the marketplace is, and how people can get involved in helping others in their community get covered. Invite people to view a webinar on the benefits and process of enrolling.

A crucial part of the Affordable Care Act is the option for states to expand eligibility for Medicaid to cover millions more people who have been too poor to pay for health care but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid coverage. State legislators and governors must act to make this happen in each state, even though the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost for the first three years and more than 90 percent in perpetuity. If you are in one of the 25 states that haven't expanded Medicaid, you can join the fight to get it passed.

The point is if all of us who support greater access to health care take it upon ourselves to help make it happen, we can get millions more to sign up by the March 31 deadline. The Jewish Community Day of Action is premised on the principle that we are all created b'tzelem elohim, in the image of our maker. Each of us is equally deserving of access to services that enable us to stay healthy or to get care when we need it, without risking our financial future or being unable to meet our other human needs, like housing or food.

Our day of action hopes to produce many more champions for coverage -- people who will become part of fixing our health care system by putting our own shoulders to the wheel. Every person that gets covered because you reached out brings us closer to the day when our entire country is covered. That person could be someone you already know. Someone who is burdened by fear of bankruptcy if she or he gets sick. And yes, someone who could die without health care coverage.

We have an opportunity to truly affect social change. Won't you join us? Reported by Huffington Post 17 hours ago.

Retailers Band Together to Fight Health Reform Law

February 20, 2014, 9:16 am

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*By Erin Quinn*

This story was originally published by The Center for Public Integrity, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.

When the Affordable Care Act required that "large employers" offer health care coverage to workers, businesses reliant on part-time, temporary and seasonal workers in the staffing, construction, retail and service industries sought a way to loosen those obligations.Enter the "Employers for Flexibility in Health Care Coalition," a working group with a name that suggests it brings solutions to the complicated health care law. E-Flex, as it is often called, says on its web page that it is "working to help ensure that employer-sponsored coverage -- the backbone of the U.S. health care system -- remains a competitive and affordable option for employers and for employees."E-Flex's name regularly appears in testimony and letters to Congress and in comments filed with federal regulators. But the coalition has no office space or business registration in Washington, D.C.So who or what is E-Flex? It is two dozen trade groups and corporations that came together in an effort to convince the government to reduce employers' health insurance obligations and narrow workers' eligibility for employer-sponsored health coverage.E-Flex dramatically increased spending on lobbying last year, to $460,000, compared with $300,000 in 2012, a 53 percent jump. The increase in activity is no doubt tied to the continuing debate over employer-mandated coverage. Last week, President Barack Obama announced he would delay the coverage mandate for medium-sized employers until 2016.Coalitions like E-Flex don't usually publicize how much members pay or how they operate. But a Center for Public Integrity review of voluntary corporate disclosures, lobbying records and interviews with coalition members and experts in the industry sheds new light on these vaguely named, largely unknown, yet highly influential organizations.For its part, E-Flex is led by the Retail Industry Leaders Association.Christine Pollack, the vice president of government affairs at the retail group and chair of E-Flex said the coalition was created by an executive committee of trade associations and a health insurance giant to "coalesce on a common thread" of problems presented by inconsistent workforce hours.Founding members had bumped into one another for years on Capitol Hill, said Edward Lenz, an attorney for the American Staffing Association, and in some cases, maintained relationships with the same lobbying firm -- the D.C. arm of Ernst & Young.All members, including UPS, 7-Eleven and the National Association of Home Builders, make financial contributions to E-Flex, but the exact amounts are hard to come by. One member, the retail clothing outlet Gap, voluntarily disclosed that it gave the coalition at least $1,000 in 2012, according to a document released by the company. But most companies haven't embraced such additional transparency practices.Lobbying reports filed with Congress provide a bit more information on the group's finances. Members that contribute $5,000 or more in a quarter and "actively participate in the planning, supervision or control of the lobbying activities" are required to be disclosed, though the exact amounts of their contributions need not be reported.The Retail Industry Leaders Association and the American Staffing Association are among those named in E-Flex's reports to Congress, as are health insurer Aetna, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Restaurant Association."Some probably chip in a quarter million" while others give closer to $5,000, said Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a public interest group.Before Congress passed reforms in 2007 in the wake of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, these informal lobbying groups, formerly known as "stealth coalitions," had no obligation to disclose contributors.Earlier this month, the E-Flex coalition told the House Ways and Means Committee that the current health care law's requirements for employers are "fundamentally unworkable."The group asked that the definition of full-time employment be raised from 30 hours per week, arguing that this would "maintain flexible work options," allow employees to work more hours in order to take home more pay and let employers offer "more generous" health coverage to full-time workers.David Rehr, a former lobbyist who is now an adjunct professor at George Washington University's graduate school of political management, says forming coalitions is "an important advocacy tool."The most effective coalitions have a variety of members that attract attention and "breaks the norm" on Capitol Hill, he said.One obvious reason to join a coalition is that there's "strength in numbers," added Emily Holubowich, senior vice president at lobbying firm Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates.Uniting various groups on a common issue can show "diversity of support" and facilitate easier "access to congressional offices," Holubowich continued.With all of its members, the E-Flex coalition can claim to represent dozens of employers and millions of jobs over a wide range of industries.But that's not all that's at stake when forming a lobbying coalition."Coalitions add a great deal of credibility to each of the members, especially in a case like this," where there's an "immediate and singular legislative issue," Holman said.He added that smaller businesses can use coalitions to amplify their lobbying power, and members can pool their funds.One active member of E-Flex that attends weekly meetings is the American Staffing Association, a group that calls itself "the poster child for that sort of intermittent, short-term work" represented in the coalition, according to Lenz, the association's legal counsel.Forming a coalition makes sense "if the interests are sufficiently similar," Lenz said, adding that the association was "unquestionably" more successful lobbying through the coalition than if they'd gone it alone.Moreover, with the midterm election season approaching, members might look to the deep-pocketed businesses and trade associations among them who can "spend very heavily in the next election," Holman said, meaning congressional support or opposition to E-Flex could have potential campaign ramifications.Some ad hoc groups are entirely run out of lobby shops.The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform and the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service both list lobbyists on the "Contact Us" pages of their websites.A steering committee of major corporations including 3M, Caterpillar, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Proctor & Gamble leads the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, a group formed in 2005 with nearly 50 current members.Since 2007, the coalition has spent just shy of $8 million on lobbying, with a top priority being the implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which went into effect last year. 3M voluntarily disclosed a $70,000 contribution to the coalition in 2012, which was used for lobbying.The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, which calls itself the "collective voice of the mailing community," has spent $655,000 in its five years of lobbying.Its more than three dozen members include businesses and associations who rely on, represent or supply the mailing industry, such as American Express, Bank of America, Conde Nast, the Envelope Manufacturers Association, FedEx, the National Retail Federation, the Newspaper Association of America and Verizon.The only coalition member known to self-report financial contributions to the group is eBay, which voluntarily revealed a $5,000 payment for membership dues in 2012.Last year, the coalition, which says it represents a $1.3 trillion industry with 7.8 million private-sector workers, lobbied Congress and the U.S. Postal Service. It has endorsed the Postal Reform Act of 2013, which would address financial constraints for the postal service and modify mail delivery schedules and rates.Another informal lobbying group is the Coalition for a Domestic Insurance Industry, a business set up in Wilmington, Del., in 2007. It represents 13 U.S.-based insurance firms, half of which are Fortune 500 companies. They include American Financial Group, Berkshire Hathaway, Chubb, Hartford Financial Services Group, Liberty Mutual Group, W. R. Berkley and the Travelers Companies.The coalition primarily lobbies for corporate members before Congress on tax issues regarding a "loophole" that exists for foreign-based insurers, and it spent $2.5 million during the past seven years doing so.In 2012, when the coalition spent a total of $190,000 on lobbying efforts, Chubb disclosed a contribution of $140,000, all of which was used for lobbying.A phone call from the Center for Public Integrity to the point of contact on the coalition's website was immediately referred to the group's lobbyist at Capitol Tax Partners, who only spoke with the Center off-the-record.
Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity Reported by Huffington Post 16 hours ago.

Here's What Really Happens When You Shop For Health Insurance

February 20, 2014, 10:46 am

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By Chris Walters, PolicyGenius contributor

Since the new health insurance exchanges launched last October, there's been a seemingly endless stream of news stories, mostly about rollout problems, health insurance cancellations, enrollment numbers, or personal anecdotes that are quickly repurposed as political fodder.

But what about the shopping experience? Once you sign up for an account on a health insurance exchange, what is it like to compare different plans and ultimately select the "right" one?

After helping consumers navigate the New York marketplace, we decided it would be interesting to switch hats and see what the experience is like from the consumer's perspective. We ran through the typical shopping journey of a consumer using the Internet and the phone to research plans.

We found that the experience online and on the phone varies across insurance companies. And shopping is still a pain, although some features required by the Affordable Care Act make it easier. Here's our quick rundown on how to minimize shopping headaches and reach a final decision with confidence.
· Spend the first few minutes looking at each plan on your state's health insurance marketplace before you call anyone. We know, you'd rather let someone else deal with this, but you'll be able to make a smarter choice (and ask better questions on the phone) if you've at least glanced over each plan's official "Summary of Benefits and Coverage" document. These summaries are a new requirement under the ACA that makes it easier to compare plans apples-to-apples.· About those official summaries: find them, download them, save them, print them, take notes on them. They're your new best friends.· Generally, you can find answers to a lot of typical questions with only a few minutes of online browsing. Realistically though, you should expect mixed results -- but it's still worth the quick look.· **Including online research and a phone call, expect to spend around half an hour per plan** -- unless you have a lot of questions or you run into a troublemaker. For the first three companies it took an average of 25 minutes to answer all 5 of our questions. But it took almost twice as long for the last company, for reasons we'll go into below.· If you don't feel like you're getting the info you need to make a decision, there are people who can help (at no charge). Each marketplace has "Navigators" to assist consumers. But be prepared for long wait times to reach one (upwards of 40 minutes in our experience during peak calling times). Or call a broker listed on the exchange. In either case, you'll be asked to share some personal information like name, age and income level.
Now let's go shopping!

*Getting Started*

New York is one of the states to successfully run its own exchange, and we created a consumer account in mid-December without too many hiccups. We quickly reached a page of silver tier plans matching our target premium of around $400 a month (note: the experience we describe would be the same for any price level).

While marketplace listings can't show every detail, they displayed enough basic facts (like premiums and deductibles) for us to narrow down our choices. New York also provides a star rating based on customer satisfaction and plan quality, but some companies on the exchange don't have ratings yet, so we couldn't use it.We decided to comparison shop four similar plans from four different providers: MetroPlus, an HMO serving residents of NYC; Oscar, an insurance startup; Health Republic , a nonprofit co-op (member-owned) insurance company; and Empire BlueCross BlueShield, the New York state subsidiary of the insurance giant WellPoint.

As far as questions, we tried to come up with five "typical" questions someone might ask (although every person will have his or her own list of deal breakers):
1. What dental coverage is available?3. Does the plan pay for a specific prescription drug?5. How many outpatient mental health visits per year would be covered?7. What's the coverage for emergency treatment out of state?9. Does the insurer offer any sort of 24-hour medical assistance (for example a doctor or nurse hotline)?
With our plans and list of questions in place, we were ready to start comparison shopping.

*Round 1: Looking for Answers Online*

Broadly speaking, there are three places to look for answers online. The first is on the exchange, where every plan has a details page that lists key features broken down by categories required by the Affordable Care Act.

The second is on the "Summary of Benefits and Coverage" document that we recommended above. This is provided by each insurer, and you can find a link to it at the bottom of each plan's details page. Although the summary repeats a lot of what's on that details page, it also explains some of your rights as a consumer, and it lists the insurer's toll-free number. You can easily print this to refer to (and scribble notes on) while you shop.

The third place to look is whatever other documentation an insurer provides, but in this area don't expect to see much consistency. Some companies will link you directly to additional documents, while others will make you dig for them or offer marketing materials in place of hard facts. Some companies may opt to provide information in more web-friendly ways like searchable databases, while others will stick to the ever popular PDF format.

So how was our online experience?

Finding documents on *MetroPlus* took a few extra clicks, but once we found them they were substantial enough to justify the time spent. *Oscar*'s summaries were all grouped on one page with confusingly similar file names, but we quickly forgave this small inconvenience when we saw that its drug formulary was a searchable database, which let us find an answer to our drug coverage question in seconds. *Health Republic*'s documents were generally easy to find.

So far so good, we thought. But then we moved to our fourth candidate, *Empire BlueCross BlueShield*, and things came to a screeching halt.

The link Empire provided for its summary document led us instead to a confusing gateway page with no option for marketplace shoppers. We lied and picked the "Member" option, but not every shopper is going to feel like doing this (and no shopper should have to). Once we were through the gateway, Empire showed us a list of over 2,000 documents. After some trial-and-error filtering we cut the list down to 16 choices. Then we had to go back to the listing on the exchange and find a four-letter code. And just like that, we had [DEL: a degree in library science :DEL] the summary.

Our search for Empire's drug formulary fared no better. The direct download link was broken, and the 404 error page redirected us to the company's home page. We eventually found a list of formularies with subtitles like "Generic Premium - Downstate," but then the drug was listed in one document but not in another with a similar name, which left us without a definitive answer.

In total we spent 1 hour and 9 minutes looking for answers on our own. MetroPlus took about 17 minutes, partly because there was a lot more documentation to access compared to the others, while Oscar and Health Republic took a little over 15 minutes each. Empire, which offered up about the same amount of info as the previous two, still took almost 22 minutes because we spent so much time searching for things.

As for how many questions we answered unequivocally, we managed a couple per insurer. We figured the drug question would be the easiest to answer and it was (not counting Empire), and depending on how many extra details an insurer offered we were sometimes able to resolve one or two more.*Round 2: Getting Help Over the Phone*

We'd found all we could online, so we were ready to try the phone next. Here's where the summary came in handy again because it listed the insurer's toll free number at the top of the first page.

First, a note to those of us who have grown more comfortable with the self-service nature of the Internet: It's totally okay to call someone before you make a final decision. In fact you're pretty much expected to, which is probably why some insurers don't put a lot of effort into extra online documentation.

Fortunately, every person we spoke with was friendly and at least somewhat helpful. (The helpfulness varied.)

Having said that, we found that not every company was equally enjoyable to deal with. One in particular -- you might be able to guess which one -- left us half-wishing we hadn't called.

Also, the hold times we experienced may not represent what happens outside of the frenzy of open enrollment (we ran our call experiment a few times in December during the end-of-year rush). And while quality may vary, depending on the particular rep you get on the phone, we think the following experiences are representative of our several interactions with the insurers.

Let's look at better experiences:

The MetroPlus rep's no-nonsense personality seemed appropriate for the NYC region that this HMO serves, but there was a communication misfire when we asked whether there was a 24-hour helpline. She thought we were asking about on-call policies of individual primary care providers, and after the third attempt she began to grow impatient with us so we moved on. She answered the other four questions with ease and never put us on hold. Duration of call: 6 minutes, 40 seconds.

Oscar pleasantly surprised us by skipping a menu tree altogether and placing us directly into the call queue -- we were talking to a live person in just over a minute. He answered most of our questions without hesitation and put us on hold only once for about half a minute while he confirmed the details of out-of-state coverage. When we asked the drug coverage question he walked us through the online search interface and helped us find the answer. Duration of call: 7 minutes, 46 seconds.

Health Republic's representative was hands down the friendliest and we reached him even faster than we reached Oscar's guy. But this call was the least fruitful. The rep put us on hold twice to find answers, and four of his answers were actually just phone numbers, which put us back at the start of the "call someone for help" round. Duration of call: 8 minutes, 25 seconds.

And then there was Empire BlueCross BlueShield. Let's start with the duration of the call: 32 minutes, 44 seconds -- four times longer than any of the other three insurers.

What would make the call stretch to half an hour? Well, it took 6 1/2 minutes to reach a customer service rep, but her job was not to answer any questions. Her job, it turned out, was to ask questions. She asked for our name, contact info and financial status, and then placed us back on hold where we waited another 18 1/2 minutes for an agent who could help us.

That agent was the most knowledgeable of everyone we talked to. She had an immediate and useful answer to our dental question, and she quickly confirmed that the company had a 24-hour nurse helpline. She even gave us a detailed answer to the drug question.

But was talking to her worth giving Empire our personal information and listening to hold music for over 25 minutes? None of the other companies asked for any personally identifiable information at all, but that's because they had customer service reps on hand to help field general questions like ours. Empire pushed us directly to an agent, which took longer and unexpectedly shifted the discussion into a much more personal space.

We even told the first Empire rep that we had the exact name of the plan and all we needed was someone to look at it with us, and she said it wouldn't help because of how their system was set up, which frankly sounded like an all-purpose excuse and not an actual explanation.*Some Final Lessons on Health Insurance Shopping*

We learned that online research is best for three things: broadly comparing plans, downloading the summary documents and getting a general feel for the insurance company's business style. Some companies might offer additional documents that you can explore for really detailed answers, but the average shopper should be fine with the summary and details page. When it comes to specific questions about coverage, you'll probably find some answers and will have to save the rest for when you call.

We had good-to-excellent encounters with the people we spoke to at all four companies. The quality of answers was uneven, though, which is why we were glad that we did some independent online research first.

In this specific experiment, the smaller and newer insurers provided a far better call experience than the huge, established insurer. Calling Empire was equivalent to plugging oneself into a giant corporate machine that's been finely tuned to monetize every customer encounter. They were the only insurer that asked for personal and contact information during the call and we found out why a week later: marketing materials mailed to us. We think it's poor form to add 20+ minutes to the (stressful and already time-consuming) shopping experience to capture a lead generation opportunity. It's that kind of behavior that makes consumers dread insurance shopping. [Side note to Empire: it's probably also a waste of money. Most consumers would have probably selected a plan before receiving the marketing materials in the mail a week later.]

We didn't start out by trying to rate these four companies specifically -- we picked them because they all had marketplace plans that matched our search criteria, and because taken together they cover a large range of insurer types. We still can't tell you which health insurance plan is the best, because that depends on your specific situation. What's important is that you know how to find the right answers so you can make that decision on your own.

Have you shopped for health insurance on an ACA exchange? We'd love to hear about your experiences in the comments. If you have questions about shopping for health insurance please email us at geniushq@policygenius.com or visit us at www.policygenius.com. Reported by Huffington Post 15 hours ago.

Dem Rep Bera: 'We Have to Be Flexible' on Insurance Co Bailout

February 20, 2014, 11:19 am

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Earlier this week, Democrat Rep. Ami Bera was asked on a local Sacramento news channel whether he supported bailing out insurance companies who lost money as a result of the failures of the ObamaCare exchanges. After some qualifying, and not a small amount of hemming, Bera said "we have to be flexible on that."

Whatever happened to the Democrat claim that the Republicans were in bed with the insurance industry?

The question is not a hypothetical. ObamaCare, aka Affordable Care Act, provides a mechanism called a "risk corridor." Under this program, the federal government will reimburse health insurance companies for their losses if the insurance risk pools don't match the promises made by Democrats and the Obama Administration. 

To the extent that ObamaCare could theoretically work, millions of young, healthy people would have to enroll in the health exchanges. Not simply obtain insurance, mind you, but they must purchase it through the exchanges so that their premium dollars can be used to cover the health costs of older, sicker patients. The young have to subsidize the old, in other words. 

Although the Obama Administration has been reluctant to provide demographic breakdowns of those purchasing insurance through the exchanges, most observers, including Rep. Ami Bera, concede that not enough young people are signing up through the exchanges. 

Ironically, the one provision Democrats point to as an ObamaCare success, i.e. allowing those under 26 to stay on their parents health insurance, may actually undermine the law. 

Over the next several months, expect to find many more Democrats like Rep. Ami Bera pressed on the consequences of unkept promises.   

 
 
 
  Reported by Breitbart 14 hours ago.

The Strange Effects Of The Health Insurance “Annual Fee” Tax

February 20, 2014, 11:30 am

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The ACA's individual tax penalty for not having health insurance is widely known. What is less well-known is that the ACA also imposed a tax that will fall on those who do buy health insurance. Recently, I examined this tax with an eye toward estimating how much this tax would increase average premiums. (The full report is here; a summary by Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner is here.) Reported by Forbes.com 14 hours ago.

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Where Wellness Went Wrong

February 20, 2014, 1:18 pm

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I recently took an informal survey of friends, family and coworkers. I asked them, "If there is one company, one service provider in your life who you think delivers bad service and a bad customer experience, who would it be?" The answers were not surprising and confirmed what I had suspected all along. Nearly everyone I asked replied "my cable provider" or "my insurance company."It turns out that research backs up my informal findings. A Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a formal way to measure whether or not a customer would recommend your product or service to a friend. Health insurance is actually one of just two industries that have a negative NPS (the other is cable providers), meaning their customers are likely to actively recommend that friends do not use their provider.This isn't really surprising, given the state of health care costs and the insurance industry in our country. According to insurance giant Aetna, health care costs in the U.S. have risen from $75 billion in 1970 to $2.6 trillion in 2010, and are expected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2021. These skyrocketing costs have done nothing put place more power in the hands of insurance companies -- the more expensive the care, the more they can charge.These costs are a huge concern for employers who (for the most part) are in charge of providing health care insurance to the masses. A 2013 survey from Bank of America and Merrill Lynch found that 70 percent of CFOs listed health care costs as their biggest financial concern.Lowering health care costs is a major priority for companies, and to do that many look to corporate wellness initiatives. These programs, while well intentioned, are unfortunately often not well executed. Earlier this year, the RAND Corporation published a report on the state of workplace wellness, and it did not paint a particularly pretty picture of the industry. Here are re my thoughts on why.The majority of corporate wellness programs are run by insurance companies -- in fact, estimates I've heard are about 70 percent. Remember that negative Net Promoter Score? As CEOs, how are we supposed to encourage our people to make healthy lifestyle choices, when we're placing someone they hate right in charge of the equation? And since insurance companies make more money off a sick employee than a healthy one -- what motivation do they have to improve the population's health?Here's the thing about wellness -- it's very personal. Would you ever approach a person at a party and say, "Nice to meet you, how much do you weigh?" The situation is complicated even further when you bring the workplace into the mix. How would you feel if your boss asked you, "Are you planning to become pregnant in the next year?" or "Are you having trouble in your marriage?" Oh, and by the way -- "We're going to penalize you if you choose not to answer." That's exactly how insurance-led wellness programs work. They start with a health-risk assessment that asks a lot of personal questions -- and then report back to your company. Yikes! No wonder it's not working.As organizations like Penn State have learned, the response to this type of wellness program is not good. By being invasive and punitive in its wellness initiative, the university angered its employees and ended up with egg on their face. The program should have been mutually beneficial for the university and the staff -- but it completely backfired.Let's take a step back and ask ourselves about the goals of a wellness program. Yes, many do aim to lower costs, but they also aim to make employees healthier. Healthy employees miss fewer days at work, and are actually more engaged and productive. For many organizations, these benefits are even more important than saving money on health care costs.This leads us to the question of how we can create successful wellness programs. They almost always start at the top with executive buy-in. CEOs should always be in charge of determining and maintaining company culture. Successful programs -- wellness or otherwise - must become a part of the culture.Asking employees to fill out a form about their health does nothing to actually improve their health. However adding an on-site gym, free yoga classes, removing fried food from the cafeteria and encouraging walking meetings -- these are the types of things that can have a real impact. And these things are really about creating a supportive community of healthy people.Would you ask Comcast to be in charge of your 401k accounts? Of course not. So why would you let an insurance company dictate something so integral to your company's culture? The bottom line is that we need to let insurance companies do their job -- which is to administer health care -- and let organizations decide the best way to run their individual wellness programs. Reported by Huffington Post 12 hours ago.

You may get a tax credit for health insurance

February 20, 2014, 2:13 pm

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*You may get a tax credit for health insurance*

Are you eligible for a tax credit to help pay for health insurance premiums? The Affordable Care Act provides for such tax credits for millions of people, yet many still may not be aware that they're candidates for the subsidy. It may surprise you to find that a household of five people with modified adjusted gross income of $110,000 may still be eligible.  

Consumer Reports' new, interactive Health Tax Credit Tool has recently been introduced to help consumers find out whether they're eligible for help. You'll have to answer a few quick questions about whether you currently get Medicaid, whether your employer offers insurance to employees, your state of residence, and family size. Click on the green arrows wherever you see them; they'll link to pages with more information and guidance that might help you save money covering your family.

Some things to know:

• You can only get the credit if you apply for coverage through your state Health Insurance Marketplace.

• You must complete your application and purchase insurance by March 31, the end of the open-enrollment period for buying coverage in 2014. (The coverage is not retroactive to the beginning of the year.)

• When you apply and learn the size of your credit, you can decide whether to use it immediately to lower the cost of your monthly premiums or take it as a refund when you file your 2014 tax return (that's the one you'll file next tax season, in 2015).— Tobie Stanger and Nancy Metcalf

 

 

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    Reported by Consumer Reports 11 hours ago.

Zane Benefits Publishes New Information on Health Reform’s Impact on Small Business

February 20, 2014, 7:05 pm

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Cheat Sheet Provides a Quick Reference for Small Business Owners on Health Reform

Park City, Utah (PRWEB) February 20, 2014

Today, Zane Benefits, the #1 Online Health Benefits Solution, published new information health reform’s impact on small business.

According to Zane Benefits' website, small businesses (with fewer than 50 employees) are largely unaffected by health reform. Yet, many small business owners and HR managers feel confused about their requirements under health reform.

Zane Benefits’ website outlines common questions, and answers, to how health reform impacts small businesses.

1. As a Small Business, Do I Have to Offer Employees' Health Insurance?

According to Zane Benefits' website, no. Health reform requires that only larger companies (with 50+ FTE employees) either offer health insurance to employees or be subject to a penalty. And even these deadlines have been delayed.

2. Are There Any New Small Business Health Insurance Options?

Yes. According to Zane Benefits' website, there are two new options for small business health insurance: the SHOP Marketplaces and Pure Defined Contribution Health Benefits.

3. Do Employees Have to Buy Insurance?

According to Zane Benefits’ website, yes. Or, pay a tax penalty (aka the "individual mandate" or "individual shared responsibility payment").

4. Are There New Health Benefits Reporting Requirements for Small Businesses?

According to Zane Benefits’ website, yes. Even though small businesses are exempt from the employer mandate, there are new reporting requirements that may (or may not) apply.

Click here to read the full article.

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 7 hours ago.

Jack Kingston Opposes Taxpayer-Funded Insurance Subsidies He's Set To Get For Life

February 20, 2014, 8:46 pm

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Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) is once again saying his constituents don't deserve government handouts like the one he receives as a result of his job as a public official.

In a December memo, Kingston's campaign lauded the congressman for being the only Republican candidate to vote against taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies for members of Congress.

"Jack is the only candidate in this race that has voted to eliminate taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies for Members of Congress and their staffs," the memo read. "He has gone a step further a voted to require the President, Vice President, and their political appointees to purchase health care on the exchanges just like everyone else."

What the memo and the candidate don't mention is that Kingston, as a former Georgia state legislator, is guaranteed a break of roughly 75 percent on the cost of his health insurance for life, paid by Georgia taxpayers.

Former state lawmakers pay "approximately 25 percent of the cost" of their coverage, Georgia Department of Community Health spokeswoman Pamela Keene told the National Journal. "The rest is paid by the state."

Kingston spokesman Chris Crawford told the National Journal that the congressman is simply playing by the state's rules, even though he opposes federal subsidized health coverage.

"The State of Georgia health care plan is administered [in] Georgia. He has no vote on the rules of the plan and abides by those established by state lawmakers," Crawford wrote in an email to the Journal. "He chose to stay on the Georgia plan when he first came to Congress because he did not want any part of the Potomac lifestyle."

Kingston came under fire in January when he wanted low-income students to learn "there's no such thing as free lunch," suggesting they sweep cafeteria floors to earn their meals.

Savannah, Ga., TV station WSAV 3 pointed out in January that there is such a thing as free lunch for Kingston, who has expensed thousands of dollars worth of "meals for business purposes" during his time in office.

"Isn't this a free lunch?" a WSAV 3 reporter asked Kingston.

"This is what we need in America," Kingston responded. "We need workfare over welfare. I learned a lot when I was 14 and 15 years old doing chores inside and outside the household and as a result i grew up with a good work ethic. ... It's hard in today's society to have a discussion where you want to challenge the status quo because of the 'I gotcha' politics." Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.

Officials: Mass. making progress on health signups

February 21, 2014, 9:27 am

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Massachusetts officials say they are making "significant progress" signing up people for health care as they work to fix the state's troubled health insurance website. Reported by Miami Herald 19 hours ago.

Extending Breastfeeding Services to our Military Moms and Spouses

February 21, 2014, 10:19 am

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When I was a single, working mom with a newborn, I learned just how vital it is to have comprehensive, affordable health care. Being a new mother was a joyful, and sometimes overwhelming experience--and as the first Missouri woman state legislator to have a baby while in office, having heath care for myself and my son gave me some needed peace of mind.

Under the Affordable Care Act, new mothers get an array of protections and benefits, including maternity coverage, new preventive services, and expanded Medicaid access--and I was especially proud to work to require insurance plans under the ACA to cover services vital to new mothers, which include access to breast pumps, as well as lactation support and counseling.

But unfortunately, TRICARE, the health insurance provided to members of the military and their families, does not cover some of these same critical services. While TRICARE is not subject to the requirements established by the health care law, new mothers in the military and military spouses--all of whom make immense sacrifices in service to this country--deserve the same kind of access to resources and care as civilian mothers whose healthcare plans are subject to the ACA's coverage requirements.

Under TRICARE, a new mother can receive a breast pump under her health coverage only if her baby is premature and meets other strict criteria. Even if that criteria is met, the coverage often only extends to a breast pump in the hospital, and requires a physician to prove medical necessity for home use.

TRICARE does not cover pumps in any other circumstance, and it doesn't cover counseling or lactation services, requiring members of the military and spouses to pay the full costs such services out of pocket.

These shortcoming in coverage have driven me to introduce legislation to require TRICARE to cover breastfeeding equipment such as breast pumps, along with support and counseling, as required of other plans under the ACA.

I'm especially pleased that the National Military Families Association endorsed this bill. As an organization dedicated to ensuring military families have access to the highest quality care and that military health insurance coverage is world class--like our military servicemembers and families--they understand that military spouses and moms should have coverage of breastfeeding support as part of their insurance just like women outside the military.

It's my hope that this bill will earn broad support, and bring TRICARE services for military mothers and military spouses to the high standard we've achieved in the civilian sector under the health care law. This is commonsense legislation and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will help it see swift action.

Our military mothers and spouses have earned it. Reported by Huffington Post 18 hours ago.

The War Against Work And Wealth

February 21, 2014, 12:09 pm

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The Congressional Budget Office’s recent analysis of the Affordable Care Act concludes that it will result in the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time workers leaving the work force to preserve their taxpayer-financed subsidies for health insurance. This is troubling on several levels: In terms of fiscal impact, it will exacerbate the federal budget deficit, both on the revenue side (fewer taxable hours being worked) and on the expenditure side (Obamacare’s new subsidies). Economically, our country will be poorer than it otherwise would be. Work produces wealth; less work means less wealth, and also less upward mobility for those who drop out of the labor force. Politically, as the number of unproductive citizens dependent on government increases and the number of productive citizens whose taxes finance government decreases, the unproductive may achieve a permanent majority—a political hegemony—as happened in ancient Rome with dire consequences. Reported by Forbes.com 16 hours ago.

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This week in health care: Hospital affiliation fights and fake rappers promote health exchange

February 21, 2014, 11:06 am

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This is your weekly roundup of the most critical health news nationally and locally. Every Friday we bring you quick summaries of the news, along with links to full stories from around the globe. Check back each week to stay updated. • The Washington state Health Benefit Exchange is spending $2.6 million in its latest advertising push to persuade young, healthy people across the state to get health insurance. The ads feature a faux rap duo that interviews real people who were insured through the… Reported by bizjournals 17 hours ago.

State official: We're 'laser-focused' on reducing ObamaCare insurance backlog

February 21, 2014, 11:06 am

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State health officials are busily working to reduce the number of pending health insurance applications that have been held up by the broken Health Connector website. Sarah Iselin, the special assistant hired by Gov. Deval Patrick tasked with fixing the website mess, said she has a "laser-like focus" on placing people in limbo into health coverage as quickly as possible. In her second weekly briefing with the media today, she said she therefore had no update on actual fixes to the website. Last… Reported by bizjournals 17 hours ago.

Groups target youths for Obamacare enrollment

February 21, 2014, 12:05 pm

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Hundreds of young adults are getting a lesson in health insurance from some unusual places: an Affordable Comedy Act show and slam poetry in Chicago, a local DJ in New Orleans and a bar crawl in Austin. Reported by CNN.com 16 hours ago.

Columbus council considers pool staffing changes

February 21, 2014, 11:29 am

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The Columbus City Council has decided to extend health insurance coverage to pool staffers and maintain morning hours at the Columbus Aquatic Center, despite the costs. Reported by ajc.com 17 hours ago.

Maker 3D-prints himself a prosthetic flexing fingertip

February 21, 2014, 12:57 pm

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A determined maker without health insurance learns the ropes of 3D printing to make himself a new fingertip. [Read more]
 
 
 
  Reported by CNET News.com 16 hours ago.