insurance issues,Principles & Solutions and tips *trik tax

Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

Regular readers already know that the long list of ObamaTax "freebies" (preventive care bennies paid at 100% with no deductible, etc) does not include male-specific items such as prostate screenings.

But never fear, turns out a completely different Federal agency has that covered:

"At the Newark Liberty Airport TSA agent Dennis Brown discovered a lump on a local man’s testicle."

I for one had no idea that the pre-flight ~~exam~~ screening was so...thorough:

"TSA agents are told to “Thoroughly inspect the testicles.”

Guess Mom was right again about that whole clean underwear advice.

[Hat Tip: ‏@BrentCochran1]

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Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

Had unusual message when I arrived at the office this morning:

"Good morning! I'm considering donating a kidney to my father, and I've been told to ask about my life insurance. For one thing, can they cancel it or raise my rates if I do go through with with the donation, and will it affect my ability to increase my coverage later on?"

Great questions. First, no, companies can't cancel or increase the premiums on existing plans if you do go ahead. Carriers are only allowed to cancel existing plans if you either stop paying premiums (which is really you cancelling them) or for committing fraud when you applied.

The going forward part is interesting though: I presumed that there could (indeed, probably would) be some negative impact, at least initially. But I offered to reach out to the underwriter at my primary company, and she told me that "the client can be considered for coverage and for preferred class as long as the remaining kidney is functioning normally."

Pretty nifty!

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

Well, to be fair, it'd already begun, but I believe this marks the beginning of the end of agents selling health insurance plans. From Anthem email just now:

"[F]or 2016, we will not pay commissions on new Individual members who enroll in ACA-compliant medical plans - on or off the exchange - with effective dates between April 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016"

In comments to our post outlining why carriers really aren't allowed to pay different commission rates for on- vs off-Exchange business, co-blogger Bob commented:

"If [carriers] have to pay the same on and off the exchange, rather than raising (reinstating) commissions for HIX business just cut all business to $0."

Called it!

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Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

In a not so surprising announcement from Aetna, CEO Mark Bertolini said Aetna is not giving up on Obamacare (yet) but "has serious concerns about the sustainability of the public exchanges". - Bloomberg

Update on Obamacare by the numbers.

Aetna’s 1 million individual commercial members make up 4.3 percent of its total membership, as of Dec. 31. Of those, 750,000 are people who signed up through the exchanges.
UnitedHealth has said that it will probably take about $1 billion in losses on Obamacare plans when 2015 and 2016 results are combined. The company has that it should have stayed out of the market longer, and that it may quit the program in 2017

Indeed, the exchange (now called "The Marketplace") is a disaster for the carriers.

Many who purchased coverage via the exchange pay little or nothing in premiums thanks to overly generous government handouts.

Quite a few that secured coverage through the exchange did not have health insurance before. Some because they could not afford it. Others because a pre-existing health condition prohibited them from buying coverage.

A significant number of those who have a medical problem will rent insurance for a few months, get their medical issue treated, then drop coverage. The average time on the books for exchange business is 7 months and many cancel within 90 days.

Navigators that work for the exchange have no real understanding of health insurance and frequently take applications for people who should not qualify for coverage. Subsequent audits for required documentation often results in coverage that is cancelled by the carrier due to compliance issues.

A significant number of policies are also cancelled for non-payment of premium. This, in spite of the fact that many subsidized premiums are less than $10 per month!

Obamacare has turned out to be little more than snake oil that came with promises to lower your premiums, allow you to keep your doctor and your plan and the ability to bend the health care cost curve thereby saving millions of dollars.

Instead, most have lost their plan and their doctor, their premiums are double or triple what they were before (plus higher deductibles and out of pocket) and there is no indication of actual savings in health care.

Voters were promised a health care panacea and what we got was a turd.

#ObamacareFail

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Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

We've written before about Gleaner Life (most recently here), and I wanted to note just what nice folks they are.

I recently had the opportunity to write a pair of unique policies on a client's two children using Gleaner's "Just for Kids" plan. This is a very simple, inexpensive plan: for a one-time premium of $125, a child is insured for $10,000, and it's convertible without any medical exam for up to $50,000. The initial coverage ends at age 25.

This is an easy and inexpensive way to guarantee a child's future insurability, and to cover unexpected funeral costs should the need arise. But the very best part is the warm and genuine "Welcome" letter the parents (or grandparents) receive when the policy arrives. I've seen a lot of these kinds of "Thank You" letters from carriers - and they're all, of course, appreciated - but this one is just really special.

Anyway, just a very pleasant way to begin the week (and month).

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Monday, 1 February 2016

Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

We've written about the chilling effect that insurers hope to create by lowering commissions on Exchange-based business (or doing away with them altogether). Most recently, the Kentucky Department of Insurance weighed in, noting that this practice would be viewed as a violation of the insurance code.

Well, seems like the stakes are actually a bit higher:

"(f) Broker compensation in a Federally-facilitated Exchange. A QHP issuer must pay the same broker compensation for QHPs offered through a Federally-facilitated Exchange that the QHP issuer pays for similar health plans offered in the State outside a Federally-facilitated Exchange." [emphasis in original]

That's from the Code of Federal Regulations as it pertains to the ACA. Seems pretty clear to me.

So then the question becomes: where do we go from here?

[Hat Tip: Sabrina Corlette]

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Insurance Tips and trik auto insurance, auto insurance quotes, auto insurance companies, auto insurance florida, auto insurance quotes online, auto insurance america

■ Losses mounting:

"Obamacare may get more bad financial news next week, as more insurers are expected to report financial issues due to the healthcare law."

Not that this is a surprise to anyone that's been paying attenmtion; after all, Blue Cross/Shield of North Carolina has racked up over $400 million in losses in just the past 24 months. Tip of the iceberg, really.

■ In a bit of irony, the IRS is warning uninsured folks about tax scams [ed: no, not that tax scam!]:

"In some cases ... unscrupulous tax preparers tell clients to pay the penalties directly to them, and they keep the money"

Biggest surprise: that there are still uninsured folks. I thought the ObamaTax was supposed to end all that. Hunh.

■ From email this morning:

"Working to stem the spiraling costs of health care, improve health care outcomes and ensure the adequacy of quality services for its membership, nonprofit InHealth Mutual, Ohio’s only health insurance CO-OP, has reconfigured its provider network to trim health provider costs that fall significantly outside the average of its overall network."

Which is a fancy way of saying that their network's gone on a major diet, shedding 10 hospitals and a slew of physicians.

Look for this to continue as carriers look to cut mounting ACA-related claims (it's what happens when you delete underwriting and then pay folks to purchase insurance).

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