| The “Year of Health Care” – Reforms should serve consumers, not ...
Until this year, Governor Schwarzenegger was a consistent foe of pro-patient health care reforms - vetoing SB 840 (Kuehl), which would have set up a framework for universal health care and campaigning against Proposition 72, which would have mandated employment based coverage for large employers. Now the Governor says he wants to address the health care crisis. Along with Senator Don Perata, Assemblyman Fabian Nunez and other lawmakers, he recently outlined his ideas for expanding health coverage. The renewed spotlight on health care reform is a welcomed development for consumers. The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) will work to make sure that any reform plan serves the interests of the public, not the insurance industry's bottom line. As health insurance premiums continue to increase beyond the consumers' ability to afford them, an astonishing 25% of every health care dollar spent is eaten up by insurance industry bureaucratic waste, excessive salaries, and outlandish profits.
Las Vegas Insurance Firm Announces Full Support of the New Anthem ...
Knox Associates, a Las Vegas based Employee Benefit Insurance firm is announcing full support for the new Anthem Blue Cross EmployeeElect Product Line. “We have been waiting for this small group health insurance product for over two years" Explained Jennifer Knox, president of Knox Associates. “When WellPoint and Anthem merged in late 2004 we knew this offering would eventually make it to the Nevada market because it has been offered to California business's for several years – it's finally here!" The plan is being offered to small groups throughout Nevada (2-50 employees). It works by giving the employer the flexibility to create a benefits package that can be custom tailored to fit the employer's needs. Nevada small businesses now have the flexibility to construct their own package of plans, giving them the choice of how many and which plans to offer to their employees. The plan offers six traditional PPO plans, five Consumer Driven plans (including Health Savings Account qualified plans) and three HMO plans to build from.
Insurers killing health coverages for associations
A major source of health insurance for people who work for themselves is disappearing, casting thousands of contractors, freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured with little hope of obtaining new coverage.
Health plans offered by professional associations were once havens for millions of people who couldn't get coverage anywhere else. But as medical costs have soared, groups representing professions as varied as law and golf have been forced to stop offering the benefit or been dropped by insurers.
More than 8,000 people with coverage through the California Assn. of Realtors could be next if Blue Shield of California succeeds with its plan to cancel the group's health coverage.
"It's a real stab in the heart," said Marcy Garber, 62, an Encino real estate agent whose history of breast cancer makes her an almost-certain reject if she seeks similar coverage on her own.
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