Health Net of California is sending letters to current members in their IFP PPO plans that they can keep the health plan they purchased through Covered California but they won’t be able to receive the ACA tax credits in 2015. Health Net will no longer offer their PPO plans through Covered California. In their place […]
Archives for September 2014
Prop. 45: good or bad for California?
The health insurance rate regulating Proposition 45 on the November ballot is relatively simple in that it attempts to curb excessive premium increases by health insurance companies by allowing the Insurance Commission to deny any rate he or she deems as being unreasonable high. California, on the other hand, has developed a complex review process for rate […]
Agents unite to bash Prop. 45
Insurance agents are uniting to bash and defeat Prop. 45, the California ballot initiative that would give the Insurance Commission the power to deny excessive health insurance premium rate increases. The latest campaign rhetoric by agents makes Prop. 45 sound worse than the Affordable Care Act. This organized opposition to Prop. 45 only serves to […]
Covered California agents to assist with voter registration
The Covered California Board adopted regulations at their September 2014 board meeting that will mandate that Certified Enrollment Counselors and Certified Insurance Agents must assist consumers enrolling in health plans to register to vote through the Secretary of States voter registration web page. Download the full adopted regulations at the end of the post. (b) […]
Navigators to receive $190 per enrollment from Covered California
Covered California has award $17.1 million dollars to 66 organizations to be known as Navigators to enroll 93,467 individuals from October 2014 to June 2015. The average cost per enrollment for the Navigator program is $190 per person with some Navigators receiving as much as $435 per enrollment. For each additional 100 enrollments above the […]
Insurance agents forced to register new voters in California
At the September Covered California Board meeting the members voted to adopt voter registration regulations that will mandate that Certified Enrollment Counselors (CEC) and Certified Insurance Agents (CIA) offer voter registration assistance to individuals that are applying for health insurance through the state exchange. In essence, CECs and CIA will now be doing volunteer work […]
Covered California MAGI Training
Covered California provided some very important training to insurance agents on determining ACA MAGI for clients…twelve months late. The information offered on household income for tax credits should have been offered months ago before we started the first open enrollment. While the maxim of “better late than never” is apropos, content was at times needlessly […]
How much does a Medicare Advantage plan really cost?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid released their reimbursements rates for Medicare Advantage plans by each county in the United States. Commonly known as the capitation rate, the table shows what Medicare pays to a private Medicare Advantage plan each month for each beneficiary enrolled in the health plan. The lowest reimbursement is in San […]
CEC webinar provides CIA training
When it comes to keeping Certified Enrollment Counselors (CECs) informed about updates and changes, Covered California has been doing a great job. I only wish the communication was as good when it comes to keeping Certified Insurance Agents (CIAs) current with information. The September 10th Community Partner Webinar has lots of good information that is […]
Comparing hospital outpatient, labs, and imaging costs
For years we have been told that the way to put the brakes to sky rocketing health insurance premiums was to let consumers shop and compare costs. While this pricing mechanism certainly works in markets where consumers have access to good comparative information, when it comes to shopping for health care services based on priced, your […]