Thoughts of Kevin Knauss

Posts by Kevin Knauss on a variety of topics: health insurance, history, hiking, politics, LGBTQ+, railroads, plus whatever piques my interest.

Comparing the cost of Short Term Medical plans

May 19, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

Short term medical plans are a less than perfect bridge for individuals and families in between credible minimal essential health insurance coverage. Even though short term medical plans can deny applicants for pre-existing conditions, charge more for being a female, and have caps on how much the plan will pay, they can be a solid backstop to ridiculous emergency room bills. The rates for short term medical plans will usually be in the neighborhood of a California Bronze individual and family PPO health plan.

Non-Tax Filers will lose Covered California subsidy

May 6, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

Covered California will strip the health insurance subsidy from consumers who have not filed their federal taxes beginning on May 16, 2016. Word of the non-tax filer ineligibility for the Obamacare tax credits was released in a summary of updates to the Covered California online application software known as CalHEERS. The release notes for the CalHEERS 16.4 update state that enhancements to the application will include a way for consumers to attest that they have filed their taxes.

Roseville Carnegie Library Museum goes elitist

April 30, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

The Roseville Carnegie Library Museum operated by the Roseville Historical Society has become another elitist historical institution. Like other historical repositories of information, the once visitor friendly Roseville Carnegie Museum has placed their small collection of local history books off-limits to the casual reader. Now, if you want to thumb through a 1970’s era Roseville Telephone book, you need to make an appointment.

HIV positive life insurance

April 28, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

People who are HIV positive are living longer and leading healthy and fulfilling lives because of advances in drug therapies to control the disease. The life insurance industry has taken note and has started to offer life insurance products to those living with HIV. The life insurance rates for people with HIV are actually reasonable for some income levels.

Income questions top Covered California agent forum

April 28, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

Consumers receive letters from Covered California stating that their estimated income doesn’t match with their most recent federal tax return. This has led many consumers to assume that Covered California can actually view a taxpayer’s federal return. Covered California can’t see a consumer’s federal tax return unless they send it to them to verify their income.

The secrecy of Negotiated Rates and Allowable Amounts

April 21, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

While the Affordable Care Act has brought transparency for consumers to compare health insurance plans, it has failed to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding how much health care services actually cost. This is particularly important for consumers who have high deductible PPO Bronze plans who would like to learn the health plan’s negotiated rate for a health care procedure.

Keeping track of Covered California clients

April 20, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 3 Comments

Covered California is not very health insurance agent friendly when it comes to managing an agent’s book of business. Agents seem to be the last to know when Covered California or Medi-Cal makes changes to a client’s account and either strips their premium assistance or dumps them into Medi-Cal. Covered California has developed book of business and conditional eligibility reports for an agent’s clients enrolled in health plans through Covered California.

Health Care Reform forum funded by insurance clients

April 18, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 2 Comments

Thousands of people every week visit my blog posts explaining different aspects of health care reform from enrolling through Covered California, income requirements, and Medi-Cal eligibility questions. Many people leave comments or suggestions to help other readers of the posts. The Obamacare question and answer forum is supported, oddly enough, by my health insurance clients. These health insurance consumers are supporting a website viewed by thousands of people each week with questions about health insurance.

Blue Shield online Covered California payments not applied for new members

April 14, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

As of April 2016, when a consumer makes their first month’s payment for their Blue Shield health plan, the money is never applied to their account.

Encrypting emails to protect health insurance consumers

April 14, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

For independent health insurance agents, such as me, who don’t have access to an already established secure network through a large agency, we have to be more diligent in securing all the different parts of the internet communication puzzle.

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Thoughts of Kevin Knauss