Health Insurance

Posts related to health insurance for individuals, families, small groups, enrollment, eligibility in California, plans, coverage, benefits.

Repealing Obamacare And The Fate Of One Health Insurance Agent

November 17, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 3 Comments

For the first time in my life I can commiserate with people who are losing their livelihood because of a government action. Just as some workers have been displaced because the government outlawed a product, changed an environmental regulation, or enacted a trade deal that smothered their industry, I too am on the receiving end of government legislation that will decimate my income. If Obamacare is repealed and the subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans ceases, I will lose 90% of my clients.

Agents Need to Provide More Services to Health Insurance Consumers

November 15, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

With the constant erosion of the commission structures to agents for enrolling consumers into health plans in California, many agents have expressed their desire to stop assisting individuals and families with enrollment into Covered California health insurance. There has been renewed talk of allowing agents to charge a consultation fee to make up for the dwindling commissions they earn from the health plans and insurance companies. However, if agents want to make a decent return for enrolling consumers into health plans they need to provide the service so many of them advertise. We need to move from order-takers to consumer advocates, and we need fair compensation for our services.

Covered California Misleads Consumers on the Anthem PPO to EPO Plan Change

November 10, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 4 Comments

Anthem Blue Cross is terminating many of their 2016 PPO and Tiered PPO plans across different regions of California. They are being replaced with an EPO version in 2017. Covered California has misleading information placed on the consumer’s accounts that the new EPO is the same as the old PPO plans.

Comparing Costs and Rates of HMO to PPO plans in California

November 1, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

With the loss of the Anthem Blue Cross PPO plans in most of California and the double-digit rate increases on many plans, consumers are starting to look at the HMO plans available to them. There was a time when HMO plans were always more expensive than PPO plans. In the new health insurance landscape of Obamacare, HMO plans are becoming less expensive. But is a HMO plan right for you and your family?

2017 Doctor Directories Still Suck for California Consumers

October 20, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 3 Comments

One of the first filters in selecting an EPO or PPO individual and family plan, either through Covered California or off-exchange, is determining if your current doctor is in-network. For all the enhancements to online doctor directory search tools, they still suck. They are not consumer friendly. Consumers are given either too many conditions to select or the provider search tool offers too little information.

Anthem Blue Cross discourages agents assisting consumers with health insurance enrollments

October 17, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 6 Comments

For the second time since the launch of Obamacare and Covered California, Anthem Blue Cross has cut the commissions they will pay agents for assisting consumers with enrollment into individual and family plans. Anthem Blue Cross now has one of the lowest commission structures for agents helping individuals and families apply for health insurance in California. This commission cut, coupled with rules limiting Covered California delegated agents from receiving commissions, has resulted in agents thinking twice before assisting consumers with Anthem Blue Cross health plans.

Covered California increases benefits, increases rates

October 16, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 11 Comments

Many Californians are facing sticker shock over the new health insurance premiums for their 2017 individual and family plans. Covered California and the insurance companies have pointed the finger at the elimination of the Affordable Care Acts reinsurance provision for the health plans. However, another contributing factor is the lower copayments on specific benefits Covered California has mandated in the new health plans. Consumers will be paying less for some out-of-pocket expenses. As the health plans must make up the difference for consumer’s lower cost-sharing, the rates must inevitably reflect this reality.

Comparing California Health Insurance Companies

October 7, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

The Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), who regulates most of the individual and family plans offered through Covered California, has developed a website to allow consumers to compare health insurance companies. The Health Plan Dashboard website does not assign any performance review ratings. But it does give consumers a high level view of some of the data collect on the health plans such as enrollment, complaints, and enforcement actions for medical, dental, and vision plans.

Cigna Cuts All Agent Commissions to 0% for 2017

September 30, 2016 By Kevin Knauss 6 Comments

Cigna notified their appointed health insurance agents at the end of September that they will not pay any commissions in California for individual and family plans. In other words, or symbols, Cigna has given the middle finger to agents who assist consumers with enrollment into their health plans.

Finding out if your hospital is in-network with your new health plan

September 23, 2016 By Kevin Knauss Leave a Comment

The California individual and family plan market place will be changing quite a bit in 2017. Next to confirming if your favorite doctors are covered by the new health plans, many consumers want to make sure their chosen hospital is in-network as well. From information provided by Covered California and the health plans, I have put together a table of California hospitals by region and the health plans they accept.

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