First off, some of my posting will be for interpretation by the insurance companies due to some vague language of one major item but let’s talk about what we know as fact. Birth control pills will be covered free on August 1^st. I guess that’s great news but in my twenty years in private insurance practice I rarely had anyone complain about the cost of birth control pills. Also, does free truly mean free? No, of course not. Rates will increase to offset the additional expense from the carriers, I suspect every many woman and child’s premium will go up some due to this new mandate.

Next, breastfeeding supplies and training will be covered free of any deductible and co payment. Ok, that’s strange. Individual policies don’t cover maternity but we will teach you haw to breast feed and also provide the equipment at no cost. Why, I have no idea. When we had our twins 3 years ago the nurses taught us in the hospital, this just sounds like something else that can needlessly bill an insurance plan for and don’t forget, the equipment will be provided free. This will result in another premium increase.

Now there are a host of other new quirky benefits but this entire article was written for the next one and no one has even talked about it. Let me quote directly from the government website: “Women will have access to all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures”. Read the last covered procedure again. According to the Planned Parenthood website this means tubal ligation or having your tubes tied. Also per the same website this procedure cost between $1500 and $6000 and again it appears to be FREE. Come one come all.

This is crazy. Insurance rates will go bananas now that you have mandated plans to pay for a procedure with a price tag of up to a $6000 free of any copays and deductibles. Mark my words, rates will go bonkers, how can they not and the risk will be spread out among every man woman and little kid policy holder.

Here’s what concerns me, no one ever talked about this and the counter effect it would have on the rates being charged in the industry. It appeared this was just swept under the rug and the topic never discussed. Well, hold on tight your rates are going up faster than you can say ObamaCare and it all happens on August 1^st 2012 and the only way to stop it is if the USSC rules this entire boondoggle to be tossed to the curb in June.

We in the agent community have been selling health reform compliant products since the bill was signed by Obama back in March 2010. Things like guaranteed issue on kids under 19, free preventive care benefits and no lifetime or annual limits are just some of the current benefits in place. Here is the question, what happens if the Supremes rule the entire lot to be unconstitutional? Do we go back to pre March 2010 policies? Do the current plans that were sold under the new mandates remain in force? Do twenty six year old adults that are on their parent’s policy get kicked off to purchase their own policy? Who knows?

Another major question is what if the USSC only rule the individual mandate is off the reservation? Do all the above provisions as well as others crumble from the weight of no mandate? The mandate was said to be the single most important piece of the law that held the plan together because if afforded insurance companies the ability to at least be somewhat profitable.

Well, the answer is no one knows but it’s about to get real fun if you are a consumer of Texas Health Insurance in the individual market. I suspect the courts will throw the entire law out and insurance companies will allow the current policies on the books with post health care reform benefits to remain active but with massive rate increases coming soon. I also feel that companies will revert back to pre 2010 benefits plans at much reduced rates over where we are today.

Bottom line consumers, be alert and be ready to change from the plan you currently have to a plan that is more inline with your budget and expectations. I just cant wait!

Aetna is one of those names that ring with credibility and stability in the homes of folks over 65, most have probably been covered with an Aetna plan at some point in their life and adding that name ID along with their low rates can only mean great things for both Aetna as well as seniors needing quality, affordable Medigap protection.

At this point there is only one drawback to this product and that is the application process. More and more companies have come to reckonize that the way of the future is to offer online applications however Aetna still sticks to the old paperwork intensive process of paper applications and this application is one of the more difficult. We hope in the very near future they come to the revelation that online is the way to go.

Our agency has a long history with the Aetna brand and will proudly and confidently offer this exciting new product to our client base. As of yet we don’t have their rates uploaded into our easy to use Texas Medicare Supplement quoting software but hopefully will soon. To obtain you free quote contact our office.

In a report just out by the Health and Human Services branch of our government they have determined that each member of the Pre Existing Condition Health Plan (PCIP) cost on average $29,000 a year in medical claims. WOW! 29K, are you kidding me? The average premium is $260 a month or $3137 a year equating to a loos of about $26,000 per person in the plan. Want to take a wild guess who paid that? Now check this out: According to what we were told back in 2010 by Obama they hoped to enroll 375,000 people the first year and the Congressional Budget Office speculated that the program could handle 200,000 every year until 2014 when full health care reform kicked in, the law set aside $5 billion for the PCIP. Based on those numbers here is how that would look:

375,000 people that Obama speculated would join the plan first year = $9,750,000,000. 9 Billion bucks!

200,000 people a year the CBO thought would join times 3 1/2 years the plan would be in force until full reform in 2014 equates to $18 billion. 18 with a B.

Ok, 18 billion dollars far exceeds the $5 billion he set aside in the legislation for the PCIP, can you say Miscalculation?

We the taxpayers were going to foot the 5 billion tab for the PCIP, just ponder footing 18 million bucks. I cant even calculate how much that is per citizen or resident, it makes my head hurt.

Ok, so lets look at the good news. Less people enrolled in the plan than expected, thank god. Only about 49,ooo people enrolled. That about sums up the good news, we are just not as “broke” as we could have been.

Bottom line, the calculations we were provided by our boys in Washington were just flat out wrong.

Charles Peeler has been providing families with Texas Health Insurance since 1993, for more information visit his website.

Lets rank them:

1. Humana. Their doctor co-pay plan offers a $500 yearly benefit for in office lab and x-rays. Also, their rates seem well in line with market.
2. Cigna. They offer unbelievable options for plan design and they too have adjusted their rates to be more in line with market. They also don’t do exclusion rider for pre existing medical conditions, instead they rate the premium up. This procedure is the reason they are ranked number 2
3. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. In some parts of the state they have the lowest rates and plan design is not quite as good as Humana but effective all the same.
4. United Health Care. Also known as Golden Rule Insurance, their rates are well above market trends and their offerings are nothing special as compared to the other carriers.
5. Aetna. They have been over priced for years but seem to be trending down on price in some zip codes. They also offer rate ups rather than exclusion riders for pre existing conditions. They are almost the number 4 carrier of choice.

These rankings are for doctor visit copay Texas Health Insurance plans only. We will visit catastrophic high deductible plans another time.

IT DOES NOT EXIST on the individual market. Period!

Regardless of what you may be told, as of this writing there are no individual plans that offer anything but complications of pregnancy coverage and good luck getting a company to agree with you that your delivery is complicated. All maternity plans vanished with the passage of Obama Care.

If maternity coverage is your wish get a job offering group benefits where in SOME cases baby coverage is mandated but for individual Texas health insurance the animal does not exist. There are some “salesmen” indicating their plans cover maternity, heck, I have personally seen TV commercials offering “maternity benefits”, these are generally discount cards and plans. That’s not traditional insurance and in my view not worth the money.

This post is simply a public service announcement to asist in eliminating the rash of searches I seem to get on this subject.

BCBS of Texas has always had some of the lowest rates in our state and they also have had far and away the lowest yearly rate increases. Over all this is great news. The agent community will be advised of the clients effected by the decrease on or about the 15th of this month.

Here is some of the excerts of the notification:

Texas Individual Under Age 65 Policies

• Most but not all Individual Under Age 65 policies will receive a base rate reduction beginning in April. This will be a prospective adjustment.
• Those affected by this change will receive a notice 60 days in advance of the rate adjustment. Letters for changes effective in April will be mailed in mid-January and will then continue weekly based on renewal dates through the remainder of the year.
• New business rates have also been reduced by an average of 3.7 percent beginning with March 1, 2012, effective dates.
• The base rate reduction applies to medical and drug coverage only.
• The new rates will be available on the Online Sales Channel on Jan. 12.

Like always, for more information or to obtain you instant Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas quote visit our Texas Health Insurance website.

A doctor co-pay plan has a set amount of money instilled in the policy that you will have to pay out of pocket for prescriptions and doctor visits. You will also have to pay a certain deductible every year for the policy but that’s only for something other than a doctor visit. The amount of money you have to pay out of pocket will be based on the policy you have. Assume that the higher your deductible, the lower the amount of money you have to pay monthly will be. There are plans for health insurance in Texas that offer 100%, 80%, and 50% coverage called a co insurance You can explore different policies to see what is available. All the major companies sell these type of policies as they are and probably always will be their “flag ship” plan.

The amount of coverage that you get from your health insurance in Texas may also depend on what you need to use the insurance for. If you just need to go to the doctor for yearly checkups, your co-pay will be far less than it would be for a patient who needed prescriptions once a month. While you can still save money on your medical expenses with a health insurance policy in place, you will be able to save more if you only need a small amount of coverage. Simply put, if you are rather healthy your premiums will be lower than someone who smokes a pack a day and takes heart medication.  

There are special forms of this health insurance in Texas that will offer coverage on lab work and similar procedures if you need that done. Most all plans will cover these items but it just a matter of if you expect these procedures to be covered with a co pay before the deductible of not. If you wish for the procedures to be covered before the deductible get ready to shell out more for your monthly premium. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas markets plans that pay these items before the deductible but again the premium gets hefty.  That is not something that is standard in every policy though. If you want to know all of the different options you have, you need to think about getting a quote online for your policy. That will give you the best look at the deals that you have available to you. Then you can select the coverage that you have been looking for and best suits your health needs.

In order to get a quote to review your options on Health Insurance in Texas visit our website for your instant quote.

You should start by determining what sorts of medical needs you are likely to have. Do you need to cover prescription medications a lot, or do you mainly need doctor visits? Do you have operations to come in the future, or are you likely to only need coverage every once and awhile? Every person needs a Texas health insurance plan that can compensate them in the event of an emergency, but not everyone needs the highest coverage out there. There is no sense in spending money on a large policy if you can’t use it.

See if there is any way to get Texas health insurance through your employer. Some employers will pay a portion of your premiums every month as a reward for working with them. This is not always the case, and the amount of coverage you can get this way may not satisfy your needs. Nevertheless, this could provide you with a venue for discounts. If you can’t get this kind of program, you may be able to work with a co-pay insurance policy outside of work that can still save you money on your medical expenses.

If you are finding that you must go at it alone and shop for your own policy that’s fine, there are two basic plans that should provide adequate benefits. The first is the H.S.A. catastrophic type policies and then there is the ever popular but growing in expense PPO Doctor CoPay plan. Both are great plans and of course both probably follow the new federal health care reform provisions allowing for first dollar coverage of preventive care.

Make sure that you compare rates from different Texas health insurance companies. A friend of yours may have gotten a great deal from one company, but that does not mean that you will get a great deal from that company as well. You can compare rates from different companies to see what your options are. Then you will be able to determine where you may get the best deal. Make sure that you assess the policy in its entirety before you just compare prices. Then you will be able to see where you can get the most out of your money.

For more information or to get a free Texas Health Insurance quote visit our website.

To find the best health insurance in Texas, you first have to think about what you need the insurance for. Do you need an affordable family plan so you can get your children vaccinated? Do you need Medicare because you have finally reached an age to receive it? There are several policy options to choose from, and they all cost different amounts of money. What you have to do is seek out the main source of coverage you need, and then see if the budget allows for any extra coverage. Open your mind to the many options available to you.

If you want an estimate as to how much money you will pay for your health insurance premiums, you can get a quote online for your policy. Sometimes the best health insurance in Texas for you is just the one that you can afford at the time. By getting quotes from multiple insurance providers, you will be able to see where the best deal is for your insurance premiums, and what you will have to do to secure the policy in question. You can research each of the companies online if you want to verify their merit, and then you will be able to pick out a policy that is right for you.

Do not get discouraged if you do not find the best health insurance in Texas right away. You should have the ability to change your policy at any time to get whatever it is that you actually need and deserve. If you get quotes from different insurance companies, you may be able to negotiate a better deal with one of the other insurance providers because of the threat of competition. It just depends entirely on the situation. Assess the different options you have available until you can pinpoint the best one for you.

For more information in finding the best health insurance in Texas visit www.PeelerInsurance.com today.