Texas Health Insurance

The Day Your Healthcare Died - Obamacare's Implosion in 2017

We will witness the death of Obamacare in 2017 as the ACA falls into its own death spiral

If "The Day the Music Died" as sung by Don McLean was when Buddy Holly crashed in a chartered airplane in 1959, we will be able to sing about a similar death of your health insurance that started in January of 2016.  Unfortunately, our healthcare system's death isn't one that will suddenly end in just one terrible event, our system's death will probably last several long and painful years.  The beginning of the end can be marked by Blue Cross Blue Shield's decision to terminate all PPO coverage for individual plans in Texas and replace it with a managed care HMO network.  Competitors of Blue Cross quickly followed suit, leaving Texans grasping at straws and hoping to find anything that could cover them with a large doctor and hospital network.  Unfortunately, many still don't understand how limited options are and won't until they need emergency health care.

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act we've been writing that the law did nothing to control health care costs and thus was a waste of time and truthfully an effort to take people's money and subsidize others.  Oddly, things would have been better if the country would have simply offered free coverage to the poor rather than destroying the system that was actually working for many.  Now, we have a health insurance system that is offering small networks, higher deductibles, lower material benefits, and premiums that are almost 200% greater than just a few short years ago.  The worst part is that the pain is not over.  2017 will usher in a new set of significant actions that will further reduce choice, cost more, and result in an actual reduction in the number of insureds.

4 Days Left To Buy Health Insurance! 5 Facts You Need To Know To Finish Strong

The end of the Open Enrollment race - crossing the finish line

With only 4 days left in the 2015 Open Enrollment cycle the pace of calls into our offices has increased dramatically.  New clients and old friends that have never emailed or called us back suddenly want to talk about health insurance!  In order to help you in the final stressful days we wanted to provide you some key pieces of information to help you get your enrollment completed and finish this Open Enrollment marathon!

Locked Out or Locked In - 18 Days Until Open Enrollment Ends

Only a few days left to buy health insurance or you'll be locked out of the health insurance makret.

There are only 18 days left until your opportunity to obtain health insurance is gone for the remainder of 2015.  "What?  Is that correct?" you say?  Yes, the end of Open Enrollment will lock you into a health insurance plan for the rest of the calendar year or lock you out of a qualified health plan until January of 2016.

5 Secrets You Need To Know During Open Enrollment

5 Secrets For Open Enrollment

 

You may have missed the deadline to sign up for health insurance coverage that will begin 1/1/2015, but all is not lost.  There still may be an opportunity for you to add coverage in the next few days as there are special circumstances that will permit you to buy coverage if you meet several criteria.  We wanted to highlight a few key "secrets" we've seen this year that you need to know that may help you get coverage or at least avoid trouble in 2015.

Marketplace Madness - Understanding The Government Subsidy Process

We help clients solve the healthcare marketplace mystery

 

The deadline to apply for health insurance coverage that will become effective January 1, 2015 is quickly approaching.  In order to obtain a plan that begins 1/1/15 you must sign up for an insurance plan by December 15th.  As our phone volumes have increased as we rush toward the application deadline we're meeting more clients and shoppers that are unclear how to obtain subsidies and how to apply.

2015 Obamacare Pricing Analysis - Where's The Savings?

House of Card - ACA Pricing Analysis - Rate Increase Again

Remember all of the promises you were told when politicians were attempting to pass the Affordable Care Act?  Can you recall all of the great benefits we'd see with the passage of the landmark piece of legislation?  I certainly remember many of the lofty goals and utopian outcomes our leaders told us would come to pass if we simply trusted government to take the reins of one our biggest national industries.

While we must allow the law to really make its impact felt before we can make a final judgment on the merits of its ability to improve healthcare quality and increase accessibility, we can weigh in on the major area that all of us feel monthly, which is our health insurance premiums. 

As we've noted several times in the last month, Open Enrollment begins this weekend and we'll be able to get our first view of the pricing of 2015 health insurance plans.  Fortunately, I've been able to get an advanced look at what we'll call "solid estimates" and the results are frankly.....exactly the same as before or worse!  In the past years before Obamacare we would typically expect annual rate increases of 6% to 10% each year.  Sometimes those rates would only climb 4%, and bad years would see 12% hikes.  We've all been told that the Affordable Care Act would "bend the cost curve" and make healthcare more affordable since services would be spread across a larger pool of insured people as the losses providers felt from serving the uninsured went away.  Unfortunately, we're too early to see any real impact or we were simply lied to.

5 Obamacare Surprises Coming in 2015

The end of the year is typically marked by trying to close business deals and get holiday preparations complete.  The last thing we want is a few suprises to interupt our plans or cause us to get distracted.  November 15th will bring the beginning of this year's Open Enrollment and all of Texas Health Design's existing clients will receive new quotes that provide a snapshot of all the plans and companies available for the coming year.  As we've begun our preparations to serve our clients we wanted to bring your attention to a few suprises that are in store for health insurance shoppers for the coming 2015 plan year.

Top 10 Things to Remember About the ACA (Obamacare) in 2015

The 2014 rollout of the Affordable Care Act was challenging and created great frustration in many insurance policy shoppers.  Technological issues hampered many and the size and scope of the changes to the health industry impacted insurers and policy holders alike.  As we near the new Open Enrollment Period we wanted to provide readers a list of key rules and issues you need to know as we begin the new plan shopping year.

ACA Admin Nightmares - Welcome To Reality!

With 14 days left in this Special Open Enrollment period for the initial sign up period of the Affordable Care Act I feel a bit exhausted and vindicated that many of my predictions about the roll out have come to fruition. This post isn't about "I was right", it is really about perspective and trying to craft a strategy that will help us navigate the current environment.

Let me dive straight in and offer a quick summary of the current situation and provide some guidance.

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