| Rest home health-plan sales criticized
State investigators are looking into complaints that insurance agents switched memory-impaired residents of a Cary rest home from traditional Medicare to private Medicare plans, resulting in higher costs and fewer benefits for the residents. Such tactics might be on the rise across North Carolina and the nation. Insurance regulators and advocates for older people say they have seen increasing evidence of inappropriately aggressive sales tactics for "Medicare Advantage" programs, which are private insurance policies that are paid by Medicare. People who switch to private Medicare policies often have to change doctors and hospitals and can face higher payments - circumstances that might not be fully explained by unscrupulous brokers, according to a January report by the Medicare Rights Center and California Health Advocates.
Coalition plans rally in support of universal health care bill
TRACY A coalition of local organizations in support of universal health care will be staging a rally in front of the post office today. The demonstration is intended to raise awareness for Senate Bill 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, which would provide universal health coverage for every resident of the state, regardless of their ability to pay. Today's event is being organized by the San Joaquin Coalition for Universal Health Care, as part of the statewide "365 Day One Care Now Campaign." The goal is that each day, one community in California will host an educational/informational activity to raise awareness and offer solutions for the skyrocketing costs of health care. According to One Care Now, the bill would "create one plan and one public trust fund which would pay all health care bills and collect all the monies already being spent on health care and insurance plans." If enacted, the bill would "replace all health premiums, taxes, deductibles and co-payments now paid by employers, employees and individuals with one affordable premium." The organization states that more than 5 million Californians have no insurance at any time during the year, with an additional 2 million lacking insurance for part of the year.
Blue Shield of California Gives Californians’ Health Care Concerns ...
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blue Shield of California, a not-for-profit health care company, is launching a new website, www.blueshieldca.com/chatbox showcasing video comments recorded by consumers who discussed their concerns and frustrations with the healthcare system during the recent grassroots "Chat Box" campaign throughout California. Throughout February and March, teams from Blue Shield of California hit the streets of Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to take California's healthcare pulse, giving people a chance to sound off with video "Chat Boxes." Blue Shield is committed to making health insurance easier for consumers, and set up the "Chat Box" for a chance to listen to people's concerns, experiences and stories – the good, bad and unbearable – honest and uncensored.
Yee touts universal health care
The likelihood of Californians receiving universal health care was just one of many hot topics discussed during the first of several town hall meetings featuring state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo. The South San Francisco meeting Saturday led off a series of meetings to be held in both counties designed to allow residents the opportunity to voice their concerns to their representative. Lee focused on health care and discussed a series of recently introduced bills that could improve the health of kids, help stop dead-beat parents, provide emotional education to young students and stop citizens from using major roads as their own personal used car sales lot. Many Californians have no health care at all and those that make up the "working core" are steadily receiving less and less health insurance, Yee said.
STUDY: ILLUSION OF HEALTH INSURANCE CAN FAIL TO PROTECT CALIFORNIANS
Sickness or injury can leave people in serious financial jeopardy even when they have health insurance, according to a report released today by The Access Project and Brandeis University. The Illusion of Coverage: How Health Insurance Fails People When They Get Sick, reports findings based on in-depth interviews with dozens of insured Americans in seven states. The report spotlights how some patients in California with insurance discovered too late that their coverage was capped or that certain procedures weren't covered. Some mortgaged their homes, others racked up credit card debt, some even died. “Widespread debt and access problems among insured people represent major product failure in our private health insurance market," stated Carol Pryor , Senior Policy Analyst at The Access Project and co-author of the report.
State Senate Bill Provides Health Care for All
Fifty percent of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are caused by a medical situation; either a person's insurance has limits and he or she surpasses them, or the person cannot be insured at all due to a preexisting condition. Last April, California State Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) introduced Senate Bill (SB) 840, the California Universal Health Care Act, to solve grievances with California health care. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill in September of 2006, but its supporters continue to campaign for its passage. In order to promote SB 840, the Santa Cruz Health Care for All Chapter is putting its One Care Now Campaign in the spotlight on March 30 at the Veteran's Memorial Hall. According to Carol Robertson, co-chair of Health Care for All Santa Cruz, the primary goal of the event is to educate the public about the bill.
Blue Cross of California Improperly Canceled Health Insurance ...
Blue Cross of California improperly canceled individual health insurance policies after some members became pregnant or sought medical treatment for chronic conditions, an investigation by the California Department of Managed Health Care has concluded, the Los Angeles Times reports. DMHC officials on Thursday informed Blue Cross of their intent to file an accusation against the company and issue a $1 million fine in the case. Under California law, health insurers must prove that members intentionally misrepresented their medical histories on policy applications to cancel policies. State investigators reviewed 90 cases from 2004 to 2006 in which Blue Cross canceled individual health insurance policies and found the company had violated the law in each case. According to state investigators, Blue Cross used computer programs and maintained a department to review the policies of members with chronic illnesses and women who became pregnant to consider cancellation.
California Mayors Recognize Anniversary Of Pet Insurance In America
In a broad show of support for California-based Veterinary Pet Insurance dozens of mayors across the 'Golden State' have written letters to VPI congratulating the pet-centric company on reaching the historic milestone of protecting America's pets for a quarter of a century.VPI has also proclaimed April 7 as National Pet Health Insurance Day in commemoration of the company's very first policy issued on that day in 1982 to television's Lassie. As the nation's oldest and largest pet health insurance provider, VPI has received signed letters of congratulations from over 50 mayor's offices throughout California, representing a population of nearly four million people -- including those in Long Beach, South San Francisco, Anaheim, Burbank, and VPI's headquarters, Brea -- conveying gratitude to VPI for its commitment to helping make proper veterinary care affordable and empowering pet owners to make optimal healthcare decisions for their pets."Because we were founded and have our headquarters in California, we place tremendous value on the support we've received from our leaders in cities and towns across the state," said Dennis P.
Health care leaves many deep in debt
When Sacramento resident Roland Smith wound up with nearly $10,000 in bills for outpatient knee surgery, he wondered why he had bothered to get health insurance at all. After a slip on a wet garage floor -- followed by arthroscopic knee surgery -- the self-employed 45-year-old found himself buried in hospital and doctors' bills, and later hounded by a collection agency. "Being 'underinsured' in some ways is even worse than being uninsured," said Smith, who had purchased a Blue Shield of California policy that cost more than $300 a month to cover himself and his wife. "Basically (the health providers) said if you had no insurance at all, we would be able to help you. But because you have some insurance, you're liable and it's your fault," he recalled. An increasing number of Americans are finding themselves deep in debt because their health insurance didn't fully cover their care, according to a study released Thursday.
Insurance harder to come by
A major source of health insurance for people who work for themselves has all but disappeared, casting thousands of contractors, freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured with little hope of obtaining new coverage. Health plans offered by professional associations were once safe havens for millions of people who couldn't obtain coverage anywhere else. But, as medical costs have soared, groups representing professions as varied as law and golf have been forced to stop offering the benefit or been dropped by insurers. More than 8,000 California Realtors and their families could be next if Blue Shield of California succeeds with its plan to cancel their association health coverage. "It's a real stab in the heart," said Marcy Garber, 62, a Los Angeles real estate agent whose history of breast cancer makes her an almost-certain reject if she seeks similar coverage on her own.
For-Profit Groups Effective In Helping California Children Obtain ...
As state lawmakers consider ways to reach California's 6.5 million uninsured residents, new research from UC Irvine suggests that insurance brokers and other for-profit groups are key to helping eligible children enroll in government-funded health care programs.
UCI's Mireille Jacobson evaluated the impact of an innovative California incentive program that encouraged for-profit groups such as insurance brokers and income tax preparers, as well as non-profits, to help enroll children in the State Children's Health Insurance Program or Medicaid - programs for which an estimated 60 percent of uninsured children are eligible.
The incentive program, which began in 1998, paid $25 to $50 for each person the organization helped enroll or re-enroll in the state health care programs.
Singlepayer.com is our site of the day
The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) and the California Nurses Association (CAN) have created a website, singlepayer.com that has all sorts of information about health care in California and what a “Medicare for all" system would be like for Californians. There's a ton of information here and on this single page you can read all sorts of news coverage on health care, read up on California and national legislation, take specific useful steps to contact your legislator, contact the press, tell your healthcare story, and do something about this important issue that will be front and center in Sacramento for the remainder of this year's legislative session. You can also watch an innovative series of webcasts that lets patients tell their own stories. This online series exposes the hidden, everyday tragedies of a healthcare system run by insurance companies who make money by denying care--not by providing it.
ERISA and Arnold's health plan: Poizner's lawyers "are looking at ...
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner called a little while ago to talk about the huge mess with the State Compensation Insurance Fund. After a while, I got to shift the topic to my white whale: the governor's health insurance plan and its (non)compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the 1974 federal law which bans states from telling companies which offer benefits what those benefits must entail. In nearly three months of interviews, Nexis hunts and Googling, this is what I have learned: 1) No expert anywhere not in the employ of the governor has said his plan appears legal. 2) No similar plan in the United States has been found legal by courts. 3) No court ruling since 1974 has undercut the core premise of ERISA, which is that multistate companies should be able to offer the same benefits nationwide and not be undercut by the dictates of 50 individual state legislatures.
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