There are some people out there who just don’t get how much crazy money you can save with buying generic drugs. For those folks, this infographic was crafted by Mint.com. To illustrate the cost-savings possible, they took a look at Advil. For the same 200 mg of isobutylpropanoicphenolic acid, people are willing to pay over $8 more per box. Those pretty graphics aren’t going to chase away your headache any faster, honey. Let’s take a look: [More]
health insurance
Hustlin' Healthcare: The Board Game!
By 5.12.10
HUSTLIN’ HEALTHCARE is a fun new boardgame that brings the thrill of being a large insurance company into your home! Deny claims, jack up your premiums, and undercut the competition. But be careful, if too many of your patients die, then you can’t collect their payments and you’ll go out of business. The game is a thesis project by Clay Ewing. It uses real Medicare claims data to form the prices. [More]
Email To Wellpoint CEO Gets Account Issue Fixed
By 5.3.10
I don’t know what health insurer Wellpoint’s problem is but it seems, judging from the stories our readers keep sending in, that lately you have to email the CEO to get simple account problems fixed. What’s going on in your call centers, Wellpoint? Maybe all the workers have rebelled and decided the best way to promote health care reform is to get all your customers to hate you. Zach was able to get his deductible rolled over, but only after he emailed the very top of the Wellpoint power pyramid, Angela Braly. Here’s his story: [More]
Should Insurance Companies Be Investing In Fast Food?
By 4.16.10
A new study in the American Journal of Public Health states that several of the biggest U.S. health insurers are heavily invested in fast food companies, to the tune of $2 billion. This news has caused some to ask whether or not the insurance companies’ vested interest in the growth of fast food stands in direct contrast to their interest in having healthy policy holders. [More]
Worst Company in America: Anthem BCBS VS Assurant Health
By 4.2.10
Let’s hope this battle doesn’t require hospitalization for either opponent. In one corner you’ve got Anthem, which needs a 35% rate increase in California, despite making billions in profits. In the other corner is Assurant, who targeted and subsequently dropped HIV patients from its insurance rolls. [More]
Finish Up Your Weekend With Some Light Reading On Health Care Reform
By 3.21.10
You know what’s even less exciting than health insurance regulations? Homework! But as Congress prepares to vote on the huge and hugely controversial health care reform bill tonight, it’s a good time to familiarize yourself with what the proposed bill does–no matter what your opinion of it might be. [More]
This Is How You Debate Health Care Reform, Brooklyn Style!
By 3.21.10
“The Republican Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the insurance industry.” So said Rep. Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn last month in front of Congress. As we move towards a historic vote on health care reform, let’s take a moment to throw some gas on the fire and revisit some of the awesomely incendiary rhetoric of this statesman on revamping our health care system. Now this a healthy health care debate! [More]
Insurance Company Intentionally Targeted, Dropped HIV Patients
By 3.17.10
If you’re not familiar with the concept of rescission, it’s a lovely business practice of health insurance companies in which they examine patients records to find a reason to “rescind” coverage after finding out that a customer has a life-threatening illness. This saves them money. That’s not news. What is news is that according to new documents revealed in a court case, one insurer “Fortis” (now known as Assurant Health) specifically targeted people who were newly diagnosed with HIV. [More]
Heath Reform Fears: Consumer Reports Interviews Obama Administration
By 3.16.10
Health reform is scary, which is why one of my grandma’s keeps forwarding me emails about how Obama is going to steal her walker. Will it save me money? What if I hate my employer’s insurance? What changes would I notice right away? Consumer Reports took your questions to the Administration to cut through the hype and get the facts. Nancy Metcalf interviews Secretary of Health & Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. [More]
Insurance Companies Want Fewer Policies At Higher Rates, Says Obama
By 3.8.10
At a speech today in Philadelphia, President Barack Obama set his sights on the insurance industry as the main stumbling block to the passing of a National Health Care plan, saying they would rather not insure the people who need insurance the most. [More]
Humana Is Being A Little Dramatic About Alex's Health
By 2.24.10
Alex is 24 years old and was laid off last year. He’s trying to sign up for a high-deductible health insurance plan from Humana One, but they’ve rejected him because he’s got a mess of health issues: “At my last checkup I mentioned occasional knee pain, occasional indigestion, and the fact that I experienced palpitations extremely rarely.” Or as Human describes it, “a medical history of bursitis, tendonitis, osteoarthritis, palpitations and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).” [More]
Am I Going To Be Required To Get Government Health Care?
By 2.24.10
Every time the topic of national health care comes up, the prophets of doom put on their black cloaks and start their chants of “Big Brother,” “socialism” and “move to Finland,” painting a picture of a bleak, Orwellian future where baritone-voiced Death Panels decide your fate on a punch card that then gets sent through a pneumatic tube to the waiting Euthanasia Agent. But our smarter, better-looking kin over at Consumer Reports claim it’s not all that bleak. [More]
Anthem Blue Cross "Wasting Time" Waiting To Raise Your Rates
By 2.24.10
Last night, the selfless executives of California insurance behemoth Anthem Blue Cross (and parent company WellPoint) took time away from their usual Tuesday evenings volunteering at the soup kitchen to appear before those pesky members of the State’s government who just won’t stop harping about Anthem’s plans to raise rates on individual policy holders as much as 39%. Anthem’s answer: Let’s stop all this nonsense and just raise rates already! [More]
Anthem Blue Cross/WellPoint Makes Early Bid For Worst Company In America
By 2.12.10
As the United States continues to struggle to pull itself out of the current economic quagmire, it’s good to know that not all American companies are behaving like times are tough. Take Anthem Blue Cross of California, who announced this week that individual policy holders will see an average premium increase of 25% with some rate hikes set to reach 39%, prompting Congress and the White House to demand an immediate explanation. [More]
Very Special Episode Of 'House' Tackles Health Insurance, Prescription Breast Milk
By 2.9.10
Anyone familiar with the Fox medical hit House knows that the show’s cranky, mad-genius protagonist often makes an end-run around hospital protocol, red tape and common sense. Which means the writers are often forced to omit any pesky “there’s no way that’s covered by their insurance” scenes. But Monday night’s episode got its hands on the hot-button issue of health insurance in an almost realistic way. There was also a guy trying to get a prescription for breast milk. [More]
An Incredibly Depressing Last-Minute Gift: Medical Gift Cards
By 12.24.09
What’s this? A gift card? For health care? Oh, you shouldn’t have! Really. You shouldn’t have. Yet, medical gift cards issued by health insurers and hospital systems are increasingly more common. [More]
"Public Option" Removed From Senate Health Care Reform Proposal
By 12.9.09
Senate Democrats have just hammered out a new version of their proposed health care reform proposal, and as a compromise they’ve removed the part about requiring a government-run insurance program. The public option is still part of the proposal, but now it will only be triggered if the private sector doesn’t create some new national nonprofit policies as spelled out by the government. [More]
Your COBRA Subsidy Is Ending, What Now?
By 12.7.09
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided a 65% reduction in premiums for health benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which you probably know as COBRA. Now the benefits are ending for the first wave of unemployed people who signed up at the beginning of the program. [More]
