health insurance
Missouri Hospitals Just Say No to Hiring Smokers
It’s long been known that having a smoking habit can affect what you pay for life insurance or health insurance, but starting next month, it will also mean you can’t get a job at seven of the hospitals in and around St. Louis, Missouri. Beginning in July, 2011, applicants to work at SSM Health Care […]
Read moreAetna Insurance Expanding Medicare Supplement Biz
Earlier this week, Aetna announced a deal to acquire the Medicare supplement insurance business and related business units from Genworth Financial for $290 million. Pending approval from federal and state regulators, the deal should close in the fourth quarter of this year, Aetna representatives said in a press release issued from their Hartford, CT headquarters. […]
Read moreFriday Filmstrip: HMO vs. PPO
If you’ve ever had to select an insurance plan from a new employer, you know that two popular options are HMO and PPO, but what are they? This video from Stay Smart, Stay Healthy, via YouTube, explains the difference:
Read moreAetna Suspends Rate Hike in California
Following in the footsteps of Anthem Blue Shield and PacifiCare, Aetna Inc. has become the third major health insurance company in California to announce that it was stepping back from its proposed rate increase there. Now, instead of roughly 43,000 Aetna policyholders being handed a rate hike of 17.9%, their insurance will go up only […]
Read moreNorth Carolina Still Lacks Employee Health Plan Decision
The state legislature in North Carolina went home for the weekend last Thursday without coming to an agreement on the cost of health insurance for state employees, teachers, or retired persons. At that point they were already outside the deadline that had been given. Earlier last week, Governor Beverly Perdue vetoed a proposal that would […]
Read moreIn Brief: AZ Governor Vetoes Health Care Bill
Earlier this week Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona vetoed SB 1592, a bill which directed the Governor to form specific compacts with other states on behalf of Arizona, in order for citizens there to purchase health care insurance across state lines. Her, reason, she wrote in her veto letter, included the fact that directing the […]
Read moreExcerpts From President Obama’s Speech About the Budget
Yesterday, President Obama made a speech about his plan for sensible budget reform. As health care is one of his pet issues, and one we believe is vitally important, we were pleased to hear his views on that subject. What follows are a two numbered excerpts from the speech: 1. “Our approach lowers the government’s […]
Read moreFriday Film Strips: Government Shutdown Over Planned Parenthood
As you probably know, there’s a threat of a government shutdown if a budget isn’t agreed to by midnight tonight. One of the issues is funding for Planned Parenthood, but it’s NOT about abortion because there are already laws preventing Planned Parenthood from using government funds for such procedures. De-funding Planned Parenthood would remove access […]
Read moreRetiree Reinsurance Program Sent into Retirement
In all the talk of budget changes and healthcare reform, there are a number of health insurance-related programs not getting much media attention. ModernHealthcare.com recently reported on one of them: the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, a section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that gives money to employers to assist in offsetting the […]
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