Health Insurance Translator:

Sunday, February 19th, 2012 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

What does EOB mean???

After you visit your doctor, you’ll get an explanation of benefits outlining the services you received, how much they cost, and how much your plan paid.  This will also let you know how much your portion will be.

Still have questions?  Call us!

Go to the Right Place

Friday, February 17th, 2012 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

When you need urgent care, you have choices. For less serious situations, you may not need to go to an emergency room. Ask your doctor ahead of time , before you need care, about care options. Urgent care centers or clinics can be a less expensive option.

HHS Unveils Final Design For Insurance Labels

Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

The Obama administration today unveiled final regulations that detail what information health insurers will be required to provide on new consumer labels mandated by the federal health law to explain their plans.

“All consumers, for the first time, will really be able to clearly comprehend the sometimes confusing language insurance plans often use in marketing,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a printed statement. “This will give them a new edge in deciding which plan will best suit their needs and those of their families or employees.”

read the entire article here: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/February/09/insurance-labels.aspx

A Different Kind of 1%

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

In a statistical brief released last week, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reported that 1 percent of Americans accounted for nearly 22 percent of total health care spending (or slightly more than $90,000 per year for each individual in that 1 percent).  Further statistical analysis revealed that 5 percent of the population accounted for half of all health expenditures.

What do Americans like most about Health Reform?

Monday, January 16th, 2012 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

According to a recent Kaiser Poll, it’s plan information in a mandated format.

Surprisingly, the runaway favorite was a relatively obscure requirement that health plans provide consumers with a short, easy to understand description of their benefits and coverage. Sixty percent of the American people gave this requirement for greater transparency in health insurance benefits a very favorable rating, the only provision in the law to get such a rating from more than half of the public.

Read the entire article here: http://www.kff.org/pullingittogether/Most-Popular-Provision-ACA.cfm

HPV Vaccine Fact Sheet Discusses New Recommendation for Vaccinating Boys

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

The Kaiser Family Foundation has updated its fact sheet on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine coverage and financing and includes the new recommendation from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that boys and young men be vaccinated against the virus.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved two vaccines against infection by certain strains of HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Initially, the vaccines were recommended only for girls and young women, but new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been broadened to include boys and young men. The fact sheet also discusses HPV and cancers related to the virus, use of the HPV vaccines for both females and males, and insurance coverage and access to the vaccines.

Locally the HPV vaccine is available at the Mesa County Health Dept and many physicians offices.

Weight Loss After 40: Why It’s So Hard — and What Works

Thursday, November 17th, 2011 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

Every year, it seems, the needle on the scale is a little harder to budge. You cut back on portion size; you say, “No, thank you,” to dessert; you sign up for an aerobics class — and yet your jeans size goes up and your energy level goes down. What’s going on?

Read the entire article here: http://health.yahoo.net/caring/weight-loss-after-40-why-it-s-so-hard-and-what-works

Future Of Healthcare Reform Questioned In Wake Of CLASS Demise

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

 In a piece about the CLASS Act, the Christian Science Monitor (11/2, Chaddock) reports, “The landmark health-care reform law – President Obama’s signature domestic triumph – has suffered its first major body blow, dealt not by Republican lawmakers intent on dismantling ‘Obamacare’ but by the administration’s own Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.” According to critics, “the demise of CLASS…signals the beginning of the end of Mr. Obama’s health-care reform law.” Some supporters “acknowledge that the collapse of the long-term care provision could drive support for a broader repeal of the law. But they are playing down that concern.”

Panel: Boys should get HPV vaccine given to girls

Thursday, October 27th, 2011 | Health Insurance | Comments Off

A vaccine against cervical cancer hasn’t been all that popular for girls. It may be even a harder sell for boys now that it’s been recommended for them too.

A government advisory panel on Tuesday decided that the vaccine should also be given to boys, in part to help prevent the cancer-causing virus through sex.

Public health officials have tried since 2006 to get parents to have their daughters vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes most of the cervical cancer in women.

Read the entire article here: http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/us_med_hpv_vaccine_boys

Mesa County RX Take Back Program

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 | Health Insurance | Comments Off