Last week while visiting my partner’s parents in Houston we went to Costco, which recently has become one of my favorite stores. The quantities may be large, but what are neighbors and friends for, if not for splitting the cost of things like toilet paper and laundry detergent.

While perusing the isles with my in-laws I noticed that the price of our favorite organic orange juice was two dollars more than it is here in San Francisco. My mother in-law was about to purchase a bottle but changed her mind once I told her, she was so put off by the price difference that she also mentioned it to the cashier at checkout. The cashier said something about different suppliers being the reason for the different prices. The interaction made me think, how much of an increase in price will make a consumer reconsider a purchase?

American Medical News  reports, “In a study that could predict how people will shop for coverage through state-based health insurance exchanges, University of Michigan researchers found that a modest $10-per-month increase in the price of insurance coverage pushed consumers to shop for a new health plan.” The study, which focused on university retirees was published online Jan. 25 in Health Economics and found that “overall…with that $10 increase, you get a 2% to 3% decline in enrollment.”

It’s all relative, since I certainly don’t consider a $10 a month increase “modest” but it’s definitely a difference that warrants pause. In this day and age, with global financial uncertainty, any price change warrants further investigation. Luckily there is often more than one option when it comes to choosing your healthcare plan.

Everyone knows that as we get older our capacity to experience our senses decrease. Though this knowledge sometimes gives me pause,  continual advances in technology cheer me right back up. I have dreams of my friends and I relaxing somewhere sunny with e-readers, wearing colored tri-focal contact lenses, and cordless, skin-tone matching hearing aids.

My only concern, and it’s a real one, is what would happen if technological advancements out-paced my income growth. What would I do if I couldn’t afford to experience one of my senses? A little peace and quiet is one thing. But absolute silence would be no fun at all. Many people were faced this very dilemma a few years ago when hearing aids, which cost a few thousand dollars, weren’t covered by Medicare or by many insurance carriers.

Fortunately in recent years insurance coverage has improved. The Washington Post reports that ”In a national survey of people who bought hearing aids in 2008, nearly 40 percent said their health insurance paid some portion of the cost, up a few points from four years earlier. Also a new program by UnitedHealthcare aims to make affordable hearing aids available to more than just its own plan members but also the general public, who may get an even better price. Seniors in a UnitedHealthcare Part D prescription drug plan, for example, can buy one of the program’s hearing aids for $479.”

Thank you UnitedHealthcare for helping make the future sound a lot better.

I thought that Watson, the super computer besting both Ken Jennings and Brett Butler on Jeopardy, may have only been a bright spot for television ratings. But as it turns out, the artificial intelligence computer system developed by IBM also temps as a data cruncher. Its newest assignment: analyzing health insurance data.

Watson is just one of the ways the healthcare industry is exploring to help lower costs. “Under pressure to do more with less, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and healthcare providers are all pushing data analysis to new heights” .The Wall Street Journal reports that several insurers, including UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. are seeking to pinpoint who will develop conditions such as diabetes. Pharmacy-benefit managers such as Express Scripts Inc. and CVS Caremark Corp. are working on programs to predict medication compliance. Care providers, meanwhile, are trying to identify who is most likely to be admitted—or readmitted—to a hospital, and are adjusting their care to prevent such return visits.”

The goal is to provide more efficient and effective healthcare. If insurers can identify high risk patients, then healthcare providers and pharmacy managers can work collaboratively to begin preventative treatment sooner. The earlier precautionary measures are taken, the lower patient and provider costs will be, not to mention the improvement in overall quality of life, making our later years that much more golden.

Forget man vs machine, we’ve already moved far beyond this somewhat archaic concept. We’re in the age of man and machine, an age where we understand that machines are our creations, and even if they continue to win competitions, they will forever be a reflection of us.

At some point after leaving home and starting to live on my own I realized I had no memory of ever being to a dentist. So naturally the thought of seeing a one made me a little squeamish. I asked my mom and she told me that growing up they took me to the dentist regularly but I never liked going, which sounds like an understatement considering I must have completely blocked those memories out.

As an adult, the first time I visited a dentist was after I moved to San Francisco. I’d just landed my first corporate job, my first to come with dental insurance. The only reason I even went to a dentist was because of a conversation I overheard. A coworker had just discovered she had 9 cavities after a recent dentist visit, her first in more than 5 years. I wondered, if she had 9 cavities, how many did I have? So there I was sitting in the dentist chair, holding on tightly to the arm rests, holding my breath while two strangers poked around in my mouth. I remember thinking, what’s taking them so long, they already have the x-ray, what are they still looking for? After a while they both exited the room. I thought the worst was over, then a different lady came in, she was going to discuss my dental treatment plan. Why do I need a dental treatment plan? Needless to say, I had more than 9 cavities and also needed a deep cleaning. This was when I first experienced a wallet-ache. The charges exceeded my annual benefit maximum, and I had to pay a large amount out of pocket.

Unfortunately, dental insurance hasn’t changed much since my first visit back in 2002. But nowadays there are a number of ways to make dental care more affordable. One tool for finding affordable dental care is Fair Health, a nonprofit corporation that was created as part of a 2009 settlement between then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and insurers. As reported in Kaiser Health News, Fair Health provides a free website to help consumers find “a reliable estimate of prices” in their area. Their “database is regularly updated and contains medical and dental claims from insurers and third-party administrators covering 126 million people.”

After taking almost a year to completely pay my dental bill, my perspective on dental insurance changed, and now it’s changing again. I think about the money I would have saved if similar sites were available back then. But I guess what I lack in money today I make up for with a desire to make the most out of what money I have, by continually trying to find ways to make both medical and dental care more affordable.

Growing up my mother always said “prevention is better than cure.” This sentiment made me think twice before jumping over my neighbor’s barbed wire fence to pick fruit with my friends. These days, as we face steadily rising healthcare costs, insurers and employers are turning to prevention. The approach not only fosters mindfulness, it also saves everyone money.

The Chicago Tribune reports, “insurers and companies are recognizing that preventative health incentives can potentially save lives–and their bottom line.” These incentives seem to be working as evidenced by “Weight of the Union,” a recent survey from gym chain Anytime Fitness, whose members report that they’ve received nearly $4 million in health insurance reimbursements for working out 12 or more times per month in 2011. As the article reports, “That’s up $1 million from 2010.”

Fitness health consultant Heidi Holiday confirms, “We are seeing an increase by both health insurance providers offering this benefit to employees and employees taking advantage of these programs that pay them to exercise.” Such preventive efforts have cost benefits for all sides of the healthcare system. A recent CDC study has found that without the incentives, “some 86 percent of Americans could be overweight or obese by 2030. That means $1 out of every $6 in healthcare costs will be due to heavy Americans.” These healthcare costs don’t even take into consideration the loss in productivity that employers experience due to the increase in weight-related afflictions, such as heart disease and diabetes.

I think my mom only meant to protect me, I’m not sure if she even had a financial incentive to continuously repeat “prevention is better than cure,” but now that I am the only one responsible for my personal maintenance, financial or otherwise, her words play a much greater role in my life.

As American consumers, we get to choose what products we want, based on a slew of information that’s available to us: the manufacturer, the ingredients or materials used, the country where the product was created, and the opinions of other consumers. Some might even say that one of the most enjoyable and beneficial aspects of consumerism is the experience of shopping around.

For instance, I wanted a flat screen television for the longest time, and when my partner and I finally decided to purchase one, we didn’t buy the first TV the salesperson recommended. We took our time and thoroughly checked out all the options. The same policy applies to the healthcare industry, except that the shopping around process doesn’t end after you’ve found the most suitable policy. The choices continue as you decide which doctor to go to on a regular basis, which specialists to go to, and what treatments are right for you.

When navigating healthcare, it is important to maintain a shopping around mindset. NPR  /Kaiser Health News reports that Whitcraft, an aerospace component manufacturer, “is about to begin a pilot program called Compass SmartShopper, offered by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut. The program offers cash rebates, usually about $100, when employees go to cheaper providers. Nearly 40 services are covered, including mammograms and colonoscopies, knee replacements and cataract surgery. The program is voluntary, and there are no penalties if employees stick with the physician-referred providers.”

As Colin Cooper, CEO of Whitcraft,  puts it, “people are willing to drive miles out of their way to save a few bucks on gas. Why wouldn’t they do the same for health care?” “We need to change consumption behaviors,” says Cooper. “We need to get people consuming health care the same way they consume everything else.” We couldn’t agree more.

]]> http://allpointe-is.com/2012/04/health-insurance-rebates/feed/ 0 http://allpointe-is.com/2012/04/more-health-insurance-providers-opening-brick-and-mortar-storefronts/ http://allpointe-is.com/2012/04/more-health-insurance-providers-opening-brick-and-mortar-storefronts/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:47:16 +0000 Kieron Sinnette http://allpointe-is.com/?p=942

Some providers are going the extra mile to make the health insurance industry more transparent and more consumer friendly by opening physical retail outlets.

The PBS News Hour / “The Rundown” blog reports: “Health insurers increasingly want to make shopping for a new health plan as easy and convenient as dropping into a local retailer to buy a TV. In recent years, a number of them have opened stores where consumers can stop by to talk with a customer service representative about buying a plan or resolve questions about their current coverage.” Some stores “sponsor health fairs or community seminars on nutrition and exercise,” and even “have primary-care doctors on-site.”

Bravo to the insurers that have so far opened stores: Highmark, BCBS Florida, and UnitedHealthcare. Going to an insurer’s retail location sounds like a great way to get a feeling for a specific provider, but your broker is probably still in the best position to help you compare plans and find the right one for you.

How to…?

Send us an email telling us what we can help you do, and stay tuned for our monthly how-to’s.

This month: Looking Beyond Premiums

Health care affordability is something we’ve talked a lot about on this blog. On one end of the spectrum, we have the price of premiums, which is what most of us focus on when shopping for plans. But what about other health related costs such as medications, office visits, and lab fees? The Wall Street Journal does a great job of bringing these other infrequent, yet substantial health related costs to the table.

The Journal offers seven great tips to help you save money on healthcare as a whole:

• Understand New Legislation
• Use Preventive Services
• Get Consumer Assistance
• Look for Cheaper Drugs
• Be Smart About High Deductible Plans
• Stay in Network
• Challenge Doctors and Insurers

Efforts are continually being made to make healthcare more accessible, and coverage affordability seems destined to remain a hot topic for the foreseeable future. But whatever your situation is in the meantime, ways to save money are always beneficial. Check out WSJ’s informative article and start putting some of these strategies in play, wherever applicable.

A health savings account (HSA) and a qualified high deductible health plan (QHDHP) combo, that is.

As more and more people are discovering, the HSA + QHDHP combination is one of the best options for facing rising healthcare costs. As a recent article in Desert News puts it, “consumers who use this solution have an opportunity to save hundreds and even thousands of dollars on health insurance premiums.”

Let’s break it down in simple terms. What’s the deductible? It’s the amount you pay for health care services before your insurance starts to kick in. So, for example, if your deductible is $2000, you would have to spend $2000 before your insurance starts covering your medical expenses. On the plus side, the premium for high-deductible plans is much less, meaning you’ll significantly lower your monthly expenses and still be able to rest assured that if you have significant medical bills, you won’t be on your own for long. That’s step one in saving money. The HSA is step two. How? Because you contribute to your health savings account with pretax dollars, and you can use the funds in the account for any medical expenses, including those that count toward your deductible.

Ashlea Ebeling from Forbes explains the trade-off: “While having to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars in deductibles may sound off-putting at first, there’s a silver lining: these plans often come with an optional health savings account. For savvy savers, it’s an incredible hidden way to prefund healthcare costs.” In the same article, Christopher Goldsmith, VP at Goldsmith explains, “The tax advantages don’t get any better. HSAs are a wonderful way for Americans to accumulate a health care nest egg.”

We recommend having a discussion with a tax professional to understand the tax benefits specific to your situation. Give us a call and we’ll help you determine if it is the right option for you, and in the meantime you can check out a very informative video, also courtesy of Desert News: 10 Common Medical Expenses You Can Pay for with your Health Savings Account.

Recent polls show that easy-to-understand health plans are what consumers want, and that some people end up neglecting health insurance as a whole because of the difficulty associated with finding the right plan.

There are a lot of surveys / polls making the rounds these days, mostly in response to President Obama’s healthcare reform efforts. Consumers are unclear about how the reforms can or will affect them. But even before the Affordable Care Act was even conceived, weren’t we already struggling with the complicated web that is the health insurance industry?

An experienced broker is a valued asset. Consulting with a broker costs nothing to the consumer. Give us a  call today and let’s start changing some of these survey responses.