The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will end up impacting many facets of the health insurance industry, but individual health insurance policies will feel some of the biggest changes according to Debra A (Ubezpieczenia Olsztyn). Donahue’s article on MarkFarrah.com. Through the ACA, the law requires that states establish Health Benefit Exchanges. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2019, about 24 million people will purchase their health insurance through these Exchanges. This is a big difference from the format of health insurance today. Only about 11 million Americans purchased individual coverage in 2011, which was up 4% from 2010. Local Blue Cross Blue Shield companies typically dominate the individual major medical health insurance markets in most states throughout the nation. Many other national insurers are starting to grow rapidly in this market including Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare. Many of these health insurance companies are working quickly to change their policies to meet the requirements of the new health law and be ready for competition as it gets more fierce. The individual health insurance market should continue to grow since the Supreme Court has deemed the ACA Constitutional, and the future of employered-sponsored health plans will remain uncertain. More and more employers are reducing benefits already, and unemployment rates continue to be high. Some employers are even dropping health insurance benefits altogether in an attempt to save money and prepare for what they think is the future of health insurance. Individual health insurance is already emerging as an improved product with many more options than ever and this should continue to grow as the ACA is implemented.

Cindy Gillespie from HealthAffairs.org wrote a very interesting article, â€sLittle-Noted Provision On Agents and Brokers Could Mean Big Changes For Exchangesâ€�, which talks about an important decision made by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in regards to the role brokers and agents will play in health insurance exchanges (Ubezpieczenia Olsztyn). Basically, HHS has opened the door for states to allow an agent or broker to enroll individuals, employers and employees in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) through their own website. If the individual is eligible for a refundable tax credit for a QHP purchased on the exchange’s website, they are then eligible to access the credit for purchases through the broker or agent’s private web portal. This regulation sets out multiple requirements brokers or agents must meet in order for their clients to access credits for purchases through their web pages. Brokers and agents must be registered with the exchange in advance and all QHPs must be sold and the agents and brokers *****isting the consumer must be trained on all of the options. A single-carrier exchange will not be able to qualify as an example. The article goes into more detail on the various requirements for brokers and agents, but the bottom line implies that consumers never have to go near the state or federally-facilitated exchange website to buy the product they are looking for and access the tax credit in many cases. All information transfers between the private broker site and the ACA exchange as well as the insurance carriers are visible to the consumer which is crucial in smart shopping.

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently released their fifth annual National Health Insurer Report Card which is based on a random sampling of about 1.1 million electronic claims for 1.9 million medical services submitted in the month of February 2012 (Ubezpieczenie Olsztyn). The companies included were Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Health Care Service Corporation, Humana, Regence, UnitedHealthcare and Medicare. The AMA found that these commercial health insurers incorrectly processed about one in 10 claims in the early part of 2012 which is an improvement over error rates from the previous year. According to the report card, the error rate was only 9.5% compared to 19% last year. This reduction in errors adds up to approximately $8 billion in health systems savings by eliminating costs from extra administrative work. Another $7 billion could be saved if there were no errors made on claims. The AMA has worked closely with individual health insurance companies over the past year to troubleshoot the claims payments systems and reduce overall errors. Their efforts to transform the health insurance billing and payment system is a major factor in cutting error rates in half. They will continue to work with insurers to drop this error rate even further going forward.

A new survey from American Viewpoint released from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) shows that nine out of every ten seniors are satisfied with their Medigap coverage in the past year (Ubezpieczenia Olsztyn). About 79% of beneficiaries say their Medigap policies provide excellent or good value for the money and an overwhelming 91% would recommend this product to a friend or family member. Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP, says Medigap coverage provides seniors with financial security and peace of mind when it comes to their health care according to Robert Zirkelbach’s article on the AHIP website. They also released a recent report that shows Medigap policies continue to increase reaching about 9.8 million enrollees in 2011. When enrolled members were asked what they liked most about their Medigap coverage a few key themes came about. They liked the limits on out-of-pocket costs as well as the ease of dealing with the medical billing system. They also appreciated the ability to budget unexpected medical costs, especially during this unpredictable financial times.

HealthAmericaOne Insurance has broadened their insurance coverage options in Pennsylvania by now offering maternity benefits according to the press release found on MarketWatch (Ubezpieczenie Olsztyn). With no complications, the average birth can cost families up to $17,000 but only about 13% of individual health plans available to 30 year old women across America in 2009 offered maternity benefits based on figures from the National Women’s Law Center. This upsetting statistic motivated HealthAmericaOne to take action. Don Mazza, director at HealthAmericaOne, knows how challenging it is to find maternity coverage in the health insurance market, and he’s proud to offer such an important benefit to HealthAmericaOne members. As of June 1, 2012 maternity benefits will be included with all new Choice 1 and Copay series plans. Benefits will include $2500 inpatient copay for hospital services. HealthAmericaOne is among on of the very best health plans in the nation, and this step towards better overall coverage meets the needs of more Americans at all stages of life. They are focused on delivering practical and useful health insurance solutions to members throughout Pennsylvania, and there is no better time to help consumers find quality coverage with comprehensive benefits.