Cost Cutting Health Insurance Tips

With most health reform changes still years away, Americans struggling to pay doctors' bills and health insurance premiums need to take matters into their own hands. Here are five tips to help you take control of your health costs during challenging economic times.

Lock-in Your Rate
When shopping for health insurance, look for plans offering rate guarantee periods. Some insurers will lock in your premiums for the first one or two years, for free or for an additional monthly fee. Do the math and consider the plan benefits to see if one of these policies makes sense for you.

Negotiate Your Medical Bills
People can save as much as 30% by negotiating their medical bills. Whether you're currently uninsured or seeing a physician not covered by your policy, talk to your health care provider's billing department and see if you can get a discount by paying up-front or creating a payment plan. If you're facing an especially high bill, you may want to work with a professional negotiator.

Think Twice about COBRA
Even if you're receiving the 65 percent federal COBRA subsidy, you may be able to save money buying coverage on your own. eHealthInsurance.com has identified more than 20 states where families can save over $500 a year on average by purchasing their own health insurance plan.

Consider Generic-only Drug Coverage
Find out if health insurance companies in your area offer generic-only prescription drug coverage for any of their plans. If you rarely use prescription drugs but don't want to go without Rx coverage, you may be able to save on your monthly premiums. Consider a prescription discount card in case you need a brand-name drug, or work with organizations like Together Rx Access® that provide additional discounts on prescriptions.

"Split up" the Family
You may be able to save money by covering individual family members under different health insurance plans. Family members with pre-existing medical conditions should stick with their current plan, but you may be able to save money by covering healthy teenagers (for example) on their own.

Everyone's health insurance needs are different, so talk to a licensed agent before changing health insurance plans—especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition. To learn more about health insurance options, work with a licensed health insurance agent online.

Call: 1800-750-6520, Eddie Adams

State and Local Government Retirees

It’s no secret that Obamacare is chock full of favors for big labor. One example is the new law’s excise tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans, which won’t apply to collectively bargained health plans when it goes into effect.

It doesn’t end there. Obamacare also created the Early Retirement Reinsurance Program, which subsidizes employer-sponsored health benefits for early retirees and their families. The program will cover 80 percent of health expenses between $15,000 and $90,000, and was intended to encourage employers to maintain coverage for the age group between 55 and 65, who can face difficulties purchasing insurance in the individual market absent an employer-sponsored plan. According to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius:

The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program is helping to control health care costs and protect coverage for early retirees and their families … This program is providing critical financial relief to help states, private employers and other organizations preserve access to affordable health coverage for millions of Americans.

But which Americans is it talking about? Workers with access to early retiree health benefits are most likely to be employed by state and local governments and unionized employers. The Kaiser Employee Health Benefits 2010 survey showed that 87 percent of state and local governments and 41 percent of large firms with union workers offer these benefits. Among those firms that do offer retiree health benefits, 93 percent extend them to early retirees.

In contrast, only 21 percent of large firms without union workers offer these benefits. Just 3 percent of small firms offer retiree health benefits.

So it’s clear who is benefiting from the ERRP. The program started reimbursing plans soon after the enactment of Obamacare, and in 2010 it paid out $535 million to plans sponsored by approximately 5,500 employers. The majority of spending was on state and local government employees, who represented 47 percent of ERRP sponsors. They received $298 million, or 56 percent of total spending on the program. Non-government union sponsors represented an additional 10 percent of participants.

Government workers already receive significantly more generous benefits than do non-union employees in the private sector. Government workers’ benefits are paid for by taxpayers, and as the country has witnessed in Wisconsin, scaling back those benefits to reflect what employees receive in the private sector is beyond difficult. Now Obamacare takes taxes paid by all Americans to subsidize the benefits of those who already earn above-market compensation. This is reverse redistribution of wealth.

As Heritage labor expert James Sherk puts it, “As President, Obama has made it clear that he only objected to particular special interests getting handouts. Obama happily gives some liberal special interests loopholes and exemptions from the laws that affect everyone else.”

Article by The Foundry