Prescription for Change

Consumers say ENOUGH to unfair rate hikes!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:10:15 -0500

Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico customers spoke out forcefully last week against yet another double-digit premium increase. But instead of protecting consumers, state regulators appear poised to side with the health insurer.

Companies sitting on surplus dollars while rates go up

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:07:22 -0500

Some of the biggest health plans have been accumulating huge surpluses even as they ask consumers to pay higher and higher rates. What gives?

Putting an End to Pre-Existing Conditions

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:19:20 -0500

Do you have pre-existing medical conditions that caused you to be denied for insurance coverage? Have you been uninsured for at least six months? If so then we have some potentially good news for you today.

What does BCBS of Texas Have to Hide?

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:12:13 -0500

Remember earlier this year when Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield filed for rate increases as high as 39% for California health insurance customers? Consumers were outraged, the state insurance commission investigated and found �flaws� and �miscalculations�, BCBS had little choice but to withdraw the increases. But in Texas, BCBS has been up to the same tricks, raising premiums by double digits for some policy holders and now they're trying to keep us from even seeing the rate filings.

One-Hundred and Seventy-Eight

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:31:10 -0500

That�s the number of rate increases that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas filed for their individual insurance policies to go into effect between January 2007 and May 2010. To be fair, they spread these increases out amongst as many as twenty-five different individual insurance forms. It doesn�t take a mathematician though to quickly figure out that BCBS of Texas is raising rates multiple times per year on many of their individual policies. It did however take an open records request filed to the Texas Department of Insurance to dig up this information.

Coming Soon to a Small Business Near You

Wed, 12 May 2010 17:15:57 -0500

After spending decades struggling under a health care system that favors large employers, health reform will finally level the playing ground for small business owners and the self-employed so they can better attract quality workers and afford coverage for themselves and their employees.

Your Two-Cents

Tue, 11 May 2010 17:05:03 -0500

I wish I could say that health care reform passed and we can just pick up and move on to the next issue, but it�s just not that simple. Although you�re not hearing about health reform on the evening news and the front page of your local paper much anymore, things haven�t slowed down a bit. So keep those sleeves rolled up and read on to learn how you can still be involved.

Retired with health insurance benefits? Read this.

Thu, 06 May 2010 10:53:12 -0500

The White House announced today that it�s moving up the start date to June 1st for the new retiree reinsurance program in the health reform bill. The program is designed specifically for Americans in early retirement � those between the ages of 55 and 64 who are eligible to maintain health insurance through their former employer but are not quite old enough for Medicare, which kicks in at age 65.

Ten things you didn�t know about health care reform

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:32:01 -0500

There's more than meets the evening news soundbyte in the health care reform law. Here are ten things you might not know are in the law, but are certain to have an impact on consumers.

Really, Viagra for sex-offenders?

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:08:53 -0500

Senate opponents are pulling out silly tricks and amendments this week to delay vote on health reform benefits that Americans need

Refuting the anti-reform myths

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:09:20 -0500

Heard health reform will destroy Medicare or bust our budget? Think we should 'slow down?' Get the facts about these and other myths that the opposition is using to scare Americans away from real change.

How insurance rate increases really work--and why they are so high!

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:59:45 -0500

Insurers blame their shockingly high premium increases on rising medical costs, but they aren�t telling us the whole story. Insurance companies engage in some ruthless practices that "justify" rate increases far larger than medical inflation.

Health insurance didn't start out this way

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:47:47 -0500

Health insurance hasn't proven to be the best market for head to head competition. Rather than improving price and service, companies began to increase profits by picking the healthy and shedding the sick.

Getting a divorce just to get health care

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:37:06 -0500

Today, loving families struggling to pay big medical bills sometimes have to consider divorce as the only means to cover a sick child or spouse.

Insurance execs sit on bags of money, while policyholders feel the pinch

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:07:56 -0500

States can�t even keep health insurance rates down when the insurance company is sitting on piles and piles of surplus cash (and investments).