Who are the Health Uninsured In Colorado?
Well, according to Westley Mori, Research Analyst for the Colorado Health Institute, they are low income adults. Here are some of the findings from his work:
About one in five Colorado adults between the ages of 19 and 64 did not have health insurance in 2010. Adults represent the vast majority—about 83 percent—of Colorado’s uninsured.
Digging deeper, CHI finds wide variation within that group of uninsured adults. Findings in “Health Insurance Status of Colorado Adults” include:
•About 640,000 adults were uninsured in 2010, up from about 623,000 in 2008.
•The uninsured rate for adults varies dramatically by region – from a low of seven percent in Douglas County to a high of 27 percent in Adams County.
•Forty percent of the uninsured adults have annual incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), or about $29,000 for a family of four.
•Sixty-three percent of uninsured adults are employed.
Adults without dependent children (AwDCs) with incomes at or below the FPL, about $11,000 for an individual, have an uninsured rate of 41 percent, twice that of the average adult in the state. Within this group, CHI estimates that:
•Six in 10 (about 94,000) are male. In comparison, about 50 percent of Colorado’s adult population is male.
•The vast majority are single.
•More than a third are employed, either full- or part-time.
In my opinion, the Affordable Care Act requirement that all citizens have health insurance, that goes into effect January 1, 2014, will do little to change these numbers. Coverage will still be expensive, rebates using the tax system will be complicated and not timely and the penalties for non-compliance will be low in the begining.
We will see what we will see.
- Published in Individual Health Insurance, Personal Observation
Can’t understand your health insurance? Feds say insurers must give consumers a simple summary
Don’t have the slightest clue what your health insurance covers?
As part of the Affordable Care Act the government intends to take care of that. According to a recent article by the Associated Press “the Obama administration says that’s going to change, starting this year. Officials announced that private health plans will have to provide consumers with a user-friendly summary of what’s covered, along with key cost details such as copays and deductibles.”
“Just six pages long. And no fine print.”
“Officials are calling the summaries a “nutrition label for health care,” trying to capitalize on the name recognition of those information panels found on packaged foods at the supermarket. Consumer groups say the health care version isn’t perfect, but it’s a start.”
“These documents will allow consumers to compare plans on an apples-to-apples basis,” said Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner, who is also overseeing implementation of President Barack Obama’s health care law. If an insurance plan offers substandard coverage in some respect, they won’t be able to hide it in dozens of pages of text, she added.”
Call me cynical, but judging by past “clarification” efforts by the government on wording to our tax code, federal laws and something called “Plan Descriptions” for present health insurance policies, I am doubtful of anything useful coming out of this venture.
Jogging versus Running
It’s an old joke:
What is the difference between jogging and running?
Answer: Running is my speed and faster, anyone else is just jogging.
I have been running/jogging on a fairly regular basis since I was 25, so that is 40 plus years now.
In thinking about it, the reason I run is split 50/50 between wanting to stay fit and the internal cleansing I feel after a half hour run through the neighborhood. I have often equated running to taking a shower on the inside.
I attempt to go out four times a week, anything more often and I start to feel run-down and lose interest. I try to augment the running with light weight work outs at the local YMCA, but I have never been able to maintain that for longer than a couple of months at a time. Running is so much easier, just change shoes and clothes and you are out the door.
I go out all year long, but avoid the streets when there is snow and ice as I have taken some falls. On those occasions I avail myself of the YMCA indoor track (16 laps to the mile), but that feels more like work than play.
When I used to do a lot of businss travel, I would take my gear with me and try to get a run in in the evening.
I prefer to run the many fairly smooth dirt trails we have here in Boulder. However, I avoid those steep, rock and root strewn tracks along the foothills. On those, I believe it is not a question of if you will fall, but when.
I think about various things when I run and lately I have done some calculating in my head. I believe I am approaching having accumulated enough distance running to have circumnavigated the earth, 25,000 miles.
So, as I grow older and my pace surely slows, I’ll still be running, while those slower will only be jogging.
- Published in Personal Interests, Personal Observation
How Long Will It Take For My Health Insurance Application To Be Approved?
I am often asked how long it takes to get an application for health insurance approved. The answer is always the same, “it depends on how long the insurance company takes to review or “underwrite” the information you submit. Underwriting is a term insurance companies use that basically means “background check.” Individual health insurance companies have the ability to pick and choose to whom they will offer coverage. So, they require that you fill out an application form, answering a comprehensive list of personal medical and life style questions.
Once they receive this information from you, the underwriting begins. In addition to reviewing the information you have provided, they may plug your Social Security number into something called the Medical Information Bureau (MIB). The MIB is a sort of clearing house that collects patient information from doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other insurance companies.
The underwriters may also call the applicant for clarification of details and, if need be, request records from your doctor before they are ready to make a decision on the application. The more information they need, the longer it takes for them to make an offer.
So, the answer to the question of how long it will take to get your application approved is, “usually a week to 10 days if doctors’ records are not required. If doctors’ records are required, it will take as long as it takes for the doctors’ office to respond to this request.”
That is why it is important to work with a knowledgeable insurance broker to fill out an application properly to avoid misunderstandings and delays from the onset.
If you’d like to find out what a professional individual health insurance broker can do for you, please give me a call at 303-541-9533.
- Published in Applications, Individual Health Insurance, Underwriting