As Washington state's insurance regulator, a large part of what we do is try to resolve consumer complaints against insurers: delayed or denied claims, wrongful cancellation of policies, etc.
To speed up the process, we have developed a new online "Complaint Response System," or CRS. This allows us to contact insurers over the internet while still protecting people's private information.
Here's the key part for insurers to know: On June 28, 2013, companies with an active Washington license will be automatically registered for the new system. Any consumer complaints received by our office regarding those companies will be uploaded to the CRS beginning July 1, 2013. After this date, we will no longer be sending complaints to you via US Mail. The CRS will be the only avenue used to forward complaints to you and receive your responses.
We would like to invite those companes to participate in our CRS training. It will only take a couple hours of your time and will assist you in navigating the new system.
We strongly encourage any of your staff who responds to Washington consumer complaints to attend one of the below trainings.
There are two training times available:
• Tuesday, June 18: 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. (PST)
• Monday, June 24: 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. (PST)
We will email the WebEx invitations on June 10th to your company's complaint contact.
To learn more about the company Complaint Response System (CRS) project, visit our meetings page.
Jumat, 07 Juni 2013
New report: Washington State Health Insurance Pool
The state's high-risk health insurance pool, known as the Washington State Health Insurance Pool, has issued its annual report. From it:
Some 3,675 people are enrolled in WSHIP. These are folks that cannot find coverage at the current time in the individual insurance market or Medicare supplement market, due to pre-existing medical conditions such as kidney failure, cancer and HIV/AIDS. (Under federal health care reform, insurers next year will no longer be able to turn away sick applicants.)
Created in 1987 by the Legislature, WSHIP is overseen by a board of directors. The program is not state-funded: Premiums charged to members cover about a third of claim costs; health insurers pay the remaining costs. Administrative costs are about 3 percent of expenses.
- The program saw a 5 percent decline in enrollment last year, probably due to the availability of a temporary (and now closing) federal high risk pool here in Washington state.
- And claim costs increased 11 percent, from $93 million to $103 million.
Some 3,675 people are enrolled in WSHIP. These are folks that cannot find coverage at the current time in the individual insurance market or Medicare supplement market, due to pre-existing medical conditions such as kidney failure, cancer and HIV/AIDS. (Under federal health care reform, insurers next year will no longer be able to turn away sick applicants.)
Created in 1987 by the Legislature, WSHIP is overseen by a board of directors. The program is not state-funded: Premiums charged to members cover about a third of claim costs; health insurers pay the remaining costs. Administrative costs are about 3 percent of expenses.
Little-known fact: Many life insurance policies automatically end at a certain age
Did you know that many life insurance policies have a built-in end date? It’s true -- and most people don’t learn about this until their policy ends and they find themselves without life insurance.
Life insurance policies often have language that says the plan automatically ends when you turn a certain age, such as 65 or 90. If you’re lucky enough to live until your policy’s end date, you may find yourself in the uncomfortable position of being without life insurance at a time when your health might not be good enough for you to buy another life insurance policy.
To prevent that kind of unpleasant surprise, read your policy. If the policy has an end date, and if you’re still healthy enough to qualify to buy life insurance, you might want to find a different policy that doesn’t have an end date.
For more information -- including about the 10-day "free-look" period, what documents to save, etc., please see our "Tips for buying life insurance" web page.
Life insurance policies often have language that says the plan automatically ends when you turn a certain age, such as 65 or 90. If you’re lucky enough to live until your policy’s end date, you may find yourself in the uncomfortable position of being without life insurance at a time when your health might not be good enough for you to buy another life insurance policy.
To prevent that kind of unpleasant surprise, read your policy. If the policy has an end date, and if you’re still healthy enough to qualify to buy life insurance, you might want to find a different policy that doesn’t have an end date.
For more information -- including about the 10-day "free-look" period, what documents to save, etc., please see our "Tips for buying life insurance" web page.
Rabu, 05 Juni 2013
Tools to help estimate the costs of medical procedures
Nationally, a number of consumer groups and government agencies have put together tools to try to make it easier to estimate the costs of a medical procedure before you have it. Among them:
Healthcare Blue Book, which describes itself as a "free consumer guide to help you determine fair prices in your area for healthcare services.
Fair Health Consumer Cost Lookup, an "independent, not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to bring transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information."
If you're comfortable with Excel, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have also pulled together a lot of pricing data on the 100 most common inpatient services and 30 common outpatient services.
So what do you do if you're uninsured and are facing huge bills for a needed procedure? See our "can't afford health coverage" web page, which lists:
Healthcare Blue Book, which describes itself as a "free consumer guide to help you determine fair prices in your area for healthcare services.
Fair Health Consumer Cost Lookup, an "independent, not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to bring transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information."
If you're comfortable with Excel, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have also pulled together a lot of pricing data on the 100 most common inpatient services and 30 common outpatient services.
So what do you do if you're uninsured and are facing huge bills for a needed procedure? See our "can't afford health coverage" web page, which lists:
- Many assistance programs, including those that cover children, veterans, pregnant women, those needing organ transplants, disabled workers, etc.
- Low-cost help for vision and hearing problems
- Free- and low-cost dental clinics
- Free breast-, cervical-, and colon-cancer screenings, HIV care help and support, etc.
"Am I eligible for a subsidy to help pay for health insurance?"
As a result of the health care reform law, you might qualify for a health premium tax credit -- often referred to as subsidies -- that you could use to reduce your monthly health insurance premiums, reduce the amount of taxes you owe, or both.
Here’s a calculator that will show whether you’ll qualify for the tax credit. (Note: If your employer offers what is deemed affordable coverage -- meaning that the employee's coverage to cover him- or herself costs less than 9.5 percent of income -- you aren't eligible for the Exchange.)
If you are eligible for the tax credit, then you’ll need to decide whether you want to receive it. If yes, then you’ll need to buy your health insurance through the Exchange, also known as the WashingtonHealthplanfinder.
Health insurance plans will be available on the Exchange website starting this fall, and you can enroll in Exchange plans from 10/1/13 through 3/31/14. Plans will start as early as 1/1/14, depending on the date that you enroll.
If you’re eligible for the health premium tax credit, you can receive it by:
• Taking the tax credit in advance, which will reduce your monthly premiums;
• Using the tax credit later, when you file taxes, to reduce the amount you owe in taxes for that year; or
• Taking part of the tax credit in advance to reduce your monthly premiums, and using the rest later to reduce the amount you owe in taxes for that year.
At the time that you sign up for a health plan through the Exchange, you’ll need to tell the Exchange how you want to take your tax credit.
There’s nothing that you need to do right now; just be aware that if you qualify for and want to take the tax credit, you’ll need to sign up for a health plan through the Exchange between October and March.
For more, please see our "Health care reform -- what it means to you" page.
Here’s a calculator that will show whether you’ll qualify for the tax credit. (Note: If your employer offers what is deemed affordable coverage -- meaning that the employee's coverage to cover him- or herself costs less than 9.5 percent of income -- you aren't eligible for the Exchange.)
If you are eligible for the tax credit, then you’ll need to decide whether you want to receive it. If yes, then you’ll need to buy your health insurance through the Exchange, also known as the WashingtonHealthplanfinder.
Health insurance plans will be available on the Exchange website starting this fall, and you can enroll in Exchange plans from 10/1/13 through 3/31/14. Plans will start as early as 1/1/14, depending on the date that you enroll.
If you’re eligible for the health premium tax credit, you can receive it by:
• Taking the tax credit in advance, which will reduce your monthly premiums;
• Using the tax credit later, when you file taxes, to reduce the amount you owe in taxes for that year; or
• Taking part of the tax credit in advance to reduce your monthly premiums, and using the rest later to reduce the amount you owe in taxes for that year.
At the time that you sign up for a health plan through the Exchange, you’ll need to tell the Exchange how you want to take your tax credit.
There’s nothing that you need to do right now; just be aware that if you qualify for and want to take the tax credit, you’ll need to sign up for a health plan through the Exchange between October and March.
For more, please see our "Health care reform -- what it means to you" page.
Selasa, 04 Juni 2013
Job opening: Human resources consultant
We're recruiting to fill a Human Resource Consultant 3 (Senior HR Generalist) position with our agency's operations division, based at our Tumwater, Wash. office. The successful candidate, with guidance from the agency's human resources manager, will use a high degree of professional judgment to consult with assigned divisions on a variety of complex human resources issues.
For more specifics, duties, salary, timeline, etc., please see the full job listing.
For other current job openings in our office, please see our "job opportunities" web page. At the current time, we have four positions we're recruiting for. The others include:
For other current job openings in our office, please see our "job opportunities" web page. At the current time, we have four positions we're recruiting for. The others include:
- Deputy insurance commissioner for company supervision
- Senior market analyst
- Information technology specialist
"My company's wellness program is asking me health questions. Is that legal?"
We often hear from consumers who ask whether it's legal for their employer to ask health questions in conjunction with employee wellness programs.
Last week, the federal government issued a final rule addressing this issue. The answer: Yes, employers can do that, as long as they meet certain non-discrimination criteria. Among them:
Here’s a link to the rule where you'll find a lot more details, plus a link to an article that gives a good overview of the rule.
Last week, the federal government issued a final rule addressing this issue. The answer: Yes, employers can do that, as long as they meet certain non-discrimination criteria. Among them:
- The wellness program must be "reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease,"
- must not be overly burdensome,
- and may not be "a subterfuge for discriminating based on a health factor."
Here’s a link to the rule where you'll find a lot more details, plus a link to an article that gives a good overview of the rule.
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)