It’s the middle of August and Open Enrollment is still a few months away, but in my world, the emphasis is on PREPARATION! For those people who have personal health insurance plans, Open Enrollment is the period of time when almost everyone will want to evaluate their plan options for the next year. The time to do this has been compressed into a very short span of time — from November 15 to February 15. The vast majority of people will make their decisions before December 15,
In 2014, choosing not to have a compliant health insurance plan was (and is) a viable option for many people. The tax penalty — or to use the proper name — the “Individual Shared Responsibility Payment” for 2014 was not very high. Some people decided to take the risk and go without coverage, while some decided to get a low-cost non-compliant plan. Either way, the penalty wasn’t a huge deterrent.
The penalty is increasing significantly in 2015,
The IRS recently issued clarification on whether or not employers can contribute money (or reimburse payments) for employees who have individual (non-group) health insurance on a pre-tax basis. The answer is no, they will not allow it. See this article for details.
Many employers are sick and tired of the increasing costs of providing health insurance to their employees — this is well known. However, employers with fewer than 50 full-time equivalents (FTEs) are not required to offer health insurance and they can drop their group coverage —
Short term major medical insurance, also known as temporary insurance, is a product worth considering for people who don’t have a good group plan available to them. Short-term medical provides coverage up to one year. However, in Georgia, there is only one decent carrier that offers this type of insurance for up to one year. There are a few carriers that offer coverage up to six months.
This type of coverage is not ACA-compliant (Obamacare),
The official Open Enrollment deadline to purchase personal health insurance was March 31, but there were a couple of extensions and exceptions made. Now, we’re well past the deadline and extensions, yet there are plenty of reasons why someone may need to purchase health insurance between now and the next Open Enrollment — which is November 15 to January 15. CMS calls these reasons “qualifying events”. A qualifying event triggers a “Special Enrollment Period”, so applications can be submitted either on or off the Marketplace.
Searching for a good doctor can be challenging. Most of us rely on recommendations from our family doctor or our friends and family. However, when you need a specialist, it isn’t always easy to get a good recommendation. Well, Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta is now publishing reviews and ratings for it’s doctors, so this will certainly help some people in their search.
Not only is it helpful to consumers during their search for a quality, reputable doctor,
Early in my career, I met with someone who had a disability insurance policy cancelled due to nonpayment. This cancellation (or lapse) occurred due to no fault of the policy owner. To make a long story somewhat short, this guy – a professional musician with a symphony orchestra — moved to a new home and had given the insurance company the address change with plenty of notice. His premium payment was set up on a quarterly direct billing mode.
As we wind down 2013, I’d like to say thank you to all those who read my blog. I’ve had many people, especially in the past few months, tell me they called because of information they found here. I am glad this information is useful for so many folks.
These past few months have been the busiest in my 14 year career as an insurance agent. Numerous people had questions about how the Affordable Care Act would impact them…which leads me to the subject of this post: Lots of Changes in 2014!
It’s open enrollment season for Employer Health Plans (not to be confused with Open Enrollment for the Exchanges). Most medium to large businesses have open enrollment this time of year and employees have to make a decision about their plan choices. The trend lately has been for employers to cut back on their contribution towards both employee and dependent premium. Many employers don’t pay anything towards dependent coverage.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) doesn’t address the high costs of dependent coverage.
I’m sorry to post yet another article about the online Marketplace (aka Obamacare)! I’m sure many of my readers have limited interest. You would like some information on small group health insurance, Medicare or other types of insurance listed in the categories to the right. I will get back to those topics.
However, keep in mind — The Trend — is towards more limited networks in every part of healthcare. So, whether you get your coverage through an employer plan,
