After Big Sign-Ups, One Insurer Works To Help Consumers Use Insurance Effectively
The Philadelphia Inquirer examines how one company is trying to make the move into insurance seamless for new buyers. Meanwhile, Fox News reports that some states are shifting costs to the feds as a means of getting health care for prison inmates.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Clients Save, Insurers Get Boost From Affordable Care Act
There were plenty of nights during the last 33 years that Denise Schroeder of West Chester had to choose between eating dinner and paying for health insurance. ... Then she heard about the Affordable Care Act. "I thought maybe this was my saving grace," Schroeder said. Schroeder bought Independence Blue Cross' silver Keystone HMO. ... Even as people continue enrolling to buy insurance plans through mid-April, Independence is focusing on the next phase: Helping people like Schroeder learn how to use their new ACA policies. ... The company is contacting new members via regular mail, e-mail, and phone to help them get up to speed, Sunshine said. New members will be asked if they have received an identification card, if they understand their plan's benefits, and, yes, if they have made their premium payment. Sunshine said special attention will be given to people who bought Independence's best-selling silver HMO Keystone Proactive tier plan. New to the market, the plan has three tiers. Policy holders with a referral can use doctors and hospitals at any tier level. But deductibles, co-payments and coinsurances can vary dramatically (Calandra, 4/6).
Fox News: Inmates Getting Coverage Under ObamaCare, As States Shift Cost To Feds
The Obama administration often touts that people with pre-existing conditions and countless others can now get covered under ObamaCare. But there's another group that's starting to benefit from the law -- prison inmates. Cash-strapped state and local prisons increasingly are using the Affordable Care Act to pay for their inmates' medical costs, taking advantage of a little-known provision that lets them shift some of those expenses to the federal government. Ohio, Illinois and Iowa are among the states trying to offload the rising costs of health care – which include mental health programs – by enrolling inmates into a new expanded Medicaid program when they get sick. But it doesn't stop there (Chakraborty, 4/6).
