Life to the Max

Working on an interesting (well, to me , anyway) life case: Gentleman is 57 years young, and recently retired(!). When he chose his pension ...

Industry Kudos

This year's crop of National Underwriter Industry Elite Award winners has just been announced. As a past winner myself, I was pleased t...

MidWeek Potpourri

■ For the most part, "Limited Benefit" (aka MiniMed) plans have been verboten by the ObamaTax. Which is a shame, since they coul...

Bites the dust

Connecticut joins the parade of failed Obamacare exchanges. Unexpectedly. The reason? "The move stems from an order, made Thursday, [Ju...

Still another 3000% Rate Decrease

This never gets old: As we've previously mentioned , Grandmothered plans often renew mid-year (that is, not on January 1), and very few ...

#ObamaCareFail Unlucky Number 13

It's no surprise that ObamaPlan enrollment numbers continue to decline , but the sheer magnitude of that drop off is surely something t...

Friday LinkFest - UPDATED

[Scroll down for update] ■ First up, the folks at Employee Benefit News ask a rather interesting question: " Should HSAs and 401(k)s ...

From the P&C Files: Halt (Production)!

This is interesting: A few days after the Orlando nightclub terror attack, the TV show "The Last Ship" postponed its season premie...

IB In The News

Well this is nice: The folks at PR Newswire have published a list of insurance-related sites that " do a good job with promoting and co...

Friday Afternoon Dreams

I'll take "Wishful Thinking" for $400, Alex:

Settling for Life

We've written before about viaticals , which are generally used by folks with end-of-life financial needs. But there's another, rela...

Thursday Insurance Conundrum

Good question:

Waivin' in the wind

We've written before about group plans suspending spousal coverage, or applying a penalty to employees whose spouses have access to cov...

Potential Good Small Employer News

Yesterday, I met with a couple who own their own small business, and had recently hired their first employee. They wanted to offer health in...

Interesting LTCi Idea

So, have a client interested in Long Term Care insurance (LTCi), with some provisos. First, they are very concerned about potential rate in...

Hotdoggin' it with Oscar

Almost three years ago, Bob wrote about the travails of a New York-based health insurance start-up called Oscar. The fledgling carrier's...

Monday Morning Linkage

■ We first noted the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) back in May, noting how it so closely resembled the famed Independe...

Friday Afternoon Hat Trick

The Political Hat No, not three posts, but one very interesting - and provocative - post from a blog friend: " Rationing Healthcare, Mi...

Absolutely Amazing Customer Service Experience

Over the years, we've been pleased to blog on some really exceptional customer service experiences ( here and here , for example). And ...

Pot Luck Health Wonk Review

This week, Chris Fleming hosts the venerable HWR, and it's a doozy. Lots of thought-provoking posts, along with really helful context. ...

Another 3000% Rate Decrease Report

Remember this? I recently received renewals for some Grandmothered major medcial plans with August effective dates. Let's see how they ...

Conflicting Fees

As previously noted, many carriers have decided to stop paying commissions on new health insurance business written between Open Enrollment...

Outstanding Compassionate Carrier Trick

Just now via email: " UnitedHealthcare and Optum, the health benefits and services companies of UnitedHealth Group, are taking immediat...

Top O'The Week Linkfest

■ LifeHealthPro's AllisonBell has some disheartening news about critical illness plans: " Officials are ... thinking about the pos...

Another Friday InHealth Update

Not much has changed since last week, as the DOI is still noodling through how to proceed. One issue which had flown under the radar has to ...

Tightening the Screws

As The ObamaTax continues to auger in , the Rocket Surgeons in DC© have the perfect solution: Less choice! " The government's move ...

Another Day, Another InHealth Update

Via co-blogger Patrick , some interesting news on the InHealth front, clarifying some things we already knew: " Today, the Ohio Departm...

SEP Clarification

The folks at CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) emailed to let us know that they have an updated list of the 6 Special Enro...

From the Mailbag: Interesting HSA scenario

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are generally pretty transparent; after all, there aren't a lot of moving parts: a compliant health insur...

MedMutual Update

L ast week, Medical Mutual of Ohio announced that it would pay no commissions on plans written for folks coming to them from InHealth. Th...

InHealth Mutual - A Week Later [UPDATED]

So it's been a week , and I sent this out to my InHealth clients; it occurred to me that IB readers might find it interesting , as well...

Late-week LinkFest

■ First up, via FoIB Jeff M, this little factoid: " North Carolina Leads The Nation In Health Insurance Mandates " Most folks lik...

Frustrating Carrier/DOI Trick

As regular readers know, Ohio's O'Care Co-Op, InHealth Mutual, bit the dust last week. This morning, Medical Mutual of Ohio let us...

Health Wonk Review: Springin' out edition

David Harlow hosts this week's roundup of interesting and provocative health policy related posts . From Ibsen to telemedicine to the ...

Rocket Robin Hood

As in "rocket surgeon" Robin Hood: " The risk adjustment program was designed to dissuade insurers from targeting only health...

Something You Don't See Everyday

And now for something completely different. According to the NY Times , the details of Obamacare were revealed to the IRS in a "by spec...

Breaking UHC News

From UHC via email: " Next year UnitedHealthcare will offer individual plans through the Exchange in a limited number of states. This ...

Stupid Vendor Tricks

I've always believed that the best way to do business is to look for ways to do business; that is, throw up as few roadblocks as possib...

On this Memorial Day

Thank you. [Hat Tip: RedState ]

InHealth Collapse: Immediate Aftermath

So I reached out (via email) to my InHealth clients today: " Yesterday afternoon, the Ohio Department of Insurance placed InHealth into...

BREAKING: InHealth Mutual Now Under DOI Control [UPDATED]

[From email just now] " COLUMBUS - Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor was appointed receiver for Coordinated Health Mutual, Inc. today following the ...

ACA-related Spelling Problems [UPDATED!]

Folks keep misspelling " 3,000% rate decrease ." For instance: " Most health insurers in Pennsylvania are pressing for double...

Of Belly Dances and Obamacare

Quick update on how our tax dollars are being spent to promote and enroll people in Obamacare. A recent audit of the Nevada state Obamacare ...