Archive for the ‘ Health Insurance ’ Category

 
July 25th, 2010
posted by admin 11:50 am





JLBG is the largest provider of health insurance and employee benefit plans, and because the company is fully aware that health insurance is a complex subject, it offers free advice, quotes, and news from a licensed professional for individuals, employees, and students. The company was founded in 1972 by Jeffrey L. Barnes, who is a top provider for Time Insurance Company (Assurant Health). Mr. Barnes qualified for the highly contested and coveted Ring of Honor more than any other agent in the Time Insurance Company’s one 116 year old history.

Currently, JLBG is a pioneer in the burgeoning, consumer-driven health care marketplace through its industry leadership and in its offering of customized and affordable Assurant Health solutions. JLBG is the largest premium volume MGA for Assurant Health, and is most certainly on the rise with other health insurance carriers. The Assurant Health plan company is exclusively endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business with over 600 thousand small business members. JLBG currently serves over three million association members, 150 thousand individual members, and 1,300 brokers nationwide. JLBG has been specializing in Assurant Health plans for more than thirty years and is licensed in forty-six states and recognized nationally as a leader in the health insurance marketplace.

The Assurant Health plan company of JLBG pioneered the FPP™ (the Fortis Protector Program) in 1993, by offering personalized individual health insurance benefit plans to the staffing industry. The Fortis Protector Program platform has evolved into a full-scale health insurance delivery model with extensive brokerage community backed by an internal call center, back-office support, and high-end proprietary software platforms able to serve a multitude of health insurance solutions to all facilities in the marketplace.

Individuals, such as those who are self-employed, students, and retired persons, need Assurant Health insurance policies in place to have peace of mind in the knowledge that in unforeseen circumstances they can seek and receive medical treatment at any time. An Assurant Health insurance plan should be a major element of any financial plan. JLBG advises clients that unexpected medical expenses for those who are not covered by a plan leaves them vulnerable to financial risk, and in some cases, even financial ruin. One of the biggest causes of bankruptcy is the unexpected medical expenses incurred by illness or accidents.

JLBG can offer a range of individual Assurant Health policies to suit lifestyles, needs, and budgets. Individual Assurant Health policies offer greater flexibility than group policies because only those specific benefits required for the client and/or wife and family are purchased. A group policy may require an employee to pay for maternity benefits when these are never going to be used. Individual Assurant Health plan clients are able to keep their policies when they change jobs or retire for as long as they choose to keep paying their premiums. An additional benefit is that self-employed individuals or students are permitted to deduct 100 percent of their health insurance premiums from their taxes.

Expert health insurance advice , learn about health insurance. Online health insurance quote , Affordable health insurance .

 
 
 
May 15th, 2010
posted by admin 7:37 pm

The issue of the growing number of Americans without health insurance is a thorny one.  With this in view, Texas Health Insurance companies are offering affordable health insurance programs for companies, individuals, family groups, and the elderly.  With health care costs increasing, the offers are a welcome respite for families in the median group.   

 

With health insurance, people can avail of long term nursing care, disability compensation, routine and preventive health care.  As a consumer, ask if the company the specifics of the health services covered in their heath insurance plans to be able to assess if you are getting what you need for yourself or for your family because Texas health insurance plans are varied to fit individual and group needs.  

 

With online applications available, you can easily evaluate if you can afford certain Texas health insurance plans by getting online insurance quotes.  Health insurance plans come in various priced packages and you can get a quote for each without bothering to visit the insurance company, which provides the same prompt and friendly service online. 

 

What You Need to Know About Health Insurance

 

For the average person, health insurance processes and paperwork can be confusing because there are several clauses, rules, limitations, and exceptions.  Hence, you need to know what the basics are to understand how health insurance works to get what you want in a health insurance plan. 

 

A health insurance is a contract between you and the insurer.  You agree to buy the premium, which is payable monthly, quarterly, or annually.  The Texas health insurance company is bound to pay for the health and medical services that are covered in the health plan you purchase.  However, be alert to the fact that it takes awhile before the insurance company pays your medical expenses.    

 

As a policyholder, you will come across the following health insurance jargon:

·         Premium – the monthly payment for the plan

·         Deductible – the money you shell out before the company starts paying your health care or medical expenses.

·         Co-payment – the payment you give from your own pocket to visits to the doctor and doctor’s prescriptions.

·         Coinsurance – in this case, the patient pays 20 percent of the surgery expenses and the insurance company will shoulder 80%.

·         Coverage limits – Some areas not fully covered and the company can only pay up to a certain limit.

·         Out of pocket maximum – the maximum placed on the number of out-of-pocket payments before the company starts paying medical expenses

·         Capitation – the amount paid to a health provider who agrees to service the insured and his group or family members.

·         In-network provider – the selected health care providers of the insurer. This is cheaper than seeking health and medical service providers outside of the insurer’s network.

 

In some cases, health providers send the bill to Texas health insurance companies, provided you commit to pay for the services not covered by the insurance.  Generally, with a health insurance, you pay less compared to the astronomical medical bills you shoulder alone without health insurance.   

 

Don’t wait until something happens to you or your loved ones.  Get online insurance quotes from Texas health insurance companies ready to give the health insurance package you need and can afford. Be a step ahead now towards your future.

 

 
 
 
February 21st, 2010
posted by admin 2:42 am

Five Ways to Cut your Health Insurance Costs

Nearly one-third of all health-insurance premiums increased to 30 percent or more. At that rate, the average cost of health insurance per employee will exceed $3,000. Seventy-three percent of senior executives believe health-care costs will continue to increase 20 percent or more each year for the next three years. The message here is clear: If you haven’t already gotten serious about cutting your company’s health-insurance costs, now is the time. It can be done. The first thing you should do is learn how the system works–or doesn’t work. Most small employers spend fewer than four hours a year thinking about their company health plans. Learn what your options are. Your insurance agent can help you shop for cheaper plans. But don’t stop there. Compare plan benefits, insurance-company records, and service guarantees.

Consider Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans and HMOs (health-maintenance organizations), even if your agent doesn’t handle them. The Blues in some areas, offer clear advantages to small companies. Experts regard HMOs as the best buys in health care. Find out if your company is eligible for new, low-cost health insurance plans now available in five states. In addition, foundation-funded pilot projects in several parts of the country are demonstrating that it is possible to cut health-coverage costs 30 to 40 percent. In short, health insurance isn’t as simple as it used to be. And the pace of change is accelerating, offering new hope for a truce in the business battle with exploding health-care costs. The next couple of years present as much potential for change as at any time in the past 20 years. You can be part of that change by putting at least some of the following 5 ideas to work for your company.

1) Increase Cost Sharing By Employees

This recommendation is at the top of every consultant’s list. Small companies tend to pay far more of their workers’ total health-care bill than large companies do. Yet research shows that insulating employees from the costs of care encourages unnecessary use of health services. Fifty-two percent of the companies responding to the Nation’s Business health survey said they pay 100 percent of their employees’ health-insurance premiums. But 45 percent said they intended to implement or increase employee contributions to these premiums. An equal number said they plan to increase employee deductibles. Insurance companies first attached $100 deductibles to major-medical plans in the early 1950s. But 40 percent of employers still set deductibles at $100 or less. Raising a $100 deductible to $250 would cut premium costs for single coverage by about 11 percent. A $500 deductible would cut costs by about one-fourth. A $1,000 deductible would save about one-third.

2) Allow Employees To Pay For Health Premiums With Tax-Free Dollars

Set up a so-called flexible spending account, which allows your employees to pay their share of health-insurance premiums and un-reimbursed health-care expenses with pretax dollars. A flexible spending account could save employees 20 cents to 35 cents on the dollar, because state and federal income taxes and Social Security taxes are not imposed.

Moreover, the company saves by reducing the employee’s base salary on which it pays Social Security and other taxes. Hire an outside payroll accounting firm to handle the paperwork. You can pay the service fee and still come out with a net savings. The monthly administration fee would run between $2 and $5 per employee.

3) Transfer High-Risk Employees To The State’s High-Risk Pool

Insurance premiums soar whenever someone in a small-group plan becomes very ill–with cancer or heart disease, for example. As an employer, you should explore the possibility of moving employees with serious health problems into a state high-risk pool and then negotiating a lower premium for the healthy members of your group.

4) Switches To An Open-Enrollment Blue Cross And Blue Shield Plan

Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans operate as de facto high-risk pools in a number of states by providing “open enrollment” periods during which any group can buy insurance. Among the 74 Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations nationwide, 21 offer open enrollment. All the Blues once used community rating to set premium levels. But that began to change in the 1960s when commercial insurers started to lure away firms with low risks by offering them cheaper health insurance.

5) Replace Your Traditional Health Plan With An HMO

Unlike traditional health insurance, HMOs cover all medical needs, including routine preventive care, for a flat monthly fee that typically is less expensive than traditional health insurance. Moreover, two types of HMOs, the staff and the group models, have proven to be more effective at controlling costs than any other form of health-care delivery. Staff models employ physicians directly and put them on salary.

For more articles related to this subject and others please visit Health Insurance.info