Assurant Health is lowering rates on Short Term Medical plans

Assurant Health is lowering rates up to 15% on their Short Term Medical plans with effective dates of July 1, 2008 or later. The rate reduction will be especially beneficial for recent college graduates. Most plans specify that individuals are no longer eligible dependents under their parent’s plan after graduation and have to pay expensive COBRA premiums to continue coverage.

A short term insurance plan may offer more cost-effective temporary health insurance coverage than COBRA until they are covered under employer group coverage. If need help to decide whether to choose employer-offered COBRA coverage or an alternative, short term medical insurance policy, visit our page on Short Term Medical. Assurant is the #1 underwriter of short-term medical plans in the United States and even offer better benefit plans and rates than BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois. Short Term Medical policies cover a wide variety of needs, from 30 to 365 days, and it allows you to use your own doctors and hospitals. Click here to get get a quote

Assurant Enhances One Deductible Plan

The OneDeductible plan has always been a smart choice, with its unique “single deductible” for the entire family. Now you can save even more with our new, exclusive feature — One DECREASING Deductible.

• After the plan has been in force for just two months, clients may receive a 10% credit, twice a year on January 1 and July 1, which reduces the amount they pay of their plan deductible.

• Each 10% credit is based on the amount of the plan deductible. For a family with a $10,000 deductible, that’s $1,000 in savings with each credit. And, the savings potential doubles to $2,000 because credits are available twice a year.

• Every year starts out with a 10% credit on January 1, even if the decreasing deductible was satisfied in the previous year. And, they’ll apply another credit on July 1 if the decreasing deductible is not yet satisfied.

The One Decreasing Deductible continues to go down until covered charges accumulate to satisfy it, or the amount reaches $1,500 individual/$3,000 family. The threshold assures that the plans remain compliant with Health Savings Account (HSA) regulations for those who choose to take advantage of the HSA.

With the One Decreasing Deductible, you get the premium savings of a higher deductible plan, and one deductible that decreases twice a year. Individuals and families with $5,000/$10,000 deductible plans will see as much as 70% in deductible savings when credits accumulate year after year.

One Decreasing Deductible is included with One Deductible 100% coinsurance plans with deductibles at or above $2,850 individual/ $5,700 family. To get free quotes on One Deductible plans, click on this link or for additional information, go to the Illinois Health Agents website.

One Decreasing Deductible is an incredible benefit, and it’s only available from Assurant Health. Because it is an enhancement, it will replaces the 10% deductible credit that is available for providing proof of prior coverage wherever both features are available.

Aetna Introduces Standalone Dental Plans in Illinois

Beginning June 1, 2008 Aetna will be offering new standalone dental plans. The Dental Advantage Individual Plans are a more comprehensive option to Aetna’s existing PPO Max under 65 dental rider plans, but will be available on a standalone basis, which means individuals will not have to enroll in a medical plan to be eligible for these plans. In addition, the new standalone plans offer a more comprehensive level of benefits covering services such as crowns, bridges and dentures.

The 2 Dental Passive PPO Max plans that are being offered are:

* Aetna Individual AdvantageSM PPO Plan

* Aetna Individual AdvantageSM PPO Plus Plan

Please note: The term “passive” means that for preventative , basic, and major services the coinsurance levels, deductibles, and annual maximums appear the same for both participating and non-participating benefits.

Also, the term “max” refers to the out-of-network (OON) reimbursement level. Opposed to OON based on UCR, the PPO Max plan reimburses using the PPO negotiated fee . Out-of-network or non-participating dentists have NOT agreed to accept that as payment in full and could balance bill. For for information, please visit the individual dental website or contact Illinois Health Agents.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Increasing Individual Rates!

Effective July 1, 2008, Blue Cross® and Blue Shield® of Illinois will be raising rates on their individual health insurance plans. If you are planning to get a new BCBS of IL policy, apply online ASAP to get new business rates and avoid the price increases. The plans will be increasing as follows:

* HSA Products (9.0% increase)
o BlueEdge Individual HSA
o BlueEdge Individual HSA 5000

* Series 3 Affordable Products (9.0% increase)
o SelectBlue Advantage
o BlueValue Advantage
o BlueChoice Select
o BlueChoice Value

* Series 3 Products (12.6% increase)
o Select Blue
o Basic Blue
o BlueValue
o Traditional Blue

* Select TEMP (11.7% increase)

Shorter Maternity Waiting Period for Assurant New Portfolio Plans

For new applicants, the 270-day maternity waiting period on MaxPlan, CoreMed and OneDeductible Plans has been reduced to 90 days with no change in price. This is one of smallest, if not the smallest, maternity waiting period for individual medical policies in Illinois.

Assurant Health Improves Pre-ex Limitation

Assurant Health has changed the pre-existing condition limitation in their individual medical contracts to be more customer-friendly. For plans effective 1/1/08 and later, if a condition is fully-disclosed on the
application, they will not determine it to be pre-existing and gives you peace of mind that claims for fully-disclosed medical conditions will be considered for coverage.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois Adds New $3,500 Deductible Plans Added to the Small Group (2-150) Portfolio

Effective July 1, 2008, for small group (2-150) new business and thereafter for renewing accounts, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois will introduce 17 new $3,500 deductible benefit plans to the Standard Products portfolio. The plans will be available with the following products:

• BlueChoice Select ® – 2 new plans
• BlueAdvantageSM Entrepreneur PPO (BAE) – 4 new plans
• BluePrint PPO – 10 new plans
• PPO Value Choice – 1 new plan

On average the new plan options will offer a 5 percent savings groups that have the $2,500 deductible plan with the same benefit design and will be available for quoting in mid-April.