If you’re injured after drinking, can your insurer refuse to pay? Do privacy rules keep insurers from talking to you about your spouse’s coverage? Does colonoscopy coverage include polyp removal? Yes, no and maybe.
They seem like a simple idea: create a marketplaces where consumers can comparison shop for health insurance. But how, exactly, will they work?
Harvard School of Public Health Professor John McDonough asks why Republicans now reject free-market measures in the new health-reform law that they once proposed.
“We’re trying to create a retail marketplace that is competitive,” says one proponent.
Q. What is an exchange, as envisioned by the health law?
A. It’s a marketplace where individuals and small employers will be able to shop for insurance coverage.
By Julie Appleby July 10, 2009 Q. What is an exchange? A. Basically, it’s a marketplace where people can shop for health insurance. An exchange could be simply a detailed listing of all the insurance plans available in an area or a more regulated marketplace, where the exchange selects the insurers allowed to sell policies [...]
By Julie Appleby – Kaiser Health News July 10, 2009 When Michael Kovner decided to buy health insurance earlier this year, he logged onto his computer, entered his age and zip code on a special Web site and studied the nearly 20 different policies that popped up. Within a half-hour, Kovner, a 53-year-old technology consultant, picked [...]
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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