Company covered IUD insertion but not their removal. The state ruled plans with comprehensive prescription coverage must cover contraceptives–and the services associated with their removal.
State insurance officials “fear may trigger other insurers to drop similar policies.”
Regence BlueShield boosts premiums 17 percent Regence BlueShield will raise premiums for 135,000 individual health-plan members in Washington by an average 17 percent on Aug. 1, Seattle Times health reporter Kyung Song writes in today’s paper. “It is the third consecutive year that the state’s largest provider of individual coverage has boosted rates by double [...]
The Regence Foundation will give a $135,000 grant to support a program that allows rural residents to train for nursing careers without having to leave their communities. The program is run by the Western Washington Area Health Education Center, a non-profit agency that works to promote equity of and access to health care for under-served [...]
Insurance companies must protect their financial reserves to guarantee they will be able to cover their members’ health costs, writes Regence BlueShield President Jonathan Hensley in an op-ed piece in the Sept. 30 issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Hensley was writing in reply to an earlier op-ed piece that questioned why Regence was raising rates [...]
Seattle Post-Intelligencer guest columnists Martha Scoville and Nate Rozeboom tear in Jonathan Hensley, the new president of the Washington health insurance company Regence BlueShield. Scoville, a Regence policy holder, and Rozeboom, a registered nurse at Harborview Medical Center, want to know why the insurer, which they say has a surplus close to $1 billion, continues [...]
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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Seattle Times Health News
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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