If it works, the GoBe will be life-changing. But it's a big if.

The GoBe is a bracelet that looks like a small microplane has been affixed to a black watchband-the top of the microplane is a display, and its underside is a sensor. Through its "patented flow technology," the GoBe promises to measure the wearer's heart rate, calories burned, sleep, and stress levels. That's all conceivable, given what the FitBit and other body trackers already measure. But the GoBe also promises something a little more sensational: Automatically tracking the calories of everything the wearer eats, through his or her skin.

"We live in an age where people struggle with their diets and need simple ways to take control of their health," Artem Shipitsyn, the CEO of GoBe's parent company, HealBe, says in a video on the device's Indiegogo campaign page. He says the technology would help "people like me live a healthy life with less effort."

The automatic calorie-tracking, which GoBe claims to do by reading glucose levels in cells, would revolutionize dieting-even the best calorie-counting apps today rely on manual food logging.

"Tell it nothing. Know everything," the soothing video narrator's voice says over b-roll of people skiing and clicking on their smartphones.

The premise was so lofty, in fact, that it didn't take long for tech reporters, led by PandoDaily's James Robinson, to attack.

Let's say GoBe does measure glucose levels without piercing the skin, as it claims to do. That would be a godsend to diabetics, who, as it stands, must regularly prick their fingers to test blood sugar. The less-invasive technology is probably coming soon, Michelle MacDonald, a clinical dietician at the National Jewish Health hospital in Denver, told PandoDaily, "but when it does it will be the size of a shoebox ... It will come from a big lab, will be huge news and make a lot of money."

But on top of that, blood glucose is only a rough measure of total energy intake. Eat a tablespoon of olive oil, and you've consumed 119 calories, but your blood sugar would barely rise. A very thin slice of white bread, meanwhile, would send blood sugar soaring and only yields 40 calories.

From its launch in March, the GoBe campaign steadily raked in Indiegogo donations-it's now at 1,081 percent of its original $100,000 goal. Robinson stayed on the warpath, citing more and more experts who denounced the GoBe technology and publishing several more articles about what he considers to be a complete scam.

HealBe began commenting negatively on Robinson's articles, then deleting the comments. GoBe backers started demanding refunds. Delivery of the finished device was pushed back to August.

"I've been seeing some disturbing articles regarding this project," one commenter wrote on the HealBe Indiegogo campaign page. "Various articles stating that the things that the GoBe promises cannot be done ... Can anyone offer a rebuttal? Worried about all of the delays and negative statements. Thanks!" See more…

Proposed rate changes for 2015 individual health plans are all over the map, but most companies are keeping up with tradition by requesting increases in premiums.

If approved, rate increases for 2015 individual health plans proposed by 12 insurance companies may affect most policyholders, whether they bought their plans through Washington Healthplanfinder's online marketplace or in the outside market.

Washington is one of the first states to see proposed rate changes for 2015 individual health-insurance plans.

The proposed rate changes range from a decrease of 6.8 percent - from Molina Healthcare of Washington - to an increase of 26 percent from Time Insurance, a national company with relatively few Washington policyholders.

Most rate-change requests, particularly from larger insurers, were in the middle ground, with most asking for increases from about 2 to about 11 percent.

To anyone who has had individual insurance, premium increases are not surprising: Records show that, on average, insurers have proposed rate increases for individual plans from about 9 percent to more than 18 percent every year from 2007 to 2013. After review by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, the average rate increases imposed were lower - in most cases, only slightly lower. But in one year, rate-increase requests were cut by more than 3.5 percentage points.

With the exception of relatively few grandfathered plans, all individual plans were new in 2014 to comply with provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which set certain standards for coverage and barred insurers from excluding people with pre-existing conditions.

Some insurers offer plans only inside the Healthplanfinder exchange; some offer plans only in the outside market. Five are proposing plans both inside and outside the exchange. Any rate- change proposals for those insurers would affect both inside and outside plans.

The rates do not become final until they pass review.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said it likely would be a tough review this year because insurers have only a few months' worth of actual claims data, so they must use other data sources to justify rate increases.

There didn't appear to be differences between proposed rates for plans sold only inside the Healthplanfinder exchange market and those sold only outside.

BridgeSpan Health, whose exchange plans picked up a relatively small portion of the market this year, asked for a 1.7 percent increase; its affiliate, Regence BlueShield, which offers only outside-the-exchange plans, asked for 5.1 percent.

Coordinated Care Corp., with exchange-only plans, asked for 11.2 percent, as did Group Health Cooperative, which has plans both inside and outside the exchange. Group Health Options, with plans offered only outside the exchange, asked for 14.2?percent.

Premera Blue Cross, offered both inside and outside the exchange, and Community Health Plan of Washington, with only exchange plans, asked for 8.1 and 8.4 percent, respectively.

In the small group market, insurers on average proposed smaller rate increases, with at least four insurers asking to decrease rates. That may be because insurers expect to pick up younger members now insured by association plans that have been discontinued because they did not meet the requirements of the ACA, Marquis said.

Four new companies have submitted proposals for individual plans to be sold inside Washington's Healthplanfinder exchange. Because the plans are new, there are no rate changes proposed. Those companies are Columbia United Providers, Health Alliance Northwest Health Plan, UnitedHealthcare of Washington, and Moda Health Plan. Moda currently has individual plans in the outside market but plans to replace all existing plans.

For more related topic, visit Harver Health Insurance Counter Fraud Group