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Avinash, a businessman, knows how to deal with all kinds of clients. Avinash, a businessman, knows how to deal with all kinds of clients. However, his inexperience in finding good health insurance policies has landed him in trouble a couple of times. In the recent past, he hasn't been able to keep an eye on the rising premiums of his health coverage and ended up spending much more than he should have. It is essential for you to go through the policy premium rates from time to time. Several strategies can be adopted for reducing the premium over a period of time. Rising health insurance policy premiums could be devastating because you would end up spending a big part of your income in paying them. We buy a health insurance policy to secure our future in case of a medical emergency. Even if you can't control expenses with respect to sickness, you can definitely control the rising health cover premiums. Avoid a policy with claim holding Insurance firms are known to charge a huge amount of premium to cover the client, considering it is going to cover the entire cost if the policy benefits are claimed. Sometimes, when you claim the policy benefits, your insurance provider hikes the premiums for the next year. So, it becomes imperative to go for an insurance policy that entails lower burden. For keeping a tab on premiums, it is recommended to opt for a family floater policy. These coverage policies can be taken for all your family members. They are much cheaper as the premiums are divided and you have to pay on an individual basis. Family floater insurance policies come with a two-year waiting period and some of the diseases/disorders that are covered during that time are all kinds of duodenal or gastric ulcers, sinuses, hemorrhoids, fibromyoma, hysterectomy, cataracts, endometriosis, hernia, etc. Opt for a policy with high

A 27-year-old in Jackson pays $336 a month for the second-cheapest silver health plan on Mississippi's s federally run insurance marketplace. That is more than twice as much as the $154 a 27-year-old in Nashville would pay for the same type of policy, and the $138 for a similar person in Tucson. Across all 34 insurance marketplaces run by the federal government, the average is $287, about 25 percent cheaper. The reason for the higher prices in some markets? Paltry competition, say Leemore Dafny and Christopher Ody from Northwestern University, and Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jackson has only two insurers on the marketplace: Humana and Centene. By contrast, four insurance companies slug it out on Nashville's exchange. In Tucson, there are eight. Jackson's over-the-top premiums underscore one of the least-heralded shortcomings of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act: the scarcity of insurers on health plan exchanges, which is driving up the price of policies across the country. The research by Ms. Dafny, Mr. Gruber and Mr. Ody, to be published by the National Bureau of Economic Research next week, concludes that premiums on the exchanges are 11 percent higher than they would be if all the health insurance companies that sell policies in each state had participated in the new markets for health plans. More competition not only would lower premiums, but would also save the federal government money. It would spend $1.7 billion less in subsidies to low- and middle-income Americans buying policies on the health care insurance exchanges. "Half of the population in the states with health exchanges facilitated by the federal government is served by three insurers or fewer," Ms. Dafny said. "To have competition on the exchanges you need competitors." The findings are somewhat perplexing, though. By law, 80 to 85 percent of premiums must be devoted to medical spending. Insurers don't have particularly large profit margin

February 25, 2014 - The Internal Revenue Service is offering educational Health Care Tax Tips to help individuals understand how the Affordable Care Act may affect their taxes. The IRS has designed the Health Care Tax Tips to help people understand what they need to know for the federal individual income tax returns they are filing this year, as well as for future tax returns. This includes information on the Premium Tax Credit and making health care coverage choices. Although many of the tax provisions included in the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, most do not affect the 2013 tax returns. The Health Care Tax Tips, which are now available at IRS.gov/aca, include: * IRS Reminds Individuals of Health Care Choices for 2014? Find out what you need to know about how health care choices you make for 2014 may affect your taxes. * The Health Insurance Marketplace - Learn about Your Health Insurance Coverage Options - Find out about getting health care coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace. * The Premium Tax Credit? Learn the basics of the Premium Tax Credit, including who might be eligible and how to get the credit. * The Individual Shared Responsibility Payment - An Overview? Provides information about types of qualifying coverage, exemptions from having coverage, and making a payment if you do not have qualifying coverage or an exemption. * Three Timely Tips about Taxes and the Health Care Law? Provides tips that help with filing the 2013 tax return, including information about employment status, tax favored health plans and itemized deductions. * Four Tax Facts about the Health Care Law for Individuals? Offers basic tips to help people determine if the Affordable Care Act affects them and their families, and where to find more information. * Changes in Circumstances can Affect your Premium Tax Credit? Learn the importance of reporting any changes in circumstances that inv

When shopping for a plan, start with the basics of what you're looking for and what you're willing to pay for, says Michael McMillan,Executive Director of Market and Network Services at Cleveland Clinic. Then make your selection carefully so you get what you're paying for, he adds. To help you navigate enrollment - either on health insurance exchanges or elsewhere - McMillan offers the following helpful tips: 1. Know what services are covered under a selected plan Start by reviewing what each particular plan offers. For example, what does the network of care providers look like? What services are most important to you based on your particular health needs or conditions, and are they available within a plan's coverage? "This will be a period of great change, and consumers will have a lot of options they haven't had before on the exchanges," McMillan says. "It's important to be clear on what's available and what isn't." 2. Make sure your providers are part of the network When choosing plans, this is a major factor. Look at any given plan to see if your doctors and hospitals you use regularly are listed as network providers. One evolving trend has been for health plans to create narrow networks - smaller versions of their standard network that help them achieve a lower price. The bottom line: Not all providers are included in these limited networks, so it's worth your effort to check first and make sure your new plan includes the doctors and other practitioners you see regularly, McMillan says. 3. Know your out-of-pocket costs These are costs associated with the care received. They include things such as deductibles - the amount you pay before coverage kicks in - as well as copays and coinsurance on services. Out-of-pocket costs vary by the "metal" level of plan you choose on a health insurance exchange. So, for example, you would pay 40 percent of costs of coinsurance in a bronze plan, and 30 percent for silver. In some high

With the widespread of insurance nowadays, people are confused which one is legit and which one is a fraud; which can offer better and which one cost less. Choosing the right health coverage has never been easy, and the health reform law has made things more complicated. Besides sorting through differences in premiums, deductibles, and copayments, you need to consider new provisions in the law that have recently kicked in and could impact your coverage for the coming year. Westhill Insurance Consulting can help you clear away any confusion, doubts and complaints. Health insurance should cover any medical need you may have, now or in the future. Buying insurance on your own used to be riskier because many plans didn't cover important things such as prescription drugs or mental health care. Every kind of health insurance must now cover preventive care, with no deductibles, co-pays, or other types of out-of-pocket expenses. That includes Pap and cholesterol tests, mammograms, immunizations, and colonoscopies when age- and condition-appropriate. But even though you no longer have to worry about your basic health care needs being covered, you'll still have to navigate lots of other confusing choices. That's true even if you get coverage through a job, because more than half of workers have a choice of two or more types of health plans. 1. Do you want to pay for care now or later? All health plans have to come up with enough money to pay for the medical expenses of their members. You can choose to collect most of the money up front in the form of premiums. If you have a high premium, you'll pay a smaller share out of your own pocket, in the form of deductibles, co-insurance, and co-pays. Or plans can go the other way, charging smaller premiums but asking you to pay a bigger share on your own. 2. Are you OK with a small network of docs? Doctors and hospitals accept lower fees from insurers if they know they'll be part of a small, o

Westhill Consulting Insurance - How to Avoid Health Care Fraud Mail-order medications Patients who buy drugs through mail-order companies could be rolling the dice with their health says Dr. Deborah C. Peel, a physician and founder of the nonprofit Patient Privacy Rights. There's a high probability in many cases that these drugs are counterfeit Peel added. "And you don't ever know because the fraudulent tablets look just like the real ones," says Peel. She says ordering from companies that specialize in mail-order sales that are not affiliated with a legitimate insurance company, especially from foreign countries, can be very risky. Not only could the quality be questionable, it could also be illegal. "But people are desperate because we're being so grossly overcharged for medication," she says. Peel says you can lessen costs by buying generic. You can spot it by: the best thing to do is to keep away from buying drugs from foreign or obscure pharmacies. And if you decide to go with the mail-order route, just stay with U.S.-based companies because if it's a U.S. company, you can report the health care fraud to the Food and Drug Administration while if it's a foreign company, there's little that can or will be done. False product claims According to the Federal Trade Commission, millions fall victim each year to false miracle cures. Especially vulnerable are victims of debilitating and potentially deadly illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV and AIDS. The FTC website says scammers take advantage of people with a grim diagnosis such as cancer and "promote unproven - and potentially dangerous - substances like black salve, essiac tea, or laetrile with claims that the products are both 'natural' and effective." But, say physicians and other experts, simply because something is advertised as "natural" doesn't mean it works. And while a patient is experimenting with bogus treatments, he or she can squander the opportu

Practical Saver: Tips for saving money on healthcare By KARA ROZENDAAL Courier Columnist Changes in the health insurance arena have many consumers scrambling for affordable options. Don't despair; there are still ways to save significant money on healthcare. Below are a few medical resources that Prescott has to offer, as well as tips on how to pay less at the doctor's office, and an alternative to health insurance. To save money on premiums, many families opt for higher-deductible health insurance policies. High deductibles generally equate to lower monthly insurance premiums. However, in exchange, the majority of the medical expenses are paid out of pocket. In the case where doctor's visits and medical treatment are paid out-of-pocket, you can save money by asking the medical office if there is a cash pay discount. When a patient pays cash and the business doesn't need to submit the claim to the insurance company, it saves the office time.

The Anti-Fraud Division of the Kansas Insurance Department (KID) worked nearly 850 cases of suspected insurance fraud in Kansas during 2013. That's a pretty hefty number for our four-person division, but that figure is an average one for us, unfortunately. How to spot the scam: Use common sense, says Quiggle. Check with your state's department of insurance to see if the company is properly licensed. And remember, if it seems too good to be true, it most likely is. What to do: If your policy is through an organization, report fraud to someone within the organization. Also, report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov and your state's department of insurance. On a national level, if insurance fraud was a business, it would be a Fortune 500 company, according to national reports. It is, by all accounts, the second largest economic crime in America; only tax evasion exceeds it. This type of fraud is the intentional misrepresentation of facts and circumstances to an insurance company in order to obtain payment that would not otherwise be made. Insurance fraud costs upwards of $80-120 billion annually, but most importantly, it adds hundreds of dollars to your annual insurance premiums, as companies have to include that cost of doing business in the premiums you pay. The fraudulent activity comes in all shapes and sizes, from accident insurance and annuities through health insurance and homeowners claims to renters insurance and travel insurance. It also includes application or policy fraud, where the applicant-or an unscrupulous agent - provides false information or forged documents. The reasons for committing fraud are as numerous as the people who commit it-the need for money for some legitimate (in their minds) or illegitimate activity, or maybe just plain old greed.

As we grow older, our responsibilities add up. Having a health insurance should be one of the priorities that we should think of. By the time you are old enough to fend for yourself, you are then required to get an insurance. However, many young adults are still confused on its importance. 1. It may be Illegal When you are living in the United States, Affordable Care Act (ACA) compels you to purchase insurance. Going without insurance for three months would force you to pay a penalty of $325 or 2% of your monthly income, whichever is higher. In developing countries, uninsured individuals have the option to purchase from private companies but laws are already drafted for completion. In cities like Jakarta, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand, more than half of their unemployed population goes uninsured. 2. If you are a full-time employee, your employer should provide you with insurance Most companies require employees work for set period before benefits can be provided. It usually takes 3-6 months in a probationary period before regularization, by which insurance is given. It is in any law in any states and government to mandate to every employer to provide employee benefits. 3. Your parents may still be able to cover you Individuals under the age of 26 can still be listed under their parents' coverage. They can still cover even a modest premium cost. 4. You can do it alone If you are not insured under your parents' plan or purchasing insurance under your employer is not an option, you have the choice to purchase your own insurance from trusted private companies. If you are buying online, just make sure you

Information submitted COLUMBUS - Complications with the federal health insurance exchanges have created challenges for some consumers who have not yet received proof of their insurance coverage. As a result, many consumers are unsure if their medical treatments are covered and are unable to provide their proof of coverage. "Since open enrollment began on Oct. 1 the federal exchange has struggled to process applications and enroll consumers in coverage," Ohio Lieutenant Governor and Department of Insurance Director Mary Taylor said. "These delays are making it more difficult and confusing for consumers to use the health insurance plans they have purchased through the federal exchange." If you recently purchased a plan, but still haven't received proof of insurance from your insurance company, Taylor offers these tips. Contact the Company The first thing you should do is contact your insurance company to verify that you do have insurance coverage. Ask your insurance company for proof of coverage, such as an insurance card or identification numbers. Take detailed notes of conversations and include the representatives names, and date and time they took place. Keep copies of written communication you received from your insurance company such as emails or letters. You may need these materials later. You should also verify that you have paid your first premium on time. Some insurers have permitted late payments for coverage that is retroactively effective to Jan. 1. Ask your insurer for their deadline and keep any records that can serve as proof of payment. If you are about to buy coverage from the federal exchange, print any paperwork or confirmations that you receive during the enrollment process. Payment Options

The scams Phantom treatments. Dishonest medical providers will bill health insurers for expensive treatments, tests or equipment you never received - and for illnesses or injuries you don't even have. Double billing. Unethical providers may double- or triple-bill health insurers for the same treatments, hoping the insurer won't discover the overruns in the big stack of bills. Shoddy care. You might receive shoddy or substandard treatment for real and urgent medical problems. One eye doctor shined pen lights into patients' eyes and said he'd performed cataract surgery. Surgeons have used defective pacemakers and catheters during heart surgeries, which have killed patients or required more surgeries to correct the problems. Unneeded care. You might receive dangerous and even life-threatening treatment you don't need. One surgeon performed heart surgery on patients who didn't need it. Bogus insurers. Insurance agents or brokers sell you low-cost health coverage from fake insurance companies. Then they take your premiums and disappear. You're left without vital health coverage, and don't even know it until you make a claim. Identity theft. Cheaters steal your medical ID number, then use it to bill health programs tens of thousands of dollars for phantom treatment. Crooks steal your health info from dumpsters behind medical clinics, break into doctor offices and steal files, and hack into computer databases containing your records. Rolling labs. Mobile diagnostic labs give needless or fake tests or physical exams to consumers, then bill health insurers for expensive procedures. Runners. A person hired by a medical provider to drum up business trolls through neighborhoods, often low-income areas, enticing people to come to a clinic for tests. These runners will even round up children for unneeded tests and procedures.

Consumer Alert: The Impact of Health Care Fraud on You! In 2011, $2.27 trillion was spent on health care and more than four billion health insurance claims were processed in the United States. It is an undisputed reality that some of these health insurance claims are fraudulent. Although they constitute only a small fraction, those fraudulent claims carry a very high price tag. The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (NHCAA) estimates that the financial losses due to health care fraud are in the tens of billions of dollars each year. Whether you have employer-sponsored health insurance or you purchase your own insurance policy, health care fraud inevitably translates into higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for consumers, as well as reduced benefits or coverage. For employers-private and government alike-health care fraud increases the cost of providing insurance benefits to employees and, in turn, increases the overall cost of doing business. For many Americans, the increased expense resulting from fraud could mean the difference between making health insurance a reality or not. However, financial losses caused by health care fraud are only part of the story. Health care fraud has a human face too. Individual victims of health care fraud are sadly easy to find. These are people who are exploited and subjected to unnecessary or unsafe medical procedures. Or whose medical records are compromised or whose legitimate insurance information is used to submit falsified claims. Don't be fooled into thinking that health care fraud is a victimless crime. There is no doubt that health care fraud can have devastating effects. What Does Health Care Fraud Look Like? The majority of health care fraud is committed by a very small minority of dishonest health care providers. Sadly, the actions of these deceitful few ultimately serve to sully the reputation of perhaps the most trusted and respected members of our society-