Health Insurance

Below: Health insurance advice | Companies | Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Health Insurance - advice and information

Health Insurance Consumer Guides - Summaries of health protection in each state.

Health Insurance Guide - Information on the kinds of health insurance, benefits, and how to choose the right plan.

Health Insurance In-Depth - A guide to medical insurance, with advice on policy types, additional coverage, and state-by-state regulations of personal and group health insurance.

The Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act - The original HIPAA Act of 1996.

Health Insurance Resource Center - Resources for the self-employed to understand their health insurance. Includes glossary of industry terms, tips, FAQs on individual health insurance, and risk pool information.

Health insurance.com.au - Health insurance guide offering tips and advice on finding the right policy.

HIPAA Online - Clear explanations of HIPAA's consumer protections, along with examples of how HIPAA applies to particular situations.

HIV and Insurance: Some Questions and Answers - Some Questions and Answers, by Mark Scherzer, Esq., at The Body, an AIDS and HIV information resource.

How I Fought My HMO and Won Without a Lawyer - A personal chronicle of a 16 month battle with an HMO to get them to pay medical claims. Also includes information for people about to or currently fighting their HMO.

How to Choose Health Care Coverage - Brief explanations of different kinds of health insurance, produced by the Hope Heart Institute.

How to Pick a Health Plan - ABCs from the Detroit Free Press.

MyHealthChoices - Information for consumers to make personal decisions about their health care and insurance coverage.

New York Health Insurance Information, Counseling and Assistance Program (HIICAP) - Consumer help with Medicare, managed care, Medigap insurance, long term care insurance; written for New Yorkers, but contains information of general interest. From the New York State Office for the Aging.

Senior Health Insurance Counseling - Information on Medicare and related programs covering Medigap, HMO, Medicaid and Long Term Care.

U.S. Census Bureau Health Insurance Data - Data on status and type of coverage by age, sex, gender, race, state, as well as other characteristics. Site offers data review tools to create and extract custom data tables.

Women and Job Based Health Benefits - Claims, workers rights, and HIPAA information.

Health insurance - companies and services

The Acacia Group - Includes Acacia Life Insurance Company which offers universal life, whole life, and term insurance; and Acacia National Life Insurance Company which offers flexible premium variable life and annuities.

Academy Life Insurance Company - Provides life insurance for enlisted and retired military personnel as well as their families. Policies include coverage for all military hazardous occupations at standard premium rates. Peacetime and wartime coverage available.

Advance Insurance Company - Sells group insurance for dental, disability, term life, accidental death and dismemberment, and dependent life in 38 US states.

Advantage Dental Plan - Oregon based dental insurance for individuals and groups as small as 2 employees. Customizable benefits to suit your needs.

Aetna - Provider of life, health and retirement benefit plans and financial services.

AFLAC - World wide insurance carrier based in U.S. Offers accident, cancer, hospital indemnity, intensive care, long-term care, and life insurance plans.

Amalgamated Life Insurance Company - Specializes in life, disability, term, group and accidental death insurance.

American Income Life Insurance Company - Specializes in supplemental benefits to working families. A wholly owned subsidiary of Torchmark Corp.

American Industries Life Insurance Company - Texas-only company offering burial insurance, term insurance, and limited-pay policies. Request a quote on-line.

American Life Insurance Company of New York - Offers term life insurance and variable annuities throughout the United States.

American Savings Life Insurance Company - Life insurance provider specializing in youth, children, and college policies. The company also provides equity mortagage lending.

Catholic Family Life Insurance - The oldest Catholic fraternal insurance society in the U.S., offering insurance and annuity plans, along with fraternal benefit and volunteer programs.

CIGNA - Formed in 1865 as Connecticut General, CIGNA is an employee benefits company in the U.S. and in selected markets around the world.

Clarica - Provides life and group extended health insurance in Canada and life insurance in the USA. Part of the Sun Life Financial Group. [English, French]

Cobalt Corporation - Offers health, dental, and specialty products.

Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company - Portfolio of supplemental products includes accident, disability, life, hospital confinement, cancer and critical illness coverage. A subsidiary of UnumProvident Corporation.

Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company - Offers life and accidental death insurance directly to consumers. Specializes in guaranteed acceptance life insurance.

Columbian Financial Group - Includes Columbian Mutual, Columbian Life , and Columbian Family Life. Life insurance products include home service, worksite voluntary benefits, universal life, term, whole life, pre-need, and final expense.

Confederation Life Insurance Company (in liquidation) - Status site of Confederation Life Insurance Company, now insolvent. KPMG Inc., liquidator.

Conseco, Inc. - Through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health insurance, retirement annuities, universal life insurance, and consumer and commercial finance products and services.

Continental General Insurance Company - Provides life and health insurance for families, businesses, and individuals. Also offers annuities.

CPIC Life Insurance Company - A subsidiary of Blue Shield of California. Offers group life, AD&D and vision plans, as well as individual short-term health coverage, to residents of California and Arizona.

Equitable - Offering individual and business life insurance, and annuities. View contracts online.

First Health Group Corp. - Managed care company serving the group health, workers' compensation, and state public program markets throughout the United States.

The Franklin Life Insurance Company - American Franklin Life writes interest-sensitive insurance products.

GE Financial Assurance - Products include life and long term care insurance, annuities, and mutual funds. Also offers 401k plans and group life insurance for employers.

Gerber Life Insurance Company - Provider of budget supplemental term and whole life and health insurance policies for children, families and seniors.

Golden Rule Insurance Company - Specialize in health insurance and Medical Savings Accounts. Also offer life insurance and annuities.

Great-West Life Assurance Company - Canadian insurer offering group life and health benefit plans, individual disability plans, and investment and retirement savings plans.

Group Health Stop loss insurance - Provides group life, self-funded stop-loss, group medical, group dental, and individual life plans to employer groups. Licensed in 36 US states, Guam and Washington DC.

The Guardian Life Insurance Company - An insurance company offering health, life, disability, annuities, investments, and pensions. Home office in New York City.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care - Includes benefits, coverage, news, financial information, health news, and employment information.

Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia Limited (HCF) - Not-for-profit organisation offering private health insurance for employers, individuals, couples, and families.

Illinois Mutual - Insurance products include disability income, life, and annuities. Offers calculators, a glossary, links, and articles.

Industrial Alliance Pacific Life Insurance Company - Life insurance carrier based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and a member of the Industrial Alliance Group of Companies.

John Hancock Financial Services - A financial services company, providing insurance and investment products and services to retail and institutional customers.

Keyport Life Insurance Company - Fixed, variable, and indexed annuities provider. Site includes annuity glossary, FAQ, and job postings.

Landmark Life Insurance Company - Offers final expense life insurance services.

Lincoln Financial Group - Offers life insurance, annuities, and retirement plans for individuals and groups through independent financial services professionals.

Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company - Provides life insurance for final expense, as well as Medicare Supplements and other senior insurance products. Part of The Londen Companies in Phoenix, AZ.

Lincoln Mutual Life & Casualty Insurance Company - Offers group life and health insurance products. Licensed in 15 western and midwestern states.

Max New York Life - Joint venture between Max India Ltd. and New York Life Insurance Company; offers life insurance products throughout India.

Medical Mutual of Ohio - A mutual health insurer, owned by its policyholders. Services for members, employers, brokers, and providers. (aka "Medical Mutual")

Mennonite Mutual Aid - MMA is a church-related organization that helps Anabaptists practice Christian stewardship. Products include fraternal benefits, annuities, health, life, group life, and long term care insurance.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company - Products include homeowners, auto, boat, life, annuities, and IRA's. The Life Advice Center has advice for family, health, money, purchases, business, and insurance.

MII Life, Inc. - Provides group and voluntary term life, short and long term disability income, individual and group long term care coverage, and employee flexible spending accounts. Subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Mission Life Insurance Company of America - Senior life insurance specialists. Primary focus is using insurance to fund preneed funeral contracts.

Monumental Life Insurance Company - Founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1858, the company offers term and permanent life insurance as well as supplemental health products. Member of Aegon Insurance Group.

The MONY Group - Offers information about the company, products sold, and offers users the ability to find a local agent.

National Guardian Life - Mutual life insurance company offering traditional life, annuities, universal life, and term life insurance. Participate in an interactive financial review or use the calculators. Request a quote. Locate an agent.

National Travelers Life Co. - Provides personal and employer sponsored insurance products.

New England Financial - Licensed underwriter in all 50 states and WDC. Offers a variety of life insurance products as well as disability income and long term care. A subsidiary of MetLife.

OCASO - Spanish insurer with branch office in the United Kingdom. Offers household, funeral expense, commercial, condominium, life, pension, and industrial products.

ODS Health Plans - An Oregon company offering a complete line of medical and dental insurance for individuals and groups.

Oxford Life Insurance Company - Specialize in life, annuity, and health insurance products.

Pacific Life - Offers life insurance, annuities, investments, and a variety of other products and services to help individuals and businesses plan a secure financial future.

RBC Liberty insurance - Specializes in life insurance and annuities for middle income families.

Regence Life and Health Insurance Company - Oregon-based non-profit life, health and disability insurance company, licensed also in Washington, Idaho and Utah.

Reliance Standard Life Insurance Company - Offers group life, disability, dental, and accidental death and dismemberment.

Savings Bank Life Insurance (SBLI) - Offers instant online quotes, an insurance needs planning tool, customer service forms, and the ability to request more information. Originally for Massachusetts residents, SBLI is now licensed in several Northeast states.

SBLI Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Inc. - Offers whole life, term life, and group mortgage insurance products in New York. Includes needs analysis and online quotes. Apply online.

Security Financial Life Insurance Company - Markets individual whole life, universal life and term life insurance and annuities, along with employee benefit plans and services, including group life insurance, qualified pensions and 401(k) plans.

Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana - Offers equity-indexed annuities, life insurance, and critical illness protection. Download forms, ask questions, or request service in customer service area.

Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada - Offers a variety of services and products, including life insurance, annuities, critical illness insurance, and group life, health and disability insurance.

Sun Life Financial - Offers individual and group life products to residents of the Philippines.

TD Insurance Centre - Toronto Dominion Life Insurance Company offers term life, universal life, travel, creditor, accident, disability, and critical illness insurance, as well group benefits. Includes online quotes, online application, and a needs calculator.

Trustmark Insurance Company - Offers individual and group insurance packages nationwide.

United Heartland Workers Compensation - Offers Workers' Compensation insurance in Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, featuring innovative cost management programs such as the Drug-Free Workplace. A subsidiary of the Cobalt Corporation.

UnumProvident Corporation - Multi-national conglomerate of insurance companies. Request quotes online for critical illness, and accident insurance.

West Coast Life Insurance Company - Offers life insurance products including whole life, universal life, interest sensitive whole life, survivor life, and term-like life insurance. Includes an agent locator and online quotes.

Health insurance - blue cross and blue shield

BlueCross BlueShield Association - Trade association for the independent, locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans in the USA. Offers online resource for health insurance information, including a nationwide plan finder that locates information about local BCBS health plans.

Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans - Not-for-profit organization maintains and monitors standards of performance for its independent Member Plans, ensuring the highest quality of service which benefit all clients across the country. Includes a nationwide plan finder that locates information about provincial Blue Cross plans.

Alabama - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama - Administers health and dental programs for employers throughout the state. Also offers coverage to individuals, families, and supplemental Medicare.

Alaska - Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska - Serves businesses and individuals. Includes health information, provider directory, and searchable formulary.

Alberta Blue Cross - Provides supplementary health and dental benefit programs. Administers health programs for provincial, territorial, and federal governments.

Arizona - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona - Statewide nonprofit health services company offers employer, individual/family, and senior plans. Site offers sections for providers, brokers, employers, members, and guests.

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield - Site offers sections for guests, members, employers, providers, and agents. Includes section on health care legislation.

British Columbia - PBC Health Benefits Society - Offers supplemental health and dental insurance, as well as life and disability. (dba "Pacific Blue Cross" and "BC Life")

California - Blue Cross of California - Offers plans for groups, employers, individuals, families, and mature individuals. Site offers sections for members, physicians, hospitals, brokers, and employers.

California - mylifepath Blue Shield of California - Offers plans for groups, employers, individuals, families, and medicare supplemental. Site offers information for employers, providers, and consumers.

Delaware - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware - A CareFirst Company. Offers services to employers and individuals. Site includes information for customers, providers, and brokers, as well as consumer health care links.

Federal - Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program (FEP) - Also known as the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. Offers information to members, including description of benefits, provider directory, newsletters, and health and safety tips. [includes Web Accessibility site]

Florida - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida - Provides coverage plan information for individuals and groups, a provider directory, rates, legislative news and links to health related sites.

Idaho - Blue Cross of Idaho - Offers healthcare plans to employers, groups, and individuals. Site includes sections for members, brokers, providers, and benefits managers.

Idaho - Regence BlueShield of Idaho - A mutual health insurance company which holds a certificate of authority to operate a managed care organization throughout the state of Idaho.

Illinois - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois - A division of Health Care Service Corporation. Site provides resources for current and prospective members, employers, medical providers, and prospective employees.

Manitoba Blue Cross - Offers supplemental health and dental insurance to individuals and employers as well as life insurance to individuals.

Maryland & WDC - CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield - Offers healthcare insurance to residents of Maryland and Washington, DC. Site includes information for Brokers, employers, and providers, as well as links to consumer health and wellness sites.

Michigan - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan - Health and dental insurance carrier providing information and online forms for card holders, physicians, dentists, hospitals and group customers.

Minnesota - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota - Offers health plans for individuals and businesses. Includes information about health programs, community wellness endeavors, the Foundation, and finding a BCBS doctor.

multiprovince - Atlantic Blue Cross Care - (New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) Offers supplemental health, dental, vision care and prescription drug programs to individuals, families, and groups. Also offers travel plans, critical illness coverage and life insurance. [English, French]

multistate - Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield - (Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, Maine, Ohio, and Virginia) Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc., offers health insurance and other benefits options to employers and individuals.

multistate - Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield - (Iowa and South Dakota) Provides group, individual, and family health insurance. Site includes many wellness and safety articles, information concerning the Wellmark Foundation, and community health links for both states.

Nebraska - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska - Offers plans for employers, individuals, and Farm Bureau members. Site includes sections for members, administrators, and providers, as well as providing information on legislative issues and a variety of health links for consumers.

New Jersey - Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey - Offers services to employers, individuals, and families. Site includes plan news, history, and specific health care coverage.

New Mexico - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico - Division of Health Care Service Corporation offers individual and group health insurance plans. Site includes sections for members, brokers, providers, and employers, as well as health information for consumers.

New York - BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York - Offers health plans to employers and individuals. Site has sections for members, employers, providers, and agents.

New York - BlueShield of Northeastern New York - Offer traditional indemnity insurance plans, managed care plans, and preferred provider organization plans that combine traditional and managed care features. Covers the New York capital region.

New York - Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Inc. - Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association for the 28 eastern and south-eastern counties of New York State. Site offers services for members, employers, brokers, and physicians.

New York - Excellus BlueCross BlueShield of Central New York - Offers health plans for employers, individuals, and families. Covers central New York and southern tier region. [English and Spanish]

New York - Excellus BlueCross BlueShield of Utica-Watertown - Offers health plans for employers, individuals, and families. Covers Utica region of New York.

Oklahoma - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma - Offers personal and group health insurance plans. Site includes sections for members, providers, group leaders, and producers. Also offers selection of links to numerous consumer health sites.

Ontario Blue Cross - Provides supplemental health insurance to employers and individuals, and life and travel insurance to individuals.

Oregon - Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon - Provides individual and group health care coverage to members in Oregon and Clark County, Washington. The site gives members plan information, important forms, and health and wellness tips.

Québec Blue Cross - Offers supplemental health and travel insurance to individuals and groups. [French, English]

Rhode Island - Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island - Offers member services, plans and programs, healthcare information, health links, and career opportunities.

Saskatchewan Blue Cross - Provides supplementary health benefits for individuals and groups. Also offers travel insurance.

South Carolina - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina - Offering healthcare insurance to the individuals, families and businesses. Includes links to consumer health and wellness information.

Tennessee - BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee - Offers individual and group health plans, including PPO, copay PPO, HMO, point-of-service HMO, and Medicare supplement insurance.

Washington - Premera Blue Cross - Serves Washington State, except Clark County. Site offers provider directory, general health information, and online printable forms.

Washington - Regence BlueShield - Offers medical, dental, vision and health insurance plans to individuals, small businesses and large groups in many counties of Washington State.

Wisconsin - Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin - Division of the Cobalt Corporation offers individual and group health insurance. Provides customer service, find a new doctor service, and health plan comparisons. Employment information available.

Health insurance information

Health insurance is a type of insurance whereby the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured becomes sick due to covered causes, or due to accidents. The insurer may be a private organization or a government agency. Market-based health care systems such as that in the United States rely primarily on private health insurance.

History of health insurance

The concept of health insurance was proposed in 1694 by Hugh the Elder Chamberlen from the Peter Chamberlen family. In the late 19th century, early health insurance was actually disability insurance, in the sense that it covered only the cost of emergency care for injuries that could lead to a disability. This payment model continued until the start of the 20th century in some jurisdictions (like California), where all laws regulating health insurance actually referred to disability insurance. Patients were expected to pay all other health care costs out of their own pockets, under what is known as the fee-for-service business model. During the middle to late 20th century, traditional disability insurance evolved into modern health insurance programs. Today, most comprehensive private health insurance programs cover the cost of routine, preventive, and emergency health care procedures, and also most prescription drugs, but this was not always the case.

Private health insurance

A health insurance policy is a legal, binding contract between the insurance company and the customer. The largest difference between private sector health insurance and life insurance is that for life insurance, a person may purchase guaranteed renewable insurance for the whole of the insured's life at a constant premium rate, while health insurance is generally purchased year by year with generally no assurance of renewability and if renewable no guarantee that premium rates will not increase.

Inherent problems with private insurance

Any private insurance system will face two inherent challenges: adverse selection and Ex-post moral hazard.

Adverse Selection

Insurance companies use the term "adverse selection" to describe the tendency for only those who will benefit from insurance to buy it. Specifically when talking about health insurance, unhealthy people are more likely to purchase health insurance because they anticipate large medical bills. On the flip side, people who consider themselves to be reasonably healthy may decide that medical insurance is an unnecessary expense; if they see the doctor once a year and it costs $250, that's much better than making monthly insurance payments of $400 (example figures).

The fundamental concept of insurance is that it balances costs across a large, random sample of individuals. For instance, an insurance company has a pool of 1000 randomly selected subscribers, each paying $100/month. One of them gets really sick while the others stay healthy, which means that the insurance company can use the money paid by the healthy people to treat the sick person. Adverse selection upsets this balance between healthy and sick subscribers. It will leave an insurance company with primarily sick subscribers and no way to balance out the cost of their medical expenses with a large number of healthy subscribers.

Because of adverse selection, insurance companies use a patient's medical history to screen out persons with pre-existing medical conditions. Before buying health insurance, a person typically fills out a comprehensive medical history form that asks whether the person smokes, how much the person weighs, whether or not the person has been treated for any of a long list of diseases and so on. In general, those who look like they will be large financial burdens are denied coverage or charged high premiums to compensate. On the other side, applicants can actually get discounts if they do not smoke and are healthy.

Moral Hazard

Moral hazard describes the state of mind and change in behavior that results from one's knowledge that if something bad were to happen, the out-of-pocket cost would be mitigated by an insurance policy--in this case, one which provides reduced prices for medical care. In the same way that people treat water with little care when it is very inexpensive, people will also tend to overuse medical care when the out-of-pocket costs are sma

Other factors affecting insurance price

Because of advances in medicine and medical technology, medical treatment is more expensive, and people in developed countries are living longer. The population of those countries is aging, and a larger group of senior citizens requires more medical care than a young healthier population. (A similar rise in costs is evident in Social Security in the United States.) These factors cause an increase in the price of health insurance.

Some other factors that cause an increase in health insurance prices are health related: insufficient exercise; unhealthy food choices; a shortage of doctors in impoverished or rural areas; excessive alcohol use, smoking, street drugs, obesity, among some parts of the population; and the modern sedentary lifestyle of the middle classes.

In theory, people could lower health insurance prices by doing the opposite of the above; that is, by exercising, eating healthy food, avoiding addictive substances, etc. Healthier lifestyles protect the body from some, although not all, diseases, and with fewer diseases, the expenses borne by insurance companies would likely drop. A program for addressing increasing premiums, dubbed "consumer driven health care," encourages Americans to buy high-deductible, lower-premium insurance plans in exchange for tax benefits.

Common complaints about private insurance

Some common complaints about private health insurance include:

1. Insurance companies do not announce their health insurance premiums more than a year in advance. This means that, if one becomes ill, he or she may find that their premiums have greatly increased.
2. If insurance companies try to charge different people different amounts based on their own personal health, people will feel they are unfairly treated.
3. When a claim is made, particularly for a sizable amount, it may be deemed in the best interest of the insurance company to use paperwork and bureaucracy to attempt to avoid payment of the claim or, at a minimum, greatly delay it.
4. Health insurance is often only widely available at a reasonable cost through an employer-sponsored group plan.
5. Employers can write some or all of their employee health insurance premiums off of their taxable income whereas traditionally individuals have had to pay taxes on income used to fund health insurance.
6. Experimental treatments are generally not covered. This practice is especially criticized by those who have already tried, and not benefited from, all "standard" medical treatments for their condition.
7. The Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) type of health insurance plan has been criticized for excessive cost-cutting policies.
8. As the health care recipient is not directly involved in payment of health care services and products, they are less likely to scrutinize or negotiate the costs of the health care received. The health care company has few popular and many unpopular ways of controlling this market force.
9. Some health care providers end up with different sets of rates for the same procedure. One for people with insurance and another for those without.

Publicly funded health insurance

With publicly funded health insurance the good and the bad risks all receive coverage without regard to their health status, which eliminates the problem of adverse selection.

National Health Service

The National Health Service (NHS) is the "public face" of the four publicly funded health care systems of the United Kingdom. The organisations provide the majority of healthcare in the UK, from general practitioners to Accident and Emergency Departments, long-term healthcare and dentistry. They were founded in 1948 and have become an integral part of British society, culture and everyday life: the NHS was once described by Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, as 'the national religion'. Private health care has continued parallel to the NHS, paid for largely by private insurance, but it is used only by a small percentage of the population, and generally as a top-up to NHS services.

Health insurance in the United States

According to the latest United States Census Bureau figures, approximately 85% of Americans have health insurance. Approximately 60% obtain health insurance through their place of employment or as individuals, and various government agencies provide health insurance to over 29% of Americans. In 2005, 46.6 million (15.9%) Americans were without health insurance. People living in the western and southern United States are more likely to be uninsured.

Medicare

In the United States, government-funded Medicare programs help to insure the elderly and end stage renal disease patients. Some health care economists (Ewe Reinhardt of Princeton and Stuart Butler among others) assert that (the third party payment feature) these programs have had the unintended consequence of distorting the price of medical procedures. As a result, the Health Care Financing Administration has set up a list of procedures and corresponding prices under the Resource-Based Relative Value Scale.

Starting in 2006, Medicare Part D provides a program for the elderly to buy insurance for the purchase of prescription drugs.

Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage expands the health care options for Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare Advantange was born from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 in order to better control the rapid growth in Medicare spending, as well as to provide Medicare beneficiaries more choices.

Medicaid

While Medicaid was instituted for the very poor, beginning in 1972, the number of individuals in the United States who lacked any form of health insurance for any period during the year increased each year, every year with the exceptions of the years 1999 and 2000. It has been reported that the number of physicians accepting Medicaid has decreased in recent years due to relatively high administrative costs and low reimbursements.

According the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nearly 100% of large firms offer health insurance to their employees. Although much more likely to offer retiree health benefits than small firms, the percentage of large firms offering these benefits fell from 66% in 1988 to 34% in 2002.

Attribition: This informational article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Health insurance, which you should check for the full references.

Some health insurance listings from the ODP