Another Co-Op Closes

December 21, 2022 / By / All Posts, Health Insurance, In The News

This past Wednesday news was buzzing with yet another co-op closing its doors. Nevada Health co-op will be the third cooperative health insurance company that was created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to close their doors. The reports are that they can’t keep up with challenging market conditions and cost. When you go to Healthcare.gov and look into plans offered in Las Vegas, one of the largest cities in Nevada there are only three carriers that come up. You’re putting a brand new company up against Blue Cross Blue Shield and Health Plan of Nevada who is operated by United Healthcare. …

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File Your Tax Forms Correctly

December 21, 2022 / By / All Posts, Health Insurance, In The News

Did you file your tax forms correctly this year or were you part of the 1.8 million households that might not receive a tax subsidy for health insurance next year because you didn’t? Each year there are different tax laws and stipulations that make a tax accountants job difficult to say the least. This year tax accountants found themselves faced with having to help millions of Americans submit their forms to verify they had health insurance so they did not incur a penalty. The problem is if the filings were not correct or if their were no filings and the …

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Small-Businesses March on Capitol Hill

December 21, 2022 / By / All Posts, Health Insurance, In The News, Small Business

At the end of July, “about 150 small-business owners, organized by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), will head to Capitol Hill to make the case to members from their states on legislation…,” says a recent article by The Hill. The issue being brought forth is a ruling from 2013 by the IRS that imposes steep penalties on employers who offer tax-free reimbursement to their employees to help them purchase individual health insurance plans.  What small-business owners are confused over is the need for a penalty when all they are doing is trying to help their employees to afford …

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Another Health Cooperative Bites the Dust

December 21, 2022 / By / All Posts, Health Insurance, In The News

When the ACA passed in 2010 it included the creation of state based co-op’s. With very few choices in the marketplace 23 states created their own co-op giving a reprieve to consumers hoping to pay lower costs. Each of the co-op’s are start-up companies and are having to hedge their way in a market with several large carriers that have decades of market presence. Many of the co-ops have come in with lower costs to gain high enrollment for the first few years of opening the doors. A strategy that has worked against several co-op’s like Louisiana’s Health Cooperative (LAHC) which …

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Largest Insurance Merger in History

December 21, 2022 / By / All Posts, Health Insurance, In The News

Last Friday news was buzzing with the announcement that Cigna and Anthem will in fact be merging. The $54B deal won’t be finalized without Federal approval, but after long awaited negotiations an agreement has been met. Currently there are five major health insurance carriers, Aetna, Cigna, Anthem, United Healthcare, and Humana. Although three weeks ago Aetna acquired Humana bringing the large carrier count to four. Now this merger takes the count down to three. Speculation as to why these carriers feel the need to merge has been a heightened topic, but a substantial reason has yet to presented itself. Dan Diamond who …

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Will The Co-Ops Survive?

December 21, 2022 / By / All Posts, Health Insurance, In The News

When the Affordable Care Act was passed several Health Insurance Co-Ops were created to move away from the traditional healthcare insurers. Grace-Marie Turner with the Galen Institute states, “The co-ops were founded on the idealistic belief that community members could band together to create health insurance companies that would be member-driven, service-oriented, and would not have to answer to shareholders or turn a profit.” This ideal is wonderful, but each of these co-ops are startup companies that are having growing pains. They are each trying to find the balance of premium cost versus losses taken. Several of the co-ops had a …

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