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Arkansas Insurance News3/1/2011 Mercy Health Plan terminates coverage for all Arkansas individual policyholders on March 15. Other immediate issue short term major medical policies are available to those who do not already have alternative coverage. There are currently ten other commercial companies that offer alternative individual major medical coverage in Arkansas: Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, Assurant Health, Celtic Insurance Company, CoventryOne, Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Golden Rule Insurance Company, Freedom Life Insurance Company of America, United Security Life & Health Insurance Company of Illinois, World Insurance Company. Several additional companies listed in the section above offer limited benefit policies. Application and approval times vary from one day to several weeks. OnlineAdviser offers telephone and email support to help find a suitable alternate coverage. CHIP eligibility - Individuals not eligible for any of the above options may qualify for CHIP coverage if they are currently residents of Arkansas, have been residents of Arkansas for at least 90 days and present evidence to the Administrator of: a. a notice of rejection or refusal by an insurer to issue substantially similar individual health insurance coverage by reason of the existence or history of a medical condition; or b. a refusal by an insurer to issue individual health insurance coverage except at a rate substantially in excess of (at least 50% greater than) the applicable premium rate under a comparable CHIP Policy; 2/12/2011 With dozens of health plans choices available online offering a wide range of pricing and benefits, how do you find the best combination of price and benefits? Celtic Insurance realizes that the choices can be overwhelming; the company offers more than 40 possible health plan designs in many parts of the United States. A new feature called "Help Me Choose" lets users easily and quickly select the benefits they value most and narrows the list down to a few of the best choices. No personal information is required other than zip code and date of birth. 12/28/2010 The state's pre-existing condition insurance plan attracted only 33 Arkansas residents this year despite the government-subsidized premiums. This plan provides a health coverage option for consumers who have been uninsured for at least six months, have a pre-existing condition or have been denied health coverage because of their health condition, and are a U.S. citizen or are residing here legally. The federal government pays most of the premium cost. The plan was initially criticized for excessive taxpayer costs but the overall lack of public interest in this insurance was not anticipated. 12/16/2010 Arkansas Insurance Department officials met representatives of 44 other states and numerous employees of the federal Health and Human Services Department in Washington DC this week for a two-day working meeting to discuss the next steps in establish a government-run health insurance exchange under the American Health Benefit Exchange Model Act. Their attendance at this meeting was paid for by a $1 million federal grant awarded by HHS in September to the state for research how to set up an insurance exchange. Two states (Alaska and Minnesota) declined to participate, saying that it was a waste of taxpayer money. Four other states (not identified in press reports) that received federal grants did not send representatives to the meeting. Attendees included representatives of 16 states that are suing the federal government in an attempt to overturn the federal health reform law; specifically the requirement that forces individuals to buy health insurance on the insurance exchange or pay a hefty tax fine. In its initial federal grant request for the insurance exchange project, Arkansas said that: it would: 1) Guided the planning process by principles of consumer protection, stakeholder inclusion, integrated systems, quality, and cost-efficiency, 2) Create an interagency executive planning team, 3) Secure assistance with research and analyses that will allow Arkansas to make informed planning decisions, 4) Create a final report which will include recommendations about a) Governance and administrator of the Arkansas Exchange, b) Policy/regulatory needs including benefit standards, incentives, reporting, and monitoring requirements, c) Existing technology and infrastructure to support Exchange operations, d) Methods and costs for integrating Exchange eligibility and enrollment processes with those for Medicaid and other emerging health reform initiatives. The meeting reportedly did not address the role of the commercial health insurance exchanges on the implementation of new competing government systems. The model act does not address inter-state insurance exchange proposals nor insurance sales across state lines. Federal officials admitted that they may not be able to provide further guidance until 2012. Meanwhile, most states are motivated to continue to meet requirements to obtain additional funding promised by the federal government for the establishment of insurance exchange by 2014. Freedom Benefits has previously voiced the opinion that the huge amount of money being spent to set up alternate insurance sales system technologies could be better used providing health benefits to the public. We proposed on the Universal Health Insurance blog that adequate commercial insurance sales systems are already in place that could be modified in a public/private partnership to make health insurance more affordable. 5/10/2010 Diabetes Coverage: A new resource to help with health insurance for diabetics in Arkansas is available |
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The content on this Web page is maintained by consumer finance writer Tony Novak. Comments, feedback, questions and corrections are welcome to help keep content relevant and up-to-date. Contact the author directly by e-mail, on Twitter or through the contact information included on his Web site. 
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