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Montana Insurance News1/19/2011 Child-only health insurance for children with significant medical problems will be available through an open enrollment period mandated by federal state law during the month the calendar month before the birth month of the child . All children, regardless of medical condition, continue to be eligible for insurance when applying as a dependent on a parent’s policy and healthy children are eligible for child-only insurance at any time. When applying for child-only insurance for more than one child, make a separate application for each child. 12/16/2010 Montana Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Securities 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, the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Securities said that it would: 1) Conduct several public processes with Stakeholders Involvement Council including interagency work group for program integrations, information technology staff and public comment opportunities, 2) Conduct a demographic scan of current population to ascertain information including insurance and socioeconomic status, 3) Assess resources and capabilities such as available staff, contracting, updated software, and 4) Determine necessary legislation to be implemented when appropriate. 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. 5/14/2010 Diabetes Coverage: A new resource to help find health insurance for diabetics in Montana is now available at Freedom Benefits. 4/8/2010 Montana residents covered by Assurant Health are expected to face premium increases following a settlement this week between Time Insurance Company and the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance for offering low priced coverage below the minimum requirements of Montana Law. Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen objected to the lower priced basic health insurance policy from Time Insurance because it did not providing coverage to women for prenatal care and pregnancy, mammography, reconstructive breast surgery, diabetes management and care, and severe mental illness. Assurant will pay a settlement of more than $300,000 and replace its lower cost policy with a more expensive policy that includes the cost of the settlement plus anticipated future claims due to the additional state mandates. No estimate of the required premium increase but we expect that 2011 premium rates will rise about 5% due to this settlement with the state plus an additional amount for medical inflation and other actuarial factors. Our experience indicates that the majority of Montana's health insurance buyers prefer a lower cost policy without the additional mandates that are available in most other states. Montana residents, even more than residents of other states, tend to object to government regulators dictating the insurance provisions they must be included in the policies that they elect to purchase. Even though more freedom in choosing insurance benefits is available in most other states, at this time residents of Montana face significant obstacles purchasing more affordable coverage that is offered in another state. The recently passed federal health insurance reform legislation will remove this obstacle by effectively removing this power from the state. Montana consumers will not benefit from the federal law change until 2014. Until then all Montana residents and insurance companies offering coverage in Montana must pay the cost of the state's mandates regardless of the need or desire to obtain maternity, diabetes and mental health care benefits. |
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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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