Personal professional enrollment support is available for all of the benefit plans listed on this page. Send your question by e-mail for fast OnlineAdviser response. Limited telephone support (800) 609-0683. Office hours posted daily on Twitter @FreedomBenefits   Most Liberal Eligibility Core Health Insurance - the nation's most popular defined benefit health plans with guaranteed acceptance from US Fire Insurance Company Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan - a temporary government-sponsored plan available to citizens/residents who have  been uninsured for more than 6 months due to a pre-existing medical condition. Value 24 Hour Accident - up to $10,000 of supplemental health insurance coverage for emergency treatment of injuries at a cost of about $2 per day. Can be used as a stand-alone coverage or added to other insurance. Value Emergency Room - add $1,000 additional emergency room coverage for $1 per day for the whole family Most Affordable Basic Health Insurance - the least expensive plan in the exchange with the lowest level health benefits Secure Lite STM - the lowest priced major medical insurance for 1 to 12 months Secure Saver STM - $2 million maximum coverage for 1-12 months at an ultra-low rate Value Med Insurance - 3 question simple medical eligibility and immediate approval for supplemental doctor and hospital benefits Long Term Major Medical Celticare - well-known renewable individual major medical insurance for discriminating healthy applicants Celtic Basic Health Insurance - a trim version of Celticare at a lower price UnitedHealthcare - Golden Rule Insurance, a member of America's largest health plan Group Insurance Celtic Healthy Texas - low cost group insurance for small businesses in Texas with 2+ employees. Dental Insurance Secure DentalOne - one lifetime deductible of $100 and then up to $1,250 per year coverage UnitedHealthOne Dental & Vision - national PPO network of more than 73,000 providers Online Life Insurance Great Start Child Life Insurance - inexpensive permanent insurance that can be gifted by parents and grandparents Guarantee Trust term life Insurance - fast, easy and inexpensive online term insurance coverage up to $250,000 International Term Life - up to $2 million coverage issued by Lloyds online specifically for those who spend time outside of the US Simple whole life insurance - the fastest way to get affordable permanent coverage up to $50,000. Online underwriting, no exam. Smart term life insurance - up to $500,000 coverage directly online without an exam or blood test QuoteIntelligence Term life insurance - find the lowest rates, compare features & eligibility requirements and then apply online with the best insurance companies in less than 30 seconds.

Texas health insurance exchange Texas has 39 commercial insurance companies that offer individual health insurance and 46 small group health insurance plans including Healthy Texas and the Texas High Risk Pool that provides coverage to residents who were denied insurance under a commercial plan due to a pre-existing medical condition. These standard health insurance plans may not be affordable to all residents. This Web page lists some of the most popular low cost commercial health insurance plans and related benefits. All of these policies offer secure online enrollment and professional OnlineAdviser personal enrollment support. Please note that while many of these choices could be included in more than one of the suggested usage categories, each plan is listed only once for the sake of brevity. Your enrollment adviser is available to discuss suitability of any plan for your specific situation. Texas insurance & benefit news Texas had the 23rd lowest health insurance costs of all states in 2008 with an average family premium of $11,967 per year. (The average annual premium for a U.S. family covered under an employer-sponsored health plan in 2008 was $12,298 according to The Commonwealth Fund report. The overall quality of health care ranked 46th out of the 51 states (including DC). Texas regulates the benefits required for both individual major medical and group health insurance plans, known as "mandated benefits". Short Term Insurance Celtic Insurance - surprisingly competitive rates from a well-known insurer Markel Smart STM - popular and affordable short term major medical insurance with fast online approval Secure STM - along with its 12 month and 36 month options, this may be the highest quality short term coverage Intermediate Term Inbound Immigrant - up to five years of liberal health insurance coverage after immigration including maternity coverage, emergency and other essential benefits Supplemental Insurance Smart Accident Insurance - supplemental coverage for emergency treatment of accidents and injuries for as little as $20 per month. Can be used as a stand-alone accident plan or to increase other insurance benefits. Value Access Guarantee - everyone qualifies for this plan that pays in addition to any other insurance Texas Insurance Law The Texas Department of Insurance maintains a Web site called Texashealthoptions.com that is  specifically dedicated to helping consumers find the best health insurance. This site can also be used to file an insurance complaint. Texas insurance laws are also available online. The state's Web site has not yet developed resources to help individuals find commercial low cost health plans like short term insurance, mini-med or core coverage, specific illness policies, supplemental insurance and basic health insurance. The state insurance department can be reached by telephone at (800) 252-3439 or by mail at P.O. Box 149104 Austin, Texas 78714. The state children's health insurance plan (CHIP) Web site is Texas CHIP  Children's Medicaid. Non-insurance Discount Plans Careington PPO Discount Plans - the nation's leading network PPO discount provider allows a no-risk trial of any discount plan for only a $20 processing fee Drug Card America - a free prescription drug card that an be used nationwide Essential Dental Solutions - simple, inexpensive, no waiting period, up to $500 treatment per year Rx Pay Card - $10, $20, or $30 payments for hundreds of popular prescriptions. See International Coverage and Travel Insurance Listings

Texas Insurance News

2/21/2011 At the request of Celtic Insurance Company, Tony Novak is not selling Celtic Healthy Texas and OnlineAdviser enrollment support is no longer available for this product. A spokesperson for the company said “I don’t see that we can accommodate your style of eCommerce with this product”. The company also referred to specific complaints from the Texas Department of Insurance but we were unable to verify details. More coverage on this topic is available on the Universal Health Insurance blog. OnlineAdviser help requests for Healthy Texas will be referred to UnitedHealthcare Healthy Texas. Separately, a new help chart in PDF format is available to help Texas small businesses determine their eligibility for Healthy Texas and the number of employees required to participate.

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.

2/8/2011 The Senate State Affairs Committee released a report this week saying that the Healthy Texas program had only attracted 17 groups with 31 total enrollees statewide. Healthy Texas is a small business insurance program offered jointly by the sate and two private health insurance companies - Celtic Insurance and UnitedHealthcare. We previously published a review of the program including the pros and cons of Healthy Texas. Apparently the cons are dominating most small business owner's decisions. Of the five small businesses we spoke with who obtained a quote for the Celtic Healthy Texas plan, all opted for traditional group or individual health insurance coverage. UnitedHealthcare entered at a later date and we have no experience with the plan. See the resource links on any of the pages above for more information.

2/7/2011 The state's pre-exisitng condition insurance plan (PCIP) monthly premium rates (per person):

PCIP will cover a broad range of health benefits, including primary and specialty care, hospital care, and prescription drugs. All covered benefits are available for you, beginning on your coverage effective date, even if it’s to treat a pre-existing condition - there are no waiting periods. PCIP applicants who are approved to participate in PCIP can choose from three plan options, with different levels of premiums, calendar year deductibles, prescription deductibles and prescription copays. The HSA Option provides an opportunity to open a Health Savings Account, a tax-exempt account where you can deposit funds for eligible medical expenses. Each of the three PCIP plan options provides preventive care (paid at 100%, with no deductible) when you see an in-network doctor and the doctor indicates preventive diagnosis. Included are annual physicals, flu shots, routine mammograms and cancer screenings. For other care, you will pay a deductible before PCIP pays for your health care and prescriptions. After you pay the deductible, you will pay 20% of medical costs in-network. The maximum you will pay out-of-pocket for covered services in a calendar year is $5,950 in-network/$7,000 out-of-network. There is no lifetime maximum or cap on the amount the plan pays for your care. If you apply for PCIP coverage on the governemnt Web site, you will be billed for the premium once your application is approved. You will need to send in your payment in order for your coverage to be effective. Please do not send in the premium before you are billed. Note that your premium may increase if you age into a higher rate tier, or if PCIP adjusts its premiums to any changes in the commercial market.

2/3/2011 A report titled "2011-2016 Texas State Health Plan; A Roadmap to a Healthy Texas" by the Statewide Health Coordinating Council details plans for including the challenges incurred in caring for residents without insurance or for providing health services not fully covered by insurance. The tone of the report indicates that the state recognizes the need to address these critical issues apart from the insurance challenges. Seperately, Celticenrollment.com published an article titiled "Clarification of "Healthy Texas" program name" to address confusion over insurance and non-insurance entities sharing use fo the name.

1/13/2011 Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced that a number of popular state insurance programs including Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Children's Health Insurance and other programs will be run by Maximus (NYSE: MMS), a for-profit company, for a total contract price of $315,300,000. The contract contains an optional two year extension provision. The stock price of Maximus rose .2% on the day of the announcement

12/16/2010 Texas Department of Insurance 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, Texas said that it would: 1) Coordinate Texas’ Exchange planning efforts between the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), 2) Use funds to examine specific circumstances of the State, and 3) Develop considerations about setting up regional Exchanges within the State.

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.

Texas currently has the highest percentage of uninsured (over 26 percent) of any state in the country, as well as the second highest number of uninsured residents (over 6 million).

12/7/2010 Effective immediately, "discretionary clauses" that give insurance companies sole discretion in interpreting coverage provisions are no longer allowed in Texas insurance policies. Experts agree that this will raise insurance rates but offer better protections to consumers. A growing number of states are considering laws to ban discretionary clauses from life and health insurance. The subject is further explained on the Universal Health Insurance Blog.

11/22/2010 Consumer-directed articles and downloadable brochures about Healthy Texas and alternatives are now available. At tis time rates and enrollment support are only available for the three Celtic Healthy Texas plans.

11/8/2010 Alternatives to Medicaid and CHIP Needed - Following the results of last week's election, the Texas legislature is expected to trim some of the 3.6 million from coverage under the state's health insurance programs for low income residents. The move will reportedly save the state $60 billion over five years from 2013-2019. Lawmakers are concerned about the decrease in the number of businesses and individuals to elect to enroll in health plans since the announcement of expanded federal programs earlier this year and believe that immediate legislative action may be required to change this consumer behavior. We believe that once businesses and individuals realize that free government health care is not on the way, they will return to the normal patterns of budgeting for at least basic health insurance. Freedom Benefits will respond by promoting the new low cost limited benefit plans available to individuals and businesses. Small businesses that add these plans receive a tax credit for up to 35% of the cost of coverage. While comprehensive coverage is still priced out of reach of many Texans, limited benefit health plans are now more affordable and more widely available than in prior years.

5/14/2010 Diabetes Coverage: A new resource to help find health insurance for diabetics in Texas is now available at Freedom Benefits.

3/23/2010 Texas and ten other states including Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Washington will make a joint legal challenge to the federal health reform bill on the basis that it improperly usurps state sovereignty over health insurance and that requiring health insurance is an illegal and improper government action.