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Wisconsin Insurance News2/17/2011 Wisconsin Department of Health Services was granted more than $31 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help make improvements in the delivery of affordable, quality health care for up to 160,000 individuals in the non-group market, one million employees of small businesses, and 770,000 participants in the BadgerCare Plus and Medicaid programs, representing nearly 35% of the state’s population. 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 Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker's first law signed includes a provision to eliminate state taxes on Health Savings Accounts. Under the new law individuals may claim a nonrefundable income tax credit for 6.5 percent of the allowable amount that they claim as federal tax deductions for their HSA contributions, or claim 6.5 percent of the federal tax−exempt earnings relating to an HSA, or both. Low-cost qualifying insurance and free Health Savings Account administration is available in Wisconsin from Celtic Insurance. 1/5/2011 Wisconsin will become the 21st state to join in a lawsuit against the federal government to block the implementation of health reform laws commonly known as Obamacare. A federal judge already found a key part of the law unconstitutional but the administration vowed to move ahead with implementation anyway. The matter is expected to be resolved by the Supreme Court in 2012. 12/16/2010 Wisconsin Department of Health Services 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 Department of Health Services said that it would: 1) Design an Exchange that moves beyond an aggregator of health insurance options, to a mechanism that influences how health care is delivered in the State. Application makes clear that Wisconsin sees the Exchange as a “transformative force”, 2) Contract to develop a predictive model to measure the impact of the insurance market reforms on Wisconsin, coupled with other requirements of the Affordable Care Act, 3) Maintain Exchange resource information on the Office of Health Care Reform web site to allow stakeholders to stay informed and provide input, and 4) Conduct surveys of the individual, small group, and large group markets, and model and analyze insurance reform impacts to assure clear understanding of Wisconsin’s current and future health insurance landscape. 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 Wisconsin is now available at Freedom 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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