Cigna Health Came to Play in the Texas Health Insurance Market

In the market of Texas health insurance there are hundreds of plan option for the individual Texas consumer, more than enough to satisfy the family needs of Texans. Most of these plans offer similar, adequate benefits at close to the same monthly price. Yes, there are those companies like Assurant Health that are out to lunch on price but generally all plans are within striking distance of each other.

Today I would like to introduce a shocking development in the Texas individual health insurance market. Cigna Health of Texas has structured their rates at up to 25% cheaper than the competition. Unbelievable! In some parts of Texas these numbers are shocking. In the North Texas market I am finding Cigna Health about one hundred dollars or more a month less. That, my friends is a blessing in today’s rugged economy.

Cigna Health has been offering their individual health insurance in Texas for about 6 months, however as with any new product portfolio the agents had to learn their nuisances and procedures. Since their offering six months ago all rates had to be constructed manually which made it almost impossible for Texas health insurance consumers to get product information. As of last Thursday they now run active on most major quoting software, including ours at Peelerinsurance.com. Thank you Cigna!

From a product standpoint the new Cigna Health product looks very similar to Aetna Health Insurance. If you have followed my writings you know I have sang the prasies of the Aetna plan for individuals in Texas because of their benefits. The big variance between Aetna and Cigna is price, Cigna destroys them. But from a benefit configuration compairsion you won’t find much differences, thats great news if you in the market for indvidual health insurance.

Cigna Health offers you traditional PPO doctor co-pay plans and adequate HSA qualified high deductible plans. Although Blue Cross and Blue Shield still manhandles the Texas HSA market Cigna should be your first look for co-pay plans.

Cigna Healths full coverage plans offer co-pays in the 25 to 30 dollar range and is offering yearly deductibles as low as $1000 a year. Of course Cigna Health of Texas has all the preventive care benefits you expect from a major Texas health insurance plan and also provides prescription drug coverage for both generic and name brand drugs. Their offerings have extremely high lifetime maximums to protect Texans in the event of a catastrophic sickness or accident.

I think the new Cigna Health plans offered in Texas is far and away the best news our industry has heard in the last two years. With premiums this low Texans can finally take back control of their Texas health insurance budget. And it could not have come at a better time.

Do yourself a favor, visit our website and access a free instant Texas health insurance quote. The numbers you see may be shocking and maybe you too can take back control of your families budget.

Affordable Texas Health Insurance for Todays Economy

Texas health insurance policies back in the 1970’s operated with a small deductible before any benefit was covered. Once the deductible had be met the policy would pay somewhere around 80% with the consumer paying 20%. These policies did not have a co-pay for doctor or preventive care, everything applied towards the deductible. These policies were great back in the 70’s when deductibles were at one hundred dollars, but today these policies are being written with much higher deductibles, generally at twenty five hundred dollars. The most popular Texas health insurance plan of the 70’s has now been replaced with the comprehensive doctor co-pay plans of today. However, these policies still remain a viable product in certain situations and today we call these policies catastrophic health insurance in Texas.

The Texas catastrophic health plan that is being marketed today works in a very simple fashion. The consumer looking for individual health insurance in Texas can expect these policies to have a deductible somewhere above $1500 per year and then most services are covered including doctor visits and out patient services up to reasonably high lifetime maximums. Several companies also offer preventive care as a covered expense. These Texas health insurance plans will offer the most affordable health insurance for the Texas family.

Some very important things to note about the catastrophic plans I am talking about is these plans are not to be classified as a limited benefit policy. When looking at a Texas health insurance plan that claims to be catastrophic the Texas health insurance consumer should confirm that it is a major medical policy and not a limited benefit or hospital and surgical expense plan. On several occasions I have noticed the term catastrophic tossed around like candy at a circus for these limited policies.

Because catastrophic policies do not offer co-pays for services like doctor visits and drugs, the monthly cost of this Texas health insurance plan is usually a couple of hundred bucks a month less than their counterpart, the doctor co-pay plan for larger Texas families. These plans are an excellent option for folks looking for low cost health insurance in Texas. Another ideal client for the Texas catastrophic health plan is the older Texan hovering around retirement age.

Rate increases affect all health insurance in Texas and these catastrophic plans are not immune, however with less potential claims in the form of doctor co-pays and drugs I have found these policies to be less affected by massive yearly increases. You most likely will get an increase, however in theory they should be more manageable. I noticed Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas having the lowest rate increases in recent memory with these very policies for business written in 2008. Their increase was around 5 to 7 percent, on a average family that is about 15 to 20 dollars a month. Theses numbers just can’t be beat compared to some of the increases I have witnessed this year. 

These are the cheapest full coverage plans offered in the Texas health insurance market.

In order to secure your Texas health insurance quote on a catastrophic health insurance policy in Texas just contact me. These quotes are provided on a case by case basis and are not provided on my quoting software.

Texas Cobra Health Insurance Buyers Guide

Today we are facing the toughest economy since the Great Depression of 1929. Millions of Americans are facing lay-offs and the unemployment line. Also, with the limited creation of new jobs thousands of Texans are finding it almost unbearable to continue with their group coverage on the limited revenue they have at their disposal. That’s why we created the “COBRA Buyers Guide” for Texas health insurance.

 

If you have been laid off you probably already know what COBRA is. Simply put, COBRA is designed to allow former employees of companies with greater than 20 workers to continue their present insurance coverage at an inflated rate. This coverage is only valid for 18 in most cases.

 

I have published several articles on COBRA and you owe it to yourself to read them.

 

The critical items that consumers need to know about this process are listed below.

 

1. Decisions related to Texas health insurance must be made and processed within 63 days from receipt of COBRA letter.

Now, what should you do after being notified of your job loss? First off, you only have a small window of time to execute your health care decisions. You are allowed a 63 day window to make decisions and elect COBRA. That may seem like ample time to do something, but in reality it’s not. In the event you choose to go a different direction other than COBRA it can sometimes take upwards of 45 days to get approval for an individual health insurance policy in Texas. Generally you can get approval within two or three weeks, but in about a third of the cases it can go out past one month. The last thing you want is for that 63 day clock to expire.

 

1. Not all family members have to take COBRA and in most cases even the former employee can decline coverage while insuring other family members.

In most cases just because you are the employee affected with the job loss does not mean that you must take COBRA on yourself in order to provide COBRA for another family member. Let’s say one family member has a health condition that would preclude them for purchasing an individual Texas health insurance policy, generally you can elect COBRA on that family member and remove the remaining members as well as yourself from coverage. This will drastically reduce your monthly cost to COBRA. I would advise you to call the insurance company and confirm this practice as well as get a monthly price for the members that will possibly continue COBRA coverage. This trick will then allow all healthy family members to purchase an individual Texas health insurance policy and substantially lower premiums.

 

1. Do not, under any circumstances allow coverage to lapse or go uninsured.

During unemployment I know money is tight, health insurance is sometimes seen as expendable. I have heard all the lines in my 16 years in the Texas health insurance market. Hearing things like, we never use it or we never get sick are a very disturbing for me to hear. I’m glad you never get sick, good for you. Up until I was 40 I didn’t either, but things change. The problem though is some of the laws we have related to health insurance in Texas. The biggie is if a lapse in coverage of greater than 63 days occurs your credit for pre existing conditions will vanish and you will be faced with a waiting periods of up to 24 months on new Texas health insurance coverage. The critical key, DO NOT ALLOW COVERAGE TO LAPSE!

 

Laws related to Texasindividual health coverage works closely the same as group, it states that as long as there has not been a 63 day gap in coverage and the condition is listed on the application there is no pre existing unless the Texas health insurance company excludes it by name.

 

I hope this illustrates the importance of keeping that “continuous” flow going and not allowing the break in coverage to happen. I promise you that if an insurance company notices that you have broken that 63 day magic number they will “nit pick” almost every claim. So the key, any credible coverage, regardless of deductible and benefit configuration is better than no coverage.

 

1. Any old policy will do, providing it is recognized as “credible  coverage”.

Credible coverage is the only type of policy that will satisfy the pre existing condition clause. Credible coverage generally falls into the major medical family of policies. Texas health insurance has so many variations available that you must be careful what you purchase if you are electing something other than COBRA. Policies that will not satisfy the credible coverage terms would be discount cards and some limited benefit hospital plans. Generally dealing with an experienced veteran agent or broker will do the trick. 

 

 

Ok, now what do you do now? Well, here is what I would do, call or email me or get a Texas health insurance quote from our website. All the plans that I have running on the Peeler Insurance website are solid doctor co-pay plans, these plans best resemble your present group coverage. These plans will meet every requirement I have mentioned above. Below are some important points when dealing with Peeler Insurance.

 

• IF every family member is free of any medications, no pre existing condition, no surgeries in the last 12 months and your height and weight fall within acceptable standards then you should be OK to run the rate for yourself free of agent intervention. However, I would prefer to speak with you so as to insure we are selecting the correct plan for your family.

• Keep in mind that all plans on the automated Peeler Insurance website are doctor co-pay plans. High Deductible HSA Qualified Texas health plans and low cost Catastrophic Texas health insurance  can only be done by speaking to me personally. In these economic times you owe it to yourself to explore these options as sometimes you can save hundreds of dollars a month more.

• One of our biggest and best Texas health insurance companies can only be quoted manually. Cigna Health Insurance offers some of the lowest rates in Texasbut at this time we are forced to run Cigna on another software program. Cigna requires this in order to migrate with their software system.
  

 

• Peeler Insurance works with most of the major Texas health insurance companies and each one has a different set of standards as it relates to offering coverage. Sometimes not everyone will be approved but after 16 years in the Texas individual health insurance market I know what most insurance companies will and won’t accept. Speaking with me personally is very important in order to provide you the best advice on how each different Texas health insurance company will view your health status and history. 

Be prepared to save several hundred dollars a month, most times we find that COBRA premiums are twice or three times as much as Texas individual health insurance, sometimes even more. 

 

I have also found a COBRA FAQ’S guide from the Department of Labor.

 

 

Remember, time is the critical point here. The moment you recieve your COBRA packet, or the moment you have been advised by you company of the COBRA premiums contact my office. 

Texas Family Health Insurance Companies Drop the Underwriting Hammer

Interesting trend developing over the last two weeks related to underwriting for individual health insurance plans. Having been in the Texas health insurance business since 1993 I feel I have more than an addaquate grasp of market conditions and the personalities of  each Texas health insurance company, however after the last two weeks I am starting to question my own ability. Now, I am not questioning my personal knack for properly finding the most affordable health insurance in Texas, my second guessing comes in the form of underwriting. I have spent years developing relationships with the different Texas health insurance companies, gathering the contact phone numbers of underwriters and company executives in order to ensure every client I represent gets the utmost attention. Also this process has allowed me to understand and know what each and every Texas insurance company looks for when deciding what underwriting decision to administer to every new client.

Now, why am I mentioning all this? Simple, over the last two weeks it appears that most of the health insurance companies have done an about face on underwriting. Prospective consumers of individual health insurance in Texas are getting negitave underwriting decision at an alarming rate. Clients that 6 months ago would be approved prefered or standard are now being denied coverage. Also, private health insurance consumers are having medical records and paramedical exams requested at the same alarming rate.

Aetna health insurance in Texas has so disappointed me over the last 2 weeks that I am almost to the point of backing away for quoting them unless the consumer and their family are so squeaky clean from a medical standpoint that our creator looks at them as role models. This is ridiculous. Aetna has always been one of the more liberal outfits when it comes to underwriting. According to an inside source a meeting was conducted in mid January with company staffers to inform them that the underwriting “nut” would be tightened down. This source went on to express that changes had to happen because of the low profit margin Aetna has built into their policies and there was growing concern that President Obama would authorize administrative policies that adversely affected their ability to remain profitable. Of course this information would never be confirmed by Aetna corporate, but like I said my knowledge is from an inside source.

I have also noticed another very large health insurance company in Texas ordering not only medical records but wanted the applicant to consent to a paramedical exam. A paramedical exam is a short physical exam usually preformed at the insurance companies expense and preformed at the Texas health insurance consumers home or place of business. Another Texas individual health insurance company ordered a massive full blown physical exam and expected the client to pay for it. Of course I advised against it as I felt this was nothing more than the insurance company attempting to get the client to cancel the underwriting process.

Almost every individual health insurance company in Texas has a process called pre screening available to Texas health insurance brokers but for the last 10 years I have never had to use it as I almost always knew with unbelievable accuracy what decision the health insurance company would render. I now find myself spending hours each days pushing emails back and forth to underwriting pre screen departments so I can get a little better handle on their view regarding different health conditions.

Health insurance companies in Texas will say nothing has changed but I say, hogwash. I know something has changed and my daily conversations with fellow agents and brokers confirms this. They are having the same difficult problems. Now, my theory on why. I think this wrecked economy has insurance companies feeling the same pinch that banks are. Since insurance companies invest a large percentage of their money in real estate and other vehicles that have taken a massive hit they could be tapped out and only lucky to survive to the next day. Another factor that could be coming into play is the threat by President Obama to snatch the health insurance companies up by the hair on their head and shake some common sense into them with health care reform. Whatever the true reason, the one being penalized is the individual health insurance in Texas consumer.

What should the shopper for affordable health insurance in Texas do? One, and this is a biggie, deal with an established veteran broker or agent. We are the only ones that have the experience to navigate through the changes and upheaval. One thought, with these changes, i will become even more conservative in my underwriting approach and would rather error on the side of caution. This is not the time to take risks, still shop your Texas health insurance, but be careful.