Health Insurance

After last week's column on the insurance subsidy included in President Obama's stimulus package, we received quite a lot of mail asking more questions. That's understandable. The details are complicated. In a nutshell, some laid-off employees can get a 65% subsidy, for up to nine months, to help defray the cost of continuing their healthcare coverage through a program known as COBRA. The subsidy only applies to people who lost, or will lose, their jobs between Sept. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2009.

The new Massachusetts health plan, the first in the U.S. requiring all residents to have medical insurance, won the approval of the federal government, helping to ensure coverage for the state's poorest citizens. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt signed a waiver that would allow Massachusetts to receive $385 million in federal funding to help pay for the care of the poor and enable low-income workers to purchase insurance. The bill has been hailed as a model for other states.

Newly unemployed Americans would have to spend an average of about 30% of their jobless benefits to pay for health insurance through their former employer, according to a new report. And if they want coverage for their families, the report by Families USA says, it will take more than 80% of their unemployment check. U.S. unemployment hit a 16-year high last month as an additional 524,000 jobs were lost. For all of 2008, the government says the economy lost 2.6 million jobs.

By and large, the chance to change insurance plans came and went for many people several months ago. But new employees of companies offering healthcare get a second chance to choose a plan that best suits them in terms of coverage and cost. Note to those folks: Don't blow it.

A growing number of workers in 2009 will pay more for health benefits -- and in some cases receive less coverage -- as their employers grapple with the financial fallout of rising medical expenses and diminished revenue and profits, recent surveys of human resource officials show. The Corporate Executive Board found in its survey that a quarter of officials from 350 large corporations said they had increased deductibles an average of 9% in 2008.

President Obama and his congressional allies took a modest step toward reshaping the nation's healthcare system Thursday as the Senate passed legislation to expand health insurance for children. But rather than building momentum for the sweeping healthcare reform Obama has promised, the victory on Capitol Hill -- a largely party-line vote, 66 to 32 -- marked a rocky start for what many hope will be the biggest reform campaign in a generation.

Leave time to stop by the ATM before your next visit to the doctor. These days, you may have to fork over a lot more than just the co-pay before you leave the office.

The expansion and reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program was signed into law by President Obama on Wednesday. The program, which will cover 11 million children (up from the previous 7 million) by 2013, offers very low-cost insurance for children up to 18 whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Two of California's largest insurers have been selling health coverage intended to be a safety net for the state's sick and jobless at premiums that exceed state-issued rates, in some cases by thousands of dollars a year. Two other companies -- Aetna and Health Net -- uniformly adhere to the state-issued rates. But a Times investigation found that Blue Shield of California's premiums are as much as 55% higher. And those charged by Anthem Blue Cross have been as much as 36% higher.

There's no shortage of websites explaining the vagaries of health insurance, but the relaunch last week of a veteran site, www.ahirc.org, offers perhaps the most comprehensive online resource we've seen for anyone without insurance or in need of free or low-cost medical care. The website, Access to Health Insurance / Resources for Care, was first launched 11 years ago as a project of the Actors' Fund of America.