313-866-5333

email:info@worldmedicalrelief.org

www.worldmedicalrelief.com

For persons in Wayne, Oakland, & Macomb Counties age 18 and older who do not have prescription drug coverage and monthly income is below $1583 per month (single) or $2583 (couple)—add $25 per dependent—and not currently enrolled in Medicaid.  Prescriptions are mailed to your home.  There is an $8.30 co-pay per Rx.  Call for an application and information.

Originally posted 2009-07-28 07:04:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2010-04-12 09:37:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Originally posted 2009-08-27 06:17:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Click below to get a UniCare Quote Online Now

Online UniCare Quote

Originally posted 2009-10-20 19:11:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

During a recent evaluation, a client informed me he didn’t want to have a HSA or Health Savings Account.  I asked why.

His response: After speaking with a few friends and an auto insurance agent, I was told that in a bad health year it makes sense, but in a good health year, I would lose my money at the end of the year.

Not true. I informed him.

This conversation happens all to often in health insurance, due to a plethora of misinformation.  Most people have employer sponsored group health insurance, their primary exposure to pre-tax plans are Flexible Spending Accounts or FSA’s.

While similar, there are some important differences between the two:

1.  No insurance is needed with a Flexible Spending Account ( FSA ) – since it is just a “spending account” it doesn’t need to be tied to a health insurance plan like an Health Savings Account.  You can have an FSA without any health insurance if you wanted to.

2.  Use it or lose it – Does not apply to a Health Savings Account ( HSA ). Your unused dollars roll over year to year.  It’s your money and you get to keep it.  With an FSA or Flexible Spending Account, it you don’t USE it by the end of the year, any remaining funds are lost.  Where does the money go?  To the company offering the FSA.

3. Type of Expenses Covered – An FSA can be used for both medical expenses and child care expenses, whereas the HSA is only for qualified medical expenses.

Both Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts have their place, and both are valuable tools to assist you with you medical needs.  What’s great is you can mix and match the two as your needs change.

Originally posted 2010-03-24 05:56:08. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Did you know that you can contribute up to the maximum allowed for the 2009 tax year at any time up until the tax-filing deadline of April 15th 2010?

You still have time to contribute up to the $3,000 for individuals or $5,950 for family contribution maximums for 2009.

If you are 55 or older, you can make “catch-up” contributions, meaning you can deposit an additional $1,000 each year.  If your spouse is also 55 or older, he or she may establish a separate HSA and make a catch-up contribution.

Originally posted 2010-03-25 06:06:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Health insurance reform council to help reduce costs for citizens, businesses.

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today established a Health Insurance Reform Coordinating Council within state government to identify steps that must be taken to ensure that Michigan citizens reap the full benefits outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act signed into law by President Obama.

The council will be chaired by Michigan Department of Community Health (DCH) Director Janet Olszewski.

The governor’s executive order creates an Office of Health Insurance Consumer Assistance within the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR) and an ombudsman to help provide consumers with information regarding health care insurance, assist with the filing of complaints, and to ensure compliance with laws and regulations relating to health care insurance.

READ MORE

Originally posted 2010-04-13 11:08:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Today was interesting.  Called someone who had expressed interest in finding health insurance.  When he realized I was an insurance agent, he claimed that he was not the person I was looking for.  Must have had the wrong number.  Get’s better.  Another call was to a young lady who was also in the market.  Got upset that she was running out of minutes, so she would not be able to talk.  Click.  Then I got a message from a blocked number that us insurance agents need to get a life, to stop *expletive* calling, they don’t want any *expletive* insurance.  Still trying to figure out who not to call.  : )

The point is, I am not upset, angered, or annoyed by any of this.  It comes with the territory of being in sales.  What I have never understood, is why.  Why take the time to claim you aren’t really you?  Or go through the trouble to curse out my voicemail?

We are all busy.  Understandable.  The onslaught of phone calls that one gets while researching insurance is crazy.  There are agents that make it bad for the rest.  They focus more on getting their pitch in, rather than actually listening to the client.  Who wants 8 or 9 phone calls like that?  Surely not me.

There has to be a better way.  Maybe it comes from the insurance agent being less about them and more about the client.   Asking questions that helps the client understand that we are not wasting their time.  Then, just maybe, they won’t have to waste energy coming up with creative ways to not talk to you.

B

Follow me on Twitter:  MICHInsurance

Originally posted 2009-07-23 09:01:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Wondering what health insurance companies are going to offer individual insurance on a guaranteed basis once an individual exhausts their cobra coverage?

Until 2014 it looks as if Michigan residents have one choice for guaranteed issue.  BCBS of Michigan.  While other companies such as Aetna, Assurant, Humana, Golden Rule, and Cigna will eventually follow suit.  It is doubtful that they will do so prior to the deadline in which the law states you can no longer be denied for a pre-existing condition.

It remains to be seen if health insurance companies get creative.  By creative, let’s say you cannot be denied for pre-existing condition, but you can be denied due to credit history?  Or similar to auto insurance, your premium is determined by your credit history instead of you health history?

If one thing remains consistent, private companies will find a way to survive legislation…Wow, now that we are completely off track….

If you currently have COBRA health insurance, THAT DOES NOT mean you are guaranteed coverage as of 2010.  You must still pass underwriting guidelines in order to get coverage.  This is a common misconception.

According to recent news, the state of Michigan will be creating a Michigan High Risk Pool by the end of the year.  The benefit to Michigan residents will be that those who currently do not qualify for traditional coverage will have something to fall back on.  You will have more options with the high risk pool, instead of just choosing for BCBS of Michigan.

If you have questions about upcoming changes in the State of Michigan, contact one of our brokers at 888.320.5388.

Originally posted 2010-05-07 09:08:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

via: Associated Press

Congressional Democrats have released a final version of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul bill in advance of a House vote planned for Sunday. Some features of the legislation, which makes changes to the bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve:

COST: $940 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

HOW MANY COVERED: 32 million uninsured. Major coverage expansion begins in 2014. When fully phased in, 95 percent of eligible Americans would have coverage, compared with 83 percent today.

INSURANCE MANDATE: Almost everyone is required to be insured or else pay a fine. There is an exemption for low-income people. Mandate takes effect in 2014.

INSURANCE MARKET REFORMS: Starting this year, insurers would be forbidden from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies, from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions, and from canceling policies because someone gets sick. Parents would be able to keep older kids on their coverage up to age 26. A new high-risk pool would offer coverage to uninsured people with medical problems until 2014, when the coverage expansion goes into high gear. Major consumer safeguards would also take effect in 2014. Insurers would be prohibited from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. Insurers could not charge women more.

MEDICAID: Expands the federal-state Medicaid insurance program for the poor to cover people with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, $29,327 a year for a family of four. Childless adults would be covered for the first time, starting in 2014. The federal government would pay 100 percent of costs for covering newly eligible individuals through 2016. A special deal that would have given Nebraska 100 percent federal financing for newly eligible Medicaid recipients in perpetuity is eliminated. A different, one-time deal negotiated by Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu for her state, Louisiana, worth as much as $300 million, remains.

TAXES: Dramatically scales back a Senate-passed tax on high-cost insurance plans that was opposed by House Democrats and labor unions. The tax would be delayed until 2018, and the thresholds at which it is imposed would be $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. To make up for the lost revenue, the bill applies an increased Medicare payroll tax to the investment income and to the wages of individuals making more than $200,000, or married couples above $250,000. The tax on investment income would be 3.8 percent.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: Gradually closes the “doughnut hole” coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug benefit that seniors fall into once they have spent $2,830. Seniors who hit the gap this year will receive a $250 rebate. Beginning in 2011, seniors in the gap receive a discount on brand name drugs, initially 50 percent off. When the gap is completely eliminated in 2020, seniors will still be responsible for 25 percent of the cost of their medications until Medicare’s catastrophic coverage kicks in.

EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITY: As in the Senate bill, businesses are not required to offer coverage. Instead, employers are hit with a fee if the government subsidizes their workers’ coverage. The $2,000-per-employee fee would be assessed on the company’s entire work force, minus an allowance. Companies with 50 or fewer workers are exempt from the requirement. Part-time workers are included in the calculations, counting two part-timers as one full-time worker.

SUBSIDIES: The proposal provides more generous tax credits for purchasing insurance than the original Senate bill did. The aid is available on a sliding scale for households making up to four times the federal poverty level, $88,200 for a family of four. Premiums for a family of four making $44,000 would be capped at around 6 percent of income.

HOW YOU CHOOSE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE: Small businesses, the self-employed and the uninsured could pick a plan offered through new state-based purchasing pools called exchanges, opening for business in 2014. The exchanges would offer the same kind of purchasing power that employees of big companies benefit from. People working for medium-to-large firms would not see major changes. But if they lose their jobs or strike out on their own, they may be eligible for subsidized coverage through the exchange.

GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN: No government-run insurance plan. People purchasing coverage through the new insurance exchanges would have the option of signing up for national plans overseen by the federal office that manages the health plans available to members of Congress. Those plans would be private, but one would have to be nonprofit.

ABORTION: The proposal keeps the abortion provision in the Senate bill. Abortion opponents disagree on whether restrictions on taxpayer funding go far enough. The bill tries to maintain a strict separation between taxpayer dollars and private premiums that would pay for abortion coverage. No health plan would be required to offer coverage for abortion. In plans that do cover abortion, policyholders would have to pay for it separately, and that money would have to be kept in a separate account from taxpayer money. States could ban abortion coverage in plans offered through the exchange. Exceptions would be made for cases of rape, incest and danger to the life of the mother.

GOP HEALTH CARE SUMMIT IDEAS: Following a bipartisan health care summit last month, Obama announced he was open to incorporating several Republican ideas into his legislation. But two of the principle ones – hiring investigators to pose as patients and search for fraud at hospitals and increasing spending for medical malpractice reform initiatives – did not make it into the legislation released Thursday. The legislation incorporates only one, an increase in payments to primary care physicians under Medicaid, an idea mentioned by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Originally posted 2010-03-24 09:03:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter