cheap health insurance

Aetna Family Health Insurance � Take Care of Your Family

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:40:58 +0000

Many people would never forgive themselves if they allowed something to happen to their family. For people who are uninsured this should be a serious concern, for people who are uninsured the cost of medical bills if a family member was to get injured can be unbearable. As a family member you want to do everything in your power to help your family, and when money is tight it is very difficult to follow through. Families come first. This is why so many people have become insured by Aetna family health insurance. Aetna has many insurance programs to fit your family’s needs whether you are just barely making ends meet or living the good life.
Health insurance is one thing that every person in a family needs in order to feel safe, and it is absolutely vital for people to be insured with the cost of medical procedures today. Many people get lucky and they or their spouse is insured through work, but for the millions of people who are not as lucky; there is Aetna family health insurance. The insurance rates basically depend on the type of coverage you are looking for, as well as the number of people in your family. When looking for family insurance there are two main types, individual and group. Through Aetna family health insurance you are offered both options. For most people there is a bigger tendency to lean towards family group insurance because it is less expensive than individual health insurance, which can become relatively affordable for families.
For example, what if you were the mother of a family of three and your only son tears his ACL during soccer practice and your family is uninsured. ACL tears can be very painful injuries not to mention that more than half of ACL tears require knee surgery and six months of recovery. If you are uninsured and this happens to your son the costs can be outrageous think about all of the expensive costs like the cost of the ambulance to bring him to the hospital, x-rays, any additional screening to see how bad the injury is, surgery, recovery, rehabilitation, not to mention the pain medication that is needed for such a serious injury. Just those costs alone can add up to a couple thousand dollars, and for those couple thousand dollars you spent on all of that you could have insured your family for a year, and to make it even better these costs would have been spread out throughout the year instead of all due at one time.
Injuries like the one above can seriously devastate a family’s income and sometimes as result choices are made. Insurance is not something that can be compromised, it is the right and humane thing to do in order to protect and keep your family safe. With Aetna family health insurance there is no excuse with their low rates and great quotes. Also Aetna family health insurance is willing to work with you and your family to find the best deal possible for your family.

Cholesterol and Life Insurance

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:36:03 +0000

It’s in the news and seems to pop up in commercials every five minutes…the warnings and apparent medication fixes for elevated cholesterol. Needless to say, cholesterol has an impact on your life insurance eligibility and perhaps more importantly, your life insurance rate. Let’s look a little closer at how cholesterol readings affect your life options.
First, why is cholesterol important to life insurance anyway? Anything that has a bearing on life insurance eligibility must tie in with mortality rates. Mortality rates are essentially the odds of passing away at a given age based on certain demographic information (area, health status, etc). If a habit, health status, or attribute affects this mortality rate based on historical data, the life insurance company is going to be very interested.
Think of elevated or skewed cholesterol as a common bedfellow with heart-related and arterial diseases. Over the last few decades, it has become apparent that higher total cholesterol, elevated LDL (the bad cholesterol) and the ratio between LDL and total cholesterol have a statistically relevant correlation with heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and other cardio-pulmonary diseases. We don’t really need to know what the reason is for this correlation…just that it exists. Cholesterol is one of those issues that may go on for decades unchecked. This accumulated damage can lead to problems later on. It’s not uncommon to have a person find out they have elevated cholesterol as the result of the paramedical exam that constitutes part of the life insurance enrollment process. We’ve had surprised reactions such as “I don’t have high cholesterol!” only to show the results. Cholesterol requires a blood test (usually while fasting to get a more accurate reading). It’s important to address elevated cholesterol with your doctor for health reasons, but let’s look at how life insurance companies will view it.
Each carrier will have different requirements for cholesterol readings. Life insurance is actually more lenient regarding total cholesterol than most health insurance carriers. Health carriers usually want total cholesterol under 200. Life insurance companies are typically satisfied under 240. It’s possible to qualify for the best health class with a reading under 240 (assuming healthy in other regards). As you go up from here, the health class will adjust which essentially means you will pay a higher rate. You can expect (other health issues being equal) that a higher tier will be triggered from 240-259 and then another tier from 260-279. It might be difficult to qualify for life insurance with cholesterol over 280 but contact us to see if there are options we can use in such a situation such as no medical life insurance. There are new options available to address such a situation.
The life insurance companies also look at your HDL (high density lipid) to total cholesterol ratio. HDL’s are the good cholesterol which have more of a protective effect within limits. If a higher percentage of your total cholesterol is derived from HDL’s as opposed to LDL’s (low density lipid), then that is beneficial. For the best health class, you typically want the ratio of total cholesterol to be less than 5 times the HDL’s. The next health class down requires this ratio to be below 6.5 times. Beyond 7.5 times, it becomes more difficult to qualify for standard life insurance plans.
These are two main cholesterol components that impact life insurance: total cholesterol and the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL’s. With non medical life insurance plans and the newly created hybrid plans, we may be able to find alternative options to address your particular situation. With extensive knowledge of the carriers underwriting requirements and guidelines, we can help help you find life insurance options that work better with your current cholesterol make-up.

News: New Commonwealth Fund survey of young adults finds wide …

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:50:56 +0000

December 18, 2009, New York, New YorkAn overwhelming majority88 percentof young adults across the political spectrum think it is important for Congress and the President to pass health reform legislation that would assure affordable health insurance for all and improve health care, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey released today.
The survey, conducted between May and July of 2009, found that nearly half45 percentor approximately 20 million young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 were uninsured at some time during the past year. Key transition times of high school and college graduation put young adults at significant risk of losing their health coverage, according to Commonwealth Fund researchers Jennifer Nicholson and Sara Collins, authors of the report, Gaps in Health Insurance Among Young Adults and Their Views of Health Reform: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Survey of Young Adults, 2009. Forty-five percent of young adults who had insurance in high school lost their insurance or had to change insurance coverage when they graduated from high school. Similarly, two-thirds who had insurance while they were in college had to change coverage or lost their health insurance completely when they graduated. High school and college graduates often experienced long periods without insurance: half of high school graduates who either lost or switched coverage at graduation went without coverage for two years or more and more than one-quarter of college graduates who switched or lost coverage were uninsured for two years or more.
According to the researchers, several provisions in the House and Senate health reform bills would significantly reduce gaps in health insurance coverage for young adults, including provisions to allow young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance longer (until age 26 in the Senate bill and age 27 in the House bill), and the creation of a health insurance exchange that will offer subsidies to help those with low income afford coverage. A key provision in the health care reform bills is expansion of Medicaid to adults, up to 133 percent of the poverty level in the Senate bill, and 150 percent in the bill passed by the House. Expanding Medicaid to 150 percent of poverty could potentially cover 8 million young adults who are currently uninsured.
“It is not surprising that a large majority of young adults support health reformas a group their health insurance situation is unstable and they are at risk of going without needed care and incurring medical debt if they become sick or are injured,” said Commonwealth Fund Vice President and report co-author author Sara Collins. “Young adults stand to benefit significantly from reforms that make health insurance more affordable and protective.”
Additional Survey Findings:

Wide majorities across party lines said passing health reform was important: 98 percent of young adult Democrats, 88 percent of Independents and 73 percent of Republicans said it was very or somewhat important for Congress and the President to pass health care reform.
Uninsured young adults go without coverage for long periods of time: 46 percent had been without health insurance for more than two years and 23 percent had been uninsured for 1-2 years.
Sixty-two percent of young adults are strongly or somewhat in favor of a requirement that everyone have health insurance.
Eighty-two percent of young adults support increasing the number of years they can receive coverage under their parents’ policies.
Three-quarters (75%) of young adults would strongly or somewhat favor increasing the eligibility age for Medicaid and CHIP to age 26, a policy that is not part of the current health reform legislation.
Sixty-one percent of young adults believe that health care costs should be shared between the government, employers and individuals. This idea has the highest support among young adult Independents with 68 percent supporting it while 64 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans are in support of this type of shared financing.
Employer coverage is the primary coverage source for young adults, with 44 percent of young adults receiving health insurance coverage through an employer, either on their own (25%) or as a family member (19%).

“Major life transitions like graduation, turning 19, or changing jobs often leave young adults at risk for gaps in health insurance coverage,” said Commonwealth President Karen Davis. “Access to affordable, stable health insurance coverage throughout the lifespan of every American should be a top priority for Congress to ensure a strong economic future for our nation.”
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Methodology
Data come from the Commonwealth Fund Survey of Young Adults (2009), a national telephone survey conducted May 12, 2009 through July 2, 2009, among a nationally representative sample of 2,002 young adults ages 19 to 29 living in the continental United States. The survey was conducted by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). Since many young adults use cell phones “mostly” or “exclusively,” this survey employed a dual-frame landline and cell phone telephone design in which half (1,002) of the interviews were conducted by cell phone. The 25-minute telephone interviews were completed in both English and Spanish, according to the preference of the respondent.
The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation supporting independent research on health policy reform and a high performance health system.

Why health insurance coverage is important

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:11:00 +0000

Much has been said about the importance of being healthy. If you have been paying attention to your health, you probably would have a California health insurance coverage. If you dont have one yet, there is no better time than now to get California health insurance quotes. There is indeed nothing more important than keeping healthy than protecting yourself from illnesses and its consequences. What consequences are we talking about?Among many other things, an illness or degradation in your health can mean loss of your earnings if you are unable to work. It can also mean huge financial burdens as medical bills are getting extremely expensive. A serious illness not only cripples you of the normal life you are used to, but it also endangers you and your family from all security financial or otherwise. ACalifornia health insurance coverage will help you avoid most of these problems. It can also help you lead a life that is healthier as it pays for various preventive measures including immunizations and regular checkups, among others.Recent statistics reveal that more and more California residents have been neglecting health insurance, most especially in the recent years. This can be attributed largely to the growing global financial crisis that all of us seem to experience. Although one can live without aCalifornia health insurance, imagine how much more impact a health problem can bring you and your family to top off the existing crisis.If you take a look at California health insurance quotes, there are certain things to pay attention to. There are various items included in a health insurance plan. Some of these include inpatient services, outpatient surgery, medical testing, office visits, prescription drugs, physical therapy and rehabilitation care, and mental health care. These items are usually included in your California health insurance quotes.You should remember is that your insurance should serve its purpose, which is to protect you and your loved ones from financial burdens in the event of serious medical conditions. There are a couple of effective ways to get more affordableCalifornia health insurance quotes. You can, for example, ask your California health insurance agent to take out coverage that you think you dont need and see how it can lower your premiums. You can also set a higher deductible which will be your out of the pocket threshold before the coverage kicks in.The importance of having a California health insurance coverage should not be ignored or underestimated just because the economy of the country is hard-up these days. In fact, the rise in medical costs should be the exact same reason for you to get thoseCalifornia health insurance quotes now. Even the most routine of surgeries can cost you thousands of dollars. Governor Schwarzenegger may now have a universal health policy plan forCalifornia, but an affordable health insurance can be yours if you know the right place to find it. Get access to low California insurance health quotes and start living a healthy, more secure lifestyle.

Why Health Insurance?

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:35:59 +0000

The concept of health insurance is new in India but its awareness is growing fast. Health insurance comes in handy in case of severe emergencies. Life is unpredictable, insurance can make it safe and secure from bearing huge financial loss. The type and amount of health care costs that will be covered by the health insurance plan are specified in advance. Health plans are available in two formats, individual and group plans. In an individual policy you are personally the owner of the policy. While in a group plan, the sponsor owns the policy and the people covered under it are called its members.

Medical expenses are sky high these days. An appointment with a doctor might churn out big bucks. The elaborate medical treatment expenses could eat into your savings meant for the future. Health insurance policy kicks in to ensure that you get the required treatment and your pocket is still under control.

Buying health insurance is important because the coverage helps people get timely medical care and improve lives and health. It covers the risk of financial difficulties in the event of long illness. The awareness has been enormous in the last couple of years. This must have been in response to the series of uncertainties people have observed in recent times like the terror attacks.

BENEFITS:

Benefit depends on the policy you choose and the coverage it provides. Here is a list of basic coverage provided by most of the health policies.

It helps securing a better future by paying a fraction as an expense today called the premium.
It reduces saving huge amount of financial losses, risk of financial breakdown in case of expensive medical and post-illness care.
It definitely induces a sense of security to the insured.
It provides financial security to the family members.
It covers your hospitalization and medical bills.
It also covers disability and custodial bills.
You can avail tax benefits on the premium paid under section 80D of the Income Tax Act.
The best factor, you can also opt for health insurance policy even after the age of 60. A health insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and an individual. Sometimes it is associated with covering disability and custodial needs. The contract is renewable annually.
Get health insurance easily after comparing health insurance quotes at www.policybazaar.com

ArticleSource: ArticlesAlley.com

Obstacles When Looking For Affordable Health Insurance

admin — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:40:59 +0000

It can be rough looking for affordable health insurance. One can easily be overwhelmed by the amount of information out there. Looking online is the best place but people do not always have Internet access. Also it can be hard knowing exactly what questions to ask or what options to look for. If one can overcome these obstacles however then he or she will be able to find the best policy available.

One will definitely find the most affordable health insurance plan online. The difficulty is finding that information there. There are often sites pretending to useful ones. These sites are usually adds in disguise or worse. There are also many sites that are set up as one thing but are actually another all together. There are even sites that are just set up to get as much traffic as possible. The amount of web sites supposedly offering affordable health insurance is overwhelming. A person can sort through all of the noise though to find the right information. It just takes time and a keen eye in order to find what you are looking for.

Although it can be difficult to find affordable health insurance through all of the noise online, some people cannot even go online to look. Although most homes now have a computer with internet access, many households still do not. It is also very unfortunate that those who could benefit the most from affordable health insurance will most likely have the most trouble finding it. A poor family may not have a computer and most likely will not have internet. Elderly people also usually do not have internet. It can be very difficult for a person that grew up without electricity to have to get used to the idea of going online. There are services set up to help people though. There are many volunteers that can help elderly people. There are also free places to use the internet like a local library. Not every community has a library with internet but for those that do it is a great resource.

Even with internet and finding the right site, a person may still have trouble finding the right affordable health insurance. There are many companies and all have many options. This is because some people need certain options more than others. For some people affordable health insurance may mean that the monthly cost is very low. For other people it may mean that it offers more free services. A person needs to know exactly what they want when they are looking so that they can get what they want.

These Nine Factors Affect Your Health Insurance Premium

admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:16:59 +0000

There are many factors that affect what the health insurance company will charge you. Perhaps it would be helpful to you to learn about those factors, so that you can understand the quotes you are getting.
Whatever you do, please work with an experienced agent. He can explain how this works and help you to understand the different terms and how the factors affect your quote. There is no cost to you to use a good agent and he can make the shopping experience less stressful.
Let’s go through the different factors now:
Age: As you might guess, the younger you are, the less you have to pay for health insurance. Why? Because generally speaking, younger people are healthier than older people. As we age, different and various illnesses show up.
Perhaps you are eating too well and you develop type 2 diabetes. Maybe you don’t get the exercise you should. Certainly, you will agree, that younger people are usually healthier than older people.
Gender: Males are much less complicated than women. This is said, tongue in cheek, but you might also agree. Just take the annual physical for example. A woman needs an OBGYN exam, a mamagram, pap smear along with all the other blood tests to determine if she is well. Men usually will have blood tests and a cancer screening PSA test.
Psychologically, women tend to use medical services much more than men, also. A typical man feels invulnerable and won’t go to the doctor unless he is really sick. I know, this is generalization, but it is frequently true!
Health history: How healthy have you been? Are you the right weight for your height and gender? Have you developed a condition such as elevated blood pressure or elevated cholesterol? Our human body is extremely complex and so many things can go wrong.
Healthy individuals will get a lower premium quote because the health insurance company in NC extrapolates your health into the future. Healthy people tend to remain healthy. A person with many health challenges, will have those challenges or more in the future.
Exercise: People who exercise typically have fewer problems with their weight. They are less likely to be insulin resistant - type 2 diabetes. They have fewer health problems of any kind.
The recommended minimum amount of exercise for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is twenty minutes of exercise for three times per week. Obviously, you can exercise more than this, but if you do at leas this amount, it will be beneficial.
Whether already insured: If you have been covered by a health plan for years, the new insurance company interested in insuring you is less worried.
Certainly, if you have been under a doctor’s care, it is less likely that you will develop an undiagnosed condition that the new insurance company would be responsible for.
Perhaps the most difficult person to insure is one who has never had a family doctor. He may think that he is very healthy because he has not needed to see a medical person.
However, there may be some condition that has been developing over the years that he is unaware of. That is why health insurance companies are happier if they need to insure someone who has had continual health coverage.
Type of plan chosen: If you choose a relatively new type of plan called a high deductible health plan, and use it in conjunction with a health savings account, you will definitely save money.
The HSA type plan costs you less each month in premium amount. It costs about $60 for a doctor sick visit, but you are likely to save thousands of dollars each year on premiums.
In addition, if you have a high deductible health plan, you can open up a health savings account at your local bank.
Money that you deposit into your health savings account can be used for any medical expense…and importantly, that money is not taxed! Money that escapes taxation saves you about 40%.
By the way, if you don’t spend all your savings in any year, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t go away like in a flexible spending account. This savings money is yours, like an IRA, and it will be there to help you pay your medical expenses. At the age 65, you can take the money out of your account and use it for anything you’d like…finally though, you will have to pay taxes on the money.
If you spend your health savings account on qualified medical expenses, you will not have to pay income tax on this money. Great sound to that eh?
Deductible chosen: If you choose a high deductible plan, the insurance provider will not charge you as much of a penalty, called a “rate up”.
A rate up is extra premium that that require because you may be on high blood pressure medicine, for example. That rate up takes into consideration that you will need medication for the rest of your life, most likely.
If you choose a high deductible plan, they calculate that you are willing to take on more risk. Consequently, the insurance provider won’t have to charge you as much monthly premium. If you are looking to save money, choose a higher deductible plan.
Insurance company: The insurance company that you choose is very important in how you will be charged. Some insurance providers have many subscribers in the state and consequently, they can spread the risk over many, many people.
As an example, BCBSNC, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina insures about 90% of the people in NC. Consequently, their rates are more stable and they aren’t affected by pockets of the state that my turn up to be less healthy.
The insurance company is important in being able to see the doctor of your choice and go to whichever hospital you need to go to.
Because an insurance company has great penetration in a state, means that virtually all the doctors and all the hospitals will participate as a health provider. That’s good for you because you have better choices.
Health Insurance Agent: A good agent who specializes in health insurance can provide you with a depth of knowledge about the plans that might fit you best. Another way the agent can help is interpreting how to answer the questions.
Many times, people read something into the question that isn’t there, and answer it improperly. You don’t want to answer a question that wasn’t asked. Ask your agent his opinion about what it means. The agent is paid a commission by the insurance company - not the insured. It is advisable to use in insurance agent who has specialized.
Are there other factors that you think I should have listed here? Have you had an experience that would tend to disagree with what I have written? Was this article helpful? Let me know.

News: Internists tackle key health reform issues.

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:21:03 +0000

WASHINGTON Monographs addressing individual mandates, tax exclusion and a public plan option were released today by the American College of Physicians (ACP). The new policy papers are:
Individual Mandates in Health Insurance Reform
Reforming the Tax Exclusion for Health Insurance
A Public Plan Option in a Health Insurance Connector
“These monographs provide an evidence-based analysis of three key issues being considered by Congress as it crafts health reform legislation,” noted ACP President Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP. “They provide our perspectives on how to craft a requirement that all persons obtain health insurance coverage, on the advisability of limiting the tax exclusion for health insurance provided by employers, and how a public plan option might be appropriately structured to ensure choice and access to physician services.”
All three monographs were developed and approved by ACP’s Health and Public Policy Committee before being provided to its Board of Governors and councils for comments. Finally, they were adopted by ACP’s Board of Regents at its July meeting.
The monographs answer such questions as:
Should individuals be required to have health insurance coverage? If so, under what conditions and linked to other reforms?
Should the tax exclusion of employer-provided health insurance be capped to provide revenue for health reform and achieve other policy goals? If so, how should such a cap be designed and linked to other reforms?
Should the public be able to enroll in a “public plan” offered and administered by the federal government in addition to qualified private health insurance plans? If so, how should such a public plan be designed to be consistent with other ACP policies and linked to other reforms?
In the Individual Mandates monograph, ACP says it believes that every American deserves access to quality health care and supports individual mandates in efforts to reform health care in the United States when coverage is made fair, accessible and affordable. While individual mandates are a way to reform the health care system and achieve universal coverage, ACP believes they can only be implemented in a way that will not make such a requirement punitive, especially to low-income Americans.
ACP’s Tax Exclusion monograph notes that the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance has helped millions of American obtain affordable health insurance through their workplace. However, the current system disproportionately benefits upper income people and does not benefit low-income people who do not owe income taxes, the self-employed, and people with individual market insurance.
“A comprehensive health care reform initiative will be expensive and one way to at least partially fund such an effort is to cap the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance,” ACP’s monograph says. “Savings from the cap could be directed toward insuring those who do not have insurance coverage. Implementing a cam would need to be done in a way that considers the needs of low-income people who have employer-sponsored insurance. And should reflect variations in insurance costs due to firm size, health status, and practice expense.”
ACP believes that a cap should be coupled with reforms to ensure that a core set of benefits is available.
The Public Plan Option monograph approved by ACP considers the pros and cons of the public plan option competing with private insurance products in a health insurance connector or exchange. ACP conditionally supports the establishment of a public plan option as part of a comprehensive health care reform proposal.
“A public plan option that competes on a level playing field with private insurers could help facilitate delivery system change, reduce costs, and ensure stability in the market,” ACP says in its monograph. Establishing fair regulations that apply the same standards to both public and private insurance plans for minimum benefit packages, premium rating, and plan accessibility should help avoid unintended adverse consequences.
However, ACP also says that separate, independent entities should be established for objective governance of the health care connector and the public plan option. For a public plan and the health insurance connector to operate effectively and fairly, the health care delivery system must be reformed to strengthen primary care and a new provider payment model should incentivize care coordination, reward positive health outcomes, and promote use of best practices and effective drugs and devices. Physician and patient participation in a public or qualified private health plan offered through a connector should be completely voluntary. Further, ACP believes that safeguards would need to be established to ensure that the payment rates under a public plan are competitive with those offered by private health insurers in the same market.
Together, the ACP policy papers help support the College’s efforts for coverage, support for the primary care workforce, payment and delivery system reform, based on long-standing policies that have been adopted by the organization.

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The American College of Physicians (www.acponline.org) is the largest medical specialty organization and the second-largest physician group in the United States. ACP members include 129,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internists specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illness in adults. Follow ACP on Twitter (www.twitter.com/acpinternists) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/acpinternists).

PruHealth reveals stressed lifestyles increasing during recession

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:22:01 +0000

PruHealth’s bi-annual Vitality Index* - which tracks the nation’s health trends - has revealed that the health of the nation has declined by two points since July 2008 to a health rating of just 59%. Nearly one in five (18%) Brits now admit they live unhealthy lifestyles, an increase of four per cent in just six months.**

In the last six months the percentage of Brits saying they are under a significant amount of stress has increased from 38% to 40%. As confidence in the economy has decreased it is perhaps of little surprise that almost half (44%) of Brits report their stress levels have increased.

Half (50%) of these adults disclose that stress is affecting their personal life, with many of those surveyed now considering stress the greatest health risk to the nation (10%). Two in five (41%) people suffering from the condition put their increased stress levels down to money worries while 22% say an increased workload is the main reason for their stress. The same number also cited redundancy worries as a large contributing factor to their levels of stress.

The Vitality Index showed that those in poor health have seen the most significant rise in their stress levels, up from 56% to 64%. Those in good health cited only a slight rise from 32% to 34%.

The problems of increased stress are exacerbated by a lack of exercise. According to PruHealth, the number of people reporting that they never exercise has increased from 11% to 14%, with more than a quarter (28%) of adults blaming work commitments.

Commenting on the findings, Dr David Grainger, a senior fellow of the University of Cambridge, said: “In just six months there has been a marked widening of the ‘health gap’ as lifestyle improvements evaporate. Replicated across the entire adult population of the UK, these findings suggest a staggering two million more people have an unhealthy lifestyle than six months ago. The most likely cause? Economic recession.”

Almost half of Brits (47%) say they struggle to eat the recommended “five-a-day” servings of fresh fruit and vegetables; only 24% manage to eat their five portions on a daily basis and alarmingly a fifth (21%) only get their daily intake of fresh fruit and veg once a week or less.

Primarily, it’s the perceived cost of exercising and eating healthily that is driving more people to cut exercise and healthy eating out of their daily routines. More than half (56%) of Britons feel they cannot currently afford the added expenses associated with being healthy, such as gym memberships and super-foods, and over one in three (37%) say they find it hard to take care of themselves due to their busy schedule. Sixty one per cent of people simply feel healthy foods are more expensive than the unhealthy alternatives.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:
The information contained in Prudential UK’s press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions. Full consumer product information and a personalised health insurance quote can be found at www.pruhealth.co.uk

*The research was carried out on behalf of PruHealth by Ipsos MORI. A nationally representative sample of 3034 GB adults was questioned online in January 2009. Results are weighted to be representative of the GB adult population. Seasonal variations may affect some responses.
**4% of 48million UK adults is 1.9million people

About PruHealth
PruHealth was launched in October 2004 as a joint venture between Prudential and Discovery Holdings from South Africa. Since launch, PruHealth has grown quickly. It now provides health insurance cover for more than 190,000 lives and in a sample of its individual customers, one third said they had changed their behaviour for the better because of its Vitality reward scheme which encourages health insurance policyholders to look after their health.

Media enquiries
Izabella Siemicka
PR Manager
Prudential UK Insurance Operations
3 Sheldon Square
London
W2 6PR
020 7121 8513
www.pruhealth.co.uk

Frequently Asked Questions About Health Insurance

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:10:56 +0000

There are many questions that people have regarding health insurance. This is because the insurance purchasing process involves many people, from the customer and the agent to the underwriter and insurance company. For the average consumer, it is easy to become baffled by the process; but, learning about the process, educating yourself, gives you much more purchasing power.

Below are some samples of questions, and answers, which are believed to be among the most common that individuals and self employed consumers of health insurance have. To learn about the health insurance process, simply scroll the list; or, to seek specific information, you can jump to that category.

Overview of insurance

There are a lot of questions normally require clarification before deciding any purchasing of insurance.

The first will be what is the major difference between group and individual insurance?

The major difference between group and individual insurance involves evidence of insurability. To purchase individual insurance, a person must generally answer a health questionnaire and undergo a medical examination to provide evidence of insurability to the insurance company. An insurer may decline coverage on the basis of the applicants personal habits, health, medical history, age, income or any other factors that bear on risk acceptance. Or the insurer may issue a policy with limitations on coverage.
Most group insurance, however, is issued without medical examination or other evidence of individual insurability because the insurer knows that it can cover enough individuals to balance those in poor health against those in good health. The risk of an insurer failing to achieve this balance is diminished as the size of the group increases, or as the insurer underwrites additional group policies and increases the total number of individuals covered. This is known as the law of large numbers.

2. What are the various ways that individuals receive health insurance protection?

Besides participating in group insurance plans, individuals may also be covered under federal and state government sponsored programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, service type plans such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield or so called alternative health care systems such as health maintenance organizations HMOs and preferred provider organizations PPO. Insurance may also be purchased privately on an individual basis, or through mass purchasing groups such as credit unions and professional or trade associations.

3. What are the advantages of group insurance over individual insurance?

For an employer that intends to provide insurance protection to its employees, the group approach ensures that all employees, regardless of health, can be covered. Those with known health problems, who might otherwise be unable to obtain individual insurance, can be covered automatically upon employment without evidence of insurability. Although some limits may be imposed on new hires for certain conditions that predate their enrollment in the plan, most employees can receive coverage as soon as they are eligible.

Group insurance offers a lower cost per unit of protection than individual insurance, because the economies of scale resulting from selling, installing and servicing one plan covering many individuals. In addition, group plans are typically more flexible and tend to provide more liberal benefits than individual coverage

4. What types of group protection do most employers provide?

Although there are many variations of each, the four major types of insurance coverage provided by employers to their employees are life, accidental death and dismemberment A D & D, disability and health or medical. Some employers also provide additional coverage, including group legal, travel accident and vision and dental care.

5. How can a labor union provide group insurance?

A labor union can provide group insurance for its members under a policy issued to the union. The union is the policyholder, just as the trust is the policyholder under a MET. A union may purchase a group policy for a large number of members who are employed by the same company, or for union members working for different companies. Group insurance purchased through a union is particularly advantageous in industries such as construction, where union members may work for many employers during a year.

Despite the opportunity for labor unions to purchase group insurance, few group contracts are issued to unions today. Organized labor more often obtains insurance benefits for its members through collective bargaining with employers. As a result, union members are usually covered under group insurance plans sponsored by one or more employers.