The City of San Francisco has filed a lawsuit with the State over a law on the books that allows health insurance providers to charge women a higher rate than men for the same coverage. Women may pay as much as 39% more, and they are none too happy about it. Insurance companies claim that the practice is legitimate because women in their child bearing years require more health care than men of the same ages.

The practice, which is known as ‘gender rating’ is actually widely practiced across the country. Currently 38 states allow it, and two more allow it with some restrictions. The California insurance commissioner’s office stated that until the legislature votes to change the law, they are legally bound to follow it as it currently stands.

Some women’s health advocates remind that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission forbids all employers from charging higher premiums to women when the charge is solely based on gender. The same sex discrimination rules that apply in the workplace should apply when women are searching for individual insurance coverage.

Dennis Herrera, San Francisco City Attorney stated that the unfair and inflated premiums imposed on women price them out of the health care market and they can’t afford health insurance. This is causing them to get their health care from city clinics and San Francisco General Hospital, causing an additional financial burden on the City.

Herrera states that the real issue is that women who are being priced out of the ability to acquire private health insurance are being forced to turn to the public health care system which is already financially strained. The state legislature has introduced two bills (AB119 and SB 54) since December, which address the issue. Commissioner Herrera has said he will drop the suit if either bill passes and is signed into law.

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With the advent of the internet, online shopping has grown from a minor interest to a multi-billion dollar segment of the market. Millions are now regularly shopping online, and the numbers are growing. With this large interest in purchasing online, it can only be assumed that more and more will be looking for health insurance quotes online too.

Searching for insurance online can provide many benefits. There are sites which will provide you with quotes from several companies so you can compare them with one another in one screen view. You will be able to select policy options, adding and deleting them at will, until you find the right feature combination that fits your needs best. The process is quick and easy and is helpful to those who lead busy lives.

There are however, some draw-backs to the process of purchasing your health insurance online, which one should definitely be aware of. First there are many sites that are just looking for your personal information to sell as leads to insurance agents, and yes, this means that once you go online to research health insurance you will begin to be contacted by insurance agents looking to sell policies. Now this is only a drawback if you have already purchased your insurance, however if you are still looking then this could actually be helpful. Also, you can not really be sure what you are getting online, so be sure to investigate a company thoroughly, especially if you have never heard of them before. Also, keep in mind that you need to make sure you are putting your information in on a secure website, look for the lock to be sure.

It can be very helpful to use the internet to do your health insurance research. You can find out about different companies and the different policies that are available to you. Depending on your own situation, your needs will vary, and knowing your preference will help make the researching process much easier.

Shopping around for health insurance is easier than it ever has been when you use your home computer. Just be sure you get the facts you need and stay alert to who you give your personal information to. If you have any questions at all, telephone the company direct and ask to speak to a customer service representative. That way you will be able to proceed in your research with confidence and assurance that you are in safe hands.

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One of the big political tennis balls being bounced around Washington these days is the issue of health care coverage for Americans. After a while, listening to the debate gets tiresome and maybe a little irritating, but there seems to be an important factor being left out. Unmarried adults. We always hear about the need for families to have health insurance, especially when young children are involved, but we almost never hear of the twenty and thirty-something singles.

What if we started saying as part of the debate, “Young, working, single adults need to get individual health insurance today.” What would be the reaction? I’m not sure, but I do know that there are millions of people in this category who are new to the work force and are working jobs with less than stellar benefits. For most entry-level positions, individual health insurance is not part of the package. In cases where it is, the coverage may be minimal as a way of keep employer costs down. It’s not uncommon for the kid fresh out of college to take his first job and not have health insurance.

Quite often, young people in their twenties and thirties aren’t very concerned that they don’t have health coverage. After all, they are in the prime of their lives with minimal responsibilities and filled with optimism for the future. Their health is not a concern and they’re used to rebounding quickly after a routine cold or flu. Chronic disease or debilitating injuries don’t seem to be on their radar, as they consider those things usually to be reserved for older people.

So what options are available to young singles? There are three. The first is to not worry about your health and hope nothing goes wrong. In the event of a serious health issue, you can just let it go, ride it out, and hope it doesn’t kill you. Not a very attractive option. Second, you can keep an eye on your health and pay out-of-pocket for preventative medicine. If something serious occurs, you can apply for government assistance. This is better than the first option, but still not the greatest.

The last option is the one that makes the most sense and it is simple. Get health insurance. Yes, you will be paying premiums much higher than you want or think you can afford. But all of the latest electronic gadgets or expensive clothes in the world won’t do you a bit of good if you can’t use them because of poor health. So be the most important person in your own life. Get yourself covered under a health insurance plan.

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Having medical insurance is no guarantee you won’t be overbilled. Many are finding inaccuracies in the bills they receive from hospitals and caregivers. The problem is less uncommon than one would think. It could be sloppiness or it could mean the right hand isn’t talking to the left hand. Hospital billing procedures often do leave a lot to be desired, since there are so many involved in the patient’s care. But errors do occur, and it is a good idea to do a line by line review of your hospital bill.

One young nurse recently had an eye opening experience as she was reviewing the bills from her husband’s recent hospital stay. It appears he had been scheduled to be released on a particular day, and that wasn’t communicated somehow, causing him to have to stay an extra day. There were excessive charges for administering medication 7 times per day when it was only prescribed 4 times per day. And then there was the charge for $875 for one item that she knew from her hospital work should have only been around $80. Clerical error. By the time she was finished, she had discovered nearly $7000 of incorrect charges.

So when you receive a hospital bill, it is a good idea to sit down and review it very carefully. If you have questions, sit down with your doctor instead of the hospital billing department. The billing department is clerical by nature, and they don’t always have an accurate history of the care that was actually provided. Make sure you ask questions.

If you are unable to find satisfactory answers to your questions, you do have other resources. There are patient advocate groups available to help. And don’t hesitate to contact the insurance commissioner in your state if you are having issues with your insurance company.

Medical insurance is there to protect us in case we need it. And hospital stays are unpleasant enough without having to deal with a bill laden with codes and numbers. The hospital can decypher this for you and they will. We know medical bills can be filled with errors and you should not have to pay for things you did not receive. So do your homework, put a little effort into it, and you’ll find that the resolution of the errors will work out as it should.

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The issues of health care and health insurance garnered plenty of attention and legislative activity in 2008. The volume of the activity clearly shows that lawmakers know that health care and insurance are issues that are of utmost import to Americans. Fewer and fewer can afford coverage as insurance premiums and prescriptons go through the roof and deductibles still continue to rise. In Washington DC recently, a health care forum was sponsored by two non-partisan organizations which brought to the fore that the general consensus amongst Senate staffers is that there is an expectation that major health care reform can be achieved in 2009.

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), himself being treated for a brain tumorr, recently gave up his seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to focus on health care, stating that it was “the opportunity of a lifetime” to finally get a plan enacted. Speaking at the forum, John McDonough, a health care aide to Kennedy stated that the Senator is committed to achieving reform and is very confident of its ability to pass.

The Republican Health Policy Director for the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Clapton stated that there was strong Republican support for getting the plan done, but that money is constricted by over a trillion dollar deficit. There would be competition for the funding, but with a system wherein private plans were delivering the benefits, we would see the most innovation. Similarly, Dr. Mark L. Hayes, the GOP Advisor for Health Policy on the Senate Finance Committe stressed the necessity for bipartisanship if a bill is to get passed, and that waiting 15 years to enact a plan will cause severe problems as opposed to solving the problem now.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)’s aide Jocelyn Moore also spoke up at the forum. She stressed that the issues of skyrocketing unnecessary spending, effective preventative care, and affordability should be addressed in the development of a sweeping reform plan. She stated that all options are on the table and that Senator Rockefeller is eager to get started working with the Congressional leadership and the new Administration to accomplish the goal of comprehensive health care reform.

The ranks of the unemployed are growing monthly, with nearly 1.2 million jobs eliminated in November and December alone. And the newly unemployed are not likely to be able to afford to maintain their health care coverage for long. The issue seems to be growing as a matter of urgency, and hopefully Congress will realize that health care is not a partisan issue, as they work together in 2009 to pass a comprehensive universal health care plan.

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Last year, 2008, brought an unusually large amount of attention to the issues of health care and health insurance. This high level of activity speaks directly to the interest level that the public holds regarding health in this country these days. And when the public shows interest in a topic, legislators are generally swayed soon thereafter.

There were some health related milestones in the food world in 2008. McDonald’s announced they would stop using trans fat laden oils to cook their french fries and baked goods in all their U.S. and Canada restaurants. And California became the first state in the nation to ban trans fats in restaurants. In more good news for arteries, dark chocolate was determined to be of value in lowering blood pressure and increasing blood circulation.

On the state level there was much activity. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, after pushing aggressively for a comprehensive health care reform, vetoed legislation that would have provided a single payer system. It was his second veto in three years of a similar plan. Across the country in Florida, Governor Charlie Crist was able to pass a law that will provide residents with affordable coverage through a new Florida health insurance program. Meanwhile, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle axed the state’s universal health insurance program for children, due to budget constraints. And in Massachusetts, due to skyrocketing costs, lawmakers were forced to raise premiums for the state-subsidized health insurance program.

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama committed to making health care reform one of his top priorities. As the President-elect, he moved swiftly in that direction, naming former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle as his choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Daschle has long considered health care to be of greatest importance. U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy relinquished his seat on the Senate Judiciary committee in order to work on a comprehensive health care plan, stating that, “This is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Nationally, lawmakers passed a law that disallows health insurance companies to discriminate based on genetic information. And the health insurance industry also agreed to terms that would disallow coverage in the presence of pre-existing conditions, with the existence of a universal health insurance mandate in place. So there was much activity in 2008 and the issue will continue to grow in importance as the new Congress convenes.

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In 2007, more Americans had health insurance than 2006. But what’s the outlook for 2008? Not good, says a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

The EBRI report detailed that the number of Americans covered by employer health plans will clearly decrease, but the number of Americans who have picked up their own health insurance coverage has risen significantly.

It has been argued that with a stronger economy earlier in the year, people were able to afford to buy their own health care coverage. The Kansas City Star suggests that a stronger economy in the past year combined with low unemployment rates allowed more workers the ability to purchase their own plans.

This is not the current situation, however. With the economy on the downswing, and with unemployment rising, not as many people can afford their own health insurance.

Work loss not withstanding, higher food prices, higher gas prices and families struggling to pay mortgages are all causes for health insurance coverage to be amongst the first to be cut from a family’s budget.

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In just a few weeks, on January 5, 2009 Floridians will have something to celebrate. The Cover Florida Health Care Program goes into effect on that day and citizens will be able to purchase health insurance. Governor Christ signed the bill in May of 2008, and it does, however, have some restrictions.

The plans will be exempt from some state mandated regulations, and may also limit other services such as hospital stays. Governor Christ has stated that his main goal in getting this bill passed was to provide access to those who wouldn’t otherwise get it at lowered premiums.

The plan will have a portfolio of 25 different plans provided by six insurers, it has been reported. A monthly premium of $155 is forecast to be an average. Governor Christ states that he’s particularly proud that the plan addresses the needs of children, of seniors, and of the unemployed. The plan will give them choices in their own care.

This is a positive step in the right direction for many, even though the deductibles in the plan will approach $3000 for a family plan. The plan is a step toward a focus on health care instead of sickness care.

The Cover Florida plans will provide access to health insurance to more than 3 million who would otherwise never be able to find coverage in the individual market. Pre-existing conditions will not be a factor in getting coverage. The Florida health insurance plan is available for all residents between 19 and 64 who have not been covered for at least the prior six months.

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