Health Insurance

Yesterday, the Census released 2011 data on health care coverage in the United States. The data reveals some encouraging news: In 2011, we saw positive trends in health coverage for the first time since 2007. Some 1.3 million more people had health insurance compared to 2010, and the overall proportion of those without coverage fell to 15.7 percent, down from 16.3 percent in 2010.

Women also fared better in 2011. The data shows that overall, more women had health coverage:

• An additional 219,000 women had health coverage in 2011, with the percentage of uninsured women (18 to 64) declining slightly from 19.9 percent in 2010 to 19.6 percent in 2011.
• An additional 760,000 women had Medicaid coverage in 2011, with the percentage of women covered through Medicaid rising to 12.3 percent from 11.6 percent in 2010.

Tomorrow, the Census Bureau will release new data on poverty, income, and health insurance in the U.S. in 2011. As we get ready to crunch numbers, we thought it would be helpful to take a deeper look at what these numbers will tell us about health insurance.

Where does this data come from?

Every month, the Census Bureau surveys approximately 50,000 households to estimate the unemployment rate. This is known as the Current Population Survey (CPS). Once a year, they supplement these questions with additional questions regarding health coverage and income and survey 78,000 households. This supplement is known as the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC). The ASEC questions regarding health insurance explore whether each member of the respondent household had insurance coverage throughout the previous calendar year, and if so, what kind of coverage.

There is some lag time between when the data are collected and when they are released. The survey is conducted in March and asks respondents about their insurance coverage over the entire previous year. It then takes several months for the data to be cleaned up and ready to release to the public in September. This means that the data released on Wednesday were collected in March of 2012 and will show insurance coverage at some point during 2011. According to the Census Bureau, the ASEC is the most widely used source of data on health insurance coverage in the U.S.

Many American Olympic athletes, despite being in incredible physical shape, face a tough time navigating the health care system and acquiring comprehensive coverage, just like us mere mortals.

Some Olympic athletes get their health care coverage through a Blue Cross Blue Shield program called the Elite Athletes Health Insurance (EAHI) plan. This plan covers the basics like preventive care and doctor’s visits, but of all things vital to elite athletes, it doesn’t cover sports injuries.

Given their high risk of injury and the EAHI’s high deductible, nearly all Olympic athletes have to buy a secondary plan that covers catastrophic injuries.  Not only do these athletes have to make sense of the different options and benefits, but out-of-pocket costs are based on their sport and level of competition. Athletes with less experience often face higher deductibles.

The EAHI doesn’t even cover all athletes. Each sport gets an allotted number of slots so those who don’t make the cut have to find coverage elsewhere. Athletes who don’t make the Olympic team usually won’t have access to EAHI and aren’t likely to have employer-based coverage.

American swimmer Dana Vollmer is exactly the type of athlete who could fall between the cracks in this broken system. At age 15, Vollmer was diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart problem known as Long QT syndrome. In order for her to keep competing, Dana’s mother had to bring an external defibrillator to Dana’s meets in case her heart stopped beating. Read more »

Remember when I told you about a great provision in the health care law requiring health insurance companies to spend your premium dollars on health care and not administrative costs or profits? My last blog post explains the whole deal.

An estimated 12 million Americans will receive rebates from health insurers totaling over $1 billion. And guess what? I got one! Well, sort of.

My health insurance company is CareFirst BlueChoice; it is the plan I receive as an employee of the National Women’s Law Center. A few weeks ago, I received a notice in the mail that CareFirst did not spend the legally required amount of premium dollars on care.

Check out the notice here. The accompanying letter says, “This letter is to inform you that CareFirst BlueChoice, Inc. will be rebating a portion of your health insurance premiums. This rebate is required by the Affordable Care Act—the health reform law.” [Some lovingly call it ObamaCare] If a health plan spends too much on administrative costs, as CareFirst did, it has to pay a rebate. Maybe next year they will get their act together and just charge lower premiums, which would be good too. Read more »

It’s Women’s Health Week. Time to Celebrate! Along with all of the other goodies we’ve been talking about endlessly for the last two years, the health care law is giving us another reason to celebrate: cold hard cash.

That’s right, cash money. Or more like a check. Let me explain.

The health care law signed by President Obama in 2010 to overhaul our health care system included a provision to require insurance companies to spend more of our premiums on our care, not on administrative costs or profits. It is called the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) and it is a federal requirement that insurance companies must spend 80-85% of premiums on health care. When I talk about this with women across the country, one of the first things they say is something along the lines of, “It’s about time!” (That that seems a pretty normal requirement and one that should have been in place a long time ago.) Before the health care law, many insurance companies spent excessive amounts of our premium dollars on administrative costs and profits, including executive salaries, overhead, and marketing—and not on our health care. Read more »

This blog post is a part of NWLC’s Mother’s Day 2012 blog series. For all our Mother’s Day posts, please click here.

My daughter was a champion breast-feeder. (These days she tries, and often fails, to be a champion rester at pre-kindergarden.) While there were a few bumps in the road – a slow start, a clogged duct, some supply issues as we closed in on the 12-month mark – breastfeeding was one of the easier things in her first year of life.

Nevertheless, I estimate that I spent over $700 on breastfeeding that year. It all adds up – a breast pump, some help from lactation consultants, renting a hospital-grade rental pump to help maintain supply those last few months of pumping at work – even for a mom-baby pair that didn’t experience many problems.

$700 is a lot of money, but it didn’t feel like such a big financial bite after I spoke to my friend Meaghan. Meaghan has spent exactly $761.90 in the first four weeks of her younger daughter’s life. That includes four visits with lactation consultants, renting a hospital-grade pump, pump parts and supplies, and supplements to help with thrush and clogged ducts. Her newborn has trouble latching, so Meaghan has been pumping and then bottle-feeding, and seeking a lot of help Read more »

On Tuesday from 1-2pm ET NWLC’s Vice President of Family Economic Security Joan Entmacher and I will be live chatting with The Nation’s Bryce Covert about what obstacles women still face in the economy. We’ll be talking about women dropping out of the labor force, being left behind in the recovery, receiving unfair pay, and other topics. Join us and bring your questions!

A few facts to get you thinking:

1. Did you know that while women suffered 30 percent of the job loss during the recession, they’ve accounted less than 12 percent of the job growth in the recovery?

It’s that time of year again – the smell of sharpened pencils, the sound of clapping erasers. Okay, I admit it: clearly, I’m no longer in school. But I do remember what it was like – the excitement of your new classes and professors, the thrill of going back to see your friends after you were stuck at your parents’ house all summer working some menial part-time job that you didn’t love very much, and oh yes, welcome back parties. There are so many things happening during those first weeks back to school, it’s easy to see why many people forget to think about their health. And when I say health, I don’t mean the college diet that consisted of a coke and chocolate chip cookie. Read more »