Ask Colleen King

Wow–time got away, and I’ve posted nothing in December! Other than the usual holiday stuff keeping me busy, I also had several group health plan clients whose renewals are coming up January 1st. My advice to you when your group health insurance renewal comes around is to attend to it early on, and not wait [...]

Health insurance thoughts are usually more focused on what doesn’t work instead of people being grateful that they have it. Not all plans are good, but most are. The actual cost of care would wipe most people out if something significant happened to their health.

But if you purchase your own coverage or you obtain it [...]

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a great way to handle health care coverage for many people. In order to have one you need to have a specific type of health plan, referred to as a Qualified High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). In order to qualify as an HSA eligible HDHP in 2008, plans for a [...]

Health Insurance is treated differently by people as opposed to homeowners or auto insurance, because unfortunately we tend to need to use it more often. Individual health insurance plans generally over 70% (or less) after you meet the deductible. So until you hit the out of pocket maximum, which is like a stop loss, your [...]

Health insurance tends to be confusing to most people, so going to a big, national web site to decipher what all is available might be okay for some. If you really understand it, then go for it. I can understand wanting to do it on your own and not risk being pressured into buying more [...]

When dealing with Individual Health Insurance, depending on your personal health history, it can be dicey to apply because you don’t know whether you’ll be accepted or not and if you are, and are offered coverage at an above standard rate, will it be affordable? Depending on your situation there are some options in California, [...]

I always feel bad for people who find health insurance confusing–the things that really make it hard to understand, most people don’t even encounter. Most initial questions revolve around ‘what’s a deductible?’ Right after ‘what’s the difference between an HMO and a PPO (see my other post about that).
When evaluating a health insurance plan, either [...]

Health insurance is never a simple thing, but the things that really make in complicated (in my mind) most people never encounter. The difference between an HMO and a PPO is pretty simple, but NOT if you don’t deal with it regularly.

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) are where you select a primary care physician [...]

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) have been around since 2004 and grew out of the Archer Medical Savings Account pilot. Initially, there weren’t a lot of trustees that handled HSAs. But NOW, four years later, since people have figured out there is money to be made, most banks and more credit unions are offering them as [...]

Group health insurance is a HUGE discussion in California. It has been over the past 2-3 years as concerns rise over the uninsured. As well as the cost of health care–wow, it’s all exploding.
The beauty of small group health insurance (2-50 employees) in California is that when a company is set up within certain parameters, [...]