9th Asia Conference on Healthcare and Health Insurance (24-25 March, 2014)

9th Asia Conference on Healthcare and Health Insurance

With the ageing population and governments trying to get individuals to be more responsible for their healthcare, there is great potential for the private medical services and schemes. And both users of expensive innovative health services and healthcare providers look to insurers for partnership. Will insurers be able to rise to the challenge? Will they be able to tread the minefields in health insurance with dignity and improved underwriting results despite the runaway medical inflation making cutting edge technology available to all? Will insurers be ready to take on the role of making it affordable to all? Is that too big a risk? Where are the markers? What should the parameters be? And can reinsurers play a bigger role in healthcare to make product coverage more extensive? There is a need for collective effort among health professionals, government officials, healthcare providers, and insurers and reinsurers, brokers and Third Party Administrators to come together to forge the way ahead even if it means making health insurance compulsory or more selective. As demand for health insurance is hot and there are too many exclusions involved while fraudsters are rising, the insurance industry needs to come together to lick this problem to boost the image of insurance altogether. Opportunities are plenty for insurers and providers in the healthcare sector with huge potential for growth and profitability. Can the Governments do more to ensure that healthcare schemes are sensible and accessible to all? This 9th Healthcare conference organized by Asia Insurance Review has the theme: “Wealth in Health for Insurers” sub-text: Adding Value through Efficient Delivery of Cost-Effective Quality Healthcare for the long term. The two-day conference will tackle hot topics ranging from providing effective and quality healthcare for the masses to the more sophisticated high net worth segments and the silver generation as well as healthcare funding, regulatory requirements, improving health procedures and services and how to balance healthcare financing with underwriting, cost control and fraud. The conference will also provide an overview of the world-class health systems, trends and developments in Asia and the world as well as look at the strategies in implementing healthcare programmes with partners and TPAs, innovative products, technology in the medical field and creative distribution channels for healthcare.

News Source : www.asiainsurancereview.com

50 years of tobacco extended lives of 8 million Americans

Loren Grush

In 1964, the U.S. surgeon general first came out with a report detailing the significant health risks associated with smoking cigarettes. Now, 50 years later, the report’s positive effects are still being felt in the United States. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has concluded that the surgeon general’s report, along with various other tobacco control efforts, have significantly extended the lives of 8 million Americans – adding nearly 20 years to their life expectancy. “The 1964 report, in many ways, was a watershed event for public health,” senior author David Levy, a population scientist at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, told FoxNews.com. “By that time, sufficient evidence had accumulated to demonstrate that smoking cigarettes has a profoundly negative effect on an individual’s health. Following that publicity, a number of events occurred that really caused smokers to quit – taxes on cigarettes, smoke free air laws, bans on advertisements and health reporting.” In the 1960s, more than 40 percent of American adults smoked cigarettes, but now, only 20 percent of adults continue to smoke – a decrease Levy attributes to the surgeon general’s warning. To really gauge the magnitude of the report’s effects, Levy and his team analyzed smoking rates over the past 50 years, in relation to people’s ages, when they started smoking and other factors. The researchers found that since 1964, 17.6 million deaths could be attributed to smoking in the United States. Of this number, 6.6 million occurred in people below the age of 65, equaling a substantial loss due to death and illness among the working age group, Levy said. However, the team also used statistical modeling to determine what mortality rates would have looked like if the surgeon general’s report had never occurred and tobacco control efforts had never been utilized. They then compared these hypothetical death rates to the actual death rates, estimating that 157 million years of life were saved – translating to 19.6 additional years of life for each smoker who quit. “Many of the people that quit initially were younger people,” Levy said. “People usually quit in their 20s or 30s, or they quit later on in life when they experience severe health problems. But the reductions have occurred across the board. In particular there’s been much less association of smoking with the young.” While this is very positive news for the millions of smokers who quit, Levy said there is still a long way to go in order to save more lives. According to the annual cancer statistics report from the American Cancer Society, lung cancer remains the deadliest form of the disease – leading to one in four cancer deaths. Levy said it’s important to continue with tobacco control, since it has had such a substantial effect. He also noted that the rise of e-cigarettes could be beneficial in helping people quit, as long as smokers completely make the switch from regular cigarettes to the electronic kind. “Eight million have avoided death due to smoking, but we still have a substantial number of people who are dying from smoking,” Levy said. “…This is an example of an important public health event. This is something that also provides lessons concerned with trends in obesity; changing prices and educational campaigns can have an important effect.” The research was conducted by scientists at the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) and was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

News Source : www.foxnews.com

Health Insurance Premium You Should Choose your Life Safe

Health Insurance Premium You Should Choose your Life Safe

Choosing the best suitable premium policy for Life Insurance is sometimes confusing. You are given two reasonable choices- each with their own advantages and disadvantages. However, the best and the right premium would always depend on your needs and your current financial status. When you are thinking of long terms, most insurance brokers or consultants would suggest the guaranteed premium. This type of Health Insurance policy ensures that what you are currently paying will be the same for the next couple of years to come-regardless of the current financial state of the company. The rates you are given by the time you started paying will remain the same until the end of the term. So if you choose a 10-year term, it means you have almost 10 years of savings. However, this type of premium usually starts with a higher rate than the usual monthly or reviewable premiums. Reviewable premiums on the other hand are a lot cheaper. It is made affordable especially for those with a tight budget as of the moment. Consultants recommend this type of premium to those who want security but are unable to commit to a locked insurance rate. 

Health Insurance Policy holders under this type of health premium are given updates of the results after a review is done. Reviews are done in a set time interval and usually after the review a slight rise in the rates are concluded. It is very important that you choose the best suitable premium for your life insurance because it will determine the type of coverage you are entitled to get. Each person has his or her own preference when it comes to this, so it is never a wrong decision to choose one from the other just as long as you are satisfied with the benefits and coverage of the policy you have chosen.

So if you are confused as to which health premium to choose, check your current financial status and know if you can commit to a guaranteed premium first. If you don't think you can afford a guaranteed premium, choose the reviewable premium instead. You can also consult an agent or an insurance broker to help you decide which one to choose. With their deep knowledge and experience about life insurance and its policies, they can surely help you choose the best suitable premium. To help you better understand life insurance rates, premiums, coverage and policies, you can always go online and do a research. You can also get helpful tips here.

News Source :  www.ezinearticles.com

Health Insurance

Health Insurance

Unless you're a millionaire and can pay for your health care out of pocket, health insurance is a crucial purchase. The time to buy it is before you have an accident, suffer a serious illness or discover you're pregnant. Individual health insurance doesn't cover health care for medical problems or conditions that start before the date you were issued a policy, although there are now pre-existing condition insurance plans available from the government. However, due to health care reform legislation, health insurers will no longer be able to deny coverage or refuse to renew coverage to adults with pre-existing conditions beginning on Jan. 1, 2014.

Health plan choices in 2014

 Health plan choices in 2014

Before you start shopping for health insurance for 2014, learn the difference among platinum, gold, silver and bronze -- the names for new standardized health plans that will be sold through "marketplaces." Health plans sold through the state and federally operated health insurance marketplaces, formerly known as exchanges, will be standardized to make it easier to compare prices and benefits. The National Conference of State Legislatures has state-by-state information on marketplaces. All the plans must offer the same core package of essential benefits, such as coverage for prescription drugs, maternity and newborn care, lab services, emergency services and preventive and wellness care. And none of the plans can deny coverage or charge higher premiums for pre-existing conditions, meaning illnesses or conditions you already have.

Ensuring the Affordable Care Act Serves the American People

Ensuring the Affordable Care Act Serves the American People

The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) is charged with helping implement many provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the historic health reform bill that was signed into law March 23, 2010. CCIIO oversees the implementation of the provisions related to private health insurance. Our Current Areas of Emphasis Ensuring compliance with new insurance market rules, such as the Patient’s Bill of Rights Helping states review unreasonable rate increases and overseeing new Medical Loss Ratio rules Providing oversight for the State-Based Health Insurance Exchanges and compiling data for www.HealthCare.gov Administering the Consumer Assistance Program, Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan and Early Retiree Reinsurance Program CCIIO works closely with governors and the state insurance commissioners, consumers, and stakeholders to ensure the new law best serves the American people.

 News Source : www.cciio.cms.gov

Health-care subsidies to help working families

Health-care subsidies to help working families

WASHINGTON The majority of tax subsidies to help Americans pay for health insurance starting in January will go to working families, according to a nationwide study released Thursday. About 25.7 million people who fall between 138 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level — below $46,000 for a single adult and $94,000 for a family of four — will be eligible for funds that will go directly to an insurance plan they choose. According to the Congressional Budget Office, those subsidies will cost about $350 billion from 2010 to 2019, but taxes and savings built into the law will offset them. “This reaches deeply into the middle class, as well as moderate-income families,” said Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA, which released the national report. “This is a group that’s really deserving of priority help.” The 2010 health care law, the Affordable Care Act, created state health care exchanges where residents can shop for health insurance policies available in their states. The exchanges are state- or federal-run websites where residents can see a list of plans, their costs and benefits, and whether they are eligible for any subsidies to help with the cost. Those with employer-paid insurance may keep that insurance. Financial help Most Americans, Pollack said, don’t know how the exchanges will work or that they may be eligible for financial help to pay for insurance. That’s why Families USA released the report, he said. The report shows that families that make $47,000 to $94,000 will receive half the money, that 88 percent of the credits will go to working families, and that those up to age 36 are most likely to be eligible. Families USA did not include people who fall below 138 percent of the poverty line because, in the states that will expand Medicaid, they will not need subsidies. Some Americans who buy insurance under the exchanges will face sticker shock, said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans. That’s because, he said, insurers may no longer charge young, healthy people less for premiums while charging older and sicker people, or those with pre-existing medical conditions, more. “There’s broad agreement that for the new reforms to work, there needs to be high participation in the health care system,” Zirkelbach said. “But the young and healthy may still decide not to buy insurance and may only buy it when they become sick.” Affordability The CBO found that 40 percent of people in individual-market plans will not be eligible for subsidies, Zirkelbach said. Those who fall between 250 percent and 300 percent of the federal poverty level would receive only enough to pay 42 percent of the second-lowest-ranking plan offered by the health care exchanges. “Affordability is the key for all of it to work,” he said.

News Source: www.azcentral.com