Good news is coming out of Michigan for people with Diabetes, who have to face so many medical costs every year just trying to keep up with their condition. As of January 10th, health insurance companies under the regulation of the Michigan Department of Insurance are going to have to start covering supplies needed for controlling Diabetes, such as insulin, within ninety days of that date.

It’s been a long time since there has been any kind of reform of health insurance in Michigan, longer than ten years, so many see this as a welcome expansion of the system. The types of supplies for patients with Diabetes that will be covered by the new requirement, will include such things as:

• insulin
• oral medications
• insulin pumps
• blood glucose testing supplies
• physician and diabetes educational opportunities
• anything else needed to manage the condition

The vice president of the American Diabetes Association states that in the past, many families who struggle with the problem of Diabetes have had to wait, have had their claims denied, have been forced to go without their medications and supplies for lack of money, and these are things that are necessary for them to continue living. Why, she wonders, do we save other lives that are more immediately in danger, while letting Diabetes patients slowly lose theirs? This new program will save thousands of lives across the state of Michigan.

Called the Diabetes Cost Reduction Act, similar things have gone into law across forty two other states in the country. In those other states, though, the covered products still come with required co pays, which may keep some patients from getting their necessary supplies. the DCRA is the first to not require this.

One of the things that brought this about was the huge increase in cases of Diabetes throughout the state of Michigan. Sixty seven percent more people have it now than did in 1997, says the Center for Disease Control. of the 660,000 Michigan residents that have Diabetes, one third of them are not aware of the fact. Considering the ramifications of not taking care of your self properly when you have Diabetes, raising awareness alone could save many lives.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

When the new reform of Medicare went through and the seniors across the country received their new lists of rules and plan information, there was a wide cry of “WHAT?” echoing all across the nation. Health insurance is confusing as it is, and the way that the government made Medicare out to be has made it just more and more difficult for the seniors of the United States to get the health insurance care that they need in a timely manner.

Luckily, many states have information programs for seniors who are on Medicare, and the Ohio health insurance program is one of them. Called OSHIIP, it stands for the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program. It provides ways for those covered by Medicare and their family trying to help them to get fast medical care and to understand their coverage. Such convenient features as a toll free hotline make getting assistance with understanding your medical health insurance quick, easy, and calming.

Not only does the OSHIIP program provide you with information about Medicare insurance, but it has volunteers that can sit with you individually and help you interpret the Medicare possible plans and decide which one is the best for you. They can also help you find out many ways in which you can save money using Medicare.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I’m seventy years old and have been living in Florida for six months. What kinds of programs does Florida have for health insurance for seniors?

Duke

SHINE.

Sorry, not trying to be unreasonably cheery. That’s actually the name of Florida’s health insurance program for seniors. SHINE. It stands for Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders and is the state’s subsection of the program, called SHIP, or state health insurance programs, that is existent in every state and territory of the United States. SHINE does not actually provide Florida seniors with senior health insurance–that’s what Medicaid is for–but it does provide them with plenty of very useful services.

SHINE is, essentially, a way to educated senior citizens living in Florida of what their options are when it comes to medical health insurance. It helps them decide what they want to do in the long run, and helps them disentangle the confusing red tape that is wrapped around the new, improved Medicare prescription program. This free education comes in the form of one on one counseling and group efforts.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I’m from Texas and I’m having a hard time finding health insurance in Houston because I’m considered ‘high risk’. What do I do?

Marvin

There’s always something that you can do.

The health insurance business, indeed, the entire insurance business, be it life, health, or auto, functions around formulas that determine the risk of a potential customer. Medical health insurance companies provide health coverage, but they only want to provide to the people who need it least, and want to make it as difficult as possible to use. This is natural to a business, as they would much prefer to have money coming in than out. This makes it difficult for people who are more like to use medical health insurance coverage to get insured, but there are certain fall back plans set in place to help them out.

If you are looking for medical health insurance in Houston, Texas, then you should consider getting involved with the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool. This, which makes it easier to get high risk health insurance in Houston and the rest of the state, was created as Texas’s response to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It helps out poeple who find that medical health insurance companies turn them down more often than not because they have a condition or history that makes it to where they require more health care.

It works pretty much the same way as much health insurance in Houston, even down, strangely, to the fact that in the first year of your policy you aren’t covered for any pre-existing conditions. It does, however, allow for hospital stays and trips to the emergency room with small deductibles.

It may be the only option for someone who needs health insurance in Houston and can’t get it anywhere else, but that doesn’t mean that it will be cheap. As a matter of fact, with a one thousand dollar deductible, it could end up with a monthly cost of up to five hundred for a 36 year old man, and up to six hundred for a woman of the same age.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.