Health insurance in Houston, TX made easier by patient protection laws
Reader question:
I need to get a good health insurance plan in Houston, Texas. Can you tell me about health insurance in that area?
Glen
Sure.
Health insurance in Houston, Texas is a lot like medical health insurance anywhere else in the country. The main difference is that the state of Texas has special patient protection laws that make getting medical health insurance in Houston a different experience from everywhere else.
- Patient protection laws.
This is one of the things that makes health insurance in Houston special. Texas puts a lot of support behind its patient protection laws, so being a patient in that state is a lot safer than in most. These laws were put in place to protect Texas patients from having Houston health insurance companies take advantage of them by weaseling out of providing coverage and over charging. The laws protect a Texan’s ability to get cheap health insurance.
For things like HMOs, the patient protection laws really kick in. They provide Houston patients with the ability to access specialized prescription drugs as well as other things that health insurance are less willing to cover, such as check ups (at least annual) by the doctor when you aren’t sick, special treatments, and preventive medicine. Patient protection laws in Texas prevent corruption in the industry as well. They keep HMOs from healing prevent patients from receiving the help they need by giving doctors rewards for refusing to provide certain care to their patients.
Just because they have these patient protection laws, though, doesn’t mean HMOs and other health insurance in Houston, Texas are always on the straight and narrow path. HMOs are more guilty than most. According to a report by the Office of Public Insurance Counsel in Texas, despite all of the efforts to set them straight, health insurance in Houston and the rest of Texas provided by companies and HMOs don’t live up to the standards set by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
What you need to know about group health insurance
There are about five things about group health insurance that lots of employers don’t know but should. Providing group health insurance for your employees is a big deal, and you should educate yourself as much as you can about it. Most employees can agree that they want to get the cheapest group health insurance that they can, but also realize that they need to get quality group health insurance for their employees. If you’re sincere about this desire, it’s important to know as much as you can about group health insurance rates.
- Competition and law. There’s a lot of it going on in the state of Texas, especially in the Houston the health insurance business. It’s also regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance, which enforces the Insurance Code. Every year new laws make insurance policies even more complex than ever before and make it more expensive for companies to get group health insurance plans. The congress in your state has an effect on what you’re paying for group health insurance.
- Lying about rates. Group health insurance agents try to get more customers by lying and saying that they can get you cheaper health insurance rates. That’s not the case. Considering that group health insurance is regulated by the state, the prices are the same all across the board among agents.
- Agents don’t really know. Agents don’t know what insurance companies’ rates will actually be, they can only guess. It will depend, in the end, on the company and on each employee employed by it and their medical condition. If you have a company with as few as 50 employees, you can get rates from an agent that up to 67% off from what you’re going to get from the actual insurance company.
- Bribes. Getting some gifts for giving your business to a group health insurance agent may seem like it’s okay and many might not realize what it really is. Exchange of cash or gifts can make the group health insurance agent lose his or her license and is against the law.
- Knowledge. Just because group health insurance agents can’t know for sure how much a certain insurance company is going to charge, they can still help your company save up to hundreds of thousands of dollars on group health insurance costs. Things like programs that help employees maintain themselves in good health can contribute to these huge savings.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.