IQ HSA

Health Savings Insurance Provides Access To The Uninsured

IQ HSA — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:48:11 +0000

HSA health plans are playing a role to help provide access to the uninsured, promote preventive health services and show individuals and families where their hard-earned money is going in the health care system.

HSA premiums have been growing at a slower rate than traditional insurance premiums.
HSAs offer the advantage of portability - if you change jobs or your employment status changes, you keep the money in your HSA and continue using it to pay for your health care.
Most HSA plans provide incentives for you to stay engaged in your overall health and well-being and almost all HSA plans offer first-dollar coverage for preventive services.
HSA health plans play a vital role in providing health care coverage to millions of Americans who might otherwise be uninsured. A study by America’s Health Insurance Plans found that 27 percent of those buying HSA health plans in the individual market previously did not have health insurance.
Health savings accounts encourage individuals to take a more active role in determining how they receive health care by choosing how to spend their health care dollars. When health care decisions are made by patients based on quality, effectiveness, and cost, money is being spent more efficiently.

The people we work with are saving an average of $2,208/year on their health insurance premiums without sacrificing benefits. You owe it to yourself to find out how a HSA can benefit you. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 or info@iqhsa.com

IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.

Who Is Using Health Savings Insurance

IQ HSA — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:41:32 +0000

Americans choosing Health Savings Account (HSA) coverage represent a wide range of people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Consider the following:

HSA health plans provide comprehensive health coverage for more than eight million Americans.
About 40 percent of tax filer’s age 19-64 who reported HSA activity on their tax returns had average annual incomes below $60,000. (Government Accountability Office, April 2008).
About half of enrollees in an HSA-eligible plan are aged 40 and above, and half are below the age of 40. In the individual market, 25 percent of HSA-eligible plan enrollees were younger than age 20.
The 2009 Kaiser Family Foundation study of employer-based health benefits found that 71 percent of employers that offered HSAs contributed to their employees’ accounts, and that the average contribution for accounts was $1,000 for individuals and $1,640 for families.

Having A Qualified Health Insurance Plan Is Not Enough

IQ HSA — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:18:54 +0000

Having a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) is only half the battle. You must also open your Health Savings Account (HSA) before you have eligible expenses. You are not allowed to reimburse yourself for eligible expenses incurred prior to opening your Health Savings Account (HSA).

It is easy to open an account today by visiting our recommended provider American Chartered Bank. Simply open an account online and fund as little as $25 to keep from having problems in the future. Once the account is open you can then make deposits and reimburse yourself for expenses incurred after the account is open.

The Rate Of Health Care Spending

IQ HSA — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:30:32 +0000

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its annual health care spending projections. The CMS actuaries and economists project:

Between 2009 and 2019, national health costs will grow at an average annual rate of 6.1 percent. This rate is about 2 percentage points faster than the projected growth of the gross domestic product, which is expected to average 4.4 percent. As a result, national health expenditures will grow from an estimated 17.3 percent of GDP in 2009 to 19.3 percent by 2019
Private health insurers’ administrative costs will continue to fall, from 11.7 percent of premiums in 2008 to 11.2 percent in 2009. (In comparison, administrative costs were 13.7 percent of premiums in 2003.) Projections for administrative costs in 2009 are $4.3 billion lower than in 2007
Private health insurance premiums will grow at a rate of 3.3 percent in 2009, up from 3.1 percent in 2008 and down from 4.4 percent in 2007. The rate of growth will decline to 2.5 percent in 2010
Public health funds will account for 50.4 percent of all health care spending by 2011 - the first year government programs will account for more than half.

The report, published last week in Health Affairs, notes that the “two primary drivers of growth are medical prices and utilization.” It includes these proof points:

Hospital spending growth is projected to have accelerated from 4.5 percent in 2008 to 5.9 percent in 2009
Spending growth for physician and clinical services is expected to have accelerated to 6.3 percent in 2009, up from 5 percent in 2008
Prescription drug spending is expected to have grown 5.2 percent in 2009, an acceleration of 2 percentage points from 2008.

The people we work with are saving an average of $2,208/year on their health insurance premiums without sacrificing benefits. You owe it to yourself to find out how an HSA can benefit you. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 or info@iqhsa.com.

When Will Obama’s Health Care Policies Become Reality?

IQ HSA — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:12:41 +0000

When will Obama’s health care policies become reality?

Ah Never! Obama’s approach is to radical and would be completely ineffective at solving the real problems.Why are the costs of food, transportation, and even auto insurance not rising at the same pace as health insurance/ healthcare costs? The answer is that these other major segments of our economy function in a true marketplace where the consumer interacts directly with the provider of services.

Still don’t get it? How many of you know what the “true” cost of an average doctors visit or CAT Scan is? Answer, you really don’t. You may have said I pay a $25 copay when I go to the doctor, but that is not the true cost to someone walking in off the street without insurance.Now ask yourself what a gallon of milk costs? I’d be willing to bet 90% of you can come within $0.50 of knowing the answer.

It’s real simple, you don’t have the Grocery Company and your employer making decisions as to where you shop and what gallon of milk you buy thus driving up the costs. Obamacare is not a solution. If implemented costs would continue to rise, care would decrease, national debt would rise and we would have another wonderful beauracracy. Sounds like Utopia to me.

Tips For Successfully Completing Your Insurance Application

IQ HSA — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:20:04 +0000

The following are tips to avoid delays in underwriting processing of your health insurance application. Simply by following these guidelines can save you days or even weeks of processing time for your health insurance application.

The top five reasons for delays in processing are:

Verify Height and Weight: Height and weight accuracy, especially for children, is necessary to properly process applications.
» This area of the application amounts to 25% of the call-backs underwriters make for incomplete or inaccurate information.

Specify Diagnosis: A specific diagnosis needs to be provided (e.g. Crohn’s disease) not a general description of health issue (e.g. digestive issues).

Specify Affected Areas: Accurately identify areas of the body that have been treated (e.g. RIGHT foot broken, LEFT knee replaced, etc.).

Specify Treatment Dates: Both beginning and end dates are needed. Also, details about the treatments success, i.e. if the treatment is ongoing or if there has been a complete recovery.

List Medications - Name, Dosage and Frequency: Many medications share similar names and accuracy is key. Specific dosage amounts (e.g. 50 mg) and directions of use (how many times a day) should also be provided.
» If a prescription is taken “as needed” or “seasonal,” please provide information how often it is refilled.

The people we work with are saving 1,000’s of dollars each year without sacrificing benefits. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.

Compare Healthcare In The US, England, And Canada

IQ HSA — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:22:18 +0000

Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
  U.S.              65%
  England      46%
  Canada       42%

Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
  U.S.             93%
  England     15%
  Canada       43%

Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
  U.S.              90%
  England      15%
  Canada        43%

Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
  U..S.             77%
  England      40%
  Canada       43%

Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:
  U.S.              71
  England      14
  Canada        18

Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in “excellent health”:
  U.S.             12%
  England       2%
  Canada        6%

Statistics from a recent article in Investors Business Daily.

Latest On Health Care Reform

IQ HSA — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:01:16 +0000

In it’s current form the Health Care Legislation includes several provisions that will disadvantage or threaten HSA health plans, including:

A new premium tax that will cause premiums to rise for individuals, families and small businesses;
Mandated benefit levels that could eliminate HSA health plans as an option for coverage;
A rule against using money in your HSAs to buy any over-the-counter drugs, such as allergy medications, that you now get without a prescription; and
An increased penalty for the use of HSA dollars for non-qualified medical expenses from 10% to 20% of the reimbursement.

The window of opportunity is closing, but there is still time to contact your elected representatives in Congress and to let them know how you depend on your HSA health plan for quality coverage and to save for medical expenses.

Call, email, write or visit your Representative and Senators today. Look up their contact information here.

Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.

House And Senate Conferees Will Have To Reconcile Two Bills

IQ HSA — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:04:10 +0000

Abortion: The House version includes stricter language designed to prohibit the use of federal funds for abortion coverage, except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger. That helped appease House conservatives, but abortion was even more of a make-or-break issue in the Senate, so that chamber’s slightly milder language could win out.
Taxes: The House and Senate bills would fund health reform in entirely different ways. The House bill would tax individuals making more than $500,000 a year and families making more than $1 million. The Senate bill would tax so-called “Cadillac” or high-cost health plans - an idea opposed by labor unions and many House Democrats. The Senate version would also impose annual fees on health insurers starting at $2 billion in 2011 and going up to $10 billion in 2017.
Public plan: The House bill includes a government-run plan that progressives fought hard to include. Instead of a government-run plan, the Senate version would instruct the federal Office of Personnel Management to contract with private insurers to offer at least two national health plans for individuals and small businesses. One of those plans would have to be nonprofit. Conventional wisdom says the final, combined bill will not include a public plan, but House leaders could seek other tweaks in exchange for dropping the idea. Possibilities include increasing federal subsidies to help low- and middle-income people afford coverage, creating a single, national insurance exchange instead of one in each state, or introducing those exchanges earlier - in 2013, a year earlier than the Senate bill stipulates.
Medicare Advantage:Each bill would cut funding for the Medicare Advantage program, but the amount differs substantially. The House bill includes cuts of $170 billion over ten years. The Senate bill would trim reimbursements by $118 billion over the same ten-year period. We didn’t mention the potential impact on Health Savings Accounts (HSA) because it is unclear what if anything will change with the final bill. As stated previously, two components of health care in this country that work are Medicare Advantage and Health Savings Accounts. Ironically these are two programs on the chopping block of both pieces of legislation. Very unfortunate how we have come to accept mediocrity in this Great Country.

For more, check out these side-by-side comparisons from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.

Two Questions For Anyone Debating Healthcare Reform

IQ HSA — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:12:28 +0000

I have two questions for anyone considering the healthcare proposals currently being bantered in congress.

Q: Why have we not had one company step up and compete with Medicare in its 60+ years of existence?

A: Because it is impossible to compete with the government. The government does not need to ever earn a profit; they virtually have a never ending supply of capital (taxes). To believe the “public option” would compete with private insurance companies is simply naive.

Q: Name one government program that has been a success?

A: You cannot. Ex: Medicare and Social Security - bankrupt and heading towards a large percentage of the population ready to jump on board. Part of the reason why the government is pushing this new program is to get them out of their previous messes.

This is not a partisan issue, its common sense. Please wake up and consider this logically as opposed to emotionally. This whole debate has been like watching the herd of buffalo follow each other over the cliff.

Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.