Posts Tagged ‘illinois’

UniCare is Pulling out of Illinois

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
UniCare announced today that they will be pulling out of the Illinois markets. This comes as a shock to everyone, including the hundreds of employees that will lose their jobs. NOTE: Details as they become available, will be forthcoming.

INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE

If you are on individual health insurance via UniCare, you will be transitioned to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. This will be guaranteed issue, meaning they will accept you. Details have not been worked out, but my best guess is that there will be no underwriting and they will place you on a similar plan.
If you choose not to accept this, then your plan will end, probably around 12/31/2009.

GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE

If you are on a small group health insurance plan with UniCare, it looks like you have a choice between staying on your plan until your renewal date or transitioning to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. When this option is presented, I will evaluate whether it makes sense to move the group at this time.
Billing and claims should not change during this time.
Wellpoint (one of the largest insurers in the United States) is not going out of business, they are just packing their bags and exiting the Illinois market.

If you have questions, please contact me. More details as they become available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Law Impacts Small Illinois Employers who offer Health Insurance

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

House Bill 2325 was signed into law on June 18,2009. It does two things that will impact you as an employer.

CHANGES

1. State Continuation has been expanded for 3 additional months to 12 months of total coverage.This change will go into effect at your renewal date (from 7/1/2009 renewals on).

2. New notification laws. You have 10 days to give an terminated employee notice of their rights to continue coverage and they now have 30 days within which to respond (they are required to respond in writing). Lack of timely notification can result in a $500 fine.

If you use a service, they should already know about these changes. If this terminated employee is eligible for the subsidy, then the insurance company is required to handle the notifications. If you fall into this category, I recommend taking the following action (as I’ve seen insurance companies screw up this part):

DOCUMENTATION OF TIMELY NOTICE

Print out a sheet stating that the employee/family is eligible for either 9 or 12 months of coverage (depending upon whether your group plan renewal has happened after 6/18/2009) and that this person has 30 days to elect this coverage in writing. Use the “Model ARRA Notice” and modify it for state continuation and the notification guidelines. Find it here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/COBRA.html. You can also request a copy of what your current COBRA service uses and provide it yourself.

TWO COPIES – ONE FOR YOU, ONE FOR THEM

Furnish two copies of this notice. One that the terminated employee must sign and date at the time of termination. The second copy they bring home. This will help you avoid the new $500 penalty.

NOTE: I am not an attorney or an expert on these notifications. To be perfectly compliant, check with your COBRA/State Continuation provider or attorney for specific language.

 

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Update on Dependent Coverage for Health Insurance in Illinois

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

If you haven’t heard, starting on June 1st the age of dependents on Illinois health insurance plans is scheduled to go up until age 26 for most people and age 30 if the dependent was in the military. There is no requirement that they be a full time student.

 

GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE

For people on an employer sponsored group health insurance plan. At renewal time, you will be allowed to add your dependent. So if your open enrollment is in October, then that is when you can add your dependent.

 

INDIVIDUAL HEALTH INSURANCE

For people on individual/family health insurance. There is a 90 day initial enrollment period starting on June 1st where you can add dependents back on to the policy (the insurer MUST take the dependent, they cannot be denied coverage). If they were without health insurance for more than 63 days, the pre-existing condition clause will apply (see the article below). Please contact your health insurance provider if this would be beneficial for you to add your dependent on to your plan. Especially for those dependents who won’t qualify for an individual plan themselves.

 

Here’s an article that gives more details:  

 

http://www.idfpr.com/doi/pressRelease/pr08/HB5285DependentCoverage.pdf

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Illinois Dependent Coverage set to change to 26/30 years old on June 1, 2009

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

WHAT IS IT?

The Illinois legislature signed into law a measure that allows dependents to stay on a parent’s Group policy until age 26 if unmarried and until age 30 if they served as an active or reserve of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the National Guard and have been discharged from the military (except if it was a dishonorable discharge). This means that when a dependent turns 26 years old or 30 years old respectively, they will go off the policy (but are still eligible for either COBRA or State Continuation).

NOTE: The dependent does NOT have to be a full time college student to qualify.

WHEN DOES IT TAKE EFFECT?

It goes into effect on a group health insurance’s renewal date that occurs on or after June 1, 2009. For example, if a group is set to renew on October 1, 2009, then that is the date when this dependent coverage takes effect.

WHO DOES IT IMPACT?

This law impacts all fully insured and many self insured groups. This does NOT apply to individual/family health insurance.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THOSE INSURED?

Those who are on a group health insurance plan and have a dependent over the age of 18 or 19 (if not a college student) or 23 (if a full time college student) can continue that dependent’s coverage on their group health insurance plan. If the dependent is not currently on the plan, they will have an opportunity to enroll during the group’s usual open enrollment period (there is a special 90 day window for this to occur).

SHOULD YOU ENROLL YOUR DEPENDENT ON GROUP COVERAGE?

My personal opinion is that if the dependent is eligible for individual health insurance coverage, then that is the most cost effective option. It also takes care of the potential problem that if they become uninsurable (i.e. having cancer); they would be able to keep individual coverage as long as they wanted. On the person was on a group plan and became uninsurable in the individual market, they would eventually be ineligible, need to go on COBRA/State Continuation, then onto the state’s uninsurable plan (ICHIP) which would be a more expensive option. The other alternative is that they would need to get a job that included group health benefits.

 

REMINDER: Parents, you can pay for the individual health coverage of your dependent directly if you choose. Insurance companies allow this. The typical rate for individual coverage is less than half of the group rate.

Contact me if you have questions. Robert Slayton 630-779-1144.

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