A look at the per capita health costs - U.S. compared to other OECD nations in 2000. Of course, since the year 2000 these costs have ballooned even further.

A poignant article in the respected journal, Health Affairs, put it best when it said that “a cycle of unsustainable spending growth followed by fervent cost containment initiatives has been a regular feature of the health care landscape for the past half-century.” As a result, the journal looked at health care spending per capita for thirty countries in the so-called “industrialized” Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) list of countries, all while record numbers of Americans choose to opt out of individual health insurance plans.

In 2002, U.S. citizens spent more than $5,260 per capita for their health care. This represented a 53% premium over any other country in the OECD list. That trend continues to this day, and it is a major catalytic factor in the health care reform movement championed by the Obama administration.

Health Affairs concludes that the two main factors in the high U.S. health care costs are:

• Defensive medicine (which leads to higher diagnostic rates and a hyper-sensitive population of doctors due to the fear of medical malpractice claims), and
• The high rates of emergency care resources vs other industrialized nations. Of course, the article in the journal tends not to oversimplify and cites numerous other potential reasons.

Whatever the case, health care spending has ballooned far beyond that of any other country (as the graph above illustrates). Where the proposed reform will take us from here is anybody’s best guess.

Have you ever pondered what health insurance and healthcare was like throughout your state? Or maybe you and your family are planning a move to another part of the country and want to know what you can expect in terms of health coverage in a state. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is making sleuthing like this a whole lot easier for inquiring minds who want to know. They have created a stellar resource website at statecoverage.org, where you can find statistics for all 50 states. Want to compare the coverage provided by employers in Wisconsin versus the coverage provided by employers around the country? Are you curious about the Medicaid coverage in Oregon?

What Makes this Health Insurance Tool Useful

I’m so impressed with this site’s usability and easy of navigation. I’ve always wanted to live in Oregon, as I have a on of family living there and let’s face it: it’s absolutely beautiful there. But let’s say I wanted to truly make a move there and was worried about what type of health coverage would be available me. Once I open the “State Profiles” page, I’m presented with a map of the United States, broken out into states. I clicked on Oregon, and up popped information that can be useful to everyone, despite how you like your information presented. On the Oregon page, I discovered both graphical representation of data (read: bar graphs) and some cold hard numbers.

If you’re looking at a particular state’s data and wondering just where in the heck these statistics came from, the site does a terrific job of citing their sources. Just click on the “Resources” tab for any given state, and you will see listed any source that data was gathered from, including a link to the exact report. For those of you cynics who don’t like to take things at face value, I think this is valuable addition.

Muddling Through the Insurance Jargon

If you’re at the beginning of your insurance journey, you may be looking at terms like Medicaid or SCHIP and scratching your head. Luckily, State Coverage Initiatives has done all of the information gathering for you. Instead of only providing you with facts and figures with no explanation of terms (leaving you opening countless different windows trying to track down what these terms mean), you can click on “Coverage Strategies” at the top of the page and be given in depth definitions of many of the types of coverage you’ll see talked about on other parts of the site. Also impressive is the readability of the definitions-no confusing, misleading trickery here-they lay everything out for you so that it is easy to understand and digest.

Insurance Resources Galore

One fantastic thing about the internet is that there is a wealth of information to be found on just about any subject. It can be difficult to find a reliable and informative site sometimes, and State Coverage Initiatives seems to be one of the good guys. Once you have gotten the specific state information you are looking for, you may be ready to look into purchasing some type of insurance for yourself. There are so many different plans out there, and they vary drastically by carrier and area, so please visit our health insurance by state section arm yourself with even more information to help you with any insurance decisions you’re facing.

President Obama made a lot of promises in his 2008 Presidential campaign, and many of them were around changes he wanted to see happen in America’s health care and insurance system. Unfortunately, many time politicians will talk the talk in order to get voters to punch their ticket a certain way on election day.

Walking the walk as far as campaign promises doesn’t always happen. Just look at the Bush administration…don’t even get me started. It is refreshing to hear Obama say that he is welcoming ideas on how to reform the health care proposal he created during his campaign, and I am all for a system in which many have a say in ideas to find a solution that works for everyone in the current state of the economy.

But the real question is, especially after hearing President Obama’s State of the Union address: What is the buzz around Obama’s statement of “come one, come all” for hearing opinions on health care, and will it work in creating a just and successful health care system for America?

Read the rest of this entry »

This post is a little delayed, since most people are getting excited and making their New Year’s resolutions right before and after the 1st of the year. It’s actually an ideal time to discussing this, because the shine has worn off your grand plans for creating a better, healthier you this year. You may have lost steam on your ambitions and have start falling back into hold habits. Don’t! There are small, easily attainable steps to living a healthy life this year and for the rest of your years. Read on and take things one minute at a time. After all, improving your health also means an improvement in the costs of your individual health insurance plan.

Veggie Tales and Your Health

You know how your mom was always trying to get you to eat your vegetables? Well, she knows her stuff. You should be aiming to get at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. If you dread the thought of biting into an apple of spearing a piece of broccoli, fear not. Vegetable servings are hiding in some possibly unexpected places. if you are a big fan of baked goods, you can sneak lots of fruit in there. Bake some zucchini bread, use applesauce instead of oil; you can even use prunes to bake! If you love your carbs, grate some carrots into your pasta sauce. Just try and pretend they’re not there.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t think you’re low-income and aren’t sure if you’d qualify for the services we talked about in our pregnancy health insurance article (it’s always a good idea to check just in case), there may be other options you can look into as a pregnant, mother-to-be. They do come at a cost, but at a much more reduced cost than other traditional pregnancy health care plans.

Maternity Advantage is a discounted health care program that can help pregnant woman save upwards of 60% on things like prenatal doctor visits, sonograms, lab work, and the hospital stay when you give birth. Although Maternity Advantage itself isn’t health insurance, it works with provider maternity networks to find the best plan that will work for you. All the benefits available through Maternity Advantage are still offered to you even after you find out that you are pregnant.

AmeriPlan is another discount plan that is currently available in all U.S. states except Alaska. AmeriPlan can help save up to 50% on health care services, and is a great choice for expecting mothers. Benefits include physician, hospital, and ancillary services (i.e., lab work, tests, x-rays). Since AmeriPlan, like Maternity Advantage, is not insurance, all pre-existing conditions are covered, there are no deductibles, no waiting periods, no claim forms, and no annual limits. This all sounds too good to be true, so make sure you look into every little detail of these plans before making your choices.

Read the rest of this entry »

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” This is the opening line to the famous novel “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens, but to many Americans bidding adieu to 2008, it really just feels like the worst of times with no sunshine in sight.

About 1 million people lost their jobs in 2008, which means that over the course of a mere twelve months, 33% of the entire nation’s population found themselves jobless. That is pretty darn terrifying itself, not to mention the plethora of problems that come along with having no job. Not the least of these problems is losing your health insurance, if you were receiving it through your employer. As if worrying about making ends meet wasn’t problem enough, so many of us are worrying about keeping ourselves and our families healthy. Luckily, there are ways to cope with this situation, so don’t toss your health hopes out the window just yet.

Read the rest of this entry »