Affordable Health Insurance Plan - What Everyone Needs To Know About Individual Health Insurance
Individual health insurance plans can be expensive and are not always guaranteed to cover pre-existing conditions. There is also a limit on how much insurance is available, so the deductibles and premiums may be more than people want to pay for something they might not need.
For those who have healthy lifestyles, these options may work just fine, but for others with more serious medical conditions or those who are wealthy enough that they can afford care without worrying about the cost, these individual plans might not be worth it.
Insurance companies also make it difficult for people to find the right coverage, and they do not cover the same services. So a lot of people are forced to get insurance when they don't need it, or when they have a personal injury or life-changing event.
While President Obama does not support single payer universal health care, he has talked about the need for universal health care coverage that would guarantee comprehensive medical care to everyone. Now, state governors and legislators around the country are trying to do something about their own state's health care system.
The Affordable Health Insurance Plan (AHR) was created in Mississippi. It is a specific plan outlined by the state government to provide insurance to everyone, regardless of their pre-existing conditions or anything else.
The plan was created to help keep families healthy while they are trying to save money. It should also cut down on the number of uninsured people in the state, and it can allow some people who thought they were not eligible for health insurance coverage to take advantage of this program and find out that they can afford a policy after all.
How Affordable Health Insurance Plan Works: The idea behind AHP is very simple. People who cannot get health insurance from an employer or from Medicare can choose one of six plans that meet their needs. They can then use these plans for both medical expenses and prescription drugs.
The AHP pays for 75 percent of the expenses, and the patient only pays 25 percent. The program also requires that people pay monthly premiums, which range from $3 to $25 depending on the plan, but these premiums are much less than other types of individual insurance plans.
Eligibility: To be eligible for the Affordable Health Insurance Plan, people must apply for one of these free plans. After approval, they can pick their plan. It is available to Mississippi residents who are not eligible for any other kind of health insurance. This includes Medicaid/CHIP beneficiaries, Medicare beneficiaries, certain federal employees and their family members, as well as some state employees and their family members.
In some cases, people who are eligible for Medicaid/CHIP can still be approved for the AHP. They would pay lower premiums and smaller co-payments under these plans, which are available to people with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
How To Apply: Applications are available on the state's health department Web site . A person must fill out an application that includes a medical history questionnaire and a financial evaluation. People will then receive their eligibility within 15 days of the date they applied. The state has made it very easy for seniors and disabled people to apply for this program.
The state is also running a special campaign to get people to use this program. The Mississippi Democratic Party is encouraging people to sign up and let the state know how much they are saving on health care.
How Much Coverage Is Available? The plan covers everyone with medical expenses, including dental and vision expenses, as long as they do not have other health insurance coverage. There are three tiers of benefits: 1) the Essential Benefit Tier, 2) the Enhanced Benefit Tier and 3) the Choice Benefits Tier. You can see all of these plans here .
The Essential Benefit Tier covers hospitalization, maternity care, prescriptions drugs, family planning services, laboratory and X-ray services for children under age 18. It also covers emergency and pediatric care.
The Enhanced Benefit Tier is the most comprehensive of the plans, and it covers all of the services in the Essential Benefit Tier except pediatric care. The Enhanced Benefit Tier also requires a lower annual deductible and co-payments. The Advantage Plan is for children under age 18, and it includes some additional benefits, including oral health care, preventive care, outpatient imaging services, mental health services (such as counseling) and other preventive health services.
The Choice Plus Plan is equivalent to Medicaid/CHIP benefits for most people; in fact, that is a key feature of this program. You can also save money on prescription drugs and discounts for participating health care providers.
How Much Money Can People Save? The state's Web site says that a person can save $600 to $700 on their health care costs, but it is important to remember that these plans are not available on the private market. Before you get excited about saving all this money, you need to do the math.
It is unclear whether a family with two young children will be able to find enough pediatricians and dentists who accept this AHP plan at affordable prices. A lot of people are also worried that they will have to pay more out of pocket if they use medical services because this program has a lower reimbursement rate than private insurance companies.
This is obviously not a system that is going to help people who are sick. So if you are older and need a lot of care, it will also not be appropriate for you.
How Much Does It Cost To Operate? The state's Web site says that this program runs at about $550,000 per day, but the actual cost is hard to estimate. There are only so many people who can choose from these six plans.
While there is no limit to how many people can apply for the AHP program, there are only about 6,500 people who are currently enrolled in the program and getting health insurance through it. This means that enrollment has been flat or declining since it started in 2010.
If the program were to grow and attract more people, it would cost more money. The state's Web site says that it will continue to operate the AHP program as long as it is budget neutral, which means that any increase in enrollment or expenses will be offset by additional revenue. It is hard to know how much money this program might generate in additional revenue, but one could argue that if people enrolled in these plans, they would not make up for a shortfall in other sources of income for the state.
For example, the AHP program gets money from fees collected from providers and from co-payments made by policyholders. The plan also gets federal funds. From a financial standpoint, the biggest concern is that if the government reduces the funding of Medicaid and cuts back on payments to providers, it will affect the amount of revenue this program receives.
Why Is This Program So Important? The Affordable Health Insurance Program is important to Mississippi because it helps people get health care when they otherwise might not be able to afford it. The program is also important because it allows people to get health coverage, even if they have pre-existing conditions.
The Affordable Health Insurance Plan is part of a larger effort in Mississippi that includes federal programs such as Medicaid/CHIP for kids and pregnant women and community health centers for medical care for everyone else.
Conclusion: Mississippi's Affordable Health Plan is a great program for people who otherwise couldn't get health insurance through work or other means. It provides a good insurance program at limited cost for the state, but it is not available to everyone. If you are sick and have other coverage, you can still enroll and save money, but there are risks associated with this program.
It is important to note that the premium rates for these products are very low compared to what people pay on the private market because these plans aren't available to everyone. In fact, many of these plans cover only about 60 percent of medical expenses because they don't cover certain services like pediatric care. Their service limits also make them less appealing than traditional health insurance policies.