Health Insurance Consumer Information

Assistant research professor Mila Kofman of Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute was quoted in an Associated Press story about the increasing numbers of hospital patients and health care consumers who use the web to research medical costs and healthcare quality.

Noting that hospitals rarely put the actual charges that insurers pay on their web sites, Kofman is quoted as saying: “There is a certain level of faith that we have to put in other experts to help us make decisions … I think if I was sick, I would want my physician to make recommendations on proper course of treatment.”

healthinsuranceinfo.net has published guides about medical bills and medical debt, which you can download for free online: Managing Medical Bills: Strategies for Navigating the Health Care System

Karen Pollitz, project director for Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, spoke on a Kaiser Family Foundation panel about current health insurance coverage for families, pregnant women and newborns, and about current proposals that may change the way maternity charges are covered.

Speaking about consumer-driven health plans, or “CDHPs,” Pollitz was quoted as saying:

“[The medical cost of pregnancy and delivery] is an issue that consumers struggle with from time to time with health insurance regardless of what kind of plan you have … But the stakes are higher with these CDHPs because if you’re wrong or you have a claim you’re on the hook for so much more money.”

Pollitz offers guidance for those looking at family coverage options from health insurers, covered in an article from Dow Jones’s MarketWatch. Read it here: 10 things to consider about your insurer’s maternity coverage.

Read the full report, available at the Kaiser Family Foundation website: “Maternity Care and Consumer Driven Health Plans.”

Read the Washington Post’s coverage of the report: High-Deductible Plans Cost More for Maternity Care

Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Project Director Karen Pollitz appeared as a guest on “Talk of the Nation” on May 11, 2007, on National Public Radio. The show covered recent developments in the health care reform movement in the United States. With 45 million Americans uninsured, this hot topic continues to receive close scrutiny from the authors and experts who provide information on your rights as a health care and insurance consumer, at healthinsuranceinfo.net.

You can read more and listen to the radio show on the NPR website: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10136885.

Kevin Lucia M.H.P., J.D., Assistant Research Professor at Georgetown University, has co-authored an article in the Winter 2006 issue of the Journal of Insurance Regulation (www.naic.org/store_jir.htm).

Imposition of Durational Residency Requirements by State High-Risk Pools: Constitutional Considerations
Kevin Lucia, M.H.P., J.D.; Susanne Addy, J.D.

Currently, 32 states maintain high-risk pools offering individual health insurance to residents that are otherwise medically uninsurable in the private health insurance market. In many of these states, applicants are required to have resided in the state for a specific period of time, called a “durational residency requirement,” before they can apply for coverage. After reviewing how many states impose a durational residency requirement on new applicants and why, this article discusses the constitutionality of these requirements in light of the 14th Amendment right to travel as interpreted by relevant U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

Without Health Benefits, a Good Life Turns Fragile - New York Times, March 3, 2007

… “In the individual market, the federal protections provide precious little help to people seeking coverage,� said Karen L. Pollitz, a research professor at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. …