Archive for the ‘Insurance’ Category

Gotcha: Using your own genes against you …

May 2, 2018

 NPR says …

“Getting the results of a genetic test can be a bit like opening Pandora’s box … you might learn that you’re likely to develop an incurable disease later on in life.”

There’s a federal law that’s supposed to protect people from having their own genes used against them, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA.

Under GINA, it’s illegal for health insurers to raise rates or to deny coverage because of someone’s genetic code.

image

But the law has a loophole: It only applies to health insurance.

Some insurance can be denied or priced high because of a person’s DNA.

Here’s an example … and a prediction.

(more…)

Posted in DNA - Gene Mapping, Insurance, Mktg - Pricing, Price customization | Leave a Comment »

Are emergency rooms required to treat all patients?

April 12, 2017

More specifically, the question that a friend and I were discussing recently was:

“Are emergency rooms required to treat all patients? … whether or not they have insurance?”

I said “yes” but decided to fact-check my answer.

image “.

 

Here’s what I found…

(more…)

Posted in ERs - Emergency Rooms, Hospitality, Insurance, ObamaCare | Leave a Comment »

Gotcha: Using your own genes against you …

April 24, 2015

 NPR says …

“Getting the results of a genetic test can be a bit like opening Pandora’s box … you might learn that you’re likely to develop an incurable disease later on in life.”

There’s a federal law that’s supposed to protect people from having their own genes used against them, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA.

Under GINA, it’s illegal for health insurers to raise rates or to deny coverage because of someone’s genetic code.

image

But the law has a loophole: It only applies to health insurance.

Some insurance can be denied or priced high because of a person’s DNA.

Here’s an example … and a prediction.

(more…)

Posted in DNA - Gene Mapping, Insurance, Mktg - Pricing, Price customization | 1 Comment »

Gotcha: Using your own genes against you …

September 23, 2014

 NPR says …

“Getting the results of a genetic test can be a bit like opening Pandora’s box … you might learn that you’re likely to develop an incurable disease later on in life.”

There’s a federal law that’s supposed to protect people from having their own genes used against them, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA.

Under GINA, it’s illegal for health insurers to raise rates or to deny coverage because of someone’s genetic code.

image

But the law has a loophole: It only applies to health insurance.

Some insurance can be denied or priced high because of a person’s DNA.

Here’s an example … and a prediction.

(more…)

Posted in DNA - Gene Mapping, Insurance, Mktg - Pricing, Price customization | Leave a Comment »

Are emergency rooms required to treat all patients?

June 18, 2014

More specifically, the question that a friend and I were discussing after yesterday’s post was:

“Are emergency rooms required to treat all patients? … whether or not they have insurance?”

I said “yes” but decided to fact-check my answer.

 

image “.

 

Here’s what I found…

(more…)

Posted in ERs - Emergency Rooms, Hospitality, Insurance, ObamaCare | Leave a Comment »

Are emergency rooms required to treat all patients?

April 30, 2014

More specifically, the question that a friend and I were discussing recently was:

“Are emergency rooms required to treat all patients? … whether or not they have insurance?”

I said “yes” but decided to fact-check my answer.

 

image “.

 

Here’s what I found…

(more…)

Posted in ERs - Emergency Rooms, Hospitality, Insurance, ObamaCare | Leave a Comment »

Gotcha: Using your own genes against you …

February 12, 2014

 NPR says …

“Getting the results of a genetic test can be a bit like opening Pandora’s box … you might learn that you’re likely to develop an incurable disease later on in life.”

There’s a federal law that’s supposed to protect people from having their own genes used against them, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA.

Under GINA, it’s illegal for health insurers to raise rates or to deny coverage because of someone’s genetic code.

image

But the law has a loophole: It only applies to health insurance.

Some insurance can be denied or priced high because of a person’s DNA.

Here’s an example … and a prediction.

(more…)

Posted in DNA - Gene Mapping, Insurance, Mktg - Pricing, Price customization | Leave a Comment »

This could break the ObamaCare bank … and, nobody’s talking about it.

November 25, 2013

One of the ballyhooed ObamaCare features is the end of lifetime caps on payouts.

image

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While the provision has obvious benefits for folks who encounter humongous medical bills, it strikes me as having a scary semblance to the “insurance” that AIG and others were selling against mortgage-backed securities and their derivatives.

Let me explain …

(more…)

Posted in Insurance, ObamaCare | Leave a Comment »

Gotcha: Using your own genes against you …

January 23, 2013

 NPR says …

“Getting the results of a genetic test can be a bit like opening Pandora’s box … you might learn that you’re likely to develop an incurable disease later on in life.”

There’s a federal law that’s supposed to protect people from having their own genes used against them, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA.

Under GINA, it’s illegal for health insurers to raise rates or to deny coverage because of someone’s genetic code.

image

But the law has a loophole: It only applies to health insurance.

Some insurance can be denied or priced high because of a person’s DNA.

Here’s an example … and a prediction.

(more…)

Posted in DNA - Gene Mapping, Insurance, Mktg - Pricing, Price customization | Leave a Comment »

When is insurance not insurance ?

January 17, 2011

According to conservative economist Thomas Sowell:

Insurance is, at it’s core, a pooling of risk.

“But, political Incentives make it rational to mandate insurance coverage on things they would not be covered by insurance on purely economic grounds, since those things are not a matter of risk.

For example, the cost of an annual medical checkup is not a risk, since is known in advance that these checkups occur once a year.

To have health insurance covers annual checkups is like having automobile insurance cover annual state inspection checks or routine oil changes.

But, because of the stronger emotions involved in medical issues, annual health checkups are more readily depicted as a good thing — and therefore justified as part of a government mandate.”

Source:Applied Economics, Basic Books, 2009

Posted in Economics, Insurance, Thomas Sowell | Leave a Comment »

I’ve been mandated … OUCH !

November 11, 2010

I don’t expect a lot of sympathy, but I have a story to tell …

We have a house on a river.

FEMA has declared the general area to be a flood zone.

So, I’m being forced to pay over $2,500 annually for FEMA flood insurance.

Here’s the rub.

The house is “sited” on relatively high land.

A couple of years ago we had a “100-year” storm — hurricane Isabel.

The tidal surge flood caused mucho damage to our neighbors — whose houses are sited at low spots.

Fortunately (for us), the water didn’t come within 30 feet of our house.  No damage to the house.  Period.

So, even though we have empirical evidence that our house is flood safe in a 100-year storm, FEMA makes us buy flood insurance because we’re theoretically in a flood zone.

And, FEMA stands firm behind their flood map — which was drawn up 27 years ago, in 1983.

Nuts!

I can now imagine how young healthy folks are going to feel when ObamaCare kicks in and they’re stuck buying health insurance that they don’t want.

I can feel their pain.

Posted in Health Care / Medical Insurance, Insurance | Leave a Comment »