IN THE NEWS
Kaiser Permanente opened their new Rock Creek facility in December '04. This state of the art facility will offer all specialties that are currently available at the Franklin Center in Denver.
HSAs (Health Savings Accounts) are now available for qualified high deductible plans (HDHP). The HSA accounts allow you to pay for unreimbursed medical expenses in pretax dollars. Some limits apply. Most of the group and individual health carriers are now offering HSA qualified plans.
Kaiser now offers three different Triple Choice Option Plans. These plans allow employers to offer their employees more choices: PPO and/or HMO benefits throughout the year. In 2004, Kaiser also introduced coinsurance plans (80% and 70%) in an effort to keep premiums affordable and an out-of-area PPO plan.
Colorado House Bill 03-1164 will allow more rating flexibility in September '04. As of 9/04, insurance carriers will be able to discount healthy groups up to 25% and "rate up" unhealthy groups up to 10% of their filed rates.
Pacificare introduced SDHPs (self directed health plans) in November '03. The SDA plans offer the insured a set amount of money each year to cover office based expenses. This consumer driven plan offers lower premiums. Pacificare is also offering the SDHPs to individual clients.