iCan Benefits Group now offers Major Medical

iCan Benefit Group is now offering major medical health plans from Avalon Healthcare, Inc.. iCan is working with Avalon Healthcare to offer consumer directed health plans for individuals in Florida.

Avalon Healthcare is a Florida based health insurance company founded by executives from Oxford Health Plans.

Avalon provides affordable major medical health coverage for both individuals and employers. They offer an extensive selection of PPO Plan options with large open access physician and hospital networks. Avalon's "IFOCUS" for individuals are high deductible PPO health plans combined with Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

iCan and Avalon are working together to provide consumers with high-quality, value based healthcare options.

iCan's previous portfolio of health plans were simply discount plans that technically were not health insurance. They are touted as being low-cost, but in reality provide little value to uninsured individuals, and provide very high profit margins for iCan.

Florida Insurance Rates and Allstate

According to CBS4, Florida homeowners insured by Allstate Corp. will get an additional 5.6% rate cut, and will now pay nearly 20% less since June 1, 2007

Allstate also agreed to forgive a $175 million loan to its Florida subsidiaries, pay a $5 million fine and insure 100,000 more Florida homeowners.

Allstate currently has 2 million Florida car insurance customers in Florida, including 250,000 with homeowner policies, however only those with homeowner policies will get the new rate cut.

eHealthinsurance Report on Rates

A 2007 research study from eHealthInsurance found that individual health insurance premiums ranged from a low of $98 (in Iowa) to as high as $338 (in New York) - the national average was $148.

The disparity health insurance rates can be partly explained by state regulations that differ from state-to-sate which makes health insurance coverage in some states much more expensive fore health insurance companies.

It’s time Americans were allowed to buy health insurance from carriers across state lines. For instance an Ohio resident would be able to buy an health insurance plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina if they happened to have a individual health insurance plan that was a good match for their health care needs and budget.

Without state mandates, individual health insurance would become much more affordable and consumers would have more choices.

Utah Low Income Health Insurance Program

According to the Daily Herald, a nonprofit health care advocacy group is protesting proposed changes to Utah's public health insurance programs that could limit health insurance coverage choices for low-income families.

The first change would allow people eligible for Utah's Premium Partnership for Health Insurance, a program that offers subsidies to low-income workers to help them purchase their employer's private insurance, to apply new subsidies to individual health plans if their job doesn't offer one.

The second change the Health Department is seeking would exclude children from the Utah Children's Health Insurance Plan -- a state-sponsored insurance program for kids in low-income families -- if their parents qualify for UPP.

The objective of the proposed change is to force families into private Utah health insurance plans if they can afford it.

The final change would extend the waiting period between when a person drops their private health insurance plan and when they are eligible for UPP help (from 90 days to six months).

New York Auto Insurance Rates

High gas prices may ultimately mean lower New York auto insurance rates. The state insurance department is requiring auto insurance companies to justify their insurance rate increases in light of reduced travel because of rising gas prices.

GEICO has agreed to put a cap on its auto insurance rates and many other insurance companies are expected to follow suit.

Auto insurance rates in New York state are the third highest in the country.

Children's Health Reform

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than 9 million children are uninsured in the United States. Six and a half million of these children live in families with household incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level and are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP, but are not enrolled.

Typically, a child's health care needs center around simple preventative care such as immunizations and regular check-ups to ensure proper growth and development. Research shows early intervention makes a measurable improvement in the future health of these children.

Most if not all states have state funded programs to assist low income families to insure their children and give them the best shot to live healthy lives.

Children's Health Insurance Programs

Ohio Auto Insurance

Ohio is forecasting modest increases in Ohio auto insurance rates through the end of 2008 and even larger increases in homeowners premiums.

State insurance director Mary Jo Hudson revealed the prediction Monday while announcing that average insurance rates charged by Ohio's top ten auto insurance companies fell 2.6% in 2007. Rates for homeowners insurance went up an average 1.5%.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says Ohio's car insurance rates were the 13th lowest in the country last year and the state ranked 6th among those with the least expensive homeowners policies.

Arizona Health Insurance

The state of Arizona has eliminated the short term health insurance program to save about $8.35 million as AZ tries to reduce a $2 billion budget deficit.

The program, which ended July 15, provided short term health coverage for Arizona residents who are ineligible for Medicare because they must wait two years after receiving a disability determination before enrolling in Medicare.

About 1,300 people in Arizona with disabilities had no health coverage because of the rule, so the program was created two years ago to allow them to pay a premium to gain coverage through AHCCCS until they were eligible for Medicare.