Category: ACA and Policy

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s now official – there is a fix for the family glitch. Read more

In late September, I, and a bunch of other subject matter experts at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, spent a few mornings telling our producers and brokers (the people who help our clients find the right plan for themselves or their employees) all about what’s new from Blue for 2023 health plans. Read more

It’s Expensive, I Don’t Use It Much

As we were developing our recent Straight Talk posts that dealt directly with terminology, how health insurance pays for your health care, and how your out-of-pocket spending and your health insurance carrier’s spending relate to your premiums, another question kept coming up. This one came specifically from younger folks with health insurance. It went something like this: Read more

Very recently on Straight Talk, I wrote a piece designed to help you understand your health insurance. This explained what all the words –deductibles, networks, claims, etc. – really mean. I also broke down who pays for what when a medical bill shows up. You might remember the three payment zones – the deductible zone, the coinsurance zone and the max out-of-pocket zone.

As soon as we published that piece, I heard this question: “So Mike, how do copays fit into all this stuff?” Read more

Summer is usually a slow season in the health insurance policy world. But not summer 2022. A lot is happening, and I want to keep you updated on all of it. I appeared on WRKF Radio’s Talk Louisiana with Jim Engster on Monday, Aug. 15. We talked about what’s going on in the health care world. Read more

When I was young, my dad and I spent a lot of time, days even, in boats on the water. One time, when I was about 11, we were crawfishing. We had a large aluminum boat loaded with two smaller boats (pirogues) and a lot of other gear. Read more