With apologies to Steve Miller Band, time keeps on slipping into the future… at least when it comes to signing up for an individual health insurance plan on healthcare.gov during a RARE special enrollment period that only lasts through Aug. 15, 2021. Read more

In the past 11 years, I’ve given more than 1,400 public presentations on healthcare costs, the ACA, how Washington, D.C., manages your healthcare, and how health insurance changes in response. Some of those speeches and compliance workshops don’t really stick with me. A few of them really do. Read more

When I was a kid, I grew up surrounded by relatives. My mom had five brothers and sisters. On average, they had 4.3 kids per family. Add that to the five kids in our household, and you had the makings of quite a cousin party, pretty much all the time. My mom’s father gave up trying to remember the names of his 29 grandkids. He gave us numbers based on our ages. I was #3. My youngest brother, Chris, hated the fact that he was #27. Read more

The federal government has been tossing changes toward our industry at a rapid pace during 2021. So rapid that even I, your friendly healthcare economist who keeps up with changes for a living, sometimes struggle to do so.

So, this latest change, which is VERY powerful, has flown a bit under the radar. Read more

Over the past five years, you’ve heard me share lesson after lesson that I learned from my Dad. He passed away on Friday, July 2, very peacefully, with his family around him.

I hope you don’t mind if we take this time to memorialize him a bit. I’ll understand if it’s not your cup of tea, but I can promise you our Straight Talk approach, common-sense logic and nearly everything I’ve written I learned at his knee. If you’ve ever wondered where Straight Talk communications and common sense comes from, it was from him through me. Read more

It’s a pretty common refrain from our members, brokers and stakeholders of all stripes here at Blue Cross (and I don’t blame them):

“Mike, why do my deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance go up every single year?! It’s ridiculous!” Read more