Cascade Mountains CITIES: Brightwood, Camp
Sherman,
Cascade Locks, Cascadia, Chemult,
Chiloquin, Crescent, Crescent Lake, Detroit, Diamond Lake, Drew,
Estacada, Fort Klamath, Gates, Gilchrist, Government Camp, Idanha,
Klamath Agency, La Pine, Lakeview, McKenzie Bridge, Mill City, North
Umpqua, Oakridge, Prospect, Rhododendron, Sandy,
Sisters,
Sunriver, Warm Springs,
Welches, Westfir, Zigzag AREAS: Crater Lake National Park, Deshutes National Forest,
Fremont National Forest, Mount Hood National Forest, Rogue River
National Forest, The Three Sisters, Umpqua National Forest, Willamette
National Forest, Winema National Forest
Central Oregon CITIES: Antelope,
Arlington,
Bend, Brothers, Condon, Culver, Dufur,
Fossil, Grass Valley, Hampton, Lonerock,
Madras, Maupin, Metolius, Mitchell, Moro,
Mosier, Paulina, Post, Prineville,
Redmond, Rowena,
Rufus, Shaniko, Spray,
The Dalles, Wasco
Northeast Oregon CITIES: Adams, Arlington,
Athena,
Baker City, Boardman, Canyon City, Condon,
Cove, Dayville, Echo, Elgin,
Enterprise, Fossil, Greenhorn, Haines, Halfway,
Heppner, Hermiston, Huntington, Imbler, Imnaha, Irrigon, Island City, John Day,
Joseph,
La Grande, Lexington, Long Creek, Lostine,
Medical Springs, Milton-Freewater, Monument, Mt Vernon, North Powder, Oxbow,
Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Prairie City,
Richland, Seneca, Summerville, Sumpter, Ukiah, Umatilla, Union, Unity,
Wallowa, Weston AREAS:
Hell's Canyon
Between Jobs, or Unemployed!
Offered Cobra Health Insurance and cannot afford the premiums?
The are many Low Cost, and Affordable options. All coverage is
with Major Health Insurance Companies and a "Real Person" will
answer the phone to help you!
The focus of this website is to
provide consumers a simple, and professional environment when
looking for Affordable, and Low Cost Health Insurance.
Licensed Health Insurance Agents are available and will take the
time to answer all your questions, and help find the Health Plan
that best meets the needs of the Individual, Family, or Small
Business.
Health Insurance Benefits are
always changing, and health insurance companies are providing more
options that benefit the consumer. Alternative, or Holistic
health care is now offered through many of the health insurance
companies. You can now see your Naturopathic Physician, and be
covered under the doctor office co-pay, and have unlimited visits.
Chiropractic, and Acupuncture are also included as standard health
care benefits.
If you are looking for Low Cost and
Affordable Dental and
Vision benefits included within the health plan, we can help you
select the Health Insurance Company that will meet your needs.
Health Benefit Solution, Inc is
licensed through the Oregon Insurance Division, and has contracted
with most all the major health insurance companies to provide the
consumer with choice and options when looking for the plan that
meets the life style and needs of the insured.
I have options for Health Care Insurance
with "Children" when between "Open Enrollment" periods in
Oregon. Below you will see text related to coverage on
children, but just call 503-922-2903, and I can answer all
questions, and help with Health Insurance Coverage for your
children when between the open enrollment periods of February
and August, twice a year for children.
Insurance companies in Oregon must open enrollment to children
at least twice a year, under new state rules that clear up
confusion about guaranteed coverage for kids.
Last week, just as federal health reform prohibited health
plans from denying coverage to children because they are sick,
several insurers including Regence BlueCross Blue Shield of
Oregon,
suspended sales to applicants under 19 years of age.
National giants including Aetna Inc., Anthem Blue Cross, Cigna
Inc. and HealthNet also stopped offering coverage in some
states. The moves triggered alarm among competitors worried
about shouldering the financial burden of a wave of young
people with big medical needs.
Regence, Oregon’s largest health insurer, said it will resume
offering coverage for children and teenagers once officials
set ground rules for enrollment.
The Department of Consumer & Business Services issued an
emergency rule on Thursday that sets an initial enrollment
period from Nov. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2010. Starting next
year, insurers are supposed to open enrollment to children and
teenagers up to age 19 during February and August each year.
Insurers also are required to accept newborn and adopted
children, and those who’ve lost of coverage due to divorce or
death of a parent. The rules apply to coverage sold to
individuals and families; group plans through employers
already are prohibited from denying coverage to anyone based
on pre-existing conditions.
Four of the state's seven largest private insurers never
stopped selling individual market coverage for children:
Kaiser Permanente, PacificSource Health Plans, Providence
Health Plans and ODS Health Plans. Under the new rule,
insurance companies are free to continue offering coverage to
children throughout the year outside of the enrollment periods
-- as long as they offer it to all regardless of health.
“If they don’t plan to do that, they must follow these open
enrollment periods for enrolling all children,” said Cheryl
Martinis, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Insurance Division.
The emergency rules are good for 180 days. The Insurance
Division will gather public input and set permanent rules by
March 21, Martinis said.
In Oregon, children have additional coverage options through
Healthy Kids and
the state-run high risk
pools for children.
FAQs about
the Oregon Child-only Open Enrollment Period
Question: “The federal health reform law is supposed
to allow me to enroll my child in private health insurance
regardless of my child’s health condition. When can I begin
doing that in Oregon?”
Answer: Oregon’s new biannual open enrollment
periods for child-only health insurance policiesoccur in the months of February and August, beginning
this year, and run for the entirety of each month.During
these enrollment periods, any child under age 19 can be
enrolled in a private, individual health insurance plan.
These biannual open enrollment periods will recur each year
until 2014. In addition to these special enrollment periods,
it may also be possible to enroll children under age 19 in
individual health insurance coverage in the following
circumstances1:
Birth
Adoption
Exceeding a policy’s lifetime limit for benefits
Loss of coverage due to legal separation or divorce of a
parent
Loss of coverage due to death of a parent
Loss of coverage resulting from cessation of dependent
status
Outisde of the biannual enrollment periods or qualifying
events noted above, health insurance companies are not
required to accept applications for child-only plans.
Question: “Why do there need to be specific enrollment
periods? Why aren’t children simply allowed to enroll in
child-only individual health coverage any time of year?”
Answer: A number of states have established
annual enrollment periods for child-only health insurance
policies to prevent consumers from simply waiting until a
child gets sick to sign them up for health insurance. If
children were only enrolled when ill, it could possibly cause
a spike in the cost of child-only coverage. The creation of
specific biannual enrollment periods for child-only health
insurance policies may be an effort by the state of Oregon to
promote broader consumer access to individual health insurance
for children under the age of 19.
Question: “Are rates for child-only health insurance
policies going to change?”
Answer: It is not yet clear how federal
health care reforms or Oregon regulations will affect the cost
of premiums over the long term.
Question: “What counts as a pre-existing medical
condition?”
Answer: A pre-existing medical condition may
be any past or present medical diagnosis, whether or not the
child is still suffering from or being treated for the
condition. Not all medical conditions are of concern to
health insurance carriers and different carriers may be more,
or less, concerned by different conditions.
Question: “Will a sick child with documented health
problems pay the same monthly health insurance premium as
children in good health if enrolled during the open enrollment
period?”
Answer: In Oregon, yes. While some other
states may allow insurers to require that children with
pre-existing medical conditions pay more for their coverage,
this is not the case in the state of Oregon. Rates may vary
depending on the child’s age and where he or she lives, but
not based on the child’s health history.
Question: “Where can I go to find health insurance
policies for children in Oregon during the new biannual
enrollment periods?”
Answer: eHealthInsurance.com is a good
resource for consumers who want to find, compare and enroll in
child-only health insurance plans during the Oregon open
enrollment periods. eHealthInsurance.com offers 24-hour
support, seven days a week, from licensed agents. It allows
consumers to compare health insurance policies side by side,
find plans accepted by their favorite doctors, and apply for
coverage online.
New child-only products may be added to the
eHealthInsurance.com website throughout the year. Consumers
interested in a particular insurance company whose products
are not currently listed on the eHealthInsurance website can
contact the insurer directly or contact eHealthInsurance’s
Customer Care Center at 1-800-977-8860 for more information.
To learn more about your options, you may wish to contact the
Oregon Division of Insurance
online or by phone at 1-888-877-4894 or (in Salem)
503-947-7984.
Oregon families that want to sign up children under age 19 for
an individual health insurance policy – or change a child’s
coverage – can do so this month. The month of February is one
of two annual “open enrollment” periods in Oregon; the next
opportunity is August.
As a result of federal health reform,
children can no longer be turned down for insurance coverage
for health reasons.
However, many insurers limit enrollment to certain times of
year so that parents do not wait until a child becomes sick to
buy coverage, raising the costs of insurance for everyone.
“This makes it more important than ever for families to
purchase coverage before a youngster becomes ill,” said Teresa
Miller, administrator of the Insurance Division of the Oregon
Department of Consumer and Business Services.
The new enrollment periods do not affect employer-based
plans. Even before federal reform, employer group plans were
prohibited from denying coverage to children and adults based
on health.
Health reform extends this right to children who do not
receive insurance through a parent’s job and seek an
individual policy directly from an insurance company.
The new enrollment periods apply to all children seeking an
individual policy, not just those with pre-existing
conditions.
Even with the new enrollment periods, some circumstances
allow children to obtain coverage at any time of the year.
These include birth or adoption, exceeding a policy’s lifetime
limit on benefits, or loss of other coverage due to
separation, divorce, death, or end-of-dependent status.
Also, insurers may choose to cover children outside open
enrollment periods as long as they do not deny coverage to
children with pre-existing conditions.
Check with each insurance company to see if this option is
available.
“Clearly, families have the most insurance choices in
February and August,” Miller said.
Not all Oregon insurers offer child-only policies.
However, all of Oregon’s largest health insurers continue
to offer family plans in the individual market and will add
children under 19 to these policies during open enrollment
periods.
People with questions about these new enrollment periods
may call Oregon insurance consumer advocates at 1-888-877-4894
or, in Salem, (503) 947-7984.
In January 2014, insurers must also accept adults
regardless of health and most people must purchase health
insurance.
The open enrollment period in Oregon and
Washington has just started for child-only health insurance
policies. The limited period will help parents enroll children
that have pre-existing conditions who have been denied coverage
into an
individual health insurance plan.
As provisions of health care reform took effect, many health
insurance companies decided to leave the market of selling child
health insurance plans due to uncertainty in the market. Many
insurers worried that parents would only purchase policies for
children when they were sick and then drop them later — leaving
other children with individual policies with higher premiums.
In return, many states enacted open enrollment periods to
provide a safe-net for health insurance companies and protect
the children in the state.
Open enrollment periods have started in Oregon and Washington
this week. The enrollment for Oregon health insurance plans will
last until December 31, 2010. Then next year,
Oregon Live reports that there will be two open
enrollment periods in February and August. However, health
insurers will still be required to accept newborns, adopted
children, and children who lose health insurance coverage due to
a divorce or death of a parent during the year.
In Washington, the open enrollment period will last until
December 15, 2010.
Still parents can apply for family health insurance plans and
be guaranteed health insurance coverage at any point during the
year in every state.
Oregon Individual Health Insurance
Applications with Children
As of Sept. 23, 2010, federal health reform no longer allows
insurance companies to deny coverage to children with
pre-existing conditions. However, the law does allow insurers to
limit enrollment to specific times of year so that parents do
not wait until a child becomes sick to buy coverage.
The Department of Consumer & Business Services established
rules for these open enrollment periods. They apply to children
under age 19 who seek insurance in the individual market (for
people who do not get insurance through an employer). Here are
some key facts about the rules and coverage of children in
Oregon.
Children may enroll in individual insurance
throughout February and August of every year, starting with
February 2011. Additional enrollment periods must be
allowed in cases such as birth, adoption, or loss of coverage
due to divorce or death of a parent.
Insurance companies may continue to offer coverage to
children throughout the year outside of the enrollment
periods. However, if they do so, they cannot deny coverage to
children with pre-existing conditions.
Under some circumstances, if a child’s coverage with an
insurance company ends, that company does not have to sell a
new policy to the child for 12 months.
Children who are already covered under child-only policies
will be able to keep their coverage.
Applications accepted for people
under the age of 19
Company
Child only (under 19)
Spouse (under 19)
Family (w/ children)
HealthNet of Oregon
Unknown*
Unknown*
Unknown*
Kaiser Permanente
Open Enrollment
Any time (with an approvable spouse)
Any time (with an approvable adult)
Lifewise Health Plans of Oregon
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
ODS Health Plans
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
PacificSource
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Providence
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
No
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment Periods
Applications accepted
Effective date
March - Open Enrollment
February
March 1
September - Open Enrollment
August
September 1
* = No plans are currently available for sale from
these companies. They are currently being reviewed by the State
of Oregon for future effective dates.
More information will be posted here as it becomes available
New enrollment policy
Thank you for your interest in Providence Individual and
Family Plans.
As a provision of the new health care reform
law, the State of Oregon has provided new guidelines that
establish open enrollment periods for children under the age
of 19. Providence Individual and Family Plan is updating its
enrollment policy to be consistent with these guidelines.
New enrollment policy
In 2011, we will offer open enrollment periods for
individuals under age 19 during the months of February and
August. This means:
The open enrollment period applies to all individuals
under age 19 who are applying for coverage on a new policy
or asking to be added as a dependent under an existing
policy.
Applicants under age 19 will be approved for coverage,
without limitations based on health status.
Applications will be accepted Feb. 1 to Feb. 28, 2011.
Coverage begins March 1, 2011.
Applications will be accepted Aug. 1 to Aug. 31, 2011.
Coverage begins Sept. 1, 2011.
Application and premium payment must be received no
later than the last day of the open enrollment period.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there exceptions to the open enrollment period?
Yes. In addition to open enrollment periods, children may
be enrolled at birth or placement for adoption or following
a loss of other coverage due to the following “qualifying
events”: divorce, legal separation, death of the
policyholder, loss of dependent status or attainment of
lifetime benefit maximum. You must notify us no later than
60 days following the loss of other coverage and you have 30
days from the date we receive your notice to enroll.
Can I get an effective date prior to effective dates
listed above?
Yes, in certain circumstances. Adults age 19 and older
who have been approved for coverage on a family application
may choose to accept their own policy for an effective date
prior to listed effective date and then transition to a
family policy that includes children under 19 on either
March 1 or Sept. 1, 2011. To request an earlier effective
date, call Providence Membership Accounting at 503-574-5767,
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Can I add a dependent to my existing plan?
You may only add a dependent under age 19 to your
existing policy during the open enrollment period (except
for qualifying events). Dependents age 19 and older may be
added to a policy at anytime, but would be subject to health
status review and underwriting.
What other options are available for insuring a child
under age 19?
In Oregon, children may be eligible for health insurance
coverage with the following programs:
Providing Affordable and low cost options when
looking for health Insurance Coverage
Health Benefits Solution, Inc is
licensed and contracted to write business with the following Health
Insurance Companies. Links are included, and you can visit the
Health Insurance Companies official website.
online or by phone at 1-888-877-4894 or (in Salem)
503-947-7984.