Minnesotans who saw their Medicare Cost go away still have time to sign up or change their minds if they’ve already signed up. Upcoming deadlines are Feb. 28, March 4 and March 31. Find out more here. You’ll find more information about the deadlines, Senior Linkage Line and your local health insurers.
Minnesotans have many options, as highlighted in this recent Star Tribune story.
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Chronically Ill, Traumatically Billed: $123,019 For 2 Multiple Sclerosis Treatments
She could still walk and take care of her son six years after doctors diagnosed the disease, which attacks the central nervous system. Earlier symptoms such as slurred speech and vision problems had resolved with treatment, but others lingered: She was tired and sometimes fell.
This summer, a doctor switched her to Ocrevus, a drug approved in 2017 that delayed progression of the disease in clinical trials better than an older medicine did.
Genentech, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, makes Ocrevus. The drug is one of several for multiple sclerosis that are delivered intravenously in a hospital or clinic. Such medicines have become increasingly expensive, priced in many cases at well over $80,000 a year. Hospitals delivering the drugs often make money by charging a premium on top of their cost or adding hefty fees for the infusion clinic.
Hickson received her first two Ocrevus infusions as an outpatient two weeks apart in July and August. And then the bill came.
You can’t always believe everything you read on the internet. Minnesotans who buy their own insurance have until Jan. 13, 2019, to sign up. The posts on Facebook and other sites about enrollment ending Dec. 15, 2018, aren’t accurate for Minnesotans.
The Dec. 15 deadline for Minnesotans is to have insurance that starts Jan. 1, 2019. If you wait until after Dec. 15, the policy doesn’t start until Feb. 1, 2019.
This year about 155,000 Minnesotans bought their own insurance, either directly from a health insurer, through MNsure or with the help of a broker or agent. At MNsure.org, Minnesotans can see if they can get federal help paying premiums each month, compare policies side-by-side and estimate out-of-pocket costs. People who have a policy right now can check to see if their 2018 plan will be available in 2019. If you have questions, call the number on the back of your insurance card.
If you don’t sign up by Jan. 13, you have to wait until November 2019. There are limited exceptions where some people could qualify to sign up outside of open enrollment.
From Nov. 1 to Dec. 15, Minnesotans who buy their own health insurance can sign up for policies that start Jan. 1, 2019. If you wait until after Dec. 15, the policy doesn’t start until Feb. 1, 2019.
This year about 155,000 Minnesotans bought their own insurance, either directly from a health insurer, through MNsure or with the help of a broker or agent. At MNsure.org, Minnesotans can see if they can get federal help paying premiums each month, compare policies side-by-side and estimate out-of-pocket costs. People who have a policy right now can check to see if their 2018 plan will be available in 2019. If you have questions, call the number on the back of your insurance card.
Open enrollment end Jan. 13, 2019. If you don’t sign up before then, you have to wait until November 2019 to sign up. There are some exceptions where some people could qualify to sign up outside of open enrollment.
Statement on 2019 premium rates for
Minnesotans who buy their own insurance
“The Minnesota approach is working. Health care is still too expensive, but Minnesota is doing better than most states to keep a handle on rising insurance premiums for people who buy insurance on their own. While people in other states are increases in health insurance premiums for 2019, Minnesotans are seeing average decreases from 7 to 28 percent.
Those decreases are because the state put in place the Minnesota Premium Security Plan which helps Minnesotans who buy insurance on their own —it helps pay high medical bills, so they aren’t added into monthly premiums.
This practical approach known as reinsurance keeps health insurance premiums in check, despite the expense of medical care. While reinsurance doesn’t make care less expensive, it does a lot to keep health insurance premiums from rising. This video explains how important it is to share medical bills.
Minnesotans need the state to renew reinsurance, because we know it works. Unless the legislature and the next governor use money already set aside for the program and renew it, our reinsurance program will end—and Minnesotan will experience the same steep increases other states have been seeing.”
—Jim Schowalter, president, Minnesota Council of Health Plans
Today the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Business Partnership released a toolkit to help employers fight opioids.
The toolkit includes information on five concrete actions employers can take to prevent and address drug among employees:
- Change the conversation around opioid use disorder and reduce stigma
- Promote safe use, storage and disposal of controlled substances
- Prepare for overdose emergencies with naloxone access and training
- Access help for those who are dependent on or addicted to opioids
- Support wellness of all employees and be a recovery-friendly workplace
The toolkit also has sample social media messages, e-mails and flyers employers can customize and distribute to employees . According to the U.S. Surgeon General, treatment for substance use disorders is highly effective. However, many people only enter treatment after a crisis. The Opioid Epidemic Response: Employer Toolkit provides employers with a chance to intervene early before a crisis occurs. In 2017, Minnesota recorded 401 opioid-involved deaths and 694 drug overdose deaths, according to preliminary data. In 2016, there were 395 opioid-involved overdose deaths in Minnesota—a rate of 7.4 deaths per 100,000 people. Minnesota’s rate of deaths has risen dramatically since 2000, when it was 1.1 deaths per 100,000 residents.
So far in 2018, we’ve been to see a doctor or others who provide care more than 13 million times. We’ve been admitted to the hospital about 124,000 times, spending nearly 600,000 days hospitalized. While the number of visits, hospital admissions and length of time we were hospitalized are all down on average compared to this time last year, the amount we spent on that care is up about 1 percent. How does this compare to care in previous years, take a look.
This Wall Street Journal story about the cost vs price of knee replacements is getting a lot of comments (527 and counting) and letters to the editor, too. Here’s a PDF of the story if you don’t have your WSJ subscription handy.
A type of health insurance, short term limited duration, has been in the news a lot lately. Here’s what the Minnesota Department of Commerce has to say about buying those policies in Minnesota.
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This morning MPR broadcast a story that reporters have been working on for eight months. Federal law requires state to pay for nearly all drugs. This is an interesting story on how it all works. You can read or click the arrow below.
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Here’s a link to the story on the NPR website.
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