It seems as though the days are flying by and the Open Enrollment Period is slipping by quickly.  Insurance shoppers that desire to have coverage that is effective on January 1st of 2015 only have about 19 days left to obtain their coverage.  Yes, if you miss the 12/15/14 deadline you'll still be able to buy coverage for the 2015 calendar year, but your coverage will start at the beginning of February!  There is a significant price for procrastination in this new health insurance shopping environment, so don't put off this important decision.

Top 5 Questions About Health Insurance in 2015

I have received 5 or 6 questions consistently over the last month and I felt like they deserved to be highlighted as an article in our Texas Health Insurance Blog.  Let's dive in and we'll review these common questions and ensure we've documented the answers.  Remember, these are our opinions and each client and shopper's situation is different.  Make sure to call us at 713-422-2935 and we'll help you discern the best approach for your unique set of circumstances.

The end of the year is typically marked by trying to close business deals and get holiday preparations complete.  The last thing we want is a few suprises to interupt our plans or cause us to get distracted.  November 15th will bring the beginning of this year's Open Enrollment and all of Texas Health Design's existing clients will receive new quotes that provide a snapshot of all the plans and companies available for the coming year.  As we've begun our preparations to serve our clients we wanted to bring your attention to a few suprises that are in store for health insurance shoppers for the coming 2015 plan year.

The 2014 rollout of the Affordable Care Act was challenging and created great frustration in many insurance policy shoppers.  Technological issues hampered many and the size and scope of the changes to the health industry impacted insurers and policy holders alike.  As we near the new Open Enrollment Period we wanted to provide readers a list of key rules and issues you need to know as we begin the new plan shopping year.

With 14 days left in this Special Open Enrollment period for the initial sign up period of the Affordable Care Act I feel a bit exhausted and vindicated that many of my predictions about the roll out have come to fruition. This post isn't about "I was right", it is really about perspective and trying to craft a strategy that will help us navigate the current environment.

Let me dive straight in and offer a quick summary of the current situation and provide some guidance.

We are nearing a few important dates that you need to know to prepare yourself and your family. We are clearly in a period where procrastination will be costly so you must take action to prevent overpaying or missing out on having coverage.

Still A Mess

We are almost 7 weeks into the rollout of Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) and I think we can agree that the execution of the implementation has been less than perfect. There are many issues that persist with the ability to access the Healthcare.gov website as connectivity has been brought down to try to fix the structural issues with the flawed portal.

In this post I want to highlight some misconceptions I am seeing that you need to know about right now.

We've all heard that problems with the Healthcare.gov website were being addressed and our leaders are just as angry as consumers are in dealing with this issue. We're patted on the head and told that we need to be patient and everything will be fixed.

Our team is on the phone almost all day long. We speak to so many wonderfully unique Texans that range from health experts to lost searchers needing assistance. We love the diversity of clients that reach out to us and we have made incredible friends with many of them. Interestingly, every conversations we have lately includes some untruth that people have heard or some myth that they've been "sold". To kick off another week of blissful Open Enrollment, we wanted to highlight 9 myths we've heard and try to find some clarity amid all of the noise.

The "Obamacare" experience has been less than advertised so far for many US citizens looking for health insurance. The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services have been quiet about the actual rates of enrollment over the last two weeks, but clearly the real figures can't be good, or else we would have been told the great news.

Our offices have received many calls from clients this week wondering what the real impact would be on health insurance premiums, or more accurately stated, would they save any money!