Florida Governor Crist, Policyholders Praise Benefits Of Cover Florida Health Care

Beneficiaries able to visit doctors after years without health care insurance

March 6, 2009 -- MIAMI – Continuing a two-day public awareness campaign focused on help available to Floridians during times of economic challenge, Florida Governor Charlie Crist today encouraged Floridians without health insurance benefits to learn more about the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program. The health insurance plans make affordable, quality health insurance coverage and access to health care available to Florida’s nearly four million uninsured applicants age 19 to 64.

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“Most of Florida’s nearly four million uninsured have jobs, often with small businesses that have just a few employees. They typically do not have health insurance because their employers don’t offer it, or they simply cannot afford it,” Governor Crist said. “Cover Florida Health Care offers a wide variety of options, including coverage for as little as $24 a month.”

Along with Secretary Holly Benson of the Agency for Health Care Administration, Governor Crist emphasized that Cover Florida plans are available to Florida applicants age 19 to 64 who have been without health insurance for at least six months, or who are recently unemployed – even if there are pre-existing health conditions. Floridians may also be eligible if, during the previous six months, they have lost employer-sponsored health benefits due to loss of a job, or are no longer covered by a public health insurance program.

Six health insurance providers have been authorized by the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Office of Insurance Regulation and the Executive Office of the Governor to offer Cover Florida Health Care plans. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and United Healthcare are available in all 67 Florida counties with additional insurers available in Broward, Miami-Dade, Volusia, and Flagler counties.

Miami

In addition to the two statewide Cover Florida insurers, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and United Healthcare, three additional insurers are available in Miami-Dade County: JMH Health Plan, Medica Health Plan of Florida and Total Health Choice. Twelve of the 21 Cover Florida plans available in Miami-Dade County have monthly premiums averaging $155 or less – and all of the preventive plans average less than $155. Medica and Total Health also serve Broward County.

In Miami, Governor Crist visited the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. There, he introduced Cover Florida beneficiary Tieesha Taylor of Miami. After losing her job in April 2007, Taylor found continuing her employer’s benefits through COBRA to be too expensive. Currently working to build her own business, she discovered she could afford a Cover Florida policy, and she had her first doctor’s appointment under the new coverage this week.

Volusia County

In addition to the two statewide Cover Florida insurers, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and United Healthcare, Florida Health Care Plans is also available in Flagler and Volusia counties. Seven of the 12 Cover Florida plans available in Volusia and Flagler counties have monthly premiums averaging $155 or less – and all of the preventive plans average less than $100.

While in Volusia County today, Governor Crist visited the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors. There, he introduced two additional Cover Florida beneficiaries, John Reilly and Trude Cole-Hill.

Reilly works for a small family-owned business that does not offer health care benefits, and his family budget would not allow him to be added to his wife’s health care coverage plan. Not having health insurance was a constant concern to him, he said, because at age 44, he knew he would benefit from preventive medicine. Yet, without health care coverage, he had not been able to get a general checkup in nearly nine years. With the Cover Florida health care benefits, he has visited a doctor and is getting several tests he would not have been able to afford without coverage. He said that Cover Florida Health Care is giving him peace of mind about his own health and about his family’s future.

Trude Cole-Hill found herself uninsured for the first time in her life last month when she was laid off. Since graduating from college, she has always worked and had health care coverage under a group plan. Continuing her employer’s benefits through COBRA would cost over $900 a month and was too expensive for her. She was very relieved to find an affordable Cover Florida Health Care plan.

Tampa

In Tampa, Governor Crist and Secretary Benson visited the Tampa Bay Builders Association and Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. Four of the six Cover Florida plans available in Hillsborough County offered by statewide carriers Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and United Healthcare have monthly premiums averaging $155 or less – and all of the preventive plans average less than $100.

Governor Crist encouraged interested Floridians to visit the www.CoverFloridaHealthCare.com Web site to compare the sample benefits and premium information from the six insurers. Each company operates a Cover Florida-specific toll-free telephone line and Web page making it possible for interested individuals to discuss their health care options with each insurer directly.

Yesterday, after joining Governor Crist in Tallahassee to kick off the two-day public awareness campaign, Lt. Governor Kottkamp highlighted Cover Florida Health Care at the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Panama City and the Florida Small Business Development Center in Pensacola.

Cover Florida Health Care Providers and Benefits

Consumers interested in purchasing Cover Florida benefits should contact the insurance carriers directly. The six companies have designed 25 creative health insurance products, and each insurer offers at least two benefit options – one with catastrophic and hospital coverage, and one focusing on preventive care. Each plan has a wide-ranging set of benefit options that include coverage for preventive services, screenings, office visits, as well as office surgery, urgent care, hospital coverage, emergency care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, and diabetic supplies.

Cover Florida plans contain no mandates for participation and are portable from one employer to another because they are individual policies. Voluntary for both employers and policyholders, employers also may voluntarily share in the cost of the plan with their employees or may assist employees with a payroll deduction, providing a pre-tax benefit for the employee and a payroll tax break for the employer.

About Cover Florida Health Care

The cost of plans varies, depending on the applicant’s age, gender and choice of preventive coverage or catastrophic and hospital coverage. Fourteen of the 25 Cover Florida plans have monthly premiums averaging $155 or less, with all of the preventive plans offering coverage for, on average, $155 or less.

The Cover Florida plan was unanimously approved by the 2008 Legislature, and no tax dollars are required to make the plans available to Floridians. Selected by the State of Florida through a competitive bidding process, the six private insurance carriers were chosen based on their proposed robust, innovative and affordable health insurance products.

Acting jointly on behalf of the State of Florida, the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Office of Insurance Regulation issued the competitive Invitation to Negotiate and reviewed insurers’ responses, along with representatives from the Executive Office of the Governor. Once the six providers were selected, the state agencies worked jointly with the insurance carriers to finalize the contracts. Throughout the competitive process, the state agencies worked to ensure that Cover Florida products would not only offer robust benefits but also be financially sound. Moving forward, the state agencies are monitoring the sale of the products and addressing consumer concerns.

For more information about Cover Florida benefit options, visit www.CoverFloridaHealthCare.com. To see sample benefits and costs, click on “Available Plans,” and select a county or compare all available Cover Florida Health Care plans.

www.CoverFloridaHealthCare.com

Source: Florida Governor