In a typical week, the Insurance blog at Families.com will have fourteen different articles appear on it. It can be easy to miss something that you really should read about. Every week, I do an Insurance Blog Week in Review, to help you “ketchup” about everything that has hit the blog in the past seven days.
ACLU Fights Michigan Domestic Partner Health Insurance Ban
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a law that bans public entities from providing health insurance coverage to the same-sex domestic partners of employees. The ACLU feels that this law serves no purpose except to discriminate against a specific group of people, and that the law is unconstitutional.
The Insurance Podcast Roundup for this week went up on January 9, 2012.
Historic Prudential Building in Houston has been Demolished
The historic building that once housed the offices of the Prudential Insurance company in Houston, Texas, has been demolished. Somewhere in that blog, there is a link to a video of it going down.
Sonic and Flo are Selling Insurance
Progressive Insurance has Flo interacting with Sonic the Hedgehog in their new commercial.
Can You Realistically Fire Your Insurance Company?
Mitt Romney made a speech where he suggested that every American should be able to fire their insurance company, if they do not like the service it is providing for them. I ponder whether this is a realistic choice for average Americans.
Mercedes-Benz Brings Facebook to Your Dashboard
The new Mercedes will have a screen on the dashboard that will let drivers access Facebook, Google, and Yelp, (while they are driving down the road). I bet auto insurers would see this as a risk.
Why Supreme Court Judges Won’t Recuse Themselves
Some political groups would like to see Justice Elena Kagen and Justice Clarence Thomas recuse themselves from hearing the upcoming case regarding the Affordable Care Act. I explain why that is unlikely to happen.
Why Walgreen’s Isn’t in Your Network Anymore
A dispute between Walgreen’s and Express Scripts is causing many consumers to have to find a new pharmacy to fill their prescriptions.
The Medicare Advantage Gym Membership
Some Medicare Advantage plans are offering to cover the cost of a policyholder’s gym membership. On the one hand, this could help seniors to stay fit. On the other hand, it could influence seniors who have serious help problems, (who wouldn’t be able to use a gym), to choose the federal form of Medicare. This could raise costs for the government run forms of Medicare.
Sick People Spend the Most on Health Care
Yet another survey that shows results that we could have guessed at based on common sense alone.
Single-Payer Health Insurance Could Come to California
If the bill passes, California could start creating a “Medicare for all” type of single-payer health insurance system. As a Californian, I hope this happens!
Texas Wants to Delay Insurance Rebate Plan
Texas has asked to delay the start of the part of the medical loss ratio law. They want to hold off on having insurers who failed to spend at least 80% of the money they got from premiums on things that actually improve the health of their customers be required to send rebates to those customers.
Survey Reveals the Best Insurance Companies
Insure.com did a survey comparing how satisfied customers of different insurance companies really were. They separated the results for auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance, and health insurance.
Image Lovro Rumiha on Flickr