Lawmakers in Georgia may revisit state health care insurance. Amid criticism of by the head of the American Cancer Society, Rep. John Lunsford said he is considering submitting a bill to allow for insurers to provide coverage with fewer mandates.

Current Georgia law requires health insurance policies to cover certain tests and procedures, such as mammograms, pap smears, colorectal screening, ovarian cancer screening and prostate cancer screenings.

Lunsford is considering introducing new legislation that would allow employers to offer workers health policies that do not included all the mandated procedures.

If you have any questions about Texas Health Insurance, please contact Option 1 by visiting www.texashealthinsuranceoptions.com

HSA stands for “health savings account.” A health savings account is a tax exempt trust or custodial account that is created for the purpose of paying medical expenses for beneficiaries. An HAS allows you to pay for current and future eligible medical, dental and vision expenses.

The money you add to your HSA is federally tax deductible, whether you itemize deductions or not. You own and control the funds in your HAS and these funds can be conveniently accessed by a debit card to pay medical expenses. The difference between an HSA and an IRA is that HSA’s are specifically devoted to medical expenses.

If you have any questions about HSA’s or Texas Health Insurance please contact Option 1 by visiting www.texashealthinsuranceoptions.com

Pennsylvania’s attorney general has filed suit against a Texas company for collecting employee contributions for health coverage but never paying premiums.

The PA AG Tom Corbett announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against Turbine Airfoil Designs. A statement released by Corbett explains the reason for the lawsuit. “We have dozens of complaints from TAD employees who are now facing thousands of dollars in unpaid medical bills simply because they tried to use the health care benefits they were promised… Company officials knew, or should have known, that non-payment of health insurance premiums would leave workers vulnerable, but failed to warn their employees or take steps to prevent a health disaster from striking these families.”

The lawsuit claims the company began to fall behind on premium payments to Capital Blue Cross in August 2008. In addition, a payment plan established between the insurer and TAD was never completed, eventually resulting in the cancellation of coverage.

If you have any questions about your Texas health insurance, contact Option 1 at www.texashealthinsuraceoptions.com

Health care in Texas ranks among the worst in the nation. A new study realeased by the health care-oriented Commonwealth Fund ranked Texas 46^th among the 50 states for health care.

Texas was ranked last in access to health care and in measure of how minorities and low-income patients fared in the state’s medical system. Texas has some of the strictest eligibility requirements in the nation for Medicaid insurance.

President of the Commonwealth Fund, Karen Davis, said “There’s no justification for any state to be far below the best state… What we found were shockingly wide variations in the quality of care between the states as much as two or threefold difference.” According to the study, best state for health care is Vermont.

If you have any questions about your Texas health insurance, contact Option 1 at www.texashealthinsuranceoptions.com

New Census data shows a large geographic inequality in the uninsured. Residents in sections of the Northeast and upper Midwest are many times more likely to have health insurance than residents in the Southwest.

Of the nation’s 435 congressional districts, Texas districts topped the list with the highest percentage of uninsured residents. U.S. Rep. Gene Green’s congressional district in Houston is number one on the list, with a whopping 40.1 percent of the population being uninsured.

Green says that the large numbers of uninsured in his inner-city district are due to low-paying jobs where employers don’t provide insurance. He also attributed the ranking to high co-payments that many employees are unable to afford.

“We’ve been trying to hold a finger in the dike,” Green said.

If you would like to know about health insurance in Texas, contact Option 1 at www.texashealthinsuranceoptions.com.