The insurance division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs yesterday released 2014 Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums comparison sheet. Their press release follows.
HONOLULU —The Hawaii Insurance Division today released a health insurance premium sheet that will give consumers a better idea of what a new 2014 Affordable Care Act (ACA) plan will cost compared to their existing 2013 health plan.
Individuals and small businesses can use this as a guide to estimate premiums if they purchase a 2014 ACA plan. The sheet is meant to be a tool that will show premiums offered by Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA) and Kaiser Hawaii on and off the Hawaii Health Connector.
Hawaii Insurance Commissioner Gordon Ito recently asked insurers to extend non-ACA compliant plans into next year. This follows the decision by President Obama to allow individuals to keep their existing 2013 insurance plans in 2014 even if the plans do not meet ACA requirements.
HMSA and Kaiser Hawaii will continue 2013 individual plans. All five insurers (HMSA, Kaiser, Hawaii Medical Assurance Association, University Health Alliance, and Family Health Hawaii) will also be offering ACA plans for small businesses, subject to the Insurance Division’s approval. HMSA and Kaiser will continue to offer their non-ACA-compliant 2013 plans for individuals.
“Using that premium sheet, consumers and small businesses can compare their ACA plan premiums to the premiums for their existing 2013 plans plus add an increase to their 2013 plans of about 8 percent to 10 percent,” Ito said.
ACA-compliant plans can be purchased through the Hawaii Health Connector or directly from an insurer. Consumers and small businesses are reminded that only ACA-compliant plans purchased through the Hawaii Health Connector will be eligible for tax credits.
Non-compliant 2013 health insurance plans cannot be purchased through the Hawaii Health Connector.
For small businesses, Hawaii’s Prepaid Healthcare Act requirements must continue to be met.
2014 Exchange Premium Comparisons 120513
The Insurance Division oversees the Hawaii insurance industry, issues licenses, examines the fiscal condition of Hawaii-based companies, reviews rate and policy filings, and investigates insurance related complaints.
The Hawaii Health Connector is a nonprofit organization. It is not a government entity.
Media Contact: Brent Suyama DCCA Communications Officer 808-586-7582 bsuyama@dcca.hawaii.gov www.cca.hawaii.govOne of the “high priority” desires for most buyers in Hawaii is to be in close proximity to the ocean. Before July 2012, agents would remind buyers who were looking for properties near the water of the obvious risks to their home if a natural disaster hit the islands. They would also be required to get flood insurance if they were in a high-risk flood zone area.
While this would be an added cost to the home owner, a large portion of buyers felt the positives of living so close to the water were outweighed by the negatives. They considered the flood insurance premiums a small price to pay for the beautiful views they would get to experience daily.
Unfortunately, recent changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will significantly impact how future buyers shop for their home. Now more than ever, home owners need to know the ramifications of these changes and how it will affect their pocketbooks. Not only will flood insurance premiums increase exponentially for the next several years, but the increase in those rates will undoubtedly be a concern to their buyer when they sell. Read more http://ow.ly/rwYJt
Earlier this year, Stephen Lum of the department’s Public Affairs Office completed a photo gallery recognizing the eighteen individuals who served as Hawai‘i’s adjutants general through the years. Each photo includes short biography of officer. This photo gallery is in the hallway outside the Adjutant General’s office here at the State Headquarters.
Special thanks to Steve for another superb job.
To share Steve’s hard work, we will post one of the photos each week. This week’s photo features Hawai‘i’s ninth Adjutant General, Major General Fred W. McKinney.
click on photograph to enlarge
There are many public databases of breached accounts, the largest breach being that of Adobe.com, but no way to search across all of them. Until now http://ow.ly/rufus
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After retiring form the Office of Veterans Affairs, Carswell “Caz” Ross has taken on another job. http://ow.ly/rsTHl
The A-10 may be a victim of the budget cuts. Retiring the effective close-air support aircraft has been identified by the Air Force as one way to save money in these hard times. The concern is for the soldier on the ground. Read about it in the current issue of NATIONAL GUARD, coming soon to your mailbox.
Have you been to the National Guard Memorial in Washington, D.C.? If so, you will recognize it in the photo spread in the current magazine. If not, these shots will whet your appetite for a visit. Have a look at the photos and then visit the memorial in person.
Warrant officers need to get in the game. That’s what one warrant officer says in a Last Word column in the new issue of NATIONAL GUARD.
A lot of false stories are being told about the National Guard. Pete Duffy, the NGAUS legislative director, takes to task those who tell them in his Washington Update column.
Guardsmen in two states took part in the World Series. … Service chiefs were blunt in their testimony to Congress. … At age 58, a doctor joins the Guard.
All of this and more can be found in the current issue of NATIONAL GUARD. Also, have an early look at www.nationalguardmagazine.com.
“It was ‘boom.’ That was it,” said William Melvin, who suffered severe burns on one-third of his body when a gas can he was using allegedly exploded. “It was a miracle that I was still alive.” http://ow.ly/rrNk4
Navy video of their official website http://www.navy.mil/viewVideo.asp?id=19044
President Franklin Roosevelt declared December 7, 1941 — when Japan launched more than 350 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawai‘i — a “date which will live in infamy.” In fact, that Sunday morning is so seared into America’s memory that the tumult of the critical weeks and months afterward, as the U.S. responded to the attack, is often overlooked. Here, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, LIFE.com presents photos — most of which never ran in LIFE magazine — from Hawaii and the mainland, chronicling a nation’s resolute reply to an unprecedented act of war. http://ow.ly/rwvvy
December 7, 1941: the surprise was complete. The attacking planes came in two waves; the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55. By 9:55 it was all over. By 1:00 PM the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of O‘ahu were heading back to Japan.
Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged or destroyed battleships. In one stroke the Japanese action silenced the debate that had divided Americans ever since the German defeat of France left England alone in the fight against the Nazi terror. Read more http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm
The National Guard and the Army have come out of discussions with different views of the service’s future. Both aim to save money in this time of required budget cuts, but the Guard plan would keep 30,000 more soldiers in the Army Guard than the Army plan.
The talks are about how to absorb $1.7 billion in cuts the Army Guard must absorb annually under sequestration.Under a proposal from the National Guard Bureau that has the concurrence of the Adjutants General Association of the United States, Army Guard end strength would be 345,000 troops. Under the Army’s plan, which has been explained to Congress at hearings of the House and Senate armed services committees, the Army Guard would shrink to 315,000, a level it has not seen since 1954 and is 35,000 below its pre-9/11 level.The Army plan would reduce the active-component Army to 420,000, a loss of 60,000 troops.
The Guard proposal would provide the Army Guard with 26 brigade combat teams, a loss of two, eight combat aviation brigades and six attack aviation battalions, a loss of two.
Annie Lively, the NGAUS senior legislative affairs manager for Army programs, says, “The Guard plan will receive greater attention in Congress because it meets the budgetary and strategic requirements with less turbulence than the Army plan.”
The Guard plan maintains tens of thousands of soldiers more than the Army plan in the Total Army. It also offers more opportunities to serve in the Guard for soldiers released from the active-component Army.
Also, the Council of Governors has weighed in with the Defense Department expressing its concerns about being left out of the budget consultative process. The process, established earlier this year, encourages the Pentagon to include state governors, through the CoG, when ongoing discussions include topics that would impact Guard forces.
NGAUS has also learned that Army officials are preparing an aviation reorganization plan that would take all of the AH-64D Apaches and OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and approximately 100 UH-72A Lakotas from the Army Guard. They would be replaced by a smaller number of older UH-60 Black Hawks.
Taken from the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) weekly e-newsletter.
As budgets tighten, the Air Force intends to cut “nice-to-have” programs such as base bowling alleys and golf courses, said Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh during a visit with airmen in Grand Forks, North Dakota. “We have already decided what our core support programs are in the Air Force and those will be funded: child and youth programs, health care for families, airmen and family readiness centers and so on,” said Welsh. “We are not going to cut those things.”
However, the Air Force simply can’t afford other facilities that once made base life a bit more enjoyable. Instead, airmen and their families will have to rely on local communities for such entertainment. Overseas locations and some remote bases could be exceptions, noted Welsh. “We will have to cut people. We will have to cut force structure until we can rebalance and create a ready force that is at the readiness levels we think we will need to be successful,” he said.
Taken the Air Force Magazine daily e-newsletter
The Civil Air Patrol has released an online familiarization course for Air Force personnel and CAP members intended to inform participants about CAP’s capabilities as a non-combatant, all-volunteer “force multiplier,” according to a CAP release. “During my 23-year Air Force career, I had no knowledge of the Civil Air Patrol. I wish I had been more aware so I could have taken advantage of all they have to offer in support of the Air Force mission and Air Force families,” wrote CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Charles Carr in the course introduction. The course covers CAP’s role in national defense, its efforts to teach today’s youth science, technology, engineering, and math skills, as well as ways the organization can assist the overall Air Force in a variety of missions, including disaster relief efforts. “CAP’s missions and capabilities are not as widely known within the Air Force as they need to be and this course should help change that. I encourage everyone to take this course so more Air Force units, members and families can take advantage of all CAP has to offer in support of the Air Force mission and Air Force families,” said Carr.
