HealthMarkets, Inc., announced today that its subsidiary, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, is launching HSA-compatible plans equipped with industry-leading tools that empower consumers to compare the cost and quality of health care services.
CareOne Select HSA, the new high deductible health insurance plan, is compatible with Health Savings Accounts, which offer certain tax advantages to individuals and families.
"Health Savings Accounts have always been a smart way to pay for health care, said Peter Gaillard, Senior Vice President, Product Development at HealthMarkets. "But usually, consumers have had to make decisions without an effective way to evaluate quality or costs. Using the HealthMarkets web tools, insureds can compare one health care provider with another. We make it easy for insureds to find the best value in price and quality.
A Health Savings Account enables consumers to save and pay for qualified medical expenses on a tax-free basis. An HSA must be paired with an HSA-compatible high deductible health insurance plan such as the CareOne Select plan. Neither HealthMarkets nor MEGA underwrites or administers HSAs.
CareOne Select HSA plans are being introduced in Michigan and Texas, and will eventually be launched in other states and markets.
The web tools that are available with the CareOne Select HSA provide an instantaneous ranking of providers enabling consumers to better understand potential out-of-pocket expenses before they see their health care professional. These tools offer insureds guidance on costs and quality and, if desired, can provide detailed information on more than 20,000 procedures and services offered by 450,000 medical professionals, 4,000 hospitals and 26,000 other ancillary resources such as laboratories, MRI providers and home health care centers.
"If consumers are going to effectively manage their health care dollars, they need to know how much the services are likely to cost them, and how to compare health care providers, Gaillard said.
The CareOne Select HSA plans provide:
- Access to an information-packed web site using tools that allow insureds to evaluate providers on the basis of relative cost and quality information.
- A wide choice of deductibles and co-insurance.
- Optional additional benefits.
- Automatic third-party review of all hospital bills over $10,000 to check for errors and overcharges.
CareOne Select HSA-compatible plans are part of the CareOne suite of products offering consumers various options to meet their health insurance needs. CareOne PPO plans offer a more traditional PPO-type plan. CareOne Value plans are designed to fit limited budgets.
HealthMarkets is a leading provider of affordable health and life insurance to the self-employed, individuals and small businesses through its subsidiaries, The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee and The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company.
About HealthMarkets
HealthMarkets, headquartered in North Richland Hills, Texas, is a provider of health and life insurance products to individuals, families, the self-employed and small businesses. HealthMarkets offers products and services through its subsidiaries: The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of Tennessee and The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company. The Company's offerings include individual and self-employed health insurance, small employer group health insurance, life insurance and reinsurance. Through its Consumer Guided Health Insurance plans, HealthMarkets seeks to provide affordable and accessible health coverage to individuals and small businesses. The Company is owned by a group of private equity investors, including The Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, members of management and the Company's dedicated, licensed agents through the Company's agent stock accumulation plans. For more information, visit www.healthmarkets.com.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Some of the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements are intended to be identified in this document by the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "objective," "plan," "possible," "potential" and similar expressions. Actual results may vary materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions; the continued ability of HealthMarkets (the "Company) to compete for customers and insureds in an industry in which many of its competitors may have greater market share and/or greater financial resources; the Company's ability to accurately estimate medical claims and control costs; changes in government regulation that could increase the costs of compliance or cause the Company to discontinue marketing its products in certain states; the Company's failure to comply with new or existing government regulations that could subject it to significant fines and penalties; changes in the relationship between the Company and the membership associations and/or changes in the laws and regulations governing so-called "association group insurance (particularly changes that would subject the issuance of policies to prior premium rate approval and/or require the issuance of policies on a "guaranteed issue basis); significant liabilities and costs associated with litigation; failure of the Company's information systems to provide timely and accurate information; negative publicity regarding the Company's business practices and/or regarding the health insurance industry in general; the Company's inability to enter into or maintain satisfactory relationships with networks of hospitals, physicians, dentists, pharmacies and other health care providers; failure of the Company's regulated insurance company subsidiaries to maintain their current ratings by A.M. Best Company, Fitch and/or Standard & Poor's; and the other risk factors set forth in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
