Boca Benefits Consulting Group Inc.

Boca Benefits Consulting Group, Inc. now has a page on Facebook. Click on the image below to become a “fan” of our new page.  If you would like to become a Facebook Friend of Bob Murphy, click on name below.

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Boca Benefits Consulting Group Inc.

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If you are an employer or senior management person trying to keep up with the provisions of PPACA, you are likely very frustrated as are many others. It is a moving target with interpretations and interim rules emerging almost daily. I noted in today’s St. Pete Times comments made following a seminar hosted by the Tampa Chamber on the details of PPACA. Even the normally informed “experts” are a little behind the curve and major employers are struggling with decisions due to incomplete guidance.

CIGNA has been holding a series of web meetings hosted by both their own employees and outside experts. The last one had two attorneys who specialize in PPACA as presenters and who were excellent in terms of their level of knowledge and current information. Following the presentation, a web conference operator moderates individual telephone questions directly to the presenters for specific questions and answers.

You do not need to be a CIGNA client to take advantage of this resource. Even if you just “lurk” without asking any questions, you will be brought up to speed on many details that might not otherwise be available to you. BBCG encourages you to register via the below link and join the web meeting at 2 P.M. June 17, 2010.

Click here for the CIGNA registration web page and link to additional health reform information available from CIGNA.


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For those persons who prefer to do business with a long-established insurance carrier in the individual healthcare market, BBCG offers United Healthcare’s “UnitedHealthOne” (f/k/a Golden Rule) products. Various traditional, high deductible, point-of-service and HSA products are available. Please feel free to use this service to explore options that you feel might meet your needs.

Please click on the above Golden Rule icon to open the auto-quoting page. This is a free and non-binding service unless the user actually submits an application.

This service is in addition to the similar auto-quote function provided by BBCG via the CIGNA individual/small group market segment per our earlier blog entry at http://bocabenefits.com/blog/?p=588.

Both CIGNA and United Healthcare offer individual products as solutions to the “To Age 26” gap many college seniors may face while waiting for eligibility under one of their parent’s health plans.


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In addition to the UnitedHealthOne (f/k/a Golden Rule) individual products auto-quote function from United Healthcare , BBCG now has a similar auto-quote function available for CIGNA products. Just click on the CIGNA logo above to open the quoting window.

Like the UnitedHealthOne products, CIGNA products also address the “To Age 26” issue for graduating college seniors.

This is a free and non-binding process unless an application is actually submitted by the user. 


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Due to some incompatible HTML coding in the earlier post regarding the cost example for college seniors needing temporary healthcare coverage, we were forced to delete that post. The same information has been re-posted under a new blog URL that can be found in the list of recent posts at right. Unfortunately, prior Facebook and Twitter posts will now point to a dead link. Will repost to both with the fresh link.

[Found the coding error before shutting down the blog and reloading all the software in entirety. Some HTML that we used for the Sharing function caused the format of the entire blog page to be knocked out of kilter. No data was lost. Looks like we dodged a bullet here.]

I am sending this along as an example of minimal costs to cover a 22 year old, male graduating college senior, aging out of parents’ plan(s), living in Clearwater, Florida, selecting the better of the two short term options available. The $1,000 deductible option costs $391.74 for six months of coverage. Most seniors will need seven months for $616.99 (yes… there is a big step in premiums from six to seven months) if they can enroll on Jan 1st in one of parent’s plans. See http://bocabenefits.com/short_term_med_examp.pdf for the cost details. See https://www.goldenrulehealth.com/PDF/38491-G200906.pdf for a product brochure.

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United Healthcare’s “UnitedHealthOne” web site is down right now. Guess you guys overwhelmed them with quote requests! The auto quote function on http://bocabenefits.com/ind_health.htm won’t work until they have their scripts up and running again.

If you are attempting to get an individual healthcare quote, please re-try later.


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Yesterday I read the results of a survey conducted by a large national HR consulting company which indicated that only 16% of employers intend to implement the “To Age 26” provision of PPACA early to accommodate graduating college seniors. Most existing plans, which are “grandfathered” by definition (i.e., in existence on March 23, 2010) will defer making the offering until the first anniversary/plan-year date following the mandatory statute date of September 23, 2010.

The Impact

1. Many graduating college seniors will not be eligible until January 2011 when the majority of plans have plan-year dates.
2. Some will have to wait even longer if plan-year date is later than January 1st.
3. Some could have to wait as long as August 2011 if the plan has an odd summer/fall plan-year date.
4. Same goes for other “adult children” up to age 26 who thought they would become eligible immediately.

BBCG brokers permanent individual coverage. However, we also have short-term temporary coverage for this type of situation. If you know anyone who falls into the above categories, please have them go to http://bocabenefits.com/ind_health.htm where they can access a self-directed quoting service from United Healthcare’s “UnitedHealthOne” (f/k/a Golden Rule) products. The second screen following the initial zip code screen allows for selection of the short-term product.


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This BBCG blog is going to test the below sharing service and see if it is better than just an individual Facebook or Twitter link. As you will see if you hover over it with your mouse, virtually every social media is available.  If you don’t see your favorite service in the initial list, click on the “More” selection and an extended list will appear.


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Posts are getting to Facebook directly from the BBCG blog RSS feed. However, Facebook has a quirk in the way these Twitterfeed.com forwards are handled. Unlike other links on Facebook, the blog post titles (i.e., a link) in these forwards do not get handled directly. Facebook handles the link via an intermediary URL (i.e., actually some kind of PHP call code) before directing the user to a final location.

The problem: can’t get back to the original Facebook location. Browser back button will only get you back to the intermediary URL which then directs you automatically to the final location. Puts you in an endless loop.

Use your browser history or other method to access Facebook directly if you find this happening. Your log-in should still be valid.

Notified Facebook support today about this issue.

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