Did you know that if you don't use all of your health insurance benefits this year, you lose them forever? 

Health insurance company Anthem has an agreement in place to acquire Cigna, a $54 billion business deal that would create the largest health insurance provider in the country. The combined company would have more than 53 million members, surpassing UnitedHealth Group. If the deal passes muster with regulators, the combined company would also become the California’s largest health insurance provider, surpassing Kaiser Permanente’s 7.3 million members, according to The Los Angeles Times. However, industry consolidation is already drawing scrutiny from some economists and politicians who expect that a Cigna-Anthem Merger would hurt consumers. But a closer look at the economics of health insurance shows that such financial outcomes are far from clear.

This Monday, health care rates for 2016 were announced for Covered California, the California health care exchange set up as part of the Affordable Care Act. Overall, the projected rate increases are a mixed bag. While the statewide average increase is only modest, certain regions of the Golden state--particularly in Northern California--may see double-digit increases in their health insurance rates.

A little over a week ago marked the beginning of the second open enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act. With it began registration for Covered California, the California health insurance exchange set up as part of Obamacare. This means that deadlines are looming for selecting your health care options for 2015. This blog post will help clarify what changes to be aware of in the coming year and what important dates you have to look out for.

Did you receive a call from a sleep center to schedule an in-center or in-home sleep study?

Did you know that if you don't use all of your health insurance benefits this year, you lose them forever? Many 2014 health plans require authorizations for services, and it may take up to three weeks to receive authorization. Now is the time to contact your health care provider.

We’re 3/4 of the way through the year, and we at the Sleep Better, Live Better Blog hope you are having a happy and healthy 2014!

As the year draws to a close, you may not be aware that your health care plan might contain benefits that will expire at the end of the calendar year. Use our list below to make sure you access all the perks your plan has to offer!

October 28, 2015: We've updated this post with some more links and useful information.

• How does the Affordable Care Act affect sleep-related services?
• Guide to Understanding Your Heatlh Insurance
• Frequently Asked Questions About Insurance Coverage for Sleep Studies and Therapy

In the past ten years, increasing numbers of patients have adopted high deductible health plans (HDHPs). On one hand, this means an economic break for the consumer because of reduced up-front costs for health insurance. However, in the event of a catastrophic illness or accident, the insurance holder will be on the hook for a large chunk of the treatment.

Under Obamacare, patient satisfaction is an increasingly important benchmark for medical providers. However, physicians disagree about whether this new emphasis is the best way to provide effective health care.

Quick Q&A and Resources

Q: What is ICD10?

Answer: 

The International Classification of Diseases (also known by the abbreviation ICD) is the United Nations-sponsored World Health Organization’s "standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes." The ICD is designed as a health care classification system, providing a system of diagnostic codes for classifying diseases, including nuanced classifications of a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease (source: Wikipedia). 

Q: How is ICD10 different from ICD9?