S&S Benefits.....Opinion,
Hearsay & News Review
A study by RAND Corp. of the 45 million uninsured, states
that government subsidies to cover one half the costs for health insurance would
only reduce the number of uninsured by 3%. Another study conclusion was that
high deductible plans would have little effect on decreasing the number of
uninsured people.
Cigna Healthcare has acquired the Sagamore Health network
PPO which is used by over 200 TPAs to cover the state of
Indiana
and parts of
Ohio
and
Kentucky
. CIGNA was already using the network for their own members and plans on
retaining the Sagamore name.
A Mercer HR consulting study of 2,700 HR executives
globally found that 42% were proud of the job they performed and 36% believe
they are recognized as strategic partners within their organization. Only 13%
feel they are paid fairly and 10% totally agree that they have the perfect
work/life balance.
American Express has cancelled their HSA account debit
cards. The cards were being used by WellPoint and Cigna clients, but apparently
the card program has been somewhat of a failure since there are fewer locations
that accept American Express as opposed to MasterCard or Visa.
According to Consumer Reports, 43% of workers have
admitted that they put off visiting doctors due to costs. The surveyed workers
had a median household income of almost $59,000. Roughly 67% of respondents were
completely or very satisfied with their HMO or PPO. Among those who had
contacted their health plan, PPO members had more claim problems or problems
with their bills (62%) than HMO members (30%). Fourteen percent of respondents
in HMOs had trouble getting doctor appointments versus 8% in PPO plans.
Munich Re American Healthcare has increased its ownership
of stop loss MGU Cairnstone from 25% to 100%, with the transaction expected to
close in September.
The IRS wants to draft a regulation to clarify that a
payment from a qualified retirement plan for an accident or health insurance
premium generally constitutes a distribution that is taxable in the tax year in
which the premium is paid.
Destiny Health and Guardian have severed their
relationship and all new business sold on or after 9/1/07 will be underwritten
by an Aegon (A+) company-Stonebridge Life. Guardian and Destiny apparently had
differences in their service concepts and Destiny wished to expand its marketing
in areas where Guardian was not agreeable.
Carriers like UHC,
Aetna
and Cigna wish to rank doctors based on quality, but their quest is being
rebuffed by physicians who have complained to NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo is concerned that consumers will be encouraged to choose doctors because
they are inexpensive, rather than because they are good. Doctors in CT have
filed suit over similar concerns against carriers in that state who use quality
rankings. Nationally, doctors will feel the pinch next October when Medicare
will stop paying for illnesses and injuries acquired while in a hospital. Of
insurers, the NBCH reports that 6% report on physician quality while 30% rate
hospitals.
Consumers’ CHECKBOOK/Center for the Study of Services
won a court battle last week over its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to
obtain physician Medicare claim records in
Washington
, D.C and five states including
Illinois
. The group hopes to report how many times individual doctors have billed for
major, high-risk procedures in order to gauge their experience levels.
Eventually the group hopes to team with national health plans for non-Medicare
billing records to get a more complete picture of physician experience levels.
A UBA of survey about 12,000 employers finds that 8.8% of
all plans are CDHP, up 3% from 2006. CDHP premiums grew 2.7% compared to an
average of 7.2% for all plans. Comprehensive wellness programs were offered by
7.4% of all employers surveyed, up 3% from the year before. Sixty-one percent of
employees were covered by PPO plans, 16.6% by an HMO and 19.3% of active
employees waive coverage by their employer. The median monthly PPO premium was
$336 for single and $817 for family with employees paying $77 for single
coverage (23%) and $344 for family coverage (42%).
The BLS reports that 60% of private sector employers
provided health benefits to their workers in March 2007, down from 62% in 2006.
The BLS said that 71% of workers had access to health benefits and 52%
participated in plans.