Garcon, how much for the insurance?
Here's an interesting idea:"The owners of Republique on La Brea have added a 3% fee to every bill to pay for insurance for every employee"The idea is that, instead of paying for or subsidizing employees' insurance costs and reflecting that in the menu prices, the cost is unbundled and there for all to see.I like this form of transparency.On the other hand, some folks are concerned that they have "no way of knowing whether the restaurant will use the extra money for the stated cause."Which is a valid objection.So, what do IB readers think? An idea whose time has come or not?TippingCare PollOriginal content copyright © Insu...
Source: InsureBlog - February 19, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
In Medicine Teamwork Is an Invention of Administrators and the Government
I recently had the opportunity to give a team-building group exercise to my staff of Medical and Administrative professionals. The focus was on how to build a better team of individuals to better handle our increased patient load. In the beginning of the Seminar, I had everybody fill out an assessment as to how they felt we operated as a team. There were five categories to judge: Trust, Conflict, Commitment, Accountability and Results. The majority of the scores were low, demonstrating that this room full of people, who work with each other day in and day out, some for years, did not feel that they were a team.Over three h...
Source: InsureBlog - February 19, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Cavalcade of Risk #202 now online
Jeff Rose hosts this week's round-up of risk-related posts. From insurance riders to self-funding, data breaches and tobacco sales, there's sure to be something to pique your interest. Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - February 19, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Aloha State 3600, Beaver State 0
So yesterday, we learned that Hawaii had spent north of $57,000 per to sign up some 3600 victims citizens on their ObamaTax Exchange.But at least those 3600 folks did sign up (whether or not they'll actually pay up is another matter).Things haven't gone so well in Oregon, however, where authorities have spent over $300,000,000 (that's 300 million dollars) to sign up ... well:"...not even one person has yet to enroll online"What a resounding success story!Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - February 18, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
They Can't Even Give This Stuff Away - Part 2
As Bob noted last week, a lot of folks may end up balking when it comes time to (literally) pay the piper:"...roughly 50 percent of consumers who had supposedly enrolled for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform have missed their payment deadline for Jan. 1"No big deal, right? After all, what's the worst that could happen?Oh:"More than 6,400 people in North Carolina did not pay their first premiums for new ACA health insurance plans and, consequently, saw their coverage dropped"So these folks went through the (not inconsiderable) trouble of wading through the wonky web site, verifying their income and other informatio...
Source: InsureBlog - February 18, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
$57,000 Aloha Fail
Another day, another ObamaTax "success" story:"The Obama administration gave Hawaii $205 million in grants over the past three years to set up its state-run exchange"So, one would presume that plenty of uninsured Hawaiians signed up for a shiny new health "care" plan, right?Well, not so much:"...so far, only 3,614 Hawaiians have filled out applications"Remember, filling out an app is not the same as actually buying a plan, so we really have no way of knowing how many Aloha State citizens actually bought coverage (let alone how many have paid for it). But even with the benefit of the doubt, this means that each enrollee cos...
Source: InsureBlog - February 17, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
My new article is up ...
At Answers.com:"Group Dental insurance plans can be a cost-effective way to pay for both routine and unexpected oral health issues, especially when the premiums are subsidized by one's employer."Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - February 16, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
So now it's Copper. Can Tinfoil be far behind?
From WSJ February 13th (password protected, sorry):"Some backers of the 2010 health-care law are pushing to create a new kind of insurance coverage that the measure essentially had ruled out: policies offering lower premiums but significantly higher out-of-pocket costs than those now available . . . dubbed "copper" because they would offer a lower level of coverage than the "gold," "silver" and "bronze" options on the government-run health-care exchanges . . . would be a departure from the minimum level of coverage that is one of the Affordable Care Act's core principles."Seems clear to me the awful truth is dawning on mor...
Source: InsureBlog - February 15, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Cavalcade of Risk #202: Call for submissions
Jeff Rose hosts next week's Cav. Entries are due by Monday (the 17th).To submit your risk-related post, just click here to email it.You'll need to provide:■ Your post's url and title■ Your blog's url and name■ Your name and email■ A (brief) summary of the postPLEASE remember: ONLY posts that relate to risk (not personal finance tips and the like). And please only submit if you are willing to link back to the carnival if your submission is accepted. Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - February 14, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Obamacare Fraud Connection
The hits just keep on coming. You can't make this stuff up.The director of Colorado’s health exchange has been placed on administrative leave after the state discovered she had been indicted for stealing from a non-profit,National ReviewIn fairness, the indictment is not related to her current position as director of the CO exchange.But still . . .The 12-page indictment alleges that, while serving as executive director of the federally funded Housing Montana, McClure, between 2008 and 2010, paid herself “significant sums” for consulting services, although she was already on the payroll as a full-time employee.She als...
Source: InsureBlog - February 14, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
My new article is up ...
At Answers.com:"Americans who are on Medicare due to serious health conditions have limited health insurance choices. For many, a Medicare Advantage plan may be the most efficient means to supplement their Medicare coverage."Original content copyright © InsureBlog (Source: InsureBlog)
Source: InsureBlog - February 13, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Mark the Unhappy Liberal
Self employment has been good to my client Mark. He went from working for "the man" four years ago to building his own small business. Over those years times were tough for Mark and his family. Getting the business off the ground was tough and because of a prior medical condition Mark's wife was uninsurable. The good news was he was able to utilize COBRA and pay an "outrageous" premium of $798 per month for a $3000 single deductible CDHP plan. When it expired in 2011 the family was forced to make a decision. I had advised him with his COBRA decision and now he was calling again hoping to find cost savings and make sure tha...
Source: InsureBlog - January 1, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
One Step Forward(?), Two Steps Back
A not-so-Happy New Year for those of us for whom health insurance, and health care, are a priority:"More than 4.7 million Americans had their health insurance canceled as a result of [the ObamaqTax] ... but [HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious] confirmed Tuesday that between federal and state exchanges, just 2 million Americans have signed up for (coverage)."Not that this is a major surprise, mind you, just a reminder that the train-wreck continues to provide a lesson in how not to solve any supposed health insurance (or care) crisis.But wait, it gets better worse:"CNN's Jim Acosta asked Bataille if she could at least say with ...
Source: InsureBlog - January 1, 2014 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Year-end LinkFest
Sliding in just under the wire:■ Given this:"According to the Obama administration, more than two million people have enrolled in health insurance plans through the federal and state exchanges"Here's the $64,000 question: How many have actually, you know, paid for their coverage?Here's a hint:"[O]fficials could not say how many Americans had actually paid for such coverage."■ So you say you want a revolution? Best not tick off one of your core constituencies:"A video advertisement released shortly before Christmas by Out2Enroll, which features four young buff men wearing tight underwear and not much else ... This cynic...
Source: InsureBlog - December 31, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
Year-end chat with DOI
In an InsureBlog exclusive, we present a year-end wrap-up of some of the ACA-related issues being dealt with by the Ohio Department of Insurance. Public Information Officer Robert Denhard was kind enough to answer some of our questions:What are you hearing from insurers regarding receiving data on the back-end that allows individuals to actually pay for insurance? We are hearing there are still problems but that the situation is better than it was. Either way, we're concerned about any impact on consumers if information is still wrong come Jan. 1.Have you had any feedback from carriers about missing/incorrect 834's? ...
Source: InsureBlog - December 30, 2013 Category: Medical Lawyers and Insurers Source Type: blogs
