Healthcare

NAIC To Collect More Data On Effect Of Medical Loss Ratios On Agent/Broker Commissions

March 27, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Austin, Texas -- It took more than three hours, for the National Association of Insurance Commissioner's Professional Health Insurance Advisers Task Force to agree to hold off on deciding whether to endorse a federal bill that would exempt commissions paid to insurance agents and brokers from the medical loss ratios required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.<br /> <br /> Instead, the task force opted to refer the issue back to the Health and Managed Care Committee to collect more data on the matter.<br /> <br />

NAIC Digs In On The Details

March 25, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Austin, Texas - Everything may be bigger in Texas, but at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners meeting opening here today, the key action hinges on the small but crucial details of insurance regulation.<br /> <br /> In its two previous meetings, the NAIC took hotly debated votes to move forward on the medical loss ratio regulation, laying out what would count as medical costs and what would be administrative.<br /> <br />

Consumer Group Blasts Insurance Agents and Brokers

March 25, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> A consumer advocacy group, pushing back strong against insurance brokers’ and agents’ request for relief from a healthcare reform provision, published documents on Friday showing they are paid as much as 20 percent of a customer’s insurance premium.<br /> <br /> The nation’s insurance commissioners this weekend are set to consider a request from agents and brokers to back changes to a healthcare regulation they say will push them out of the marketplace.<br /> <br />

Lessons for Albany on Malpractice Limits

March 24, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> ALBANY, NY — As New York lawmakers strive to complete the state budget by April 1, one of the most contentious battles involves whether to include a cap on medical malpractice payments that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed with the support of the state’s hospital industry.</p>

Consumer Group Rings Alarm As State Insurance Regulators Weigh Broker Protections

March 22, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> The California nonprofit Consumer Watchdog on Tuesday <a href="http://thehill.com/images/stories/blogs/naicindustryties.pdf">released a new report</a> outlining state regulators' ties to industry.<br /> <br />

Junk health insurer gets death row reprieve

March 10, 2011  ·  Carmen Balber

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Draft Bill Would Exclude Agent Pay from Health Reform Rule

March 8, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Draft legislation being shopped around Congress and considered by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners would remove producer compensation from medical loss ratio calculations, overturning part of a new federal regulation under the Affordable Care Act.<br /> <br /> Insurance agents strongly support the bill, as they fear taking a financial hit from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule that their commissions should be considered administrative expenses in determining MLR.</p>

ConsumerWatch: Blue Shield Customer Gets $5K Bill Reversed

March 4, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/03/04/consumerwatch-blue-shield-customer-gets-5k-bill-reversed/#"> Click here to watch video of this broadcast.</a></p> <p> PALO ALTO, CA (CBS) – A Palo Alto couple has just won their battle with Blue Shield over a $5,000 medical bill.  </p> <p> John Whitin said Blue Shield sent him to collections asking him to return the money that it had originally paid out for a colonoscopy procedure for his wife. The procedure was supposed to be a covered benefit and was recommended by her doctor. </p>

Battle Over Rate Review Begins

February 23, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> <input id="fm-c-and-w-article" type="hidden" value="145747" /> <input id="fm-c-and-w-start" type="hidden" value="" /></p> <p> <b><img class=" size-full wp-image-9056" alt="" class="right" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/monopolyguy_0.gif" style="width: 175px; height: 188px;" width="321" height="345" />Battle lines formed over rate review regulations</b>: Health insurers are squaring off against providers and consumer advocates as regulators debate how to structure the healthcare reform law's rate review requirement.</p>

FTC To Tackle Claims?

January 2, 2011  ·  Mark Reback

<p> Ever search the Internet for information on a condition such as asthma, depression or diabetes, only to be plagued by pop-up ads for drugs for that condition?<br /> <br /> You're not alone. Consumer and privacy groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that protects consumers from unfair business practices, to investigate and crack down on companies' allegedly "deceptive and unfair" marketing of drugs and dietary supplements on health-advice websites and forums.<br /> <br />

Obama Administration Weakens Health Reform External Review and Internal Appeals Regulation

January 1, 2011  ·  Carmen Balber

<p> <img class=" size-full wp-image-2136" alt="" src="https://consumerwatchdog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/externalreviewreg.png" style="width: 565px; height: 534px;" width="623" height="579" /></p>

California Health Insurers Cite Rising Hospital Costs

December 10, 2010  ·  Mark Reback

<p> As health insurers again increase premiums on thousands of subscribers, the industry is seeking to shift the debate over escalating health care costs to the rising price of hospital care.<br /> <br /> In California, hospital prices jumped 150 percent since 2000, according to a study of state hospital data conducted by America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's trade association.<br /> <br />