Archive for June, 2011
Tampering with Part D Will Not Solve Our Debt Crisis
June 30th, 2011
Read the full paper as an Adobe Acrobat PDF
Given the current climate and the debate over the debt limit, reform of Medicare–which faces a significant fiscal crisis–is inevitable. Anticipating these changes, the Democratic leadership in Congress recently introduced the “Medicare Drug Savings Act of 2011″ as a means of saving $112 billion over the next decade by reducing spending on Medicare Part D-the prescription drug program for seniors. Ba
Tags: Crisis, Debt Crisis
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Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Constitutional, Cincinnati Appeals Court Finds
June 29th, 2011
The Obama administration won a political victory over the Republican opposition when a federal appeals court in Cincinnati found the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act constitutional – i.e. it upheld the 2010 health-care law – and with Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who was appointed by George W. Bush in 2003, concurring.
The issue was regarding Congress’ constitutional authority. Requiring most Americans to have health insurance, does Congress have interstate commerce authority? The majority of the judges said that in this case it does.
Both Judge Jeffrey Sutton and Judge Boyce Martin (appointed by Carter in 1979) upheld the law, while James L. Read full post…
Tags: Act Constitutional, Appeals Court, Care Act Constitutional, Court
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Tips on finding genuine life insurance companies
June 28th, 2011
There are many life insurance companies around the world. Many of the companies are frauds and scams. It can be hard to distinguish between a genuine life insurance company and a fraud. People have difficulties in keeping expenses down. However, unexpected death can cause a serious economic blow to the family if the person that died was the only earner of the family. Some time making a life insurance can also be hard as the person applying for a life insurance is thinking of plans after the person’s death. In order to consider a life insurance company genuine, people should first check the name and the reputation of the company.
Reputation plays a crucial factor in life insurance companies as companies that do not have much reputation are tend to be scams. C Read full post…
Tags: Companies, Insurance Companies, Life Insurance, Life Insurance Companies
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American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown Applauds Changes To Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans
June 28th, 2011
Millions of heart disease and stroke patients may now have a greater opportunity to receive more affordable and timely medical care with changes to the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). The American Heart Association is extremely pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made it easier to enroll and lowered premiums to increase access for more Americans.
Uninsured patients are now able to sign up for the Plan with a note from a provider confirming their illness rather than wait to be denied coverage from an insurance company. Premiums will also drop as much as 40 percent in 18 states. More than half of the uninsured with cardiovascular disease say cost is the primary reason for lack of coverage. Read full post…
Tags: Condition Insurance, Insurance
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Individual Health Insurance Mandate
June 27th, 2011
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law that requires Americans to buy insurance as constitutional, an early victory for the White House.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, based in Cincinnati, said the “minimum coverage provision is a valid exercise of legislative power by Congress under the Commerce Clause” of the U.S. Const
Tags: Appeals Court, Insurance
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Employers Plan to Ask Workers to Absorb More Health Care Costs in 2012
June 25th, 2011
A new study conducted by consulting firm PwC revealed that employers will ask workers to absorb rising health care costs by having them pay higher health insurance deductibles in 2012. This news comes only days after a separate study conducted by Milliman Inc. found that employee contributions in employer-sponsored plans have reached an all-time high.
Percentage of Companies Asking for Help Expected to Grow
According to PwC, the percentage of companies that ask their workers to pay deductibles (the annual amount a patient pays out of pocket for care before the insurance company will begin coverage) has grown steadily over the past several years.
Tags: 2012, Care Costs, Health Care, Health Care Costs
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Insurer Investigators Donate $10K to Memorial Fund for Slain Louisiana Investigators
June 25th, 2011
The nation’s largest association of insurer fraud investigators has contributed $10,000 to a memorial fund honoring two Louisiana investigators who were killed in the line of duty June 7.
The board of directors of the International Association of Special Investigation Units authorized the donation to the fund created by the Louisiana Insurance Department in the wake of the murders of Rhett Jeansonne and Kim Sledge.
The insurance department investigators were shot by an agent they were seeking to interview in Ville Platte, La.
“They were members of IASIU and dedicated professionals. IASIU appreciates the support of the Louisiana insurance department over the years. The
Tags: Louisiana, Louisiana Investigators, Memorial Fund
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Feds to Biotech Firms: Shut Up
June 24th, 2011
A federal judge sentenced the former head of a biotech company to six months of home confinement this spring and fined him $20,000. His offense? Issuing a single press release about a drug.
Scott Harkonen is the former CEO of InterMune, which marketed the drug Actimmune to treat a rare and deadly lung disorder called chronic granulomatous disease. However, most of the drugs sales were to doctors who used it “off label” to treat a different fatal lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
In 2002, InterMune ran a large trial to seek Food and Drug Administration approval to sell the drug explicitly for this second disease.
Tags: Biotech, Biotech Firms
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