Insurance Space

Adult patients without health insurance admitted to intensive care units in Pennsylvania hospitals had a 21% higher risk of death compared to other patients with private insurance, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers.

The differences in mortality risk were not explained by patient characteristics or differences in the hospitals they were admitted to, suggesting that uninsured patients might be receiving poorer quality care—for a variety of reasons. The findings are being presented this week at the American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.

Pitching President Barack Obama’s health care law to skeptical business owners, the IRS on Monday will announce ground rules for small firms wishing to claim a new federal tax credit for health insurance.

Created under the health overhaul law, the tax credit covers up to 35 percent of the premiums that certain small businesses pay on behalf of their workers. The IRS notice addresses unanswered questions about the benefit, which is available starting this year.

The third biggest U. S. health insurance company Aetna Inc. today announced that, the profits rose to 29 per cent as the company lowered its cost and raised its premiums. In the first quarter, the net income rose up to $562.6 million, which is almost $1.28 per share. The revenue almost rose up to less than a percent to $8.62 billion.

Aetna spent almost 82.5% of premiums collected from medical care members, from last year’s 83%. The health care law will necessitate the spending of almost 80% of premiums gained from the health benefits in an alternative to profit of the administrative expenses.

Republican candidate for governor Charles D. Baker Jr. is targeting municipal retiree and employee health care plans to save “hundreds of millions” of dollars in government spending.

Mr. Baker yesterday said the funds could be saved with state approval of a bill that would allow cities and towns to increase the share of premiums paid by employees and retirees. It would also, without union agreements, swap current insurance plans for others that provide less medical coverage and higher co-payments.

The nation’s sweeping health care reform signed into law barely a month ago has yet to be implemented with most of its provisions delayed for another four years. Yet Senate Democrats aren’t letting any of that stop them from taking the federal government deeper into the health care business with a proposal to have Washington intervene to set insurance rates.

The bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California would allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to review insurance premiums and stop any rate the secretary determines to be unreasonable in some states.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge yesterday ordered two of the state’s largest health insurers to submit April 2009 rates for insurance covering individuals and small businesses, the latest development in an ongoing dispute between the state and carriers over premium increases. Both companies said they would comply, even as they proceed with administrative appeals in an effort to charge higher rates.

Judge Stephen E. Neel said Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of Wellesley and Fallon Community Health Plan of Worcester must follow orders from the state’s Division of Insurance to submit premium increases formulated using last April’s base rates, instead of the higher figures the companies were seeking to use. The 2009 rates average 8 to 12 percent lower than what Harvard Pilgrim wanted, and 18 to 32 percent lower than Fallon’s 2010 premiums.

Thousands of college students scheduled to lose their parents’ health coverage when they graduate this spring got a reprieve Monday from several major insurance companies.
UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and WellPoint said they will put into effect some provisions of the new health care law ahead of schedule to let adult children stay on parents’ plans until age 26.

The law’s provisions relating to young adults won’t take effect until Sept. 23, but the companies said they are changing rules now to prevent young adults from falling into a coverage gap. Many plans have required adult children stay in school to keep dependent coverage, and age cutoffs vary by state.

For many Americans between the age group of 55-64, retiring has become synonymous with forsaking health insurance security. Not many employers grant health coverage for the retirees who retire at an early age. Majority of these retirees find it difficult to buy coverage in the individual market because they have preexisting conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure or simply find it expensive.

LEARN ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM!

The health reform, signed into law, contains some great ideas that will make health insurance quotes inexpensive and affordable. It will also expand the health coverage to all the Americans, stabilize family budgets, make health system sustainable and will stabilize the Federal budget as well as the economy.

The nation may be divided over the wisdom of President Barack Obama’s big new health care law, but it largely delivers on more than 30 specific promises he made as a candidate.

Americans basically got what the majority voted for when they elected Obama in 2008, although many people today might not realize there are costs as well as benefits in the health plan’s fine print.

“No one has the right to say they were misled during the campaign,” said health care industry consultant Robert Laszewski, a critic of the law. “For all the controversy, what (Obama) has done in health care is consistent with what he promised. It’s really very close.”

Sixty-five years after President Truman proposed a national health care program and 17 years after President Clinton’s failed attempt to radically alter health care financing, President Obama, with the help of a Democratic Congress, finally passed a compromise bill that is clearly an improvement over the old system. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the plan will save more than a trillion dollars during the next 20 years by increasing the pool of insured persons, and it will clearly greatly benefit poor and minority Americans who are currently uninsured. Of course, there is a real possibility of repeal, especially if the Democratic Party loses large numbers of seats in the mid-term elections. Several states have already mounted legal challenges to the legislation on constitutional grounds and states may succeed in imposing barriers to implementation. Most likely, though, the health care landscape of the country has changed for good and probably for the better.