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Showing posts from October, 2019

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Spooky Stuff

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Can’t see the audio player?  Click here to listen on SoundCloud . Julie Rovner Kaiser Health News @jrovner Read Julie's Stories Stephanie Armour The Wall Street Journal @StephArmour1 Read Stephanie's Stories Mary Agnes Carey Kaiser Health News @MaryAgnesCarey Read Mary Agnes' Stories Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico @AliceOllstein Read Alice's Stories Open enrollment starts Nov. 1 in most states for people who buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. For the second year in a row, premiums for these individual market plans are down slightly, even without the federal tax penalty for those who remain uncovered. Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said she would develop a plan to pay for the “Medicare for All” proposal she supports. This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Mary Agnes Carey of...

GoCompare warns of ghost brokers on social media

Comparison site says young drivers aged 17 to 24 are most likely to fall victim to ghost broking. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/334rARV

Grief Grew Into A Mental Health Crisis And A $21,634 Hospital Bill

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Arline Feilen lost her husband to suicide in 2013. Three years later, she lost her dad to cancer. And this February, she lost her 89-year-old mom to a cascade of health problems. Send Us Your Medical Bill Do you have an exorbitant or baffling medical bill? Join the KHN and NPR ‘Bill of the Month’ Club and tell us about your experience. We’ll feature a new one each month. Submit Your Bill “We were like glue, and that first Mother’s Day without her was killer. It just dragged me down,” said Feilen, who is 56 and lives in suburban Chicago. “It was just loss after loss after loss, and I just crumbled.” A few days after that painful holiday, she drank eight or nine light beers in several hours, trying to drown her pain. She sent alarming texts to her sister and friends, raising concern she might harm herself. One friend called 911, summoning an ambulance that took her to Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital. Feilen arrived in the emergency room on a mid-May night and...

Ageas restructures broker distribution ahead of Chris Dobson's exit

Provider creates three new directors of distribution roles as it aims to grow in the broker and partnership channels. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/36bmrJQ

Aviva return to AA panel confirmed

Provider exited the AA portfolio around 11 years ago shortly after buying its rival RAC. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2JA3XJj

California Nursing Home Residents Told To Find New Homes

Some of California’s most vulnerable nursing home residents, many of whom have nowhere else to go, are receiving letters from their health care plans saying they are no longer eligible for long-term care. In one notable example, three dozen nursing home residents in San Luis Obispo County were informed on the same day that their Medi-Cal managed care plan was cutting off payment for nursing home care, said Karen Jones, the county’s long-term care ombudsman. The residents included a 68-year-old amputee with diabetes, memory loss and kidney disease who required dialysis three times a week, and an 82-year-old man with congestive heart failure and diabetes who wasn’t strong enough to transfer himself from his bed to a wheelchair, Jones said. “It just felt like we were tossing our seniors and disabled adults,” Jones said of the letters, which arrived in September 2018 and sparked a year-long dispute. “‘Sorry, we’re going to save some money here.’ That’s exactly what it felt like.” E...

News analysis: Broker and MGA concerns mount over MS Amlin pull-out

Provider’s announcement that it is exiting nine lines of business could have serious knock-on effects for the market, reports Sam Barrett from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2Pu79dw

AmTrust appoints lead underwriter for professional indemnity

The move is part of a restructure which will see AmTrust’s former lead underwriter for PI, Russell Newell, move across to its PI MGA, Collegiate. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/31X8Nqk

Employers Are Scaling Back Their Dependence On High-Deductible Health Plans

Everything old is new again. As open enrollment gets underway for next year’s job-based health insurance coverage, some employees are seeing traditional plans offered alongside or instead of the plans with sky-high deductibles that may have been their only choice in the past. Some employers say that, in a tight labor market, offering a more generous plan with a deductible that’s less than four figures can be an attractive recruitment tool. Plus, a more traditional plan may appeal to workers who want more predictable out-of-pocket costs, even if the premium is a bit higher. That’s what happened at Digital River , a 650-person global e-commerce payment processing business based in Minnetonka, Minn. Four years ago, faced with premium increases approaching double digits, Digital River ditched its traditional preferred provider organization plan in favor of three high-deductible plans. Each had different deductibles and different premiums, but all linked to health savings accounts that a...

Revenue falls at Hastings amid rising claims inflation

Firm said it would apply price increases to keep its full-year loss ratio within target. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/348MHTg

People Moves Round-up: 21-28 October 2019

Keep track of the most recent market moves. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2ontbDn

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

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The Friday Breeze Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend. Happy Friday! Where this year’s unsubstantiated and yet viral Halloween candy scare — that people are giving children THC-laced edibles — is a good reminder to get your best spooky haiku into us for our fabulous competition before the winner is picked. The deadline is approaching ! Since KHN was closed for most of the week, this is going to be a particularly breezy Breeze, but I still have some good highlights for you! For the second consecutive year, premiums for the health law’s most popular plan dipped slightly. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar — while making sure to get a dig in about how the health law is “still unaffordable for far too many” — attributed the price decrease to actions taken by President Donald Trump. That’s not quite the picture health experts paint:...

KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All About Medicaid

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Can’t see the audio player?  Click here to listen on SoundCloud . Julie Rovner Kaiser Health News @jrovner Read Julie's Stories Joanne Kenen Politico @JoanneKenen Read Joanne's Stories Tami Luhby CNN @luhby Read Tami's Stories Margot Sanger-Katz The New York Times @sangerkatz Read Margot's Stories Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for people with low incomes, serves more than 70 million people, covers 1 in every 5 births in the U.S. and foots more than half the nation’s bill for long-term care. Yet Medicaid isn’t one program, it’s 56 separate programs (one for each state plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territories). Understanding Medicaid isn’t easy, but with plans to overhaul the health system back in the news, it’s critical. This week KHN’s “What the Health?” podcast takes a deep dive into Medicaid. First, host Julie Rovner talks with Diane Rowland, executive vice president emerita of th...

Dual Asset partners with Aviva on legal indemnity insurance

Dual will continue to underwrite enquiries from its own distribution channels as well as all enquiries received by Aviva. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2N7z5Rz

Brokers puzzled as Markerstudy reports £217.3m loan deadline

Insurance Age gauged the mood of the broker market and found strong support for Markerstudy's future prospects. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2W8f4OT

Opinion: Former Ten Insurance director James Sharp on market hardening

How we got a hardening market: Life is getting tougher for brokers in PI and construction as premiums shoot up, says James Sharp from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2Pf15p1

CRL Management likely to close amid Alpha fallout

Alpha was CRL's sole provider until it went bankrupt last year, and CRL has filed a document on Companies House which proposes the firm is wound up. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/32L8Dnh

Experts urge pet providers to turn to social media

A GlobalData report suggested that engaging with pet influencers on Instagram and Facebook could benefit insurers and brokers. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2BGWNid

CII to focus on money at Insuring Women's Futures event

The body has challenged brokers and insurers and financial advisers to speak to at least ten women about how they can improve their financial situation in Talk Money Week. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/33WuDM5

Personal lines cyber cover is untapped market, analyst claims

GlobalData said growth was dependent on more households owning connected devices. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/31EEggT

IUA sets up construction group

Group formed amid ongoing issues with capacity in the construction market. from Insurer - insuranceage.co.uk https://ift.tt/2N3BxIJ

Compression Garments Can Ease Lymphedema. Covering Costs? Not So Easy.

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Every morning, Britta Vander Linden dons compression stockings, a cumbersome process she calls “putting on my legs.” She relies on the garments to stand and walk without intense leg pain and swelling. That’s because Vander Linden, 44, was born with lymphedema . The condition affects the lymphatic system, a network of lymph nodes and vessels that move infection-fighting liquid through the body. When that network is damaged, fluid can build up and cause limbs to swell well beyond their normal size and make them susceptible to harmful infections. Lymphedema is incurable, but specialized compression stockings, sleeves and gloves help prevent complications such as tissue damage, more swelling and infection. They’re also expensive. Vander Linden’s insurance coverage, which she gets through her job as a senior director of communications at a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, covers about half the annual cost of her stockings, she said. For the rest of the year, she added,...