insurance
CT insurers propose double digit rate hikes
Once again CT health insurance companies are asking the CT Insurance Department for permission to charge very large premium increases, more than 20% in many cases, according to the Hartford Courant. Predictably, insurers are blaming rising medical costs and national health reform. Members of CT’s Congressional delegation and the Attorney General are objecting. The largest…
Read MoreWill Charter Oak survive?
An interesting story by Arielle Levin Becker at the CT Mirror asks whether Charter Oak will survive after Governor Rell leaves office. The best thing about Charter Oak is that people with pre-existing conditions are not excluded from coverage; under national health reform, that exclusion will be prohibited in all health insurance in 2014. It…
Read MoreAetna earnings up significantly, medical spending down
Despite higher unemployment and fewer people getting coverage at work, Aetna’s earnings were up last quarter by 42% over the same quarter last year. The company benefited from lower medical spending, allowing them to reserve more of consumers’ premiums for administration and profits. The proportion of premiums spent on medical care, the medical loss ratio,…
Read MoreFree state employee retiree health coverage being re-considered
The CT Mirror is reporting that some members of a state panel charged with addressing underfunding of CT’s state retiree benefits are questioning the policy giving retirees and their spouses completely free health benefits for life. State employees with just ten years of service are eligible for the benefit, which is unusual in the private…
Read MoreAetna paper health files sold with used furniture
Lest any reader think that paper health records are more secure than electronic files, the Hartford Courant reports that file folders with personal information on 4,900 people were accidentally left in a filing cabinet sold or given away free. Eighteen of the members whose information was in the files are Connecticut residents. The filing cabinet…
Read MoreIn first test implementing health reform, state reconsidering high risk pool plans
In our state’s first test implementing federal health reform, Governor Rell has asked DSS and other agencies to start over in their decision to build onto CT’s high risk pool. The federal Accountable Care Act provides funding for temporary programs to provide coverage to people left out of the private market due to; the programs…
Read MoreHealth benefits consuming more of total employee compensation, Northeast most expensive
Between March 2000 and 2010, health care benefits grew from 5.5% to 7.5% of total compensation costs nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In March 2010, health insurance averaged $2.08/hour worked in private industry — more than disability, retirement, Medicare, Social Security, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, life insurance or paid leave. Not surprisingly,…
Read MoreMedicaid Managed Care Council update
Friday’s Council meeting focused mainly on plans for the $50 million temporary high risk pool opportunity created by national health reform. DSS joined the CT Insurance Dept. and the Health Reinsurance Association (HRA) to describe their plans. They intend to piggyback on the current high risk pool administered by HRA which was created in 1976…
Read MorePatients asked to leave medical practice after filing complaints for excessive billing
Two Hartford Medical Group patients have been told they are no longer welcome at the practice for complaining about fees charged to them above the payments by their insurers for routine physicals, which are 100% covered. Three complaints have been filed with the Attorney General’s office for excessive and unjustified billing; one patient was told…
Read MoreRisk adjusting rates webinar slides and video posted
you missed Wednesday’s webinar with Diane Laurent and David Williams of Milliman, the slides and video are now online. Diane and David described the methodologies to adjust rates based on each patient’s utilization history and diagnoses. Some models can predict future utilization and events, such as hospitalizations, for each patient providing an important tool to…
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