Massachusetts businesses will save approximately $150 million under a settlement Attorney General Maura Healey reached with the State Rating Bureau (SRB) and the Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau (WCRIB). The settlement, which follows the AG’s intervention in an administrative rate proceeding at the Division of Insurance, results in an average rate rollback of 12.9 percent on workers’ compensation insurance in the state.
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massachusetts. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Friday, August 22, 2014
Why More, Not Fewer, People Might Start Getting Health Insurance Through Work
| In an earnings call last week, Walmart announced that its workers were signing up for health insurance en masse. The news was bad for the company’s shareholders, since the added $500 million it will cost to cover them will eat into expected profits. But it also means that many more low-income families have health insurance now than did last year. The change didn’t come because of a more generous company policy. Walmart has long offered health insurance to its full-time workers for relatively low premiums — about $18 every two weeks for its lowest-paid workers. It came because many more workers decided to take advantage of the offer. It’s early yet to be sure of a strong trend, but the Walmart experience mirrors evidence from early polls and the historical experience of Massachusetts, which enacted a law similar to the Affordable Care Act in 2006. More people may be signing up for employer-based coverage than did before. When we talk about the effect of the Affordable Care Act on health insurance, we often focus on people who were shut out of the market before, either because a prior illness made insurance inaccessible to them or because a high premium put coverage out of their financial reach. What Walmart’s experience reminds us is that there were also uninsured people who simply chose not to buy coverage before there was a law requiring them to do so. Now they may be changing their minds.This increase, if it is permanent, is going to cost... |
Sunday, July 6, 2014
12 states now have plans for a minimum wage of $9 or more
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| Map of minimum wage rates in the United States. See List of U.S. minimum wages. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
| Rhode Island on Thursday joined 11 other states that plan to raise their minimum wage to at least $9 over the next several years. At the start of next year, the state minimum wage will rise a buck to $9 an hour, according to a new measure Gov. Lincoln Chafee (D) signed into law on Thursday. Only three states currently have a minimum wage of at least $9. Washington’s is highest at $9.32, followed by Oregon’s minimum wage at $9.10. California’s rose to $9 earlier this week. When Rhode Island’s new rate goes into effect, it will be joined by three others: the minimum wage in Massachusetts will rise to $9, while that in Vermont and Connecticut will jump to $9.15. In all but three — Minnesota, Michigan and New York — the minimum wages will be above $10. By 2018, 12 states will have reached or surpassed the $9 level. Ten states and D.C. have enacted increases this year alone, according to a list maintained by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The states are: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. Many more — 34 states — have considered doing so, according to the NCSL. |
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Massachusettes Senator Seeks to Double Payment for Workers Killed on the Job
Following the deaths of two workers last month at Boston construction and shipping sites, Senator Brian A. Joyce and the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) are renewing their calls for passage of Joyce’s Bill, "The Families of Fallen Workers Burial Act," which would double the benefit amount paid by workers’ compensation when a loved one is killed at work.
“The amount paid out to grieving families has remained stagnant for decades while the cost of a burial has risen steadily,” said Joyce. “These families are going through enough already without the additional stress of coming up with thousands of dollars to put their loved ones to rest.”
According to the 2010 funeral price survey by the National Funeral Directors Association, the average funeral cost for an adult funeral is $7,775. With cemetery plot, grave marker, flowers or obituary notices, the “regular adult funeral” cost is at least $9,000. Joyce’s bill would increase the benefits allotment from $4,000 to roughly $8,000 (eight times the average weekly wage in the Commonwealth) and tie future increases to inflation. “The Families of Fallen Workers Burial Act will ensure that no family has to shoulder the financial burden of a burial,” said MassCOSH Executive Director Marcy Goldstein-Gelb. “The increase adds up to very little for the workers’ compensation insurance system and will mean a huge difference... |
Friday, January 3, 2014
Jurist Prudence? Candid Judges Speak Out
Judges typically confine their opinions to their rulings. But 2013 was a year of exceptions.
In Nebraska, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf in February launched Hercules and the umpire, a blog that offers a mix of insights on the judicial process, legal news, personal reflections and wisdom. One nugget of advice to young judges: "It's not your job to save the world. Do law, leave justice to Clint Eastwood."  Judges have long been voluble, spirited and even poetic in their rulings. But in the digital age, they also have taken to the media and the Internet to pass judgment on policy and opine on trends. In the process, the outspoken are butting up against the view held by some that sitting judges shouldn't be seen or heard outside of court. And there is the risk that litigants could try to push certain judges off cases because something they said publicly gave a hint of bias. "The advice I was given over and over again was to keep your head down," said Nancy Gertner, a law professor at Harvard University and a former federal district judge in Massachusetts who has... |
Monday, December 2, 2013
How Much Is That X-Ray? Still Hard To Say, Even In Massachusetts
Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org
Finding out how much an X-ray costs sounds like a simple question. But it is actually very difficult to get an answer. In Massachusetts, a new state law requires insurers to be able to tell members how much a test, treatment or surgery will cost.
But while the new law pulls back the curtain on prices of health procedures to some degree, the burden is still on the patient to ask for information. And, as a recent test drive of the new law showed, there are quite a few hoops for patients to jump through.  The recorded menu option doesn't mention health care prices, so I press zero, for all other inquiries. Eventually, I connect with Jamie D. (customer service reps at Blue Cross don’t give their last names). I explain that I'd like to compare the price of lower back X-rays at a few facilities. She starts in with the questions: What's the doctor's name? What's the facility where I want to have the X-ray? I have the doctor's name and facility, but I’m stuck on the next question. Blue Cross wants the procedure codes for each X-ray I may need, my doctor's national ID number and the name, address and ID number for my hospital or lab, so it can consolidate all the charges into one estimate. Jamie directs me to a form online. I call my doctor and get the info. If I... |
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Reducing Worker Exposure to ETS
What better time than during the American Cancer Society’s annual Great American Smokeout, to highlight the benefit of comprehensive smoke-free workplaces on the health of workers. Furnishing a smoke-free work environment has been shown to both reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) among non-smokers, and also to decrease smoking among employees. In Massachusetts, recent surveillance findings suggest that one approach to reaching that goal – comprehensive state laws mandating smoke-free workplaces – had a measurable positive impact.
The U.S. Surgeon General reports that there is no safe level of exposure to ETS, also known as secondhand smoke (USDHHS 2006). Workers can be exposed to ETS in their workplaces if co-workers or members of the public are permitted to smoke. ETS causes lung cancer and heart disease, and is also linked to respiratory diseases. Not only does ETS worsen asthma but it also increases the likelihood of developing asthma. In 2004, Massachusetts became the third state behind Delaware and New York to pass a comprehensive law, banning smoking in bars, restaurants and non-hospitality workplaces. The Massachusetts Smoke-Free Workplace Law (M.G.L. Ch. 270, § 22) requires all enclosed workplaces with one or more employees to be smoke-free. We recently presented findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System demonstrating that... |
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