You don’t get a pass this year on big health insurance decisions because you’re not shopping in an Affordable Care Act marketplace. Employer medical plans — where most working-age folks get coverage — are changing too. Rising costs, a looming tax on rich benefit packages and the idea that people should buy medical treatment the way they shop for cell phones have increased odds that workplace plans will be very different in 2015. “If there’s any year employees should pay attention to their annual enrollment material, this is probably the year,” said Brian Marcotte, CEO of the National Business Group on Health, which represents large employers. In other words, don’t blow off the human resources seminars. Ask these questions. 1. Is my doctor still in the network? Some employers are shifting to plans that look like the HMOs of the 1990s, with limited networks of physicians and hospitals. Provider affiliations change even when companies don’t adopt a “narrow network.” Insurers publish directories, but the surest way to see if docs or hospitals take your plan is to call and ask. “People tend to find out the hard way how their health plan works,” said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Don’t take for granted that everything will be the same as last year.” (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the... |
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(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Big Changes For 2015 Workplace Plans: Watch Out For These Six Possible Pitfalls
House GOP Hires Jonathan Turley To Sue Obama
The choice of Turley, who says he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, comes after two law firms backed out of earlier commitments to represent the Republicans. CNN: Boehner Hires Third Lawyer To Sue Obama House Republicans are hoping the third time is a charm in their effort to sue President Barack Obama over his signature health care law. After two Washington law firms backed out of earlier commitments to represent House Republicans in their legal challenge, House Speaker John Boehner hired Jonathan Turley on Tuesday. Turley is a George Washington professor who is an expert on constitutional law and well known to cable TV viewers as a legal analyst. (Walsh, 11/18) The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: House Republicans Hire Jonathan Turley To Pursue Obama Lawsuit GOP leaders have said the lawsuit is expected to focus on the White House’s decision last year to give employers a one-year reprieve on enforcing a requirement under the Affordable Care Act that they offer health coverage or pay a penalty. That requirement was originally delayed until 2015 and then subsequently revised to say that employers with between 50 and 99 full-time workers wouldn’t have to comply or pay a fee until 2016. Some rank-and-file lawmakers have suggested the lawsuit should be expanded to include any executive actions taken by Mr. Obama on immigration, something GOP leaders have previously contemplated. Mr. Boehner’s spokesman said there is no current plan to... |
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Immigrants, Others, Still Struggle With Healthcare.gov
Despite a smoother start to this year's open enrollment, immigrants report there is no clear way to upload copies of their green cards to show they are legal residents, while others have trouble with sign-ins and passwords. The Associated Press: Immigrants Baffled By HealthCare.gov Lapse Like other HealthCare.gov customers, immigrants are relieved that the government's health insurance website is working fairly well this year. They're baffled, though, by what looks like an obvious lapse: There is no clear way to upload a copy of their green card, the government identification document that shows they are legal U.S. residents and therefore entitled to benefits under President Barack Obama's health care law. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/19) USA Today: Smoother Start, But Some Struggle With HealthCare.gov Sign-ups have generally gone more smoothly than last year for HealthCare.gov, although some consumers and insurance agents are having problems with the site that are reminiscent of last fall's open enrollment experiences. Numerous log-in and password failures were reported Monday, but federal officials call these cases the exception. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 11/18) Meanwhile, Humana makes paying monthly premiums easier - Modern Healthcare: CVS Accepting Exchange Insurance Payments National health insurer Humana said Tuesday that policyholders who have bought its health plans on a federal or state insurance exchange or through its website can now pay their monthly premiums at any... |
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
What’s the Matter with West Virginia?
Today's post is shared fromnewyorker.com/
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Cartoon corporate villains don’t come more cartoonish than Don Blankenship, a former coal baron of West Virginia. Last week, Blankenship, the former chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was charged in a federal indictment for a variety of crimes in connection with a disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine in April, 2010, in which twenty-nine coal workers were killed. According to the forty-three-page indictment, Blankenship engaged in a lengthy pattern of deception in dealings with federal mine regulators, in an effort to cut costs, and, consequently, exposed his employees to appalling risks. (His lawyer, William Taylor III, told reporters that Blankenship was innocent and would fight the charges.) The indictment came just a few days after the 2014 midterm elections, which the Democratic Party in West Virginia lost in a rout: Republicans won all three of the state’s seats in the House of Representatives, including a twelve-point Republican win over Nick Rahall, who had served in Congress for thirty-eight years. In the race to succeed Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat who had served for five terms, Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican congresswoman, won sixty-three per cent of the vote. Capito’s big issue in the race was coal. As her campaign Web site boasts, Capito “has been fighting in... |
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Honda to Replace Airbags Throughout U.S.
Today's post is shared from nytimes.com/ Honda will replace potentially defective airbag inflaters in cars nationwide, according to statements the automaker gave federal safety regulators earlier this month. In doing so, it bows to pressure from lawmakers and auto safety experts who had questioned automakers’ limiting of the latest airbag recalls to high-humidity regions. Honda will also offer loaner cars “as appropriate,” the automaker said in a Nov. 6 response to regulators’ questions on the recalled airbags, which are made by the Takata Corporation. The Japanese automaker previously said that it was limiting certain recalls to cars sold or ever registered in areas of “high absolute humidity,” because moisture is thought to play a role in the defect. Defective airbags can explode violently when they deploy in an accident, sending shrapnel into the car’s cabin toward the driver and passengers. Five deaths and dozens of injuries have been linked to the defect in airbags manufactured at Takata’s plants in the United States and Mexico, which have affected cars from 11 automakers. Honda and Takata, together with other automakers and safety regulators, have been called to testify at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Thursday. Scheduled to attend are executives from Honda and Chrysler, as well as David J. Friedman, the deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Takata said Tuesday that Hiroshi... |
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OSHA fines Stamford over police station asbestos
The Advocate of Stamford reports (http://bit.ly/1uDRhUx) that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined the city for failing to protect workers from asbestos or screen employees for exposure. The federal order requires Stamford to clean up asbestos waste and debris exposed in the building by March 2015. City officials are trying to decide whether to build a new police headquarters or repair and upgrade the station. Water at the 65-year-old headquarters is contaminated with lead and isn’t safe for drinking or showering. The ventilation system can’t be used because it would distribute asbestos particles and jail cells are not built to modern standards that include suicide-prevention measures. ___ Information from: The Advocate, http://www.stamfordadvocate.com Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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Report Finds Toxic Toys In Albany County
Black Friday is just around the corner, but parents are being urged to take care when buying toys this year. Several being sold in Albany County contain toxic chemicals that pose health risks to children, according a new survey. Researchers found a dozen toys on store shelves containing lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and more – toxic chemicals that have been linked to cancers, cognitive impairments and hyperactivity.
The report entitled “Toxic Toys in Albany County” was presented in downtown Albany Monday by Clean and Healthy New York and the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
The group purchased and tested toys sold locally in October and November, including highly popular brands such as Lego and Hot Wheels, finding 12 different products laden with toxins. There was even a "Breast Cancer Awareness Charm Bracelet" that tested positive for the carcinogen cobalt and the toxic irritant arsenic.
Researchers examining the playthings detected nefarious substances including arsenic, cadmium, cobalt and lead. One product, a fairy bracelet charm, was composed of 25 percent cadmium.
Bobbie Chase Wilding, deputy director for Clean and Healthy New York, disclosed that just a tiny fraction of the children’s products for sale in Albany County were tested, and the report’s author said that it was not intended to be a comprehensive report on the safety of any product or...
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