Atlanta Business Chronicle’s August 15 edition features lists of Georgia’s Top 25 Life and Health Insurance Companies, Atlanta’s Top 25 Retirement Communities and Atlanta’s Top 10 Assisted Living Communities and Personal Care Homes. Ranked by direct premiums written in Georgia in 2013, the Life and Health Insurance Companies list is headed by UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co., up one spot from No. 2 last year. The Minnesota-based company reported more than $2.3 billion in direct premiums written…
Reported by bizjournals 11 hours ago.
Top of the List: Atlanta’s Top Life and Health Insurance Companies, Atlanta’s Top 25 Retirement Communities, Top 10 Assisted Living Communities and Personal Care Homes
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IRS issues guidance on insurance fee reporting
A "covered entity" under the Affordable Care Act must report net premiums written for health insurance to the Internal Revenu -More-
Reported by SmartBrief 10 hours ago.
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Census Bureau News -- Media Advisory -- Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics to Host Technical Meeting on Federal Health Insurance Statistics Methodology (resend)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the U.S. Census Bureau: What: The U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics will host "Federal Statistics on Health Insurance...
Reported by PR Newswire 9 hours ago.
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YC-Backed Zen99 Makes Life Easier For Freelancers With Finance And Insurance Tools
Freelancers and contractors are a rapidly growing part of the workforce. Without benefits, however, many struggle with issues like figuring out how much of their earnings to withhold for taxes and finding insurance providers. A new startup called Zen99 wants to help contractors with a free service. Backed by Y Combinator, Zen99 lets users sign up for health insurance, track earnings and… Read More
Reported by TechCrunch 9 hours ago.
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Abortion Coverage and the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) accomplished many wonderful things for women. It eliminated gender bias in insurance, required preventive screening without co-pays, and made family planning services part of a standard health insurance package. It did not, however, change the status quo that stigmatizes and marginalizes abortion, given that it maintains policies that discriminate against women based on their insurance or income.
Nearly one in three women will have an abortion before age 45 -- as many as 1 million a year. Before the Affordable Care Act, abortion was often covered as a matter of course in the private market, with data showing that at least three-quarters of private plans (including employer-based plans) offered some kind of coverage. Under the new law, while individuals can obtain financial assistance to purchase private insurance through the marketplace, those payments cannot be used to purchase abortion coverage except in the narrow circumstances defined by the federal Hyde Amendment -- cases of rape, incest or when a woman's life is at risk.
States are also permitted under the law to ban abortion coverage altogether from insurance plans offered through the marketplace, and 24 states have done just that. Most states stuck with the Hyde exclusions, but Texas and Tennessee went further, barring abortion coverage completely in their marketplace plans. Where states do permit abortion coverage, the law requires that at least one marketplace plan deny abortion. In a recent study of a sample of states, the Guttmacher Institute found that it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine which insurance plans offer abortion coverage in those states. And in states where abortion is barred, that fact is not made clear.
In fact, many states have launched a de facto war to prevent women from having access to abortion services no matter their circumstances. They have enacted laws to harass patients with longer waiting periods and absolute abortion bans at 20 weeks. They have sought to disrupt clinic operations with onerous and completely unnecessary building codes and staffing requirements. The courts are full of lawsuits on behalf of abortion providers and the women they serve seeking to blunt the impact of such laws or to overturn them completely. Winning these battles is critical if women are to have access to abortion care in the future.
At the federal level, under the Hyde Amendment, abortion coverage is denied to the one in seven women of reproductive age enrolled in Medicaid, as well as to federal employees, Peace Corps volunteers, and others who access health care through public programs. Without coverage, a woman must scramble to find the money to cover her care, get the time off from work to meet medically unnecessary waiting requirements, and find the time and means to travel when abortion facilities are few and far between due to punitive regulation. Such discrimination falls hardest on women struggling to make ends meet, who are disproportionately women of color, and who already experience limited access to the comprehensive services and resources they need to prevent an unintended pregnancy.
NCJW is a proud member of the All Above All campaign, which is working to restore comprehensive coverage of abortion so every woman can make her own decisions about ending a pregnancy no matter her insurance or her income. All Above All is now on the road in a 12-city trip to raise awareness about this very important step in the journey toward making the right affirmed under Roe v. Wade a reality for all.
Generations of women have grown up under Roe v. Wade thinking that abortion is their right and their decision, one they should be able to make guided by their own faith and circumstance, without interference by judges, legislators, or politicians. Our courts and legislative bodies have an obligation to protect every woman's ability to make her own decision about whether to become a parent, choose adoption, or end a pregnancy, without discriminating against women based on the type of insurance they hold, their income, or other extraneous factors.
Were our lawmakers to fully, boldly act to safeguard women's autonomy and decision-making, they would undo the harmful state coverage restrictions woefully allowed under the ACA, and end bans that deny abortion coverage to women enrolled in federal programs. Abortion is health care that a woman may need in her lifetime, and it should be both available and affordable to all consumers on the same basis as other pregnancy related health benefits. Updating our state and federal laws to make true access a reality would go far to normalizing the exercise of what is, after all, a constitutional right. Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
Nearly one in three women will have an abortion before age 45 -- as many as 1 million a year. Before the Affordable Care Act, abortion was often covered as a matter of course in the private market, with data showing that at least three-quarters of private plans (including employer-based plans) offered some kind of coverage. Under the new law, while individuals can obtain financial assistance to purchase private insurance through the marketplace, those payments cannot be used to purchase abortion coverage except in the narrow circumstances defined by the federal Hyde Amendment -- cases of rape, incest or when a woman's life is at risk.
States are also permitted under the law to ban abortion coverage altogether from insurance plans offered through the marketplace, and 24 states have done just that. Most states stuck with the Hyde exclusions, but Texas and Tennessee went further, barring abortion coverage completely in their marketplace plans. Where states do permit abortion coverage, the law requires that at least one marketplace plan deny abortion. In a recent study of a sample of states, the Guttmacher Institute found that it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine which insurance plans offer abortion coverage in those states. And in states where abortion is barred, that fact is not made clear.
In fact, many states have launched a de facto war to prevent women from having access to abortion services no matter their circumstances. They have enacted laws to harass patients with longer waiting periods and absolute abortion bans at 20 weeks. They have sought to disrupt clinic operations with onerous and completely unnecessary building codes and staffing requirements. The courts are full of lawsuits on behalf of abortion providers and the women they serve seeking to blunt the impact of such laws or to overturn them completely. Winning these battles is critical if women are to have access to abortion care in the future.
At the federal level, under the Hyde Amendment, abortion coverage is denied to the one in seven women of reproductive age enrolled in Medicaid, as well as to federal employees, Peace Corps volunteers, and others who access health care through public programs. Without coverage, a woman must scramble to find the money to cover her care, get the time off from work to meet medically unnecessary waiting requirements, and find the time and means to travel when abortion facilities are few and far between due to punitive regulation. Such discrimination falls hardest on women struggling to make ends meet, who are disproportionately women of color, and who already experience limited access to the comprehensive services and resources they need to prevent an unintended pregnancy.
NCJW is a proud member of the All Above All campaign, which is working to restore comprehensive coverage of abortion so every woman can make her own decisions about ending a pregnancy no matter her insurance or her income. All Above All is now on the road in a 12-city trip to raise awareness about this very important step in the journey toward making the right affirmed under Roe v. Wade a reality for all.
Generations of women have grown up under Roe v. Wade thinking that abortion is their right and their decision, one they should be able to make guided by their own faith and circumstance, without interference by judges, legislators, or politicians. Our courts and legislative bodies have an obligation to protect every woman's ability to make her own decision about whether to become a parent, choose adoption, or end a pregnancy, without discriminating against women based on the type of insurance they hold, their income, or other extraneous factors.
Were our lawmakers to fully, boldly act to safeguard women's autonomy and decision-making, they would undo the harmful state coverage restrictions woefully allowed under the ACA, and end bans that deny abortion coverage to women enrolled in federal programs. Abortion is health care that a woman may need in her lifetime, and it should be both available and affordable to all consumers on the same basis as other pregnancy related health benefits. Updating our state and federal laws to make true access a reality would go far to normalizing the exercise of what is, after all, a constitutional right. Reported by Huffington Post 9 hours ago.
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Uninsured rate will fall steeply by early 2015, NMHIX says
The rate of New Mexicans without health insurance is projected to drop to 9.6 percent by February 2015, a decrease of 12 percentage points since October, according to a report Friday from the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange. The projections would mean that about 195,000 state residents would be uninsured in February, down from about 440,000 in October when open enrollment began under the Affordable Care Act, said NMHIX board chair Dr. J.R. Damron. The number of insured New Mexicans would include…
Reported by bizjournals 8 hours ago.
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Why WellCare's latest executive move is a plus for the Tampa Bay economy
Establishing a line of succession that will likely lead to veteran health insurance executive Drew Asher becoming the next chief financial officer at WellCare Health Plans Inc. means more to this community than simply filling a spot in the C-suite at one of the largest companies in Tampa Bay. It likely means that WellCare – one of the area’s biggest employers and a major office tenant – isn’t going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. It takes away the threat, at least near term, that WellCare…
Reported by bizjournals 6 hours ago.
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HHS Obamacare Agreement Also Full of 'Typos'
Since July 22, when a federal appeals court panel dealt a potentially major blow to Obamacare by ruling that participants in health exchanges run by the federal government in 34 states are not eligible for billions of dollars in tax subsidies, several facts have emerged which call into question Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist and chief architect of Obamacare, and his views on whether the intent of Obamacare was that subsidies should only be available for state-run Obamacare exchanges. This raises an important question: what was the view of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), the department charged with implementing Obamacare? On January 20, 2011, HHS released the Cooperative Agreement to Support Establishment of State-Operated Health Insurance Exchange. As the title suggests, this document was the governing agreement related to establishing “state-operated” health insurance exchanges and provides significant insight into HHS’s views.
This January Agreement clearly specified “state-based” or “state-operated” exchanges; in the agreement, the term “state-based” or “state-operated” health insurance exchanges is listed 17 times. The term “federally-facilitated exchange” is never used. The agreement also specifically references Section 1321 – a federal ‘‘fallback’’ provision for states that do not create exchanges of their own.
*Obamacare specifically differentiates between state-operated and HHS-operated exchanges* – A spring 2013 publication of Health Matrix, a report by Jonathan H. Adler and Michael F. Cannon, explains how conditioning subsidies on states establishing exchanges was not only consistent with Obamacare but also a necessary feature targeted at giving states an incentive to create exchanges. Their report states:
The starting point for statutory interpretation is the statute’s text. As noted above, the PPACA authorizes two methods for establishing an Exchange within a state. Section 1311 provides that ‘Each State shall, not later than January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange (referred to in this title as an ‘Exchange’)’ and provides rules for state-run Exchanges. For purposes of Section 1311, the Act specifically requires that an Exchange must be ‘a governmental agency or nonprofit entity that is established by a State.’ Section 1304(d) clarifies, ‘In this title, the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia.’ Section 1321 requires the federal government to create an Exchange in states that elect not to create their own. Specifically, if a state either fails to create an Exchange or fails to implement the PPACA’s health insurance regulations to the Secretary’s satisfaction, Section 1321 requires the HHS Secretary to ‘establish and operate such Exchange.’ Section 1321 thus requires a federal ‘fallback’ for states that do not create Exchanges of their own. State-run Exchanges created under Section 1311 and federal fallback exchanges created under Section 1321 are distinct.
*Obamacare law specified only established-by-state exchanges get subsidies* – The Adler and Cannon report goes on to explain:
Section 1401 authorizes premium-assistance tax credits and makes them available only through state-run Exchanges. This section specifies that taxpayers may receive a tax credit only during a qualifying ‘‘coverage month,’’ which occurs only when ‘the taxpayer is covered by a qualified health plan . . . that was enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under section 1311 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.’ By its express terms, this provision only applies to Exchanges ‘established by a state’ and ‘established . . . under Section 1311.’ Section 1401 further emphasizes that tax credits are available only through Section 1311 Exchanges when it details the two methods for calculating the amount of the credit.
*House Committees’ report is highly critical of IRS and Treasury* – On February 5, 2014, the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means delivered a highly critical report of the IRS and Treasury regarding their handling of this issue. Specifically, the report stated:
· IRS Failed to Conduct a Serious Analysis Prior to the Proposed Rule
· IRS Solicited HHS’s Help When the Explicit Statutory Language Proved Problematic
· IRS Did Not Consider the Availability of Subsidies in Federal Exchanges To Be A Significant Issue
· Treasury Failed to Conduct a Serious Analysis of the Issue Between the Proposed and Final Rule
· Final Rule Provided No Evidence Supporting the Administration’s Interpretation
· IRS Failed to Examine the Entire Statute
· Treasury Failed to Consider Whether Congress Structured the Premium Subsidies to Elicit State Cooperation
· Treasury Failed to Consider PPACA’s Appropriate Legislative History
· Treasury Relied on Statements Made by House Members About Bills Other Than PPACA
· Treasury Did Not Consider the Senate’s Preference for State Exchanges
· Treasury’s Review of the Legislative History Was Incomplete
Furthermore, in its conclusion, the House report stated, “The Committees’ investigation, which focused on the rulemaking process and not the merits of IRS and Treasury’s interpretation, has concluded that despite claims to the contrary, neither IRS nor Treasury engaged in reasoned decision-making of this important issue prior to issuing the final rule that extended PPACA’s premium subsidies to federal exchanges.”
*The November 2011 Agreement deliberately deleted references to “state-based”* – On November 29, 2011, HHS released an amended version of this agreement (hat tip to Rich Weinstein). The most enlightening changes are the six or more deletions of the phrase “state-based” and “stated-operated” when describing exchanges. HHS rationalized these deletions with a single paltry comment: “Striking the phrase State-operated provides clarity that Exchange Establishment cooperative agreement funds may be used for State activities that support the establishment of a Federally-facilitated Exchange.”
This agreement is not an “off-the-cuff” comment made by single non-governmental representative. This is an 89-page agreement written almost a year after Obamacare had been passed. In addition, it was written by one of the largest departments in government and the department that was charged with implementing the law. Contrary to the IRS and Treasury treatment, this was a very significant issue.
Every week more and more evidence surfaces. The evidence raises the question, were these also just “typos” or “clarifications?” Was HHS acting as the House Committees’ report claims – without “reasoned decision-making of this important issue?” Or was it something even more? If it was, this is one large step toward Oblimination – the reversal of Obama’s failed policies. Reported by Breitbart 5 hours ago.
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The Threat of Just-in-Time Scheduling
One of the most unnoticed labor trends in the past few decades has been the rise of "just-in-time scheduling," the practice of scheduling workers' shifts with little advance notice that are subject to cancelation hours before they are due to begin. Such scheduling practices mean that already low-wage workers often have fluctuating pay checks, leading them to rely on shady lenders or credit cards to make ends meet. Such consequences especially affect women and workers of color, who disproportionately fill these jobs.Source: Susan J. Lambert, Peter J. Fugiel, and Julia R. Henly, "Schedule Unpredictability among Young Adult Workers in the US Labor Market: A National Snapshot," July 2014 (Click symbol to enlarge)
New research from three University of Chicago professors, Susan J. Lambert, Peter J. Fugiel, and Julia R. Henly, examines scheduling practices for young adults (26 to 32 years old). Many outlets have reported their finding that part-time workers face greater scheduling uncertainty than full-time workers: 39 percent of full-time workers report receiving hours one week or less before work, compared to 47 percent of part-time workers. But less attention has been paid to the race gap: 49 percent of blacks and 47 percent of Hispanics receive their hours with a week or less of notice, compared with 39 percent of white workers.
Non-white workers also report far less control over their hours. Lambert and her co-authors find that 47 percent of white workers have their hours set by their employer. By contrast, 55 percent of blacks and 58 percent of Latinos say their employer sets their hours. Only 10 percent of Latinos and 12 percent of blacks report being able to set their hours "freely" or "within limits," while 18 percent of white workers do.
Source: Susan J. Lambert, Peter J. Fugiel, and Julia R. Henly, "Schedule Unpredictability among Young Adult Workers in the US Labor Market: A National Snapshot," July 2014 (Click symbol to enlarge)
Hours vary widely from week to week for many of the young adults Lambert and her colleagues studied. They find that "among the 74 percent of hourly workers who report at least some fluctuation in weekly work hours ... their weekly work hours varied from their usual hours by, on average, almost 50 percent during the course of the prior month." Such large fluctuations in hours also indicate large fluctuations in wages, which make life difficult for an increasingly debt-burdened overall population.
In a previous study Lambert and Julia Henly also found that unpredictable schedules increase stress and often disrupt a worker's family life. Using data from 21 stores across the U.S. they found that workers with unpredictable schedules reported more stress and conflict between work and family life. "Precarious scheduling practices are not isolated within a few organizations but rather reflect growing national and international trends," they concluded. As the world becomes increasingly globalized and labor commodified, employees will be treated more like "factors of production" and less like people. Rather than a few egregious corporations, such practices are increasingly the norm in low-wage and middle-wage industries.
*Rising toll*Just-in-time scheduling is an increasingly prevalent practice in two of the fastest-growing and deeply unequal sectors of the economy: retail and service. Both sectors disproportionally employ women and people of color. It's not a stretch to connect just-in-time scheduling to a broader war on women and workers which has been waged by the modern conservative movement.
Because most worker protections were passed before the influx of women into the workforce and were designed to exclude people of color, these groups are perfect targets for the anti-worker agenda. Because women and people of color are highly concentrated in low-wage service sector jobs (home health care, retail, fast food) that only recently started unionizing, they are even more vulnerable. Congressional Republicans have opposed pay parity for women, early childhood education and paid parental leave. Recent decisions by the conservative Supreme Court havedecimated unions in the highly minority- and female-led home health care sector as well as prevented women from getting necessary health care through their employers.
Low wages and erratic work schedules take an obvious toll on working families and workers of color. But they also affect the general economy. Research suggests that lagging demand may be holding back the economy because low-wage workers can barely afford necessities. Few can follow President George W. Bush's famous advice "go shopping more" or "go to Disney world" and thereby stimulate the economy.
Scheduling abuse compounds this problem by making work and wages subject to erratic swings. Sociologist Nancy Cauthen writes that, "Many low-wage workers are expected to work the day shift one day and the night shift the next and/or to be available seven days a week." Although the right likes to portray trickle-down economics as good for long-term growth, the literature suggests the opposite. By depriving workers of stable incomes, conservative policies actually stifle economic growth.
What's more, if the goal of such employers is to increase profits, there's good reason to curb these scheduling practices: Studies show that giving workers more control over their hours and their time actually increases productivity, while JIT scheduling increases turnover and decreases work satisfaction and loyalty. Managers, who are forced to juggle more workers, also work more hours.
The union movement -- once a bulwark against the encroachment of employers -- is still nascent in service and retail whereas it has deep roots in male-dominated sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing. The recent Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Quinn, which struck down the requirement for home healthcare workers to pay "agency fees," will only hold back unionization even further.
Federal protections for workers haven't been expanded since President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs and therefore haven't adjusted to the rise of women in the workforce. These protections also effectively excluded people of color; for instance, farm labor (made up of Hispanics) is still exempt from many labor protections. Thus, the U.S. is one of the only countries that fails to mandate paid maternity leave. The result is that all but 5 percent of pregnant women in retail are denied paid maternity leave -- which forces on them a devastating choice between their job and their own health and that of their child. Women who do have paid leave get it through employers, so such policies are concentrated at the top of the income distribution.
The result is that many employees must adjust their family time to meet the demands of customers and employees. While many conservatives, such as Ross Douthat and Ramesh Ponnuru, talk about the importance of family and the working class, few support commonsense worker protections and none supports unionization.
*Flexible or stable*The U.S. needs legislation to ensure guaranteed minimum weekly hours that will help regularize workers' pay. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have introduced the Schedules That Work Act which would give workers the right to request a "flexible, predictable or stable" work schedule without retaliation. The bill stipulates that employers must detail upon employment the number of hours an employee can expect to work each week, and be given two-week notice before any scheduling change. The bill also requires that those who arrive at work only to find out there are no shifts available would be paid for four hours of work. Low-wage workers often travel long distances or pay for fuel only to arrive at work and be told they aren't needed that day. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have sponsored a Senate version.
Although Republican intransigence will make federal action difficult, there are other options. Some states have taken the initiative and passed "reporting time pay laws," which require payment for workers that report to work, even if they aren't needed. A stronger union movement, especially in the retail and service sectors, can also provide a counterbalance to the power of corporations and stem rising inequality. Service-sector workers receive a $2.00 an hour wage bump when they unionize, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and are more likely to have health insurance and a pension plan.
Corporations should take note of the lower turnover and higher productivity that structured scheduling provides, just as social conservatives should look to the benefits for working families. Workers are taking to the streets, fed up with low pay and bad hours. The economy is hobbled by lack of demand. The push to laissez-faire, orchestrated by ideologues in D.C. is finally under siege by an inchoate mass of workers. As Karl Polanyi notes, the "laissez-faire economy was the product of deliberate state action," but "subsequent restrictions on laissez-faire started in a spontaneous way. Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not." Without these reforms, employers will continue to exploit low-wage workers, to the detriment of all.
Amy Traub, a Senior Policy Analyst at Demos, contributed to this article.
This piece originally appeared on Al Jazeera. Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.
New research from three University of Chicago professors, Susan J. Lambert, Peter J. Fugiel, and Julia R. Henly, examines scheduling practices for young adults (26 to 32 years old). Many outlets have reported their finding that part-time workers face greater scheduling uncertainty than full-time workers: 39 percent of full-time workers report receiving hours one week or less before work, compared to 47 percent of part-time workers. But less attention has been paid to the race gap: 49 percent of blacks and 47 percent of Hispanics receive their hours with a week or less of notice, compared with 39 percent of white workers.
Non-white workers also report far less control over their hours. Lambert and her co-authors find that 47 percent of white workers have their hours set by their employer. By contrast, 55 percent of blacks and 58 percent of Latinos say their employer sets their hours. Only 10 percent of Latinos and 12 percent of blacks report being able to set their hours "freely" or "within limits," while 18 percent of white workers do.
Source: Susan J. Lambert, Peter J. Fugiel, and Julia R. Henly, "Schedule Unpredictability among Young Adult Workers in the US Labor Market: A National Snapshot," July 2014 (Click symbol to enlarge)
Hours vary widely from week to week for many of the young adults Lambert and her colleagues studied. They find that "among the 74 percent of hourly workers who report at least some fluctuation in weekly work hours ... their weekly work hours varied from their usual hours by, on average, almost 50 percent during the course of the prior month." Such large fluctuations in hours also indicate large fluctuations in wages, which make life difficult for an increasingly debt-burdened overall population.
In a previous study Lambert and Julia Henly also found that unpredictable schedules increase stress and often disrupt a worker's family life. Using data from 21 stores across the U.S. they found that workers with unpredictable schedules reported more stress and conflict between work and family life. "Precarious scheduling practices are not isolated within a few organizations but rather reflect growing national and international trends," they concluded. As the world becomes increasingly globalized and labor commodified, employees will be treated more like "factors of production" and less like people. Rather than a few egregious corporations, such practices are increasingly the norm in low-wage and middle-wage industries.
*Rising toll*Just-in-time scheduling is an increasingly prevalent practice in two of the fastest-growing and deeply unequal sectors of the economy: retail and service. Both sectors disproportionally employ women and people of color. It's not a stretch to connect just-in-time scheduling to a broader war on women and workers which has been waged by the modern conservative movement.
Because most worker protections were passed before the influx of women into the workforce and were designed to exclude people of color, these groups are perfect targets for the anti-worker agenda. Because women and people of color are highly concentrated in low-wage service sector jobs (home health care, retail, fast food) that only recently started unionizing, they are even more vulnerable. Congressional Republicans have opposed pay parity for women, early childhood education and paid parental leave. Recent decisions by the conservative Supreme Court havedecimated unions in the highly minority- and female-led home health care sector as well as prevented women from getting necessary health care through their employers.
Low wages and erratic work schedules take an obvious toll on working families and workers of color. But they also affect the general economy. Research suggests that lagging demand may be holding back the economy because low-wage workers can barely afford necessities. Few can follow President George W. Bush's famous advice "go shopping more" or "go to Disney world" and thereby stimulate the economy.
Scheduling abuse compounds this problem by making work and wages subject to erratic swings. Sociologist Nancy Cauthen writes that, "Many low-wage workers are expected to work the day shift one day and the night shift the next and/or to be available seven days a week." Although the right likes to portray trickle-down economics as good for long-term growth, the literature suggests the opposite. By depriving workers of stable incomes, conservative policies actually stifle economic growth.
What's more, if the goal of such employers is to increase profits, there's good reason to curb these scheduling practices: Studies show that giving workers more control over their hours and their time actually increases productivity, while JIT scheduling increases turnover and decreases work satisfaction and loyalty. Managers, who are forced to juggle more workers, also work more hours.
The union movement -- once a bulwark against the encroachment of employers -- is still nascent in service and retail whereas it has deep roots in male-dominated sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing. The recent Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Quinn, which struck down the requirement for home healthcare workers to pay "agency fees," will only hold back unionization even further.
Federal protections for workers haven't been expanded since President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs and therefore haven't adjusted to the rise of women in the workforce. These protections also effectively excluded people of color; for instance, farm labor (made up of Hispanics) is still exempt from many labor protections. Thus, the U.S. is one of the only countries that fails to mandate paid maternity leave. The result is that all but 5 percent of pregnant women in retail are denied paid maternity leave -- which forces on them a devastating choice between their job and their own health and that of their child. Women who do have paid leave get it through employers, so such policies are concentrated at the top of the income distribution.
The result is that many employees must adjust their family time to meet the demands of customers and employees. While many conservatives, such as Ross Douthat and Ramesh Ponnuru, talk about the importance of family and the working class, few support commonsense worker protections and none supports unionization.
*Flexible or stable*The U.S. needs legislation to ensure guaranteed minimum weekly hours that will help regularize workers' pay. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have introduced the Schedules That Work Act which would give workers the right to request a "flexible, predictable or stable" work schedule without retaliation. The bill stipulates that employers must detail upon employment the number of hours an employee can expect to work each week, and be given two-week notice before any scheduling change. The bill also requires that those who arrive at work only to find out there are no shifts available would be paid for four hours of work. Low-wage workers often travel long distances or pay for fuel only to arrive at work and be told they aren't needed that day. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have sponsored a Senate version.
Although Republican intransigence will make federal action difficult, there are other options. Some states have taken the initiative and passed "reporting time pay laws," which require payment for workers that report to work, even if they aren't needed. A stronger union movement, especially in the retail and service sectors, can also provide a counterbalance to the power of corporations and stem rising inequality. Service-sector workers receive a $2.00 an hour wage bump when they unionize, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and are more likely to have health insurance and a pension plan.
Corporations should take note of the lower turnover and higher productivity that structured scheduling provides, just as social conservatives should look to the benefits for working families. Workers are taking to the streets, fed up with low pay and bad hours. The economy is hobbled by lack of demand. The push to laissez-faire, orchestrated by ideologues in D.C. is finally under siege by an inchoate mass of workers. As Karl Polanyi notes, the "laissez-faire economy was the product of deliberate state action," but "subsequent restrictions on laissez-faire started in a spontaneous way. Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not." Without these reforms, employers will continue to exploit low-wage workers, to the detriment of all.
Amy Traub, a Senior Policy Analyst at Demos, contributed to this article.
This piece originally appeared on Al Jazeera. Reported by Huffington Post 5 hours ago.
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Colorado health insurance exchange selects Gary Drews as interim chief
The board of the state health insurance exchange Friday selected Gary Drews to serve as interim director.
Reported by Denver Post 5 hours ago.
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Will Keeping Your Kids On Your Insurance Hurt Your Credit?
Some parents are now keeping their adult children on their health insurance plans thanks to the Affordable Care Act. That law requires healthcare plans that offer dependent coverage to make the coverage available until a child reaches the age of 26. But just because parents are willing to pay for their kid’s health insurance, it doesn’t mean they want to pay for all their medical expenses. Yet, because the insurance policy is in their name, some parents are getting bills for their kids and are worried that if they don’t take care of them, their credit is at risk.
Reported by ABCNews.com 16 hours ago.
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War Machine Is from Mars, Christy Mack Is From Venus, and Their Story Ended in Simi Valley
War Machine is from Mars. Christy Mack is from Venus. This is what's made the strange tale of sex and violence from these walking gender cliches so compelling.
U.S. Marshals caught up to War Machine at the Extended Stay America Hotel in Simi Valley, California this weekend after nearly a week on the lam. If Joe Friday were still working the area, now would be when he'd dryly issue an ironic comment about giving War Machine an "extended stay" right before the iconic music kicked in.
The cops arrested the mixed-martial artist, uncharacteristically without incident, on Friday at 1:45 p.m. Pacific time. "Inside the room," they informed, "was a small quantity of cash and some pizza"--this last item, in police parlance, a "clue." Evidently, the welterweight had resigned himself to the fact that he'd never need to starve and sweat down to 170-pounds again. Succumbing to the junk food signaled that he'd succumb to the police once they arrived. The pizza was the former UFC competitor tapping out.
War Machine was smart enough to hide out in Simi Valley instead of the San Pornando Valley, where the victimized Christy Mack is often well known in such movies as Hall Pass Ass, Cram Sessions, and Oil Overload 10. Mack's adult-film friends started a fundraising campaign that has raised $65,000-and-counting to help pay her substantial medical bills (Does a venerable corporation such as Evil Angel not offer health insurance as part of its compensation package?). Duane "Dog" Chapman and the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop's Harrisons of reality-television fame lent time and money to ensure War Machine's capture. Strangers showed love to the woman that the man once closest to her did not.
Just raped @ChristyMack She tried to make me wait until "after errands" As if! =p
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 10, 2013
He's a jerk, an idiot, and a savage. But at least he knows himself. Before the mixed-martial artist treated his ex-girlfriend as a piece of property instead of a as a human being, he tattooed "Property of War Machine" on her back. He boasted on his t-shirts, "I do alpha male $#!+." The man legally changed his name to War Machine, for goodness sakes. Yet, interviews with his training partners and coaches follow the rote I'm-shocked-he-would-do-that script mouthed by the neighbor of every serial killer, child molester, and rapist. The notion that a guy named War Machine brutalized his porn-star ex-girlfriend is about as shocking as Dog the Bounty Hunter's discovery that he kept snakes as pets. He's covered in tattoos? You don't say?
When MMA journalist Ariel Helwani asked Mr. Machine and Ms. Mack about the fate of their tattoos should their relationship not prove so permanent, the now-caged fighter responded: "Well, I told her what I would do is I would just kill her and then I'd get, 'Rest in Peace,'" next to the "Mack" inked on his neck.
"It’s fair enough, really.... I mean honestly, I would probably deserve it," Mack responded. Given that her fellow performers witnessed War Machine allegedly cold clock earlier porn-star girlfriend Alanah Rae--setting off a scene of carnage with a who's-who of xy-chromosomed nudie-talent knocked out, requiring expert dentistry, and looking like Marcia Brady after that football blitzed her face--Mack can't say she wasn't warned. But she shouldn't have, and nobody should, say she deserves anyone raising a hand to her. As she's proven in her films, she's a lover, not a fighter.
But War Machine did something ugly to this beautiful girl. "My injuries include 18 broken bones around my eyes, my nose is broken in 2 places, I am missing teeth and several more are broken," Mack posted along with several pictures of her that for once averted gazes. "I am unable to chew, or see out of my left eye. My speech is slurred from my swelling and lack of teeth. I have a fractured rib and severely ruptured liver from a kick to my side." It's not natural for a man to kick what should be kissed. Make love, not War Machine.
Just as Mack probably didn't initially grasp what "Property of War Machine" meant to the deed holder, the former Jon Koppenhaver didn't quite think through what it meant to date a skin-flick starlet. Particularly if you've worked topless in a gay bar and appeared in Nurse Jobs, Mr. Chew's Asian Beaver 5, and several other productions not requiring much in the way of a costume department, you don't flip out when you catch your industry-employed girlfriend with another man. The absence of these inevitable in flagrante delicto moments might prompt such caring questions as, "What's wrong, honey?" or "Is something bothering you, dear? You're not yourself lately." But stumbling upon a man in the vicinity of Christy Mack appears part of the deal if you seek to be regularly in the vicinity of Christy Mack. According to the adult films database, she's already starred in nineteen movies this year. Why the site of a "clothed" gentleman in Ms. Mack's home a week ago prompted her former suitor to do alpha-male $#!+ but viewings of recent releases Baby Got Boobs 14, Big Butts Like It Big 15, and Phat Ass White Girls 7 elicited no such turning of the cogs and gears of the War Machine remains a question with an answer understood only by the man with an IQ approaching his life expectancy.
That's the thing with dim bulbs. Try to provide reasons for their unreasonable behavior and one begins to sound as incoherent as they do. One can't make rational the behavior of a person so inherently irrational. A War Machine lays waste and an AVN Award winner undresses and presses the flesh. Why can't the one grasp the nature of the other?
Their lives make the characters in Boogie Nights appear as Rhodes Scholars in comparison. When the War Machine-Christy Mack movie hits theaters, the sex, the violence, the unintentional comedy, and the unspeakable monstrosities will make it, like the pixelated presentations of this odd couple of exaggerated gender archetypes, magnets for eyes--and rated "D" for dumb. Reported by Breitbart 11 hours ago.
U.S. Marshals caught up to War Machine at the Extended Stay America Hotel in Simi Valley, California this weekend after nearly a week on the lam. If Joe Friday were still working the area, now would be when he'd dryly issue an ironic comment about giving War Machine an "extended stay" right before the iconic music kicked in.
The cops arrested the mixed-martial artist, uncharacteristically without incident, on Friday at 1:45 p.m. Pacific time. "Inside the room," they informed, "was a small quantity of cash and some pizza"--this last item, in police parlance, a "clue." Evidently, the welterweight had resigned himself to the fact that he'd never need to starve and sweat down to 170-pounds again. Succumbing to the junk food signaled that he'd succumb to the police once they arrived. The pizza was the former UFC competitor tapping out.
War Machine was smart enough to hide out in Simi Valley instead of the San Pornando Valley, where the victimized Christy Mack is often well known in such movies as Hall Pass Ass, Cram Sessions, and Oil Overload 10. Mack's adult-film friends started a fundraising campaign that has raised $65,000-and-counting to help pay her substantial medical bills (Does a venerable corporation such as Evil Angel not offer health insurance as part of its compensation package?). Duane "Dog" Chapman and the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop's Harrisons of reality-television fame lent time and money to ensure War Machine's capture. Strangers showed love to the woman that the man once closest to her did not.
Just raped @ChristyMack She tried to make me wait until "after errands" As if! =p
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 10, 2013
He's a jerk, an idiot, and a savage. But at least he knows himself. Before the mixed-martial artist treated his ex-girlfriend as a piece of property instead of a as a human being, he tattooed "Property of War Machine" on her back. He boasted on his t-shirts, "I do alpha male $#!+." The man legally changed his name to War Machine, for goodness sakes. Yet, interviews with his training partners and coaches follow the rote I'm-shocked-he-would-do-that script mouthed by the neighbor of every serial killer, child molester, and rapist. The notion that a guy named War Machine brutalized his porn-star ex-girlfriend is about as shocking as Dog the Bounty Hunter's discovery that he kept snakes as pets. He's covered in tattoos? You don't say?
When MMA journalist Ariel Helwani asked Mr. Machine and Ms. Mack about the fate of their tattoos should their relationship not prove so permanent, the now-caged fighter responded: "Well, I told her what I would do is I would just kill her and then I'd get, 'Rest in Peace,'" next to the "Mack" inked on his neck.
"It’s fair enough, really.... I mean honestly, I would probably deserve it," Mack responded. Given that her fellow performers witnessed War Machine allegedly cold clock earlier porn-star girlfriend Alanah Rae--setting off a scene of carnage with a who's-who of xy-chromosomed nudie-talent knocked out, requiring expert dentistry, and looking like Marcia Brady after that football blitzed her face--Mack can't say she wasn't warned. But she shouldn't have, and nobody should, say she deserves anyone raising a hand to her. As she's proven in her films, she's a lover, not a fighter.
But War Machine did something ugly to this beautiful girl. "My injuries include 18 broken bones around my eyes, my nose is broken in 2 places, I am missing teeth and several more are broken," Mack posted along with several pictures of her that for once averted gazes. "I am unable to chew, or see out of my left eye. My speech is slurred from my swelling and lack of teeth. I have a fractured rib and severely ruptured liver from a kick to my side." It's not natural for a man to kick what should be kissed. Make love, not War Machine.
Just as Mack probably didn't initially grasp what "Property of War Machine" meant to the deed holder, the former Jon Koppenhaver didn't quite think through what it meant to date a skin-flick starlet. Particularly if you've worked topless in a gay bar and appeared in Nurse Jobs, Mr. Chew's Asian Beaver 5, and several other productions not requiring much in the way of a costume department, you don't flip out when you catch your industry-employed girlfriend with another man. The absence of these inevitable in flagrante delicto moments might prompt such caring questions as, "What's wrong, honey?" or "Is something bothering you, dear? You're not yourself lately." But stumbling upon a man in the vicinity of Christy Mack appears part of the deal if you seek to be regularly in the vicinity of Christy Mack. According to the adult films database, she's already starred in nineteen movies this year. Why the site of a "clothed" gentleman in Ms. Mack's home a week ago prompted her former suitor to do alpha-male $#!+ but viewings of recent releases Baby Got Boobs 14, Big Butts Like It Big 15, and Phat Ass White Girls 7 elicited no such turning of the cogs and gears of the War Machine remains a question with an answer understood only by the man with an IQ approaching his life expectancy.
That's the thing with dim bulbs. Try to provide reasons for their unreasonable behavior and one begins to sound as incoherent as they do. One can't make rational the behavior of a person so inherently irrational. A War Machine lays waste and an AVN Award winner undresses and presses the flesh. Why can't the one grasp the nature of the other?
Their lives make the characters in Boogie Nights appear as Rhodes Scholars in comparison. When the War Machine-Christy Mack movie hits theaters, the sex, the violence, the unintentional comedy, and the unspeakable monstrosities will make it, like the pixelated presentations of this odd couple of exaggerated gender archetypes, magnets for eyes--and rated "D" for dumb. Reported by Breitbart 11 hours ago.
↧
AppMakr’s Mobile App of the Week for August 10th - 16th Goes to Machado Insurance
This week, AppMakr has selected the Machado Insurance as the App of the Week, a brilliant example of ordinary people learning how to make a mobile app without learning how to program.
New York, NY (PRWEB) August 17, 2014
AppMakr, a leading DIY mobile app builder, today announced that the Machado Insurance is the company’s “App Of The Week” for August 10th - 16th.
Each week, AppMakr features one app from the thousands published using our app building tool, called The Machine. This app was selected because it demonstrates the quality of content, design and relevancy that mobile apps can bring to groups trying to make a difference in their community.
With more than 1 Billion smartphones now active in the world, 84% of those users are spending at least 1 hr each day on their smartphones, the base on potential mobile users for the Machado Insurance is massive and growing quickly by the day. It was this potential that motivated AppMakr to create an easy drag-and-drop app builder platform that enables anyone to create an app like the Machado Insurance for free and without the knowledge of coding.
The Machado Insurance and thousands of small to large businesses, schools, blogs, sports teams and community groups have selected the AppMakr DIY app maker platform to create and launch their mobile app for Android, iPhone and over 5,000 different models of HTML5 compatible smartphones.
Machado Insurance, a mobile app developed by an insurance agency based in Florida that represents many fine companies and has access to several specialty insurance markets. They strive to create a comprehensive insurance plan that will meet their client’s needs and preserve their peace of mind.
To create your own mobile app, and have a chance at being named App Of The Week, go to http://www.appmakr.com/ and get started today.
About AppMakr
AppMakr, an organisation now part of Infinite Monkeys is a do-it-yourself app creation platform that lets anyone make your own Native iPhone apps, Android apps and HTML5 mobile websites —with no coding required With four pricing options (FREE, $1/month, $9/month, $99/one time fee). AppMakr provides a range of affordable marketing solution to all small businesses, schools, community groups and individuals alike according to their needs.
By servicing the long-tail of niche interests with free and low-cost apps, AppMakr has become the largest DIY publisher of mobile apps in the world.
To learn more about how AppMakr is transforming the Mobile App Economy, please visit http://www.appmakr.com and follow https://www.facebook.com/AppMakr on Facebook as well as https://twitter.com/AppMakr on Twitter.
About Machado Insurance
The agency represents many fine companies and has access to several specialty insurance markets. Product offering include: Personal Auto Insurance, Motorcycle Insurance, Homeowners Insurance, Renters Insurance, Condo Insurance, Business Insurance, Commercial Auto Insurance, Commercial General Liability Umbrella Insurance, Worker’s Compensation Life & Health Insurance.
To download the Machado Insurance app for your mobile phone, go to: http://apps.monk.ee/details.php?appid=101290429.
To learn more about Machado Insurance please visit: http://www.machadoinsurance.com/. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
New York, NY (PRWEB) August 17, 2014
AppMakr, a leading DIY mobile app builder, today announced that the Machado Insurance is the company’s “App Of The Week” for August 10th - 16th.
Each week, AppMakr features one app from the thousands published using our app building tool, called The Machine. This app was selected because it demonstrates the quality of content, design and relevancy that mobile apps can bring to groups trying to make a difference in their community.
With more than 1 Billion smartphones now active in the world, 84% of those users are spending at least 1 hr each day on their smartphones, the base on potential mobile users for the Machado Insurance is massive and growing quickly by the day. It was this potential that motivated AppMakr to create an easy drag-and-drop app builder platform that enables anyone to create an app like the Machado Insurance for free and without the knowledge of coding.
The Machado Insurance and thousands of small to large businesses, schools, blogs, sports teams and community groups have selected the AppMakr DIY app maker platform to create and launch their mobile app for Android, iPhone and over 5,000 different models of HTML5 compatible smartphones.
Machado Insurance, a mobile app developed by an insurance agency based in Florida that represents many fine companies and has access to several specialty insurance markets. They strive to create a comprehensive insurance plan that will meet their client’s needs and preserve their peace of mind.
To create your own mobile app, and have a chance at being named App Of The Week, go to http://www.appmakr.com/ and get started today.
About AppMakr
AppMakr, an organisation now part of Infinite Monkeys is a do-it-yourself app creation platform that lets anyone make your own Native iPhone apps, Android apps and HTML5 mobile websites —with no coding required With four pricing options (FREE, $1/month, $9/month, $99/one time fee). AppMakr provides a range of affordable marketing solution to all small businesses, schools, community groups and individuals alike according to their needs.
By servicing the long-tail of niche interests with free and low-cost apps, AppMakr has become the largest DIY publisher of mobile apps in the world.
To learn more about how AppMakr is transforming the Mobile App Economy, please visit http://www.appmakr.com and follow https://www.facebook.com/AppMakr on Facebook as well as https://twitter.com/AppMakr on Twitter.
About Machado Insurance
The agency represents many fine companies and has access to several specialty insurance markets. Product offering include: Personal Auto Insurance, Motorcycle Insurance, Homeowners Insurance, Renters Insurance, Condo Insurance, Business Insurance, Commercial Auto Insurance, Commercial General Liability Umbrella Insurance, Worker’s Compensation Life & Health Insurance.
To download the Machado Insurance app for your mobile phone, go to: http://apps.monk.ee/details.php?appid=101290429.
To learn more about Machado Insurance please visit: http://www.machadoinsurance.com/. Reported by PRWeb 10 hours ago.
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How motorized wheelchairs became a symbol of Medicare fraud
LOS ANGELES — In the little office where they ran the scam, a cellphone would ring on Sonia Bonilla’s desk. That was the sound of good news: Somebody had found them a patient.
When Bonilla answered the phone, one of the scam’s professional “patient recruiters” would read off the personal data of a senior citizen. Name. DOB. Medicare ID number. Bonilla would hang up and call Medicare, the enormous federal health-
insurance program for those 65 and older. Reported by Washington Post 2 hours ago.
When Bonilla answered the phone, one of the scam’s professional “patient recruiters” would read off the personal data of a senior citizen. Name. DOB. Medicare ID number. Bonilla would hang up and call Medicare, the enormous federal health-
insurance program for those 65 and older. Reported by Washington Post 2 hours ago.
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5 reasons health insurance didn't pay your bill
It can be anything from an error to the way your provider filed the claim.
Reported by USATODAY.com 16 hours ago.
Reported by USATODAY.com 16 hours ago.
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Have insurers found new ways to avoid the sick?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ending insurance discrimination against the sick was a central goal of the nation's health care overhaul, but leading patient groups say that promise is being undermined by new barriers from insurers. Some state regulators, however, say there's reason to be concerned about policies that shift costs to patients and narrow their choices of hospitals and doctors. More than 300 patient advocacy groups recently wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to complain about some insurer tactics that "are highly discriminatory against patients with chronic health conditions and may ... violate the (law's) nondiscrimination provisions." Among the groups were the AIDS Institute, the American Lung Association, Easter Seals, the Epilepsy Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Kidney Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy. The whole goal here was to use the private insurance market to create a system that provides health insurance for all Americans. An HHS spokeswoman said the department is preparing a formal response to the advocates and stressed that today's level of consumer protection is far superior to what existed before President Barack Obama's law, when an insurance company could use any existing medical condition to deny coverage. Healthy people generally shop for lower premiums, while people with health problems look for access to specialists and the best hospitals. Hill, a biking advocate from the Sacramento area, has been able to get her medication through the manufacturer's patient assistance program. Standard silver plans generally require patients to pay a greater share of medical bills, but some have fairly robust drug coverage.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 17 hours ago.
↧
The $168 Billion Obamacare Windfall Many Hospitals Are Missing
For-profit hospital operators are doing well thanks to the Affordable Care Act; but they could be doing even better if half the states in the U.S. would take the federal boon of Medicaid dollars, and expand this health insurance for poor Americans.
Reported by Motley Fool 13 hours ago.
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Mental Wellness Milestone: 100,000 Patients Tested with GeneSight to Support Medication Selection
Assurex Health, a leading personalized medicine company, announced that 100,000 mental health and chronic pain patients across North America have now been tested with GeneSight products that help clinicians select medications based on patients’ individual genetic profile.
Mason, OH (PRWEB) August 18, 2014
Assurex Health, a leading personalized medicine company, announced that 100,000 mental health and chronic pain patients across North America have now been tested with GeneSight products that help clinicians select medications based on patients’ individual genetic profile.
“This means that 100,000 people were helped on the road to mental wellness with GeneSight as an integral part of informing their treatment decisions,” said Virginia C. Drosos, CEO of Assurex Health. “We hope to bring the value of GeneSight to many more clinicians and patients who are working together to manage their mental health, chronic pain, and ADHD.”
GeneSight helps health care providers make mental health and chronic pain treatment decisions based on a patient’s unique genetic makeup. Administered using a simple cheek swab, GeneSight is becoming a preferred step in helping clinicians treat patients with conditions such as depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, and ADHD.
“Many clinicians are making GeneSight the standard of care in their practices,” said Joel Winner, M.D., Medical Director of Assurex Health and a practicing psychiatrist in Colorado. “GeneSight is extremely beneficial in helping to identify genetically appropriate medications for patients. It gives us more precise information, so we can more quickly help patients get better.”
Rapid Growth Expected to Continue
The number of patients tested using GeneSight has doubled since 2012, and is on pace to double again in 2014. Assurex Health expects up to one million patients could be tested by 2018.
Founded in 2006, Assurex Health has grown rapidly to service clinicians and patients throughout the U.S. and has recently expanded internationally through a partnership with Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Today, more than 8,500 clinicians in private practice, health systems, long-term care facilities and other care sites are registered to offer GeneSight.
Assurex Health recently secured $32 million in additional financing from GE Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Sequoia Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, CincyTech and Allos Ventures, allowing it to enhance its focus on leading-edge science and delivering clinically proven results and product enhancements.
Assurex Health also recently introduced significantly enhanced versions of its GeneSight Psychotropic and GeneSight Analgesic products and added new commercial health insurance networks to increase patients’ coverage. In addition, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in June approved use of GeneSight at VA medical centers, the largest health system in the United States, joining Medicare in reimbursing GeneSight.
Commitment to Veterans
As many as 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or depression, according to a RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research study. The study also found that health care for a veteran with PTSD costs 3.5 times as much as for one without the disorder, with individual treatment costing $8,300 per patient per year. When GeneSight is used in making treatment decisions, those costs can be significantly reduced.
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) visited Assurex Health yesterday to celebrate the milestone 100,000th test, touring its laboratories, and speaking to employees at a town hall session. He noted his shared commitment to mental health awareness and assisting veterans with mental health disorders.
“We want veterans to be getting the best health care possible. They’ve earned it, they deserve it,” said Senator Portman. “But in general, we want to make sure that care is effective, and so if you are a veteran, or on active duty and getting government health care, this test actually takes the government dollar and uses it much more efficiently.”
About Assurex Health
Assurex Health is a personalized medicine company providing industry-leading treatment decision support to clinicians. Assurex Health’s proprietary technology is based on pharmacogenomics – the study of the genetic factors that influence an individual’s response to medications – as well as evidence-based medicine and clinical pharmacology. Assurex Health has licensed patented technology from Mayo Clinic and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who remain research collaborators. For more information, visit http://www.assurexhealth.com.
About GeneSight
GeneSight helps health care providers make behavioral health and chronic pain treatment decisions based on a patient’s unique genetic makeup. Genesight is the only neuropsychiatric pharmacogenomic test validated in peer-reviewed, published studies. GeneSight analyzes up to 785,000 permutations of an individual’s genes and available medications, and presents the results in an easy to read, actionable color-coded report available 36 hours after Assurex Health receives a patient’s cheek swab. Many commercial and government insurance plans reimburse all or part of the cost of GeneSight. Assurex Health also offers financial assistance programs for patients who qualify. Learn more at http://www.genesight.com.
ATTENTION PHOTO EDITOR:
Caption: Senator Rob Portman hosted an Employee Townhall at Assurex Health on Monday, August 11, 2014. From Left to Right: Tom Grossmann, City of Mason Council Member; Gina Drosos, President and CEO at Assurex Health; Senator Rob Portman (R-OH); Don Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Assurex Health.
# # # Reported by PRWeb 20 hours ago.
Mason, OH (PRWEB) August 18, 2014
Assurex Health, a leading personalized medicine company, announced that 100,000 mental health and chronic pain patients across North America have now been tested with GeneSight products that help clinicians select medications based on patients’ individual genetic profile.
“This means that 100,000 people were helped on the road to mental wellness with GeneSight as an integral part of informing their treatment decisions,” said Virginia C. Drosos, CEO of Assurex Health. “We hope to bring the value of GeneSight to many more clinicians and patients who are working together to manage their mental health, chronic pain, and ADHD.”
GeneSight helps health care providers make mental health and chronic pain treatment decisions based on a patient’s unique genetic makeup. Administered using a simple cheek swab, GeneSight is becoming a preferred step in helping clinicians treat patients with conditions such as depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, and ADHD.
“Many clinicians are making GeneSight the standard of care in their practices,” said Joel Winner, M.D., Medical Director of Assurex Health and a practicing psychiatrist in Colorado. “GeneSight is extremely beneficial in helping to identify genetically appropriate medications for patients. It gives us more precise information, so we can more quickly help patients get better.”
Rapid Growth Expected to Continue
The number of patients tested using GeneSight has doubled since 2012, and is on pace to double again in 2014. Assurex Health expects up to one million patients could be tested by 2018.
Founded in 2006, Assurex Health has grown rapidly to service clinicians and patients throughout the U.S. and has recently expanded internationally through a partnership with Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Today, more than 8,500 clinicians in private practice, health systems, long-term care facilities and other care sites are registered to offer GeneSight.
Assurex Health recently secured $32 million in additional financing from GE Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Sequoia Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, CincyTech and Allos Ventures, allowing it to enhance its focus on leading-edge science and delivering clinically proven results and product enhancements.
Assurex Health also recently introduced significantly enhanced versions of its GeneSight Psychotropic and GeneSight Analgesic products and added new commercial health insurance networks to increase patients’ coverage. In addition, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in June approved use of GeneSight at VA medical centers, the largest health system in the United States, joining Medicare in reimbursing GeneSight.
Commitment to Veterans
As many as 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or depression, according to a RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research study. The study also found that health care for a veteran with PTSD costs 3.5 times as much as for one without the disorder, with individual treatment costing $8,300 per patient per year. When GeneSight is used in making treatment decisions, those costs can be significantly reduced.
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) visited Assurex Health yesterday to celebrate the milestone 100,000th test, touring its laboratories, and speaking to employees at a town hall session. He noted his shared commitment to mental health awareness and assisting veterans with mental health disorders.
“We want veterans to be getting the best health care possible. They’ve earned it, they deserve it,” said Senator Portman. “But in general, we want to make sure that care is effective, and so if you are a veteran, or on active duty and getting government health care, this test actually takes the government dollar and uses it much more efficiently.”
About Assurex Health
Assurex Health is a personalized medicine company providing industry-leading treatment decision support to clinicians. Assurex Health’s proprietary technology is based on pharmacogenomics – the study of the genetic factors that influence an individual’s response to medications – as well as evidence-based medicine and clinical pharmacology. Assurex Health has licensed patented technology from Mayo Clinic and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who remain research collaborators. For more information, visit http://www.assurexhealth.com.
About GeneSight
GeneSight helps health care providers make behavioral health and chronic pain treatment decisions based on a patient’s unique genetic makeup. Genesight is the only neuropsychiatric pharmacogenomic test validated in peer-reviewed, published studies. GeneSight analyzes up to 785,000 permutations of an individual’s genes and available medications, and presents the results in an easy to read, actionable color-coded report available 36 hours after Assurex Health receives a patient’s cheek swab. Many commercial and government insurance plans reimburse all or part of the cost of GeneSight. Assurex Health also offers financial assistance programs for patients who qualify. Learn more at http://www.genesight.com.
ATTENTION PHOTO EDITOR:
Caption: Senator Rob Portman hosted an Employee Townhall at Assurex Health on Monday, August 11, 2014. From Left to Right: Tom Grossmann, City of Mason Council Member; Gina Drosos, President and CEO at Assurex Health; Senator Rob Portman (R-OH); Don Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Assurex Health.
# # # Reported by PRWeb 20 hours ago.
↧
Patient advocates say insurers avoiding the sick
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ending insurance discrimination against the sick was a central goal of the nation's health care overhaul, but leading patient groups say that promise is being undermined by new barriers from insurers. Some state regulators, however, say there's reason to be concerned about policies that shift costs to patients and narrow their choices of hospitals and doctors. More than 300 patient advocacy groups recently wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to complain about some insurer tactics that "are highly discriminatory against patients with chronic health conditions and may ... violate the (law's) nondiscrimination provisions." Among the groups were the AIDS Institute, the American Lung Association, Easter Seals, the Epilepsy Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Kidney Foundation and United Cerebral Palsy. The whole goal here was to use the private insurance market to create a system that provides health insurance for all Americans. An HHS spokeswoman said the department is preparing a formal response to the advocates and stressed that today's level of consumer protection is far superior to what existed before President Barack Obama's law, when an insurance company could use any existing medical condition to deny coverage. Healthy people generally shop for lower premiums, while people with health problems look for access to specialists and the best hospitals. Hill, a biking advocate from the Sacramento area, has been able to get her medication through the manufacturer's patient assistance program. Standard silver plans generally require patients to pay a greater share of medical bills, but some have fairly robust drug coverage.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 18 hours ago.
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Health Insurance Benefits - Can You Have It Your Way?
Health Insurance Benefits - Can You Have It Your Way?
Reported by ajc.com 17 hours ago.
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