Aetna Inc. CEO Mark Bertolini might just be clairvoyant. Insurers have been pulling back on the health insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, leading some to wonder about the program's future. And Investor's Business Daily reports that Bertolini predicted problems back in 2012. Bertolini reportedly warned there could be high premiums in some markets. And a few years later, he said his company might have to pull off the exchanges if those rate hikes weren't approved. "And we've…
Reported by bizjournals 2 days ago.
Did Aetna's CEO predict Obamacare's problems?
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Trump Might Actually Want To Give Health Care Fraud Betsy McCaughey A Cabinet Post
Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone really wants Betsy McCaughey to be the next secretary of health and human services. This is remarkable even coming from a dedicated pot-stirrer like Stone, because McCaughey is widely considered a fraud by liberal and conservative public health experts.
“I travel in the Trump campaign circles, Betsy, and your name does keep popping up as a potential secretary for health and human services. From my mouth to God’s ears,” Stone said on his radio show Saturday.
“I would be so honored to serve in a Trump administration,” McCaughey replied. “And I would be so thrilled to fix this broken system and really give people choices again, and much more affordable health insurance. The idea of passing a law that everybody has to buy this one-size-fits-all government-designed plan ― it’s like passing a law where the only car you’re allowed to buy is a four-door sedan. The assumption is you’re too stupid to put the top up if you pick a convertible or close the hatchback if you choose one of those.”
McCaughey was recently named to Trump’s team of economic advisers for, well, who knows. Although she served one term as lieutenant governor of New York, McCaughey is best known for a series of wildly untrue claims about the Affordable Care Act.
Critiquing her preposterous assertions again is a fool’s errand, but here goes anyway.
No, Obamacare is not the health insurance equivalent of requiring everyone to buy a four-door sedan. It’s more like requiring every make and model of car to have seat belts and functional brakes.
There are all kinds of different insurance plans available under Obamacare, as people who have actually shopped on the heath care exchanges can attest. Policies are divided into bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans, and private-sector insurers offer variations within each category. The system has, in fact, been criticized for allowing too many different options, resulting in a confusing process for consumers.
For McCaughey, the sedan analogy was a relatively tame exaggeration. She has never served in a federal administration at any point during her 68 years on earth for the simple reason that even hardline conservatives do not believe she is a credible expert. HuffPost wrote up everything you need to know about her last week:
In 1994, she claimed that Hillary Clinton’s health care reform plan would bar people from purchasing care outside the new Clinton system, which would cruelly ration treatments to curb costs. It wasn’t true. The magazine that published the article would later disavow it.
Here’s what she said about Obamacare in 2009:
“One of the most shocking things I found in this bill, and there were many, is on page 425, where the Congress would make it mandatory ― absolutely require ― that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner ... all to do what’s in society’s best interest or your family’s best interest and cut your life short. These are such sacred issues of life and death. Government should have nothing to do with this.”
Pretty scary! And totally untrue. Completely, 100 percent false. Zero correspondence with reality. But McCaughey’s nonsense took off. She made the same claim in op-eds for The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. When Sarah Palin picked up the idea, the mandatory meetings morphed into “Obama’s death panel.” Conservative media and Republican politicians went wild.
But it was all based on nothing. McCaughey’s influence enrages actual policy experts who read legislation and accurately dissect the implications of new programs. As the typically measured Ezra Klein put it in The Washington Post in 2009: “Betsy McCaughey is really just a horrible, evil, awful, lying person who wants to make the world worse for people because that’s her ticket to increased TV time. There’s no other way to put it.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
“I travel in the Trump campaign circles, Betsy, and your name does keep popping up as a potential secretary for health and human services. From my mouth to God’s ears,” Stone said on his radio show Saturday.
“I would be so honored to serve in a Trump administration,” McCaughey replied. “And I would be so thrilled to fix this broken system and really give people choices again, and much more affordable health insurance. The idea of passing a law that everybody has to buy this one-size-fits-all government-designed plan ― it’s like passing a law where the only car you’re allowed to buy is a four-door sedan. The assumption is you’re too stupid to put the top up if you pick a convertible or close the hatchback if you choose one of those.”
McCaughey was recently named to Trump’s team of economic advisers for, well, who knows. Although she served one term as lieutenant governor of New York, McCaughey is best known for a series of wildly untrue claims about the Affordable Care Act.
Critiquing her preposterous assertions again is a fool’s errand, but here goes anyway.
No, Obamacare is not the health insurance equivalent of requiring everyone to buy a four-door sedan. It’s more like requiring every make and model of car to have seat belts and functional brakes.
There are all kinds of different insurance plans available under Obamacare, as people who have actually shopped on the heath care exchanges can attest. Policies are divided into bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans, and private-sector insurers offer variations within each category. The system has, in fact, been criticized for allowing too many different options, resulting in a confusing process for consumers.
For McCaughey, the sedan analogy was a relatively tame exaggeration. She has never served in a federal administration at any point during her 68 years on earth for the simple reason that even hardline conservatives do not believe she is a credible expert. HuffPost wrote up everything you need to know about her last week:
In 1994, she claimed that Hillary Clinton’s health care reform plan would bar people from purchasing care outside the new Clinton system, which would cruelly ration treatments to curb costs. It wasn’t true. The magazine that published the article would later disavow it.
Here’s what she said about Obamacare in 2009:
“One of the most shocking things I found in this bill, and there were many, is on page 425, where the Congress would make it mandatory ― absolutely require ― that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner ... all to do what’s in society’s best interest or your family’s best interest and cut your life short. These are such sacred issues of life and death. Government should have nothing to do with this.”
Pretty scary! And totally untrue. Completely, 100 percent false. Zero correspondence with reality. But McCaughey’s nonsense took off. She made the same claim in op-eds for The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. When Sarah Palin picked up the idea, the mandatory meetings morphed into “Obama’s death panel.” Conservative media and Republican politicians went wild.
But it was all based on nothing. McCaughey’s influence enrages actual policy experts who read legislation and accurately dissect the implications of new programs. As the typically measured Ezra Klein put it in The Washington Post in 2009: “Betsy McCaughey is really just a horrible, evil, awful, lying person who wants to make the world worse for people because that’s her ticket to increased TV time. There’s no other way to put it.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
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Congress Demand An Explanation For Epipen Price Increases; Mylan Slides
In a rerun of last summer's political interference in pharmaceutical pricing spearheaded by both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, which initially focused on Martin Shrekli's price hike of the Turing Pharmaceuticals Daraprim drug, then shifted to Allergan (and everyone knows what happened after), over the past few days much of the media's attention has focused on the ongoing cost increases of Mylan's Epipen.As NBC wrote last Friday, a growing chorus is calling on the Mylan pharmaceutical company to justify its price hikes on EpiPens, a potentially life-saving medication for children and others facing fatal allergies that has little real competition.
In 2007, a two-pack of the epinephrine-filled devices went for $56.64 wholesale, according to data gathered by Connecture, a health insurance technology and data analytics company. Now it's jumped to $365.16, an increase of 544.77 percent. Since the end of 2013, the price has gone up by 15 percent every other quarter.
And, echoring the public outcry following Turing's 2015 price increase for its toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim, doctors, parents, patients, and a former presidential candidate are speaking out on social media — and negative comments are filling up Mylan's Facebook page following an NBC story.
Ironically, even Martin Shkreli has chimed in: "These guys are really vultures. What drives this company's moral compass?" he told NBC News in a phone interview. In 2015, Shkreli famously jacked up the price of Turing's malaria and HIV medicine Darapim overnight, from $13.50 to $750, a move that earned him a grilling by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in February — and the nickname "Pharma Bro" for his seemingly carefree attitude toward affordable medication.
But Shkreli told NBC News he had originally considered gradually raising the price of Darapim, as Mylan did with the EpiPen. Ultimately, "the math, we felt, was a little silly; so we decided to come out and say 'This is our desired price.'"
Just like last year, Bernie Sanders got involved too:
There's no reason an EpiPen, which costs Mylan just a few dollars to make, should cost families more than $600. https://t.co/rVWUlMxD0Q
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 18, 2016
So, to keep the analogy with the summer of 2015 complete, where numerous angry congressional letters and hearing followed, moments ago two senior U.S. senators are examining Mylan NV’s price increases for the popular EpiPen allergy shot, with one Republican saying the drugmaker’s practices may have limited access to the treatment.
Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, asked the drugmaker to explain “a steep price increase in the product in recent years,” citing complaints from constituents who say they have to pay as much as $500 for one of the pens. Grassley heads the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
“The substantial price increase could limit access to a much-needed medication,” Grassley wrote to Mylan Chief Executive officer Heather Bresch in an Aug. 22 letter.
Following the news of the letter, Mylan shares promptly fell 1.5% below $48.
As Bloomberg adds, in a separate letter Monday, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Mylan’s practices with regards to EpiPen’s price. She called for the FTC to look into whether Mylan had done anything to deny competitors access to the market in order to keep raising prices.
EpiPen is a self-administered injection of epinephrine, a drug that can be used to treat allergic reactions from bee stings, food allergies or other triggers. Since acquiring the drug in 2007, Mylan has raised the price several times, up from about $57 a shot when it first took over sales of the product, a review of pricing data by Bloomberg found.
Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin declined to comment specifically on the letters. The company says that it offers several programs to help people afford the drug. “Ensuring access to epinephrine -- the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis -- is a core part of our mission.
The biggest irony, however, just like last year, is that it is the permissive government regulations and the US reimbursement system that allows pharma companies like Mylan to charge as much as they want, and - mostly - get away with it.
However, since that particular system is too big, and too unwieldy to change, it appears that Mylan will be this year's sacrificial distraction, meant to placate the public, even as the underlying problem with the US healthcare system remain largely unchanged.
* * *
Grassley's full letter to Mylan is below: Reported by Zero Hedge 1 day ago.
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Shannen Doherty -- Scores Settlement in Cancer Lawsuit Against Ex-Manager
Shannen Doherty just landed a settlement in that huge $15 million lawsuit she filed against her ex-manager for allegedly screwing up her health insurance. We broke the story ... Shannen sued her former management firm, claiming they mismanaged her…
Reported by TMZ.com 1 day ago.
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Shannen Doherty settles lawsuit with ex-managers she said mismanaged money
Doherty accused her former business managers of leaving her without health insurance and causing a delay in doctors diagnosing her with breast cancer.
Reported by Newsday 1 day ago.
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Doherty settles with ex-managers she said mismanaged money
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Court records show Shannen Doherty has settled a lawsuit against her former business managers, who she accused of leaving her without health insurance and caused a delay in doctors diagnosing her with breast cancer. A settlement notice filed Friday states the settlement is contingent on unspecified conditions that need to be […]
Reported by Seattle Times 1 day ago.
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Shannen Doherty Lands Settlement In $15 Million Lawsuit Against Former Business Management Over Health Insurance
A year after filing a lawsuit against her former business manager, Shannen Doherty can claim a small victory. On Monday, TMZ revealed both parties were finally able to reach a settlement in the $15 million legal battle, where the actress claimed her ex management firm was negligent with her health insurance leading to her late breast [...]
Reported by Perez Hilton 1 day ago.
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As Predicted, Obamacare Is Absolutely Killing The Middle Class
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,*The critics of Obamacare have been proven right.* The Obama administration promised that health insurance premiums would go down. * Instead, they have absolutely skyrocketed.* The Obama administration promised that Obamacare would not kill jobs. *Instead, firms are hiring fewer workers because of suffocating health care costs*. As you will see below, *even the Federal Reserve is admitting this. * The Obama administration also promised that the big health insurance companies would love the new Obamacare plans and would eagerly compete with one another to win customers in the new health insurance marketplaces. *Instead, many of the big health insurance companies are now dropping Obamacare plans altogether.*
We witnessed the latest stunning example of this phenomenon just a few days ago. *It turns out that Aetna has been losing hundreds of millions of dollars on plans sold through the health exchanges, and now they plan to pull out of the program almost entirely…*
Earlier this week, Aetna, which covers about 900,000 people through the health exchanges created under Obamacare, announced that it would dramatically reduce its presence those exchanges. Instead of expanding into five new states this year, as the insurer had previously planned, the company said that it would drop out of 11 of the 15 states in which it currently sells under the law.
Aetna’s decision follows similar moves from other insurers: UnitedHealth announced in April that it would cease selling plans on most exchanges. Shortly after, Humana pulled out of two states, Virginia and Alabama. More than a dozen of the nonprofit health insurance cooperatives set up under the law—health insurance carriers created using government-back loans in order to spur competition—have failed entirely. While some insurers are entering the exchanges, even more are leaving.
*Another one of “the big five”, UnitedHealth, is going to lose more than half a billion dollars on Obamacare plans. * So just a few months ago they also announced that they would be dramatically scaling back their participation in the program.
Because of the ridiculous costs, health insurance companies are either going to have to abandon the exchanges completely or they will have to raise rates substantially.
Needless to say,* the people that are going to ultimately feel the pain from all of this are consumers…*
Customers who are now forced to obtain insurance or pay a hefty fine that grows more costly over time *are being left in a difficult position*. Americans are essentially stuck between a rock and hard place, either losing coverage entirely, or having to cough up money for a plan they can’t afford.
“*Something has to give*,” said Larry Levitt, a healthcare law expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “*Either insurers will drop out or insurers will raise premiums.*“
On the low end of the spectrum, tens of millions of poor Americans benefit from government programs that provide health care at little or no cost.
On the other end of the spectrum, the very wealthy can afford to pay the ridiculously high health insurance premiums that we are seeing under Obamacare.
*So what this means is that the people that are being hurt the most by Obamacare are those that belong to the middle class.*
As I mentioned above, employers are now hiring less workers because of Obamacare, and that is very bad news for the middle class. One recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York discovered that nearly one out of every five firms is “employing fewer workers” because of this insidious law…
According to a new survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 20.9% of manufacturing firms in the state said they were employing fewer workers because of the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law known as Obamacare, while 16.8% of respondents in the service sector said the same.
*And middle class Americans that have to pay for their own health insurance are being hit with much higher bills these days. * According to one recent study, it is being projected that the average Obamacare premium will go up 24 percent in 2016…
Now, courtesy of a new study by independent analyst Charles Gaba – who has crunched the numbers for insurers participating in the ACA exchanges in all 50 states – we can also calculate what the average Obamacare premium increase across the entire US will be: using proposed and approved rate increase requests, *the average Obamacare premium is expected to surge by a whopping 24% this year*.
Even NBC News, which is about as pro-Obama as you can get, is reporting on the crippling premium increases that are devastating the middle class…
Millions of people who pay the full cost of their health insurance will face the sting of rising premiums next year, with no financial help from government subsidies.
Renewal notices bearing the bad news will go out this fall, just as the presidential election is in the home stretch.
“I don’t know if I could swallow *another 30 or 40 percent* without severely cutting into other things I’m trying to do, like retirement savings or reducing debt,” said Bob Byrnes, of Blaine, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb. *His monthly premium of $524 is already about 50 percent more than he was paying in 2015, and he has a higher deductible*.
*All over the nation people are getting hit like this.*
Personally, my health insurance company wanted to nearly double the rate I was paying when Obamacare fully kicked in. So I searched around and found another plan that was only about a 30 percent increase, but at least it wasn’t nearly double what I had been paying before.
But when the time came to renew that plan, they wanted to jump my premium up another 50 percent per month.
Those of us that are in the middle are being crushed by Obamacare. We aren’t poor enough to qualify for government assistance, and we aren’t wealthy enough for these ridiculous health insurance premiums not to matter.
*Just about everything that Barack Obama promised us about Obamacare has turned out to be a lie.*
*So where is the accountability?*
*This is one of the big reasons why nearly one out of every five U.S. adults lives with their parents or their grandparents these days.* Many young adults cannot afford the basics of life such as health insurance, and so they have got to find a way to cut back expenses somewhere. If that means moving back in with Mom and Dad, that is what some of them are going to do.
*I am astounded that our system of health care has become so messed up.* But this is just more evidence of how our *society is falling apart in thousands of different ways, and I am not optimistic that things will be turned around any time soon.* Reported by Zero Hedge 1 day ago.
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Shannen Doherty Settles Cancer Lawsuit With Former Management Over Lapsed Health Insurance
Doherty has ended her legal battle with her former management firm.
Reported by Entertainment Tonight 1 day ago.
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How President Obama Gave Me Diarrhea
I was having dinner with my friend and gifted writer Anna Varshavsky in New York and our conversations ran the normal gamut for two people who meet infrequently and enjoy catching up: We talked about sex; politics; the politics of sex; teenagers; the battery life of cellphones; and tasteful side-boob. Pretty much the usual. And one thing we realized we had in common was that we both blame President Obama for giving us diarrhea. Stick with me here as we travel this meandering path. It might be helpful if you get a couple glasses of wine into you since it definitely helped us.
In 2008-2009 when President Obama began his first term, the U.S. economy was in really bad shape and today, as he gets ready to end his second term, it is in better shape. Try not to foam at the mouth over this (watered down) statement of support. I feel justified in giving President Obama the credit for this since President Reagan widely gets credit for the economic boom in the 80's, so I might be shallow, but it's in a non-partisan sort of way. Yes, I know that this isn't a universal truth and that not everyone will benefit from any improvement of any kind. But below are some actual charts - made by economists - to back up my claim that the U.S. economy looks better than it did during 2008-2009.
*US National Unemployment Rate by Year*Source: Macrotrends
*In-depth analysis of the chart, by me, who majored in languages (don't blame the credited source for this): *The line starts really low as we enter 2008 because people had jobs. Then there is a crash in 2008 and 2009 attributed to many factors causing the banking industry to have a total meltdown and a lot of people lost their jobs. So the line went wayyyyy higher, showing high levels of unemployment. Later on in 2011, the line started coming down again as people got jobs, probably because companies were doing better and could hire people again.*US Industrial Production*Source: Macrotrends
*In-depth analysis of the chart, by me, who majored in languages (don't blame the credited source for this): *In this case, the line starts high in 2008 because companies in the US were making a lot of things. Then, in 2008 and 2009, they couldn't make as much stuff, maybe because people didn't have as many jobs and weren't buying that much stuff? So the line, in this chart, goes a lot lower about the same time as the line in the chart above went higher. Starting in 2010, it went up again as companies made stuff again and people could buy stuff, maybe because more of them had jobs.Thusly, as the charts and my amazing analyses illustrate, the US seems to be doing better and Anna and I realized that we, too, were doing better financially than we had been. Because of our financial situation, we were both more likely to go to Costco. Anna calls it Sam's Club and because I am theoretically OK with people having different views than me, I try not to judge her. When in Sam's Club/Costco, we are both now much more likely to get caught up in the "American Dream" and buy really large things that we don't really need (and have nowhere to store,) in addition to the 50 rolls of toilet paper that we do need. Here are some of the amazing items I have picked up over the past few years because they were "a good deal:"· 5000 pieces of plastic utensils (in case an impromptu, low-budget wedding reception breaks out)· Colorful, kicky plastic food containers in various sizes that I somehow needed, regardless of the fact that I don't cook· Lucky Brand™ jeans for $29.99, even though I: (a.) Can't try them on; (b.) Have jeans at home that I know fit and that I really like, and; (c.) No longer wear boot cut jeans· A giant smoked salmon, because someone could possibly come for brunchAnna revealed that she has also ended up coming home with a smoked salmon, which is doubly amusing in that neither one of us likes smoked salmon. Smoked salmon gives both of us diarrhea.Back in 2008, you wouldn't catch me buying smoked salmon at Costco. In 2008, the job market for high-tech strategy and marketing consultants was less-than-robust and my family was rediscovering the beauty of ramen noodles as a main dish. We were prioritizing such luxuries as "paying for housing" and obtaining "catastrophic coverage health insurance." Every outlay of money was evaluated for short-term and long-term usefulness. Our daughter's school suffered as those requested yearly donations to support a quality, public school education became slimmer.Fast forward to 2016, and things are more comfortable. Personally, the job market has improved for my family as the technology sector in California rebounds. For Anna, the market for Viking Queens has been pretty steady all along, but her role as a Creative Monkey/Designer has also stabilized. If you need more data than just the opinion of a HuffPo blogger and her creative, Viking friend, Marketwatch published a nicely optimistic article in July 2016 titled "Here's why the U.S. economy is better than you think." The article highlights gains in many sectors including jobs, commercial real estate, housing, auto sales, travel, and consumer confidence. It states "Of course, some statistics may not be rosy right now, but when you look at the big picture, it's tough to say that the U.S. economy isn't vibrant." Most importantly, they see improvements for middle income Americans.This recovering economic picture has resulted in unexpected and disturbing consequences for me, like buying a giant smoked salmon. I seem to be a living, breathing example of why a robust middle class will improve the economy through the purchasing power of "the many" versus "the few." Happily, though, because I can now tie my acquisition of diarrhea-inducing foodstuffs to an improving US financial outlook, I can also shift the blame to President Obama. Perhaps it's even time to get a new set of plastic containers! Thanks, Obama.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
In 2008-2009 when President Obama began his first term, the U.S. economy was in really bad shape and today, as he gets ready to end his second term, it is in better shape. Try not to foam at the mouth over this (watered down) statement of support. I feel justified in giving President Obama the credit for this since President Reagan widely gets credit for the economic boom in the 80's, so I might be shallow, but it's in a non-partisan sort of way. Yes, I know that this isn't a universal truth and that not everyone will benefit from any improvement of any kind. But below are some actual charts - made by economists - to back up my claim that the U.S. economy looks better than it did during 2008-2009.
*US National Unemployment Rate by Year*Source: Macrotrends
*In-depth analysis of the chart, by me, who majored in languages (don't blame the credited source for this): *The line starts really low as we enter 2008 because people had jobs. Then there is a crash in 2008 and 2009 attributed to many factors causing the banking industry to have a total meltdown and a lot of people lost their jobs. So the line went wayyyyy higher, showing high levels of unemployment. Later on in 2011, the line started coming down again as people got jobs, probably because companies were doing better and could hire people again.*US Industrial Production*Source: Macrotrends
*In-depth analysis of the chart, by me, who majored in languages (don't blame the credited source for this): *In this case, the line starts high in 2008 because companies in the US were making a lot of things. Then, in 2008 and 2009, they couldn't make as much stuff, maybe because people didn't have as many jobs and weren't buying that much stuff? So the line, in this chart, goes a lot lower about the same time as the line in the chart above went higher. Starting in 2010, it went up again as companies made stuff again and people could buy stuff, maybe because more of them had jobs.Thusly, as the charts and my amazing analyses illustrate, the US seems to be doing better and Anna and I realized that we, too, were doing better financially than we had been. Because of our financial situation, we were both more likely to go to Costco. Anna calls it Sam's Club and because I am theoretically OK with people having different views than me, I try not to judge her. When in Sam's Club/Costco, we are both now much more likely to get caught up in the "American Dream" and buy really large things that we don't really need (and have nowhere to store,) in addition to the 50 rolls of toilet paper that we do need. Here are some of the amazing items I have picked up over the past few years because they were "a good deal:"· 5000 pieces of plastic utensils (in case an impromptu, low-budget wedding reception breaks out)· Colorful, kicky plastic food containers in various sizes that I somehow needed, regardless of the fact that I don't cook· Lucky Brand™ jeans for $29.99, even though I: (a.) Can't try them on; (b.) Have jeans at home that I know fit and that I really like, and; (c.) No longer wear boot cut jeans· A giant smoked salmon, because someone could possibly come for brunchAnna revealed that she has also ended up coming home with a smoked salmon, which is doubly amusing in that neither one of us likes smoked salmon. Smoked salmon gives both of us diarrhea.Back in 2008, you wouldn't catch me buying smoked salmon at Costco. In 2008, the job market for high-tech strategy and marketing consultants was less-than-robust and my family was rediscovering the beauty of ramen noodles as a main dish. We were prioritizing such luxuries as "paying for housing" and obtaining "catastrophic coverage health insurance." Every outlay of money was evaluated for short-term and long-term usefulness. Our daughter's school suffered as those requested yearly donations to support a quality, public school education became slimmer.Fast forward to 2016, and things are more comfortable. Personally, the job market has improved for my family as the technology sector in California rebounds. For Anna, the market for Viking Queens has been pretty steady all along, but her role as a Creative Monkey/Designer has also stabilized. If you need more data than just the opinion of a HuffPo blogger and her creative, Viking friend, Marketwatch published a nicely optimistic article in July 2016 titled "Here's why the U.S. economy is better than you think." The article highlights gains in many sectors including jobs, commercial real estate, housing, auto sales, travel, and consumer confidence. It states "Of course, some statistics may not be rosy right now, but when you look at the big picture, it's tough to say that the U.S. economy isn't vibrant." Most importantly, they see improvements for middle income Americans.This recovering economic picture has resulted in unexpected and disturbing consequences for me, like buying a giant smoked salmon. I seem to be a living, breathing example of why a robust middle class will improve the economy through the purchasing power of "the many" versus "the few." Happily, though, because I can now tie my acquisition of diarrhea-inducing foodstuffs to an improving US financial outlook, I can also shift the blame to President Obama. Perhaps it's even time to get a new set of plastic containers! Thanks, Obama.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 1 day ago.
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Shannen Doherty settles cancer insurance lawsuit with ex-managers
Court records show Shannen Doherty has settled a lawsuit against her former business managers, who she accused of leaving her without health insurance and caused a delay in doctors diagnosing her with breast cancer.
Reported by FOXNews.com 18 hours ago.
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New Interactive Website from AIS Provides Competitive Intelligence on Blues’ Products, Market Strategies, Financials
Now, for the first time, Atlantic Information Services’ Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans is available as an interactive website — with a continually updated newsfeed, downloadable spreadsheets and lookup tools. The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans is not affiliated with or sponsored, endorsed or approved by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association or any of the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 23, 2016
Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is pleased to announce the launch of a new interactive website based on the annually published The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans. The new website is a continually updated subscription-based resource that provides competitive intelligence on Blues plan products, market strategies, acquisitions and alliances, and financial projections. It also tracks hard-to-find data on revenues, earnings, administrative spending, executive compensation and enrollment.
Published independently by AIS, The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans is not affiliated with or sponsored, endorsed or approved by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association or any of the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
With news and data on the plans, people, markets and strategies, The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans includes:· Hard-to-find data on membership growth and market share
· Downloadable spreadsheets on BCBS plan designs, premiums and enrollment
· Company contact information, including phone numbers
· Regular updates on personnel moves and executive compensation
· Lookup tools that allow users to explore Blues operations by market sector or region
· Details on BCBS plans’ participation in the Medicare, Medicaid and dual-eligibles programs, and on public exchanges
· Background information on the history, structure, licensing agreements and inner workings of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
· National and state-level market analysis created exclusively from AIS’s Directory of Health Plans
· Quarterly comparisons of BCBS plans' key financial indicators — revenue, medical loss ratios, net margins, administrative costs and more
· A newsfeed of original reporting by AIS’s award-winning team of business journalists, providing insight and perspectives on Blue Cross and Blue Shield advantages and challenges
For more information on the website, and to subscribe, visit https://aishealth.com/marketplace/ais-guide-blue-cross-and-blue-shield-plans.
About AIS
Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is a publishing and information company that has been serving the health care industry for nearly 30 years. It develops highly targeted news, data and strategic information for managers in hospitals and health systems, health insurance companies, medical group practices, purchasers of health insurance, pharmaceutical companies and other health care organizations. AIS products include print and electronic newsletters, databases, websites, looseleafs, strategic reports, directories, webinars, virtual conferences and training programs. Learn more at http://AISHealth.com. Reported by PRWeb 18 hours ago.
Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 23, 2016
Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is pleased to announce the launch of a new interactive website based on the annually published The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans. The new website is a continually updated subscription-based resource that provides competitive intelligence on Blues plan products, market strategies, acquisitions and alliances, and financial projections. It also tracks hard-to-find data on revenues, earnings, administrative spending, executive compensation and enrollment.
Published independently by AIS, The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans is not affiliated with or sponsored, endorsed or approved by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association or any of the independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
With news and data on the plans, people, markets and strategies, The AIS Guide to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans includes:· Hard-to-find data on membership growth and market share
· Downloadable spreadsheets on BCBS plan designs, premiums and enrollment
· Company contact information, including phone numbers
· Regular updates on personnel moves and executive compensation
· Lookup tools that allow users to explore Blues operations by market sector or region
· Details on BCBS plans’ participation in the Medicare, Medicaid and dual-eligibles programs, and on public exchanges
· Background information on the history, structure, licensing agreements and inner workings of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
· National and state-level market analysis created exclusively from AIS’s Directory of Health Plans
· Quarterly comparisons of BCBS plans' key financial indicators — revenue, medical loss ratios, net margins, administrative costs and more
· A newsfeed of original reporting by AIS’s award-winning team of business journalists, providing insight and perspectives on Blue Cross and Blue Shield advantages and challenges
For more information on the website, and to subscribe, visit https://aishealth.com/marketplace/ais-guide-blue-cross-and-blue-shield-plans.
About AIS
Atlantic Information Services, Inc. (AIS) is a publishing and information company that has been serving the health care industry for nearly 30 years. It develops highly targeted news, data and strategic information for managers in hospitals and health systems, health insurance companies, medical group practices, purchasers of health insurance, pharmaceutical companies and other health care organizations. AIS products include print and electronic newsletters, databases, websites, looseleafs, strategic reports, directories, webinars, virtual conferences and training programs. Learn more at http://AISHealth.com. Reported by PRWeb 18 hours ago.
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Obamacare Is Rapidly Becoming The Poster-Child For American Inequality
Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,*An architect of the federal healthcare law said last year that a “lack of transparency” and the “stupidity of the American voter” helped Congress approve ObamaCare.*
*He suggested that many lawmakers and voters didn’t know what was in the law or how its financing worked, and that this helped it win approval. *
– From the post: *Video of the Day – Obamacare Architect Credits “Lack of Transparency” and “Stupidity of the American People” for Passage of Healthcare Law*
The best thing about Obama (from an oligarch’s perspective), is his* uncanny ability to push through upward redistributive wealth policies while still maintaining a phony aura of caring about the little guy* amongst so many of his apparently lobotomized supporters.
Countless examples of his *shameless plutocrat-pandering* have been covered ad nauseam here on these pages, but what’s most embarrassing for the President’s legacy, is the fact that Obamacare itself is rapidly becoming the poster child for the dramatic wealth and income inequality that has so characterized his entire administration.
To see what I’m talking about, let’s take a look at a few excerpts from an article published today at The Hill titled, How ObamaCare is Splitting in Two:
Increasingly, there are two ObamaCares.
*There’s the one in coastal and northern areas, where the marketplaces include multiple insurers and plans. And there’s the one in southern and rural areas, where there is often little competition, a situation that can lead to higher premiums.*
“There’s really two kind of stories that are playing out,” said Cynthia Cox, who studies insurer competition at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
According to an analysis from the consulting firm Avalere, as of now, there will be just one insurer offering ObamaCare coverage next year in seven states: Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wyoming, Alaska, North Carolina and Kansas. It is possible that more insurers could enter these markets before next year.
*In one county in Arizona, there might not be an ObamaCare plan available at all.*
Unsurprisingly, it’s people living in the forgotten places who continue to get squeezed.
The trend is likely to be accelerated by the departure of Aetna and UnitedHealthcare from ObamaCare marketplaces in 2017. The loss of those insurers won’t affect all parts of the country equally, experts say.
*The dearth of options in rural, sparsely populated areas is a far cry from what Democrats promised when selling the Affordable Care Act. *
Broken. Just like every other promise Obama made.
“Just visit healthcare.gov, and there you can compare insurance plans, side by side, the same way you’d shop for a plane ticket on Kayak or a TV on Amazon,” Obama said in 2013. “You enter some basic information, you’ll be presented with a list of quality, affordable plans that are available in your area, with clear descriptions of what each plan covers, and what it will cost. You’ll find more choices, more competition, and in many cases, lower prices.”
In Oklahoma, Rhoads said he has been trying to recruit more insurers to join the ObamaCare marketplace, but found no takers.
“We see no other carriers willing to come in,” he said. “We certainly have had conversations with some of the national players.”
Rhoads said he spoke with two insurers that participated in ObamaCare’s first year about returning. They declined, citing the financial losses they suffered before.
Relying on just one insurer to offer coverage runs the risk of having ObamaCare disappear, should that insurer bail from the marketplace.
The chaotic unravelling of Obamacare has been a focus here at Liberty Blitzkrieg for much of this year. Here are a few examples:
August 5, 2016: An Update on the Obamacare Disaster
July 15, 2016: Illinois Obamacare Co-Op Goes Bust Leaving Tens of Thousands at Risk
April 12, 2016: Sales of Short-Term Health Plans Soar as Americans Flee Expensive Obamacare
March 23, 2016: The Health Insurance Scam – “Coverage” Doesn’t Mean Affordability or Access
I’ll tell you one group of people that won’t be affected by Obamacare’s unraveling: his extremely wealthy donors.
*As usual, the people who will suffer most are what’s left of the middle classes, the poor, the voiceless and the disenfranchised. The people Obama has cheerily ignored for nearly eight years now.* Reported by Zero Hedge 17 hours ago.
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Did Aetna's CEO predict Obamacare problems?
Aetna Inc. CEO Mark Bertolini might just be clairvoyant. Insurers have been pulling back on the health insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, leading some to wonder about the program's future. And Investor's Business Daily reports that Bertolini predicted problems back in 2012. Bertolini reportedly warned there could be high premiums in some markets. And a few years later, he said his company might have to pull off the exchanges if those rate hikes weren't approved. "And we've…
Reported by bizjournals 16 hours ago.
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Humana's CEO on health care's next big thing
Health insurance claims are complicated, with lots of parties and paperwork involved. Bruce Broussard, CEO of Louisville-based Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), has seen that process firsthand. "It’s a complex, interwoven web of information requests, information verification and information sharing," he wrote in a post on LinkedIn. But there might be an answer: blockchain technology, which Broussard says is "positioned to be the next dramatic innovation in health care." Blockchain is the same technology…
Reported by bizjournals 15 hours ago.
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Shannen Doherty Reaches Settlement In Health Insurance Lawsuit With Ex-Manager
Actress Shannen Doherty has reached a settlement in the lawsuit she filed against her former management firm. She alleges the company neglected to pay her insurance premium before terminating its relationship with the star, TMZ reported on Tuesday.
According to documents obtained by the celebrity news site, both sides settled the lawsuit late last week. The amount Doherty received is undisclosed. TMZ states that, before the settlement, the ex-manager’s lawyers attempted to bring Doherty in for a second deposition to question the severity of her illness.
The Huffington Post has reached out to Doherty’s legal representation for more information and will update this post accordingly.
The actress initially sued the company, Tanner Mainstain Glynn & Johnson, last year because she said it was their responsibility “to ensure timely payment of the medical insurance premiums she had through the Screen Actors Guild,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The official complaint obtained by TMZ stated: “In November 2013, SAG sent the premium invoice to Tanner Mainstain for Plaintiff’s medical insurance coverage for the year 2014. However, Defendants ignored it, failed to pay it (without informing Plaintiff) and then promptly terminated their relationship with [Doherty] effective February 7, 2014.”
Doherty became uninsured as soon as she was dropped from the management firm, though she was unaware of that fact. In her complaint, she claimed that, had she been insured and able to visit her doctor, her breast cancer could have been detected earlier or possibly avoided altogether. Instead, she reportedly had to wait until 2015 to re-enroll with SAG insurance, which is when she received her diagnosis.
Since then, Doherty has been very open about her battle with cancer, sharing touching posts on social media and even documenting the process of shaving her head. Earlier in August, she revealed that her cancer has spread during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 13 hours ago.
According to documents obtained by the celebrity news site, both sides settled the lawsuit late last week. The amount Doherty received is undisclosed. TMZ states that, before the settlement, the ex-manager’s lawyers attempted to bring Doherty in for a second deposition to question the severity of her illness.
The Huffington Post has reached out to Doherty’s legal representation for more information and will update this post accordingly.
The actress initially sued the company, Tanner Mainstain Glynn & Johnson, last year because she said it was their responsibility “to ensure timely payment of the medical insurance premiums she had through the Screen Actors Guild,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The official complaint obtained by TMZ stated: “In November 2013, SAG sent the premium invoice to Tanner Mainstain for Plaintiff’s medical insurance coverage for the year 2014. However, Defendants ignored it, failed to pay it (without informing Plaintiff) and then promptly terminated their relationship with [Doherty] effective February 7, 2014.”
Doherty became uninsured as soon as she was dropped from the management firm, though she was unaware of that fact. In her complaint, she claimed that, had she been insured and able to visit her doctor, her breast cancer could have been detected earlier or possibly avoided altogether. Instead, she reportedly had to wait until 2015 to re-enroll with SAG insurance, which is when she received her diagnosis.
Since then, Doherty has been very open about her battle with cancer, sharing touching posts on social media and even documenting the process of shaving her head. Earlier in August, she revealed that her cancer has spread during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 13 hours ago.
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Even the startup trying to disrupt health insurance can't figure out Obamacare
Oscar, the $2.8 billion health insurance startup, is pulling out of some Obamacare exchanges.According to a release from the company on Tuesday, the firm will no longer offer individual market plans through the Affordable Care Act in Dallas, Texas and New Jersey.
"But there are uncertainties in those two markets that will make it challenging for us to operate effectively and continue to deliver access to quality healthcare to all of our members across the country," said the release.
"We hope to return to these markets as we carry on with our mission to change healthcare in the US."
The company has set out to revolutionize the way that people get their health insurance by simplifying the offerings and making them easily accessible in their online platform. Despite the attempts at disruption, it appears to be facing the same challenges that largest insurance providers such as United Healthcare, Aetna, and Humana are facing in the ACA exchanges. All three of those companies have also rolled back a significant chunk of their Obamacare business this year.
In an interview with Bloomberg's Zachary Tracer, Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser said that problems with the exchanges are forcing the firm to focus only on markets they are comfortable with.
“The individual market isn’t working as intended and there are weaknesses in the way it’s been set up,” Schlosser told Bloomberg's Tracer. “We want to focus on the markets we understand well, we want to focus on the markets where we have our own model in place."
Oscar currently covers 7,000 people in Dallas and 26,000 in New Jersey.
In the release, Schlosser said that the company will assist those it currently covers in the two markets to find new plans and expressed concerns over prices in the exchanges.
"We do not reach these decisions lightly, and will do our utmost to help our members in the affected regions find coverage for 2017," said the release.
"We also look forward to seeing the individual market stabilize, allowing us to serve more people across the US in a meaningful way, while maintaining affordable pricing for consumers."
In the same release, the company said it still plans to expand its offerings to the San Francisco market in 2017. The firm also will continue to offer coverage in New York, San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Orange County, California.
*SEE ALSO: Obamacare has gone from the president's greatest achievement to a 'slow-motion death spiral'*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: What abandoned Olympic venues from around the world look like today Reported by Business Insider 13 hours ago.
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Clinton to Offer Plan for Small Businesses
Hillary Clinton is proposing a package of ideas aimed at helping small businesses, including a new standard deduction that could simplify tax filing and improvements to a little-used tax credit for companies that offer workers health insurance.
Reported by Wall Street Journal 2 hours ago.
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5 Important Things Other Than Salary You Should Consider in Your Job Search
Is salary the most important consideration when choosing a job? originally appeared on Quora: the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
*Answer by Paul K. Young, Software Engineer at Google, on Quora:*
Compensation is important; it says a lot about the job and the company. Employers that pay well are likely going to value their employees' time more than those that don't.
*Salary *is only one part of compensation. For some positions it's not even the largest component. For instance, senior positions at big tech companies often have an equity component that equals or exceeds the salary component. Equity can be tricky to understand (a $200k equity package might sound like a lot but if it vests over five years that's $40k annually). Moreover, because of price fluctuations, it's not always clear how it will affect one's overall financial situation.
*Commissions and bonuses *should also be figured into total compensation. As with equity, these figures can be tough to predict. I've known a few recruiters who like to focus on the high end of the upside rather than median values. While it may be possible to get $100k+ in bonuses at Google, the typical developer gets a much more modest 15% of their base salary.
*Benefits *can also play a significant role in the larger financial picture. Google's free breakfast, lunch, and dinner can add up to over $10k of after-tax dollars a year. 401k matching can be another significant advantage. For Google the match is 50%, so for those that max out their contributions, the benefit comes to an extra $9k a year.
Benefits can also be tricky to evaluate. Some benefits are valued differently by different employees. When I was in my 20's I didn't think health insurance was particularly important. Now that I have a daughter I'm much more concerned about it. Plus, our combined healthcare costs are higher than when I was single.
Some benefits have intrinsic value. It's hard to put a monetary value on the ability to do one's laundry at work or to take a nap in a nap pod.
*Location*, at least for some, is just as important as compensation. Not many would be willing to tack on an extra hour or two to their commute. And while some may consider moving to a different area for a better job, there are many who are tied to a particular location due to family or other obligations.
Related to location are the *amount of travel* involved and the *ability to work from home*. Some people love not having to put on pants to go to work. Conversely, who wants to spend half their life in airports?
*Hours* *and schedule flexibility* can also be important factors. Time-shifting to accommodate a long commute, or being able to leave early to pick up the kids can make a big difference in accommodating other aspects of a person's life. Also, whether a job expects 40 hours or 60 hours a week can have a substantial impact on quality of life.
*Company size and stability* are also considerations. Working for a startup comes with the risk that the employee will have to look for another job in a year or two. Large corporations tend to offer more stability but they come with administrative and organizational challenges that can detract from the primary work.
Other factors like corporate culture, knowing other people at the company, or wanting to work with particular individuals in a field may also play a role.This question originally appeared on Quora. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and access insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
More questions:
· Salaries and Wages: How do I negotiate a salary?· Jobs and Careers: What is the importance of planning our career?· Career Advice: What are a few unique pieces of career advice that nobody ever mentions?
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 12 hours ago.
*Answer by Paul K. Young, Software Engineer at Google, on Quora:*
Compensation is important; it says a lot about the job and the company. Employers that pay well are likely going to value their employees' time more than those that don't.
*Salary *is only one part of compensation. For some positions it's not even the largest component. For instance, senior positions at big tech companies often have an equity component that equals or exceeds the salary component. Equity can be tricky to understand (a $200k equity package might sound like a lot but if it vests over five years that's $40k annually). Moreover, because of price fluctuations, it's not always clear how it will affect one's overall financial situation.
*Commissions and bonuses *should also be figured into total compensation. As with equity, these figures can be tough to predict. I've known a few recruiters who like to focus on the high end of the upside rather than median values. While it may be possible to get $100k+ in bonuses at Google, the typical developer gets a much more modest 15% of their base salary.
*Benefits *can also play a significant role in the larger financial picture. Google's free breakfast, lunch, and dinner can add up to over $10k of after-tax dollars a year. 401k matching can be another significant advantage. For Google the match is 50%, so for those that max out their contributions, the benefit comes to an extra $9k a year.
Benefits can also be tricky to evaluate. Some benefits are valued differently by different employees. When I was in my 20's I didn't think health insurance was particularly important. Now that I have a daughter I'm much more concerned about it. Plus, our combined healthcare costs are higher than when I was single.
Some benefits have intrinsic value. It's hard to put a monetary value on the ability to do one's laundry at work or to take a nap in a nap pod.
*Location*, at least for some, is just as important as compensation. Not many would be willing to tack on an extra hour or two to their commute. And while some may consider moving to a different area for a better job, there are many who are tied to a particular location due to family or other obligations.
Related to location are the *amount of travel* involved and the *ability to work from home*. Some people love not having to put on pants to go to work. Conversely, who wants to spend half their life in airports?
*Hours* *and schedule flexibility* can also be important factors. Time-shifting to accommodate a long commute, or being able to leave early to pick up the kids can make a big difference in accommodating other aspects of a person's life. Also, whether a job expects 40 hours or 60 hours a week can have a substantial impact on quality of life.
*Company size and stability* are also considerations. Working for a startup comes with the risk that the employee will have to look for another job in a year or two. Large corporations tend to offer more stability but they come with administrative and organizational challenges that can detract from the primary work.
Other factors like corporate culture, knowing other people at the company, or wanting to work with particular individuals in a field may also play a role.This question originally appeared on Quora. Ask a question, get a great answer. Learn from experts and access insider knowledge. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
More questions:
· Salaries and Wages: How do I negotiate a salary?· Jobs and Careers: What is the importance of planning our career?· Career Advice: What are a few unique pieces of career advice that nobody ever mentions?
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 12 hours ago.
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Insurance company ditches N.J. Obamacare market
While the fledgling health insurance company is expanding into other markets, it is giving up on New Jersey for the time being because of "uncertainties" here.
Reported by NJ.com 11 hours ago.
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