WALTHAM, MA--(Marketwired - January 26, 2017) - CallMiner, the leader in Interaction Analytics solutions, announces today that Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (HII) (NASDAQ: HIIQ), an administrator of affordable web-based health insurance, has selected CallMiner Eureka to gather business intelligence on conversations between HII's licensed and carrier-appointed insurance agents and customers in order to improve the customer experience and verify quality assurance compliance with each purchase.
Reported by Marketwired 7 hours ago.
Health Insurance Innovations Selects CallMiner Interaction Analytics to Build Consumer and Regulatory Confidence
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Citing Opioid Crisis, Obama's Drug Czar Warns Against Repealing Affordable Care Act
WASHINGTON ― During his term as the director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, Michael Botticelli argued that the end of the opioid epidemic would not come about through arrests.
To deal with this crisis ― which has led to record numbers of overdose deaths across the country ― the medical community would need to step up, Botticelli said.
Now, Botticelli, whose final day in office was last Friday, has warned that repealing the Affordable Care Act would roll back whatever fragile progress has been made toward that goal.
The ACA requires not only that addiction treatment be covered by health insurance policies, but that the coverage be on par with other treatments for chronic diseases. Together with the Medicaid expansion, the ACA has also helped states like Vermont fund state-of-the-art diversion programs. In Maryland, it has helped treatment facilities better integrate primary and mental health care.
A repeal of the ACA, as President Donald Trump has promised, would mean disaster for public health officials fighting the opioid epidemic, and for people who are addicted and looking to get treatment.
“I think there is a tremendous amount of fear that we are going to retreat from all of the science and evidence that we know to be true about addiction,” Botticelli told The Huffington Post last week, as the end of his tenure drew near.
Some states that were hit hardest by the epidemic have seen substantial increases in treatment access. According to Health and Human Services data, more and more people are coming into care with insurance.
“In states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, the uninsured share of substance use or mental health disorder hospitalizations fell from about 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 to about 5 percent by mid-2015,” HHS noted.
And among adults with low incomes, the Medicaid expansion led to an 18.3 percent reduction in unmet needs for drug treatment, the department found.
Mental health issues are common among people who struggle with an opioid addiction. The cost of such care has typically been a barrier. But HHS reported that “the share of people foregoing mental health care due to cost has fallen by 33 percent for people with incomes below 138 percent of the poverty level and by 31 percent for people with incomes above 138 and below 400 percent of the federal poverty level.”
As more people signed up for health insurance, they then sought out what is considered evidence-based drug treatment. In other words, the ACA worked as intended. In Ohio, Harvard data shows that almost 50 percent of the spending on buprenorphine ― a medication that has been shown to help prevent overdose deaths ― was paid for by Medicaid last year. In West Virginia, Medicaid covered nearly 45 percent of the spending on buprenorphine. This medication, along with methadone, is widely considered by medical experts to give people addicted to opioids the best chance at recovery.
“Our response to this opioid epidemic has largely been focusing on ‘How do we narrow that treatment gap?’” Botticelli said. “And certainly one of the biggest contributors to narrowing that treatment gap is making sure that people get insurance coverage and have adequate insurance coverage for substance use disorders... We know that care and coverage has been essential to dealing with the epidemic.”
The now-former drug czar added: “I think there’s ample evidence to suggest that those states that have been significantly burdened by the opioid epidemic will be more significantly impacted because of any potential repeal of the ACA.”
If Trump and Congress kill the Affordable Care Act, Botticelli worries about how it would affect people currently in treatment. What would it mean for the people paying for buprenorphine through Medicaid? What it would mean for those in a long-term residential program that they’re paying for with health insurance they got via the ACA? And what would it mean for providers who exist because of Medicaid payments?
“Providers and people in the field that I’ve talked to are really significantly concerned,” Botticelli said. “[We’ve] just really started to make progress on this issue, both in terms of care and coverage, in dealing with this as a public health-related issue.”
-- 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 4 hours ago.
To deal with this crisis ― which has led to record numbers of overdose deaths across the country ― the medical community would need to step up, Botticelli said.
Now, Botticelli, whose final day in office was last Friday, has warned that repealing the Affordable Care Act would roll back whatever fragile progress has been made toward that goal.
The ACA requires not only that addiction treatment be covered by health insurance policies, but that the coverage be on par with other treatments for chronic diseases. Together with the Medicaid expansion, the ACA has also helped states like Vermont fund state-of-the-art diversion programs. In Maryland, it has helped treatment facilities better integrate primary and mental health care.
A repeal of the ACA, as President Donald Trump has promised, would mean disaster for public health officials fighting the opioid epidemic, and for people who are addicted and looking to get treatment.
“I think there is a tremendous amount of fear that we are going to retreat from all of the science and evidence that we know to be true about addiction,” Botticelli told The Huffington Post last week, as the end of his tenure drew near.
Some states that were hit hardest by the epidemic have seen substantial increases in treatment access. According to Health and Human Services data, more and more people are coming into care with insurance.
“In states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, the uninsured share of substance use or mental health disorder hospitalizations fell from about 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 to about 5 percent by mid-2015,” HHS noted.
And among adults with low incomes, the Medicaid expansion led to an 18.3 percent reduction in unmet needs for drug treatment, the department found.
Mental health issues are common among people who struggle with an opioid addiction. The cost of such care has typically been a barrier. But HHS reported that “the share of people foregoing mental health care due to cost has fallen by 33 percent for people with incomes below 138 percent of the poverty level and by 31 percent for people with incomes above 138 and below 400 percent of the federal poverty level.”
As more people signed up for health insurance, they then sought out what is considered evidence-based drug treatment. In other words, the ACA worked as intended. In Ohio, Harvard data shows that almost 50 percent of the spending on buprenorphine ― a medication that has been shown to help prevent overdose deaths ― was paid for by Medicaid last year. In West Virginia, Medicaid covered nearly 45 percent of the spending on buprenorphine. This medication, along with methadone, is widely considered by medical experts to give people addicted to opioids the best chance at recovery.
“Our response to this opioid epidemic has largely been focusing on ‘How do we narrow that treatment gap?’” Botticelli said. “And certainly one of the biggest contributors to narrowing that treatment gap is making sure that people get insurance coverage and have adequate insurance coverage for substance use disorders... We know that care and coverage has been essential to dealing with the epidemic.”
The now-former drug czar added: “I think there’s ample evidence to suggest that those states that have been significantly burdened by the opioid epidemic will be more significantly impacted because of any potential repeal of the ACA.”
If Trump and Congress kill the Affordable Care Act, Botticelli worries about how it would affect people currently in treatment. What would it mean for the people paying for buprenorphine through Medicaid? What it would mean for those in a long-term residential program that they’re paying for with health insurance they got via the ACA? And what would it mean for providers who exist because of Medicaid payments?
“Providers and people in the field that I’ve talked to are really significantly concerned,” Botticelli said. “[We’ve] just really started to make progress on this issue, both in terms of care and coverage, in dealing with this as a public health-related issue.”
-- 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 4 hours ago.
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Cegedim: organic revenue growth picked up in the fourth quarter of 2016
Press Release
Quarterly Financial Information as of December 31, 2016
IFRS - Regulated Information - Not Audited
*Cegedim: organic revenue growth picked up in the fourth quarter of 2016*
· The business model transformation is well under way, and the first positive impacts are visible
· Organic revenue growth amounted to 5.4% in Q4 2016, and 4.4% over the full year
· EBITDA target downgraded to around €60 million
*Disclaimer: Pursuant to IAS 17 as it applies to Cegelease's activities, leases are now classified as financial leases, resulting in adjustments to the Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 2015 figures published in 2015. Readers should refer to the last annexe of this press release for full details of the adjustments. All of the figures in this press release reflect the adjustments. Unless otherwise specified, variations are expressed in comparison with the same period of the previous year.*
*Conference CALL on January 26, 2017, at 6:15PM CET*
*FR* : +33 1 70 77 09 44 *USA* : +1 855 402 7764 *UK* : +44 (0)20 3367 9459 *No access code required*
*The webcast is available at the following address:* bit.ly/2jTIJub
*Boulogne-Billancourt, France, January 26, 2017 at 5:45pm CET*
Cegedim *,* *an innovative technology and services company, posted consolidated Q4 2016 revenues from continuing activities of €122.5 million, up 2.7% on a reported basis and 5.4% like for like compared with the same period in 2015.* *For the full year 2016, revenues came to €440.8 million, up 3.4% on a reported basis and 4.4% like for like compared with the same period in 2015.*
Like-for-like growth at the Health insurance, HR and e-services division picked up yet again in the fourth quarter, to 13.0% following 9.5% in the third quarter, despite the ongoing migration of clients over to SaaS/cloud offerings. On the other hand, the Healthcare professionals division posted a like-for-like decline of 4.2% in the fourth quarter, bringing its decline to 2.8% over the full year. This decline was chiefly attributable to the transition of offerings over to SaaS format, business delays in the US stemming from ongoing reorganization, and the continued impact on UK business, in 2016, of clients awaiting the launch of a new SaaS offer.
The business model transformation initiated in fall 2015 is beginning to pay off, as shown by the increase in like-for-like revenue growth to 5.4% in the fourth quarter and 4.4% over the full year 2016. As a reminder, the Group had revised its forecast upward multiple times during the year and was expecting growth of 4.0%.
In 2016, the transformation project resulted in several changes in senior management within the Healthcare professionals division in the US, UK and France. At the same time, investments devoted to R&D allowed Cegedim to launch a number of new products, notably in SaaS format. For example, the Group began to market its Smart Rx product for French pharmacists, Pulse Cloud Practice Management for US doctors, Vision anywhere for UK doctors, and a full SaaS e-invoicing platform using open source technology. The Group also substantially expanded its BPO offering for US doctors, HR departments and insurance companies, notably signing a major BPO contract with social protection and insurance group KLESIA and at the end of the year with the mutual insurance group YSTIA.
As we noted earlier, the business model transformation is well under way, so growth momentum is expected to pick up in 2017 and lead to improving profitability in the future. We expect to see the full impact of the transformation in 2018. Further out, Cegedim will enjoy greater customer loyalty, closer client relationships, simpler operating processes, more robust offerings and stronger geographic positions. The changes now under way will also boost the share of recurring revenues, improve sales growth and predictability, and enhance the Group's profitability.
As predicted, 2016 was a transitional year. Implementing the transformation plan adversely affected the Group's profitability. Furthermore, Cegedim's management has appointed a new CEO in the US and has decided to change its approach to two disputes with customers in the US. These changes resulted in the Group signing agreements that led to a conversion of receivables into a significant loss in 2016. Because this loss can't be classified as a special item under IFRS, the EBITDA target will not be met in 2016.
* Revenue trends by division *
· Fourth quarter 2016 highlights
*Fourth quarter*
In € millions 2016 2015 Chg. L-f-l Chg. Reported
Health insurance, HR and e-services 77.1 68.5 +13.0% +12.5%
Healthcare professionals 44.4 49.3 (4.2)% (9.9)%
Activities not allocated 1.0 1.4 (33.5)% (33.5)%
*Cegedim* *122.5* *119.3* *+5.4%* *+2.7%*
In the fourth quarter of 2016, Cegedim posted consolidated revenues from continuing activities of €122.5 million, up 2.7% on a reported basis. Excluding an unfavorable currency translation effect of 2.6%, revenues rose 5.4%. There was no impact from acquisitions or divestments.
In like-for-like terms the Health Insurance, HR and e-services division's revenues rose by 13.0%, whereas the Healthcare professionals division's revenues fell by 4.2%.
· FY 2016 highlights
*Full year*
In € millions 2016 2015 Chg. L-f-l Chg. Reported
Health insurance, HR and e-services 262.3 234.7 +10.5% +11.8%
Healthcare professionals 175.2 187.2 (2.8)% (6.4)%
Activities not allocated 3.3 4.2 (21.6)% (21.6)%
*Cegedim* *440.8* *426.2* *+4.4%* *+3.4%*
Over the full year 2016, Cegedim posted consolidated revenues from continuing activities of €440.8 million, up 3.4% on a reported basis. Excluding an unfavorable currency translation effect of 1.7% and a 0.8% boost from acquisitions, revenues rose 4.4%.
In like-for-like terms the Health Insurance, HR and e-services division's revenues rose by 10.5%, whereas the Healthcare professionals division's revenues fell by 2.8%.
* Analysis of business trends by division *
· Health insurance, HR and e-services
*The division's Q4 2016 revenues came to €77.1 million, up 12.5% on a reported basis. There was no impact from acquisitions or divestments. Currency effects made a negative contribution of 0.5%. Like-for-like revenues rose 13.0% over the period.*
*The division's 2016 revenues came to €262.3 million, up 11.8% on a reported basis.* *The July 2015 acquisition of* * Activus * *in the UK made a positive contribution of 1.4%.* *Currencies had virtually no impact.* *Like-for-like revenues rose 10.5% over the period.*
*The* * Health insurance, HR and e-services * *division represented 59.5% of consolidated revenues from continuing activities, compared with 55.1% over the same period a year earlier* *.*
This significant 2016 revenue growth was chiefly attributable to:
· Cegedim Insurance Solutions , with double-digit growth in the iGestion BPO business for health insurance companies and mutual insurers, continued robust growth in the third party payment flow management activity, and a very fine performance in software and services devoted to the personal protection insurance sector, including double-digit growth in the fourth quarter despite the impact of transitioning to SaaS format.
· Excellent momentum at the Cegedim e-business unit, and a strong acceleration in the fourth quarter. In addition, Cegedim e-business fully benefited from the start of operations with new clients on its Global Information Services SaaS platform for digital data exchanges, including payment platforms.
· The start of operations with numerous clients on the Cegedim SRH SaaS platform for human resources management, resulting in double-digit revenue growth over the full year.
· Healthcare professionals
*The division's Q4 2016 revenues came to €44.4 million, down 9.9% on a reported basis. Currency effects made a negative contribution of 5.7%. There was no impact from acquisitions or divestments. Like-for-like revenues fell 4.2% over the period.*
*The division's 2016 revenues came to €175.2 million, down 6.4% on a reported basis. Currency effects made a negative contribution of 3.7%. There was no impact from acquisitions or divestments. Like-for-like revenues fell 2.8% over the period.*
*The* * Healthcare professionals * *division represented 39.7% of consolidated revenues from continuing activities, compared with 43.9% over the same period a year earlier.*
The decline in revenues in 2016 and in the last quarter was chiefly attributable to:
· The transition of clients in certain markets, who are increasingly attracted to cloud-based offerings, over to SaaS versions;
· In the UK, the fact that the Group only began marketing the new SaaS offering to doctors in January 2017;
· The September 2016 release in France of the new Smart Rx offering - a comprehensive pharmacy management solution built around a hybrid architecture that combines local and cloud-based computing. The new solution allows networks amongst individual pharmacies and links with healthcare professionals. The launch of this new offering, combined with implementation of a new organization, should enable this business to return to growth in the months ahead.
These performances were partially offset by:
· Double-digit growth at Pulse over the full year, despite a contraction in the last quarter owing to the postponement of certain projects, mainly related to the unit's RCM offerings. The Group has implemented a new, more responsive organization that should enable the business to return to a path of sustainable growth, particularly in BPO.
· Robust growth in products and services designed for physical therapists and nurses in France;
· Double-digit growth at Cegelease , which offers financial leases.
· Activities not allocated
*The division's Q4 2016 revenues came to €1.0 million, down 33.5% on a reported basis and like for like. There were no currency effects and no acquisitions or divestments.*
*The division's 2016 revenues came to €3.3 million, down 21.6% on a reported basis and like for like. There were no currency effects and no acquisitions or divestments.*
*The* * Activities not allocated * *division represented 0.7% of consolidated revenues from continuing activities, compared with 1.0% over the same period a year earlier.*
This trend reflects the return to a normal level of billing.
* Highlights *
Apart from the items cited below, to the best of the company's knowledge, there were no events or changes during the period that would materially alter the Group's financial situation.
· New credit facility
In January 2016, the Group took out a new five-year revolving credit facility (RCF) of €200 million. The applicable interest rate for this credit facility is Euribor plus a margin. The Euribor rate can be the 1-, 3- or 6- month rate; if Euribor is below zero, it will be deemed to be equal to zero. The margin can range from 0.70% to 1.40% depending on the leverage ratio calculated semi-annually in June and December (Refer to point 2.4.1.1 on page 14 of the Q2-2016 Quarterly Financial Report).
· Exercise of the call option on the entire 2020 bond
On April 1, 2016, Cegedim exercised its call option on the entire 6.75% 2020 bond with ISIN code XS0906984272 and XS0906984355, for a total principal amount of €314,814,000.00 and a price of 105.0625%, i.e. a total premium of €15,937,458.75. The company then cancelled these securities. The transaction was financed by drawing a portion of the RCF obtained in January 2016 and using the proceeds of the sale to IMS Health. Following this transaction, the Group's debt comprised the €45.1 million FCB subordinated loan, the partially drawn €200 million RCF, and overdraft facilities.
· S&P has raised Cegedim's rating to BB with stable outlook
After Cegedim announced that it would redeem the entire 6.75% 2020 bond, rating agency Standard and Poor's raised the company's rating on April 28, 2016, to BB with a stable outlook.
· Acquisition of Futuramedia Group
Cegedim announced on November 2, 2016, that it had signed a heads of agreement to acquire Futuramedia Group . This deal will strengthen the digital offerings of its subsidiary RNP , which specializes in pharmacy displays in France. The acquisition was completed on November 30, 2016.
In 2015, Futuramedia Group generated revenues of around €5.4 million. It will have an accretive impact on Cegedim Group's margins and began contributing to the Group's consolidation scope from January 1, 2017.
· Kadrige sale
The Kadrige business was sold to IMS Health on November 9, 2016.
* Significant post-closing transactions and events *
Apart from the items cited below, to the best of the company's knowledge, there were no events or changes after the accounts were closed that would materially alter the Group's financial situation.
· Euris litigation
Cegedim has just received a summons from Euris stemming from a decision by the Competition Authority announced in 2015. Cegedim would like to emphasize that it has appealed the decision and a ruling is still pending at the Court of Cassation.
* Outlook *
As predicted, 2016 was a transitional year. Implementing the transformation plan adversely affected the Group's profitability. Furthermore, Cegedim's management has appointed a new CEO in the US and has decided to change its approach to two disputes with customers in the US. These changes resulted in the Group signing agreements that led to a conversion of receivables into a significant loss in 2016. Because this loss can't be classified as a special item under IFRS, the EBITDA target will not be met in 2016. It should be close to €60 million.
The business model transformation is well under way, so growth momentum is expected to pick up in 2017 and lead to improving profitability in the future. We expect to see the full impact of the transformation in 2018.
The Group meets all its bank covenants as of December 2016.
The Group does not expect any significant acquisitions in 2017 and does not disclose profit projections or estimates.
· Potential impact of Brexit
In 2015, the UK represented 15.1% of consolidated Group revenue and 19.2% of Group EBIT.
Cegedim operates in the UK in local currency, as it does in all the countries where it operates. Thus, the impact on the consolidated Group EBIT margin should be marginal.
With regard to healthcare policy, the Group has not identified any major European programs at work in the UK and expects UK policy to be only marginally affected by Brexit.
· Quarterly statements
In 2017, Cegedim will only publish half-year and annual results. It will, however, continue to publish quarterly revenues.
The figures cited above include guidance on Cegedim 's future financial performances. This forward-looking information is based on the opinions and assumptions of the Group's senior management at the time this press release is issued and naturally entails risks and uncertainty. For more information on the risks facing Cegedim , please refer to points 2.4, "Risk factors and insurance", and 3.7, "Outlook", of the 2015 Registration Document filed with the AMF on March 31, 2016, as well as point 2.4, "Risk factors", of the Interim Financial Reports for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 2016.
*
March 22, 2017 * , after market closing
*March 23, 2017* , at 10:00am CET
*April 27, 2017* , after market closing *
* Full year 2016 earnings
Analyst meeting (SFAF meeting)
Q1 2017 revenues
* Financial calendar *
*January 26, 2017, at 6:15pm* *(Paris time)*
The Group will hold a conference call hosted by Jan Eryk Umiastowski, Cegedim Chief Investment Officer and Head of Investor Relations.
The webcast is available at the following address: bit.ly/2jTIJub
The Q4 and FY 2016 revenue presentation is available at:
The website: http://www.cegedim.fr/finance/documentation/Pages/presentations.aspx
The Group's financial communications app, Cegedim IR. To download the app, visit: http://www.cegedim.fr/finance/profil/Pages/CegedimIR.aspx
*Contact numbers* *:* *France:* +33 1 70 77 09 44
*United States:* +1 855 402 7764
*UK and others:* +44 (0)20 3367 9459 *No access code required**Annexe*
* Breakdown of revenue by quarter and division *
· Year 2016
In € thousands Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Health insurance, HR and e-services 59,728 64,847 60,607 77,143 262,325
Healthcare professionals 45,687 43,676 41,459 44,404 175,226
Activities not allocated 793 778 770 954 3,295
*Cegedim* *106,208* *109,301* *102,836* *122,501* *440,846*
· Year 2015
In € thousands Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Health insurance, HR and e-services 53,712 57,000 55,453 68,553 234,719
Healthcare professionals 45,931 48,093 43,932 49,282 187,238
Activities not allocated 825 1,100 843 1,433 4,201
*Cegedim* *100,468* *106,193* *100,228* *119,268* *426,158*
* Breakdown of revenue by geographic zone and division *
· As of December 31, 2016
In € thousands France EMEA excl. France Americas APAC
Health insurance, HR and e-services 96.3% 3.7% - -
Healthcare professionals 58.9% 32.4% 8.6% -
Activities not allocated 99.5% 0.5% - -
*Cegedim* * * *81.5%* *15.1%* *3.4%* *-*
* Breakdown of revenue by currency and division *
· As of December 31, 2016
In € thousands Euro USD GBP Others
Health insurance, HR and e-services 96.3% - 2.5% 1.2%
Healthcare professionals 62.2% 8.5% 28.2% 1.1%
Activities not allocated 100.0% - - -
*Cegedim* * * *82.8%* *3.4%* *12.7%* *1.2%*
* Restatement of the accounting treatment of the financial lease business in the group consolidated financial statement *
Cegelease is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cegedim, which since 2001 has offered financing options through a variety of contracts dedicated to pharmacies and healthcare professionals in France. Initially, these solutions were aimed at serving pharmacists who preferred to lease the pharmacy management software they bought from the Cegedim group rather than pay up front. Over time, Cegelease has diversified its activities. Having started as the exclusive financial lease provider for Cegedim group products, Cegelease is now a broker proposing a variety of leasing solutions (for group products as well as products developed by third parties) to a variety of clients (including clients who are not already in business with other group entities).
After the sale of its CRM and strategic data business to IMS Health , Cegedim investigated these activities in depth and found that they had to be reclassified pursuant to IAS 17 on March 23, 2016, when the 2015 accounts were published. All the impacts on previous accounts are indicated in the 2015 Registration Document filed with the AMF on March 31, 2016, in Chapter 4.4, point 1.3, pages 89 to 94. Impacts on the first, second, third and fourth quarters and on the full year 2015 consolidated financial statements are described below.
· First quarter 2015 revenue by division
In € thousand * Q1 2015
reported * IFRS 5 impact for Cegedim Kadrige Restatement of leases Division aggregate * Q1 2015
restated *
* * (1) (2) (3) * *
Health insurance, HR and e-services 54,004 (292) - - 53,712
Healthcare professionals 37,187 - - 8,744 45,931
Cegelease 29,293 - (20,549) (8,744) -
Activities not allocated 825 - - - 825
*Cegedim* * * *121,309* *(292)* *(20,549)* *-* *100,468*
· Second quarter 2015 revenue by division
In € thousand * Q2 2015
reported * IFRS 5 impact for Cegedim Kadrige Restatement of leases Division aggregate * Q2 2015
restated *
* * (1) (2) (3) * *
Health insurance, HR and e-services 57,546 (546) - - 57,000
Healthcare professionals 39,352 - - 8,741 48,093
Cegelease 26,842 - (18,101) (8,741) -
Activities not allocated 1,100 - - - 1,100
*Cegedim* * * *124,839* *(546)* *(18,101)* *-* *106,193*
· Third quarter 2015 revenue by division
In € thousand * Q3 2015
reported * IFRS 5 impact for Cegedim Kadrige Restatement of leases Division aggregate * Q3 2015
restated *
* * (1) (2) (3) * *
Health insurance, HR and e-services 55,912 (459) - - 55,453
Healthcare professionals 36,456 - - 7,476 43,932
Cegelease 27,208 - (19,731) (7,476) -
Activities not allocated 843 - - - 843
*Cegedim* * * *120,419* *(459)* *(19,731)* ** *100,228*
· Fourth quarter 2015 revenue by division
In € thousand * Q4 2015
reported * IFRS 5 impact for Cegedim Kadrige Restatement of leases Division aggregate * Q4 2015
restated *
* * (1) (2) (3) * *
Health insurance, HR and e-services 69,103 (550) - - 68,553
Healthcare professionals 39,139 - - 10,144 49,282
Cegelease 33,701 - (23,557) (10,144) -
Activities not allocated 1,433 - - - 1,433
*Cegedim* * * *143,375* *(550)* *(23,557)* ** *119,268*· Full year 2015 revenue by division
In € thousand * FY 2015
reported * IFRS 5 impact for Cegedim Kadrige Restatement of leases Division aggregate * FY 2015
restated *
* * (1) (2) (3) * *
Health insurance, HR and e-services 236,564 (1,846) - - 234,719
Healthcare professionals 152,134 - - 35,105 187,238
Cegelease 117,043 - (81,938) (35,105) -
Activities not allocated 4,201 - - - 4,201
*Cegedim* * * *509,942* *(1,846)* *(81,938)* ** *426,158*
(1) The Cegedim Group decided to sell the Kadrige activities. These activities are thus isolated in separate lines of the profit and loss statement and balance sheet, according to the IFRS 5 accounting standard.
(2) The correct accounting treatment of the Cegelease finance lease business, for all types of contracts (self-financed, sold except process management, or backed by a bank), requires a downward restatement of the Q1 2015 consolidated revenue by €21m, the Q2 2015 consolidated revenue by €18m, the Q3 2015 consolidated revenue by €20m and the Q4 2015 consolidated revenue by €24m.
(3) The financial lease business accounts for less than 10% of the consolidated revenue or EBITDA, and as such is no longer isolated within the Group internal reporting. These activities are reported into the "Healthcare professionals" division, where they were classified prior to the 2014 annual closing.
*Activities not allocated:* this division encompasses the activities the Group performs as the parent company of a listed entity, as well as the support it provides to the three operating divisions.
*EPS:* Earnings Per Share is a specific financial indicator defined by the Group as the net profit (loss) for the period divided by the weighted average of the number of shares in circulation.
*Operating expenses:* defined as purchases used, external expenses and payroll costs.
*Revenue at constant exchange rate:* when changes in revenue at constant exchange rate are referred to, it means that the impact of exchange rate fluctuations has been excluded. The term "at constant exchange rate" covers the fluctuation resulting from applying the exchange rates for the preceding period to the current fiscal year, all other factors remaining equal.
*Revenue on a like-for-like basis:* the effect of changes in scope is corrected by restating the sales for the previous period as follows:
· by removing the portion of sales originating in the entity or the rights acquired for a period identical to the period during which they were held to the current period;
· similarly, when an entity is transferred, the sales for the portion in question in the previous period are eliminated.
*Life-for-like data:* at constant scope and exchange rates.
*Internal growth:* internal growth covers growth resulting from the development of an existing contract, particularly due to an increase in rates and/or the volumes distributed or processed, new contracts, acquisitions of assets allocated to a contract or a specific project.
*External growth:* external growth covers acquisitions during the current fiscal year, as well as those which have had a partial impact on the previous fiscal year, net of sales of entities and/or assets.
*EBIT:* Earnings Before Interest and Taxes. EBIT corresponds to net revenue minus operating expenses (such as salaries, social charges, materials, energy, research, services, external services, advertising, etc.). It is the operating income for the Cegedim Group.
*EBIT before special items:* this is EBIT restated to take account of non-current items, such as losses on tangible and intangible assets, restructuring, etc. It corresponds to the operating income from recurring operations for the Cegedim Group.
*EBITDA:* Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is the term used when amortization or depreciation and revaluations are not taken into account. "D" stands for depreciation of tangible assets (such as buildings, machines or vehicles), while "A" stands for amortization of intangible assets (such as patents, licenses and goodwill). EBITDA is restated to take account of non-current items, such as losses on tangible and intangible assets, restructuring, etc. It corresponds to the gross operating earnings from recurring operations for the Cegedim Group.
*Net Financial Debt:* this represents the Company's net debt (non-current and current financial debt, bank loans, debt restated at amortized cost and interest on loans) net of cash and cash equivalents and excluding revaluation of debt derivatives.
*Free cash flow:* free cash flow is cash generated, net of the cash part of the following items: (i) changes in working capital requirements, (ii) transactions on equity (changes in capital, dividends paid and received), (iii) capital expenditure net of transfers, (iv) net financial interest paid and (v) taxes paid.
*EBIT margin:* defined as the ratio of EBIT/revenue.
*EBIT margin* *before special items:* defined as the ratio of EBIT before special items/revenue.
*Net cash:* defined as cash and cash equivalent minus overdraft.
*Glossary*
*The English-language version of this document is a free translation of the original, which was prepared in French. All possible care has been taken to ensure that the translation is an accurate representation of the original. However, in all matters of interpretation of the information, views or opinions expressed herein, the original language version of the document in French takes precedence over this translation.*
About Cegedim:
Founded in 1969, Cegedim is an innovative technology and services company in the field of digital data flow management for healthcare ecosystems and B2B, and a business software publisher for healthcare and insurance professionals. Cegedim employs more than 4,000 people in 11 countries and generated revenue of €441 million in 2016. Cegedim SA is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: CGM).
To learn more, please visit: www.cegedim.com
And follow Cegedim on Twitter: @CegedimGroup
*
* *Aude Balleydier*
* Cegedim
* Media Relations
and Communications Manager
Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 09 68 81
aude.balleydier@cegedim.com *
* *Jan Eryk Umiastowski*
*Cegedim*
Chief Investment Officer
and head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +33 (0)1 49 09 33 36
janeryk.umiastowski@cegedim.com *
* *Guillaume de Chamisso*
*PRPA Agency*
Media Relations
Tel.: +33 (0)1 77 35 60 99
guillaume.dechamisso@prpa.fr
Cegedim_TO_4Q2016
--------------------This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Cegedim SA via GlobeNewswire
HUG#2073784 Reported by GlobeNewswire 2 hours ago.
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Trump made a massive promise about his Obamacare replacement
President Donald Trump promised Wednesday to deliver better healthcare and cheaper costs and coverage for every person in the US in an interview with ABC News, raising the stakes in how he will address the future of healthcare in the US.For one thing, Trump told ABC's David Muir that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, is a disaster — a line the president has used before and after his election.
"It's too expensive," Trump said. "It's horrible healthcare. It doesn't cover what you have to cover. It's a disaster. You know it and I know it."
Trump also correctly pointed out that certain states — he cited Arizona and Minnesota — are seeing large increases in premiums in their ACA individual market exchanges.
To remedy this, Trump made a number of promises about what the Obamacare replacement would entail.
He said he wants "much better coverage at much less cost" and "much better healthcare plans at much less money."
Yet perhaps the largest promise from Trump was the number of people he suggested his replacement would cover. Since the ACA's passage, more than 20 million Americans have gained access to health insurance, and the uninsured rate has hit its lowest point ever.
Despite these gains, Trump said he doesn't think the ACA has provided enough people with coverage. He told Muir his replacement will cover those the ACA has not.
"It's going to be — what my plan is is that I want to take care of everybody," said Trump. "I'm not going to leave the lower 20% that can't afford insurance." (Only about 10% of the US population no longer has coverage.)
Trump reiterated his promise later in the interview.
"So I want to make sure that nobody's dying on the streets when I'm president," Trump said. "Nobody's going to be dying on the streets. We will unleash something that's going to be terrific."
Muir pressed the president on whether a replacement would mean that no one who has gained coverage because of the ACA would lose it.
"We want no one. We want the answer to be no one," Trump said, though he admitted such a feat would be difficult.
So far, a flurry of proposals put forward by Republicans — including two Senate bills introduced by GOP lawmakers in the past week — do not appear to maintain coverage for Americans with coverage under the ACA, much less guarantee it for all Americans.
Additionally, most Republicans — from House Speaker Paul Ryan to Trump's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price — have talked about providing "access" to coverage for all Americans, but have stopped short of promising that all people will have coverage.
Health-policy analysts have said that these three promises are also in conflict with one another. To expand coverage — especially to every single American — the cost to the government would have to increase, not decrease, in order to fund tax credits and coverage-expansion programs.
Republicans have begun the process of repealing the ACA and are in Philadelphia over the next few days to, among other things, craft a replacement.
*SEE ALSO: Rand Paul just introduced his Obamacare Replacement Act*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: 'The largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period': Trump press secretary disputes reports of low turnout at inauguration Reported by Business Insider 2 hours ago.
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Northwestern University medical students plan Obamacare protest
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine students and faculty will move into activist mode next Monday to protest the likely repeal of the Affordable Care Act, more familiarly known as Obamacare. President Trump has signaled Obamacare is going, even as he and members of Congress still are not sure what kind of health insurance will replace it. And that uncertainty is largely what is driving the Northwestern faculty and medical students to hold an event at noon on Jan. 30 called "White…
Reported by bizjournals 1 hour ago.
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Overhauling Obamacare could lead to spike in medical debt collections
More people have health insurance than ever before, but many still struggle to pay for care. According to a new report, medical debt is the No. 1 reason consumers reported being contacted by a collection agency. If efforts to overhaul the Affordable Care Act result in more people losing their coverage, those numbers could rise.
Reported by CNNMoney 5 minutes ago.
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ACA health plans sign-up event this weekend in Hampton
A health care sign-up events will be held in Hampton this weekend to help local residents sign up for plans in the state's Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.
Hosted by Celebrate Healthcare, a Peninsula-based health advocacy group, attendees will be able to sign up for health insurance... Reported by dailypress.com 23 hours ago.
Hosted by Celebrate Healthcare, a Peninsula-based health advocacy group, attendees will be able to sign up for health insurance... Reported by dailypress.com 23 hours ago.
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Trump Acts To Sabotage Obamacare Enrollment, Days Before Deadline
President Donald Trump isn’t waiting for Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
He’s trying to undermine it right now.
Politico’s Paul Demko reported on Thursday evening that the Department of Health and Human Services has halted all outreach efforts, including television advertising and direct email designed to encourage people to enroll in Obamacare plans.
The Obama administration had already paid for the advertising. An HHS spokesperson told Demko that the Trump administration had decided to cancel the final installment, worth about $5 million, in order “to look for efficiencies where they exist.”
The timing is critical. The open enrollment period for 2017 ends next week, on Jan. 31, and traditionally, signups have surged in the final days before the deadline.
Those late signups don’t merely boost the program’s enrollment numbers. They also help insurers to hold down premiums.
That’s because insurance depends on premiums from healthy people to underwrite the medical bills of the small minority with serious health problems. And people in relatively good health are precisely the types to postpone enrolling until the very last minute.
The news comes just hours after Trump addressed fellow Republicans in Philadelphia, and repeated an argument he and other GOP leaders have made many times: that the Affordable Care is collapsing because insurers, unable to attract a balanced risk pool, have been losing money, raising prices, and in some cases pulling out of markets altogether.
Reality is actually quite different. Although insurers in many states have struggled, markets in other states are stable. Recent news suggests that this year’s steep price increases for some may be a one-time correction.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance has plummeted to a historic low and, this year, enrollment has actually been running slightly ahead of last year’s pace.
At least, it had been running ahead ― until now.
Kevin Counihan, who was chief executive officer for HealthCare.gov and before that managed the state exchange in Connecticut, warned that halting outreach now could undermine the program in the future.
“The Trump administration’s outrageous decision tonight to sabotage open enrollment will mean coverage could cost more next year and insurers could drop out of the marketplace,” Counihan said.
“Having health insurance is still law of the land,” Counihan said. “If the president and Republicans in Congress want to change that, they should come up with a plan and show it to the American people, rather than depriving Americans of the chance to sign up for coverage and financial assistance they remain eligible for.”
Efforts to reach HHS communications staff after business hours on Thursday were not successful.
-- 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 20 hours ago.
He’s trying to undermine it right now.
Politico’s Paul Demko reported on Thursday evening that the Department of Health and Human Services has halted all outreach efforts, including television advertising and direct email designed to encourage people to enroll in Obamacare plans.
The Obama administration had already paid for the advertising. An HHS spokesperson told Demko that the Trump administration had decided to cancel the final installment, worth about $5 million, in order “to look for efficiencies where they exist.”
The timing is critical. The open enrollment period for 2017 ends next week, on Jan. 31, and traditionally, signups have surged in the final days before the deadline.
Those late signups don’t merely boost the program’s enrollment numbers. They also help insurers to hold down premiums.
That’s because insurance depends on premiums from healthy people to underwrite the medical bills of the small minority with serious health problems. And people in relatively good health are precisely the types to postpone enrolling until the very last minute.
The news comes just hours after Trump addressed fellow Republicans in Philadelphia, and repeated an argument he and other GOP leaders have made many times: that the Affordable Care is collapsing because insurers, unable to attract a balanced risk pool, have been losing money, raising prices, and in some cases pulling out of markets altogether.
Reality is actually quite different. Although insurers in many states have struggled, markets in other states are stable. Recent news suggests that this year’s steep price increases for some may be a one-time correction.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance has plummeted to a historic low and, this year, enrollment has actually been running slightly ahead of last year’s pace.
At least, it had been running ahead ― until now.
Kevin Counihan, who was chief executive officer for HealthCare.gov and before that managed the state exchange in Connecticut, warned that halting outreach now could undermine the program in the future.
“The Trump administration’s outrageous decision tonight to sabotage open enrollment will mean coverage could cost more next year and insurers could drop out of the marketplace,” Counihan said.
“Having health insurance is still law of the land,” Counihan said. “If the president and Republicans in Congress want to change that, they should come up with a plan and show it to the American people, rather than depriving Americans of the chance to sign up for coverage and financial assistance they remain eligible for.”
Efforts to reach HHS communications staff after business hours on Thursday were not successful.
-- 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 20 hours ago.
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Another Bogus Obamacare Argument From Donald Trump And Paul Ryan
If you’ve heard a Republican talk about the Affordable Care Act lately, then you’ve almost certainly heard that the law is imploding, collapsing, in a death spiral or a combination of the three.
Here, for example, was House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in a Wednesday evening interview with Greta Van Susteren on MSNBC: “Obamacare is collapsing under its own weight.... It’s already going away. Obamacare is leaving.”
President Donald Trump made similar remarks at a Republican Party retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, when he boasted that acting quickly to repeal the law would do the Democrats a favor because the program was bound to fall apart on its own.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus ― pretty much every Republican with power in Washington right now ― has said something along these lines.
Of course, Republicans have been predicting Obamacare’s demise since it became law in 2010. But now that Trump is in the White House and the Republicans in Congress are proceeding with their plan to repeal the law, sooner rather than later, the argument has new political value.
If the program’s collapse is imminent, as they say, then there’s no point in worrying about the roughly 20 million people who now get coverage through the program. Because, under this scenario, no matter what Republicans do, those folks are going to end up without decent coverage.
And if the end result of repeal efforts is a disaster ― with millions more uninsured, millions more struggling with less reliable or less comprehensive coverage than they had ― Republicans can always say things would have been awful anyway.
The logic is sound. The premise, that Obamacare is unraveling, is not.
Why (Some) Obamacare Marketplaces Are Struggling
Obamacare’s marketplaces, where people without employer-based insurance can buy private policies, have certainly had some problems. But whether they are modest and fleeting or serious and ongoing, or somewhere in between, depends on whom you ask.
When the law first took full effect, with all the new rules for selling coverage, insurers had to guess at what policies consumers would buy and at what price. It turns out most of them misjudged the market, with some of them misjudging it badly. They ended up attracting fewer healthy people and more unhealthy people than they anticipated, leaving them with premiums too low to cover the big medical bills they were suddenly paying. The insurers lost money, and, by last year, they had enough data to see it wasn’t a fluke.
A few carriers responded by withdrawing plans altogether (although a federal judge recently concluded that one insurer, Aetna, also had other motives). The rest increased premiums, sometimes severely ― creating a bunch of scary headlines and giving Republicans like Ryan and Trump the opportunity to bash the Affordable Care Act as an actuarial apocalypse. Frequently they would say the system was in a “death spiral.”
Many actuaries cringe at such references, because, as Danny Vinik noted recently in Politico, “death spiral” is actually a term they use to describe a very specific set of circumstances that cannot really exist with the Affordable Care Act, at least in its current structure. A death spiral happens when insurers must repeatedly raise premiums in order to cover losses from patients with high medical bills, with each new increase scaring away more healthy customers, thereby creating new losses and forcing the insurers to raise premiums again ― until eventually only very sick people willing to pay astronomical premiums stay with the program.
The Affordable Care Act is not really vulnerable to this because it offers financial assistance in the form of refundable tax credits, limiting what low- and middle-income individuals pay for basic policies no matter how high the premiums go. That basically guarantees that insurers will have a critical mass of healthy people paying premiums. As long as the individual mandate remains in place, imposing financial penalties on people who decline to get coverage, a death spiral is even less likely.
A more realistic possibility is that the market deterioration of the past year continues, with yet more insurers abandoning markets and those remaining raising premiums even further, to the point that only people with subsidies find it attractive. It’d be a lousy deal for the more affluent, and it’d mean higher costs for the government.
This would represent a major failure of the law, and Gail Wilensky, a well-respected health economist who was director of Medicare and Medicaid in the George H.W. Bush administration, is among those who thinks it’s a very real possibility, given the state of the exchanges right now.
“They are clearly still in churn and unstable as of now, the fourth year of enrollment,” Wilensky told The Huffington Post. “Little insurer choice and unaffordable premiums would be ― and sometimes is now ― the outcome.”
Why The Markets May Be Stronger Going Forward
But even the pessimistic experts agree that it’s too early to know whether that’s going to happen ― or, for that matter, where.
A key point the Republicans never mention is that Obamacare isn’t one program. It’s 51 programs, one for each state plus the District of Columbia. In states like Arizona and Tennessee, premiums spiked and insurer choice dwindled this year. But in states like California and Michigan, the markets are operating smoothly and most consumers shopping on the exchanges still have a wide variety of options.
“[Critics] use the most problematic of the 51 markets ― and even specific instances within given markets, such as particular insurance companies or counties ― as evidence that all the exchanges are in trouble,” says Paul Hughes-Cromwick, a health economist at the nonprofit Altarum Institute research group. “We believe the individual market does, in fact, need some help, but it is neither about to collapse nor do its problems mean that Obamacare … is ‘collapsing under its own weight.’” Hughes-Cromwick went on to call such arguments “absurd.”
In December, the White House Council of Economic Advisers published a report arguing that this year’s increases were largely a one-time correction. It noted, among other things, that this was the first year that insurers had a full year’s worth of data, based on claims that beneficiaries filed, on which to base premiums. This was also the year when a program designed to cover unexpected insurer losses during the early years of operation expired. (A second such program never paid out most of its money, because Republicans insisted on defunding it.)
Meanwhile, for all the talk about high premiums, they are right about where the Congressional Budget Office originally expected them to be. And, as a recent Urban Institute report showed, premiums are roughly on par or even a little cheaper than the premiums for employer insurance, once you adjust for the different levels of benefits.
Enrollment this year looks like it will be roughly even with last year’s enrollment or maybe even a little higher. If the marketplaces were crumbling, enrollment would be starting to fall. And just last month, S&P Global Ratings projected stronger insurer performance next year ― and even stronger performance the year after that.
As Paul Ginsburg, a prominent health economist at the University of Southern California, said, predictions of an imminent Obamacare collapse are “totally at odds with the recent analysis from S&P, which shows the exchanges stabilizing, with insurers having experienced improved results in 2016.”
Why The Real Threat To The Marketplaces May Be Trump
David Anderson, who until recently was an official at the UPMC Health Plan in Pennsylvania and is now an analyst at Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy, agrees. “The Affordable Care Act is fundamentally stable in most states. Enrollment has been increasing and insurers are projecting better results. Insurers with effective strategies tailored to local demand for high-quality, low-cost health care have been able to show profitability on the exchanges.”
Uwe Reinhardt, a health economist at Princeton University, concurs. “The exchanges are not collapsing on their own weight,” he said. Jon Kingsdale, former director of the Massachusetts exchange and now a director at the Wakely Consulting Group, feels the same way. “With national enrollment increasing each year since 2014 ― and a full decade of market stability under much the same reforms in Massachusetts ― there is little evidence for [Ryan’s] contention,” Kingsdale said.
Of course, Kingsdale noted, making the argument that Obamacare is already collapsing “does offer an obvious political advantage: Republicans can blame what they do in 2017 to destroy coverage for millions of Americans on the ACA itself.” Republicans could accomplish this legislatively or maybe even through executive authority, by refusing to apply the mandate penalty or other elements of the law they don’t like.
It’s worth mentioning that even if Obamacare markets were imploding, not just in some states but all states, and even if that implosion meant there were no insurers left ― in other words, even if you imagine a scenario much worse than any expert takes seriously ― that would account for only a portion of the people getting health insurance through the program.
At least half and probably more of the newly insured are getting coverage through Medicaid, a program that the government operates and that won’t be going anywhere ― unless, of course, Republicans decide to get rid of it.
-- 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 19 hours ago.
Here, for example, was House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in a Wednesday evening interview with Greta Van Susteren on MSNBC: “Obamacare is collapsing under its own weight.... It’s already going away. Obamacare is leaving.”
President Donald Trump made similar remarks at a Republican Party retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, when he boasted that acting quickly to repeal the law would do the Democrats a favor because the program was bound to fall apart on its own.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus ― pretty much every Republican with power in Washington right now ― has said something along these lines.
Of course, Republicans have been predicting Obamacare’s demise since it became law in 2010. But now that Trump is in the White House and the Republicans in Congress are proceeding with their plan to repeal the law, sooner rather than later, the argument has new political value.
If the program’s collapse is imminent, as they say, then there’s no point in worrying about the roughly 20 million people who now get coverage through the program. Because, under this scenario, no matter what Republicans do, those folks are going to end up without decent coverage.
And if the end result of repeal efforts is a disaster ― with millions more uninsured, millions more struggling with less reliable or less comprehensive coverage than they had ― Republicans can always say things would have been awful anyway.
The logic is sound. The premise, that Obamacare is unraveling, is not.
Why (Some) Obamacare Marketplaces Are Struggling
Obamacare’s marketplaces, where people without employer-based insurance can buy private policies, have certainly had some problems. But whether they are modest and fleeting or serious and ongoing, or somewhere in between, depends on whom you ask.
When the law first took full effect, with all the new rules for selling coverage, insurers had to guess at what policies consumers would buy and at what price. It turns out most of them misjudged the market, with some of them misjudging it badly. They ended up attracting fewer healthy people and more unhealthy people than they anticipated, leaving them with premiums too low to cover the big medical bills they were suddenly paying. The insurers lost money, and, by last year, they had enough data to see it wasn’t a fluke.
A few carriers responded by withdrawing plans altogether (although a federal judge recently concluded that one insurer, Aetna, also had other motives). The rest increased premiums, sometimes severely ― creating a bunch of scary headlines and giving Republicans like Ryan and Trump the opportunity to bash the Affordable Care Act as an actuarial apocalypse. Frequently they would say the system was in a “death spiral.”
Many actuaries cringe at such references, because, as Danny Vinik noted recently in Politico, “death spiral” is actually a term they use to describe a very specific set of circumstances that cannot really exist with the Affordable Care Act, at least in its current structure. A death spiral happens when insurers must repeatedly raise premiums in order to cover losses from patients with high medical bills, with each new increase scaring away more healthy customers, thereby creating new losses and forcing the insurers to raise premiums again ― until eventually only very sick people willing to pay astronomical premiums stay with the program.
The Affordable Care Act is not really vulnerable to this because it offers financial assistance in the form of refundable tax credits, limiting what low- and middle-income individuals pay for basic policies no matter how high the premiums go. That basically guarantees that insurers will have a critical mass of healthy people paying premiums. As long as the individual mandate remains in place, imposing financial penalties on people who decline to get coverage, a death spiral is even less likely.
A more realistic possibility is that the market deterioration of the past year continues, with yet more insurers abandoning markets and those remaining raising premiums even further, to the point that only people with subsidies find it attractive. It’d be a lousy deal for the more affluent, and it’d mean higher costs for the government.
This would represent a major failure of the law, and Gail Wilensky, a well-respected health economist who was director of Medicare and Medicaid in the George H.W. Bush administration, is among those who thinks it’s a very real possibility, given the state of the exchanges right now.
“They are clearly still in churn and unstable as of now, the fourth year of enrollment,” Wilensky told The Huffington Post. “Little insurer choice and unaffordable premiums would be ― and sometimes is now ― the outcome.”
Why The Markets May Be Stronger Going Forward
But even the pessimistic experts agree that it’s too early to know whether that’s going to happen ― or, for that matter, where.
A key point the Republicans never mention is that Obamacare isn’t one program. It’s 51 programs, one for each state plus the District of Columbia. In states like Arizona and Tennessee, premiums spiked and insurer choice dwindled this year. But in states like California and Michigan, the markets are operating smoothly and most consumers shopping on the exchanges still have a wide variety of options.
“[Critics] use the most problematic of the 51 markets ― and even specific instances within given markets, such as particular insurance companies or counties ― as evidence that all the exchanges are in trouble,” says Paul Hughes-Cromwick, a health economist at the nonprofit Altarum Institute research group. “We believe the individual market does, in fact, need some help, but it is neither about to collapse nor do its problems mean that Obamacare … is ‘collapsing under its own weight.’” Hughes-Cromwick went on to call such arguments “absurd.”
In December, the White House Council of Economic Advisers published a report arguing that this year’s increases were largely a one-time correction. It noted, among other things, that this was the first year that insurers had a full year’s worth of data, based on claims that beneficiaries filed, on which to base premiums. This was also the year when a program designed to cover unexpected insurer losses during the early years of operation expired. (A second such program never paid out most of its money, because Republicans insisted on defunding it.)
Meanwhile, for all the talk about high premiums, they are right about where the Congressional Budget Office originally expected them to be. And, as a recent Urban Institute report showed, premiums are roughly on par or even a little cheaper than the premiums for employer insurance, once you adjust for the different levels of benefits.
Enrollment this year looks like it will be roughly even with last year’s enrollment or maybe even a little higher. If the marketplaces were crumbling, enrollment would be starting to fall. And just last month, S&P Global Ratings projected stronger insurer performance next year ― and even stronger performance the year after that.
As Paul Ginsburg, a prominent health economist at the University of Southern California, said, predictions of an imminent Obamacare collapse are “totally at odds with the recent analysis from S&P, which shows the exchanges stabilizing, with insurers having experienced improved results in 2016.”
Why The Real Threat To The Marketplaces May Be Trump
David Anderson, who until recently was an official at the UPMC Health Plan in Pennsylvania and is now an analyst at Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy, agrees. “The Affordable Care Act is fundamentally stable in most states. Enrollment has been increasing and insurers are projecting better results. Insurers with effective strategies tailored to local demand for high-quality, low-cost health care have been able to show profitability on the exchanges.”
Uwe Reinhardt, a health economist at Princeton University, concurs. “The exchanges are not collapsing on their own weight,” he said. Jon Kingsdale, former director of the Massachusetts exchange and now a director at the Wakely Consulting Group, feels the same way. “With national enrollment increasing each year since 2014 ― and a full decade of market stability under much the same reforms in Massachusetts ― there is little evidence for [Ryan’s] contention,” Kingsdale said.
Of course, Kingsdale noted, making the argument that Obamacare is already collapsing “does offer an obvious political advantage: Republicans can blame what they do in 2017 to destroy coverage for millions of Americans on the ACA itself.” Republicans could accomplish this legislatively or maybe even through executive authority, by refusing to apply the mandate penalty or other elements of the law they don’t like.
It’s worth mentioning that even if Obamacare markets were imploding, not just in some states but all states, and even if that implosion meant there were no insurers left ― in other words, even if you imagine a scenario much worse than any expert takes seriously ― that would account for only a portion of the people getting health insurance through the program.
At least half and probably more of the newly insured are getting coverage through Medicaid, a program that the government operates and that won’t be going anywhere ― unless, of course, Republicans decide to get rid of it.
-- 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 19 hours ago.
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Trump administration pulls some Obamacare ads as deadline nears
The Trump administration has pulled some advertising designed to encourage people to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, days before the final deadline to buy 2017 health plans under the law.
Reported by philly.com 18 hours ago.
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Trump administration pulls back on HealthCare.gov ads
Calling the decision "outrageous," former HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said in a statement that the move could keep young, healthy people from getting into the insurance pool, thereby driving up costs. HealthCare.gov and its state counterparts offer subsidized private health insurance for people who don't have access to coverage on the job. In addition to subsidized private insurance, the law offers states an option to expand Medicaid for low-income people.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 17 hours ago.
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Government asked to extend NHIS to Orthopaedic patients
President of the Foundation of Orthopaedics and Complex Spine (FOCOS), Prof. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, has called on the government to extend the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover the treatment of orthopaedic care.
Reported by Myjoyonline 11 hours ago.
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First 100 Days Briefing: Affordable Care Act Enrollment Ads Yanked in Sign Trump Wants Law Crippled
With days left in the open enrollment period, the Trump administration has pulled back ads for health insurance, prompting outrage.
Reported by NYTimes.com 10 hours ago.
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Frontrunning: January 27
· Mexico Dispute Could Overshadow May’s Free-Trade Message (BBG)
· NATO, Russia and trade top the agenda for Trump talks with Britain's May (Reuters)
· Trump's plan for import tax worsens crisis with Mexico (Reuters)
· Nafta’s U.S. Impact is Modest (WSJ)
· Republicans Are Making Little Progress on Their Obamacare Repeal Strategy (BBG)
· Ghost of 1990s Is Haunting Dollar and Slowing Further Gains (BBG)
· Trump's hopes for Syria safe zones may force decision on Assad (Reuters)
· Trump’s Gamble: Luring Countries Into Deals (WSJ)
· Trump tells Republican lawmakers: Enough talk. Time to deliver (Reuters)
· UBS Clients Pull $15 Billion in Quarter as Margins Decline (BBG)
· GDP Growth Is Forecast to Have Slowed to 2.2% in Fourth Quarter (WSJ)
· Will Trump Make This $7 Billion Clean-Coal Plant Irrelevant? (BBG)
· Border Wall Tax on Mexican Crude Oil Would Cost U.S. Drivers (BBG)
· Weak exports may crimp U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth (Reuters)
· France’s Neighbors Sound Alarm Over Election ‘Catastrophe’ Risk (BBG)
· Jilting Jefferies Said to Cost Credit Suisse Bankers $10 Million (BBG)
· Fed to Align Itself With Government Hiring Freeze (WSJ)
· Challenging the U.S., Moscow Pushes Into Afghanistan (WSJ)
· Volkswagen’s Ex-CEO Winterkorn Probed on Suspicion of Fraud (WSJ)
· Toshiba to sell part of chip business, puts overseas nuclear ops under review (Reuters)
· Turkey threatens to cancel Greece migration deal in soldiers' extradition row (Reuters)
*Overnight Media Digest*
WSJ
- Toshiba Corp will spin off its computer memory-chip unit at the end of March, the company said Friday, in an effort by the cash-strapped industrial conglomerate to raise fresh capital for the businesses that require large investments. http://on.wsj.com/2jvBA2f
- Verizon Communications Inc is exploring a combination with Charter Communications Inc that would unite two giants in search of growth in a rapidly consolidating media and telecom landscape. http://on.wsj.com/2jvuzyL
- Ant Financial Services Group, which works closely with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and is controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, announced a deal Thursday to buy U.S. money-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc for $880 million. http://on.wsj.com/2jzKUQs
- The Securities and Exchange Commission accused two former executives of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC of spearheading a long-running bribery scheme that funneled tens of millions of dollars to high-level officials in Africa. http://on.wsj.com/2jvBBTZ
- Brazilian police on Thursday declared former billionaire businessman Eike Batista a fugitive from the law and said they would ask other countries to help track him down, even as his lawyer said he would return to Brazil as soon as possible. Batista, once Brazil's richest man, is sought in relation to a wide-ranging corruption scandal. http://on.wsj.com/2jvlea6
- Tesla Motors Inc is accusing the former director of its Autopilot program and the former tech guru behind Google's self-driving car of improperly recruiting the auto maker's engineers to create their own autonomous-car startup. http://on.wsj.com/2jvlOom
- Publicis Groupe SA tapped Arthur Sadoun, the advertising giant's 45-year-old creative chief, to replace longtime Chief Executive Maurice Levy, part of a succession plan to steady a firm buffeted by massive changes in consumer behavior and technology. http://on.wsj.com/2jvA0O5
FT
Arthur Sadoun will take over as chief executive of advertising company Publicis Groupe SA from longtime CEO Maurice Levy on June 1, the company said on Thursday.
Britain and the United States should stand united and confront new challenges, including the rise of economies in Asia that people fear could "eclipse the West," Prime Minister Theresa May said in a foreign policy speech to congressional Republicans in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Tighter border controls after Britain's exit from the European Union will result in the hospitality, agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors to compete against each other for a smaller pool of low-skilled migrants, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said in a new report.
Banks, insurers and traders that comply with reinforced global financial sector rules should be allowed to operate unhindered across the world to spur economic growth and trade, Financial Conduct Authority Chief Executive Andrew Bailey said on Thursday.
NYT
- The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State, which could include American artillery on the ground in Syria and Army attack helicopters to support an assault on the groups capital, Raqqa, officials said. http://nyti.ms/2jasrxG
- The Trump administration is pulling back advertisements that encourage people to sign up for health insurance under former President Barack Obama's health care law. http://nyti.ms/2jaoKYU
- President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist, Stephen Bannon said in an interview that media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while. http://nyti.ms/2janZiC
- Microsoft Corp released financial results for the last three months of 2016, reporting 4 percent growth in its overall earnings. http://nyti.ms/2javEx2
- Under a Reagan-era policy revived by President Donald Trump, the clinic on the University of Dakar campus in Senegal, may no longer be able to count on aid money from the United States Agency for International Development. http://nyti.ms/2jayimG
- President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with the acting director of the National Park Service the day after his inauguration to ask why someone from the agency had shared someone else's Twitter Inc's post giving an unflattering comparison of his inaugural crowd, according to Trump's deputy press secretary. http://nyti.ms/2japqNZ
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** TransCanada Corp has taken U.S. President Donald Trump up on his invitation and has formally submitted a new application to the U.S. Department of State for its Keystone XL pipeline. https://tgam.ca/2kamjVW
** Canada's housing agency has added Victoria to its list of real estate markets with problems, seeing danger signs in the British Columbia capital's home values. https://tgam.ca/2kajxzW
** Hunter Harrison has sold his shares in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, shortly after quitting as chief executive officer of the Calgary company to pursue the top job at Florida-based railway CSX Corp. https://tgam.ca/2karqW7
** As Britain starts the process of leaving the European Union, Liam Fox, Britain's international trade secretary, tried to assure Canadian businesses that robust trade between the two nations would not be disrupted. https://tgam.ca/2karzZP
NATIONAL POST
** Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp is not removing the red flag it raised three months ago for the housing market, saying it still sees strong overall evidence of problematic market conditions. http://bit.ly/2karLIl
** Metro Inc has reaffirmed its commitment to the Air Miles program after a report implied the grocery chain might be looking to drop the loyalty program in Ontario. http://bit.ly/2kakFUc
** RBC Global Asset Management chief economist Eric Lascelles on Thursday pushed back against fears over the impact of a Donald Trump presidency on Canada, saying protectionist trade policies could instead serve to hobble U.S. growth in the long term. http://bit.ly/2kahdc8
Britain
The Times
* British Ministers sneaked out the news that the UK would leave the European Atomic Energy Community, known as Euratom, within the notes accompanying the bill published yesterday to trigger Article 50, the process for leaving the European Union. http://bit.ly/2jkvMVZ
* Verizon and Charter Communications are exploring a near-$300 billion merger to create the largest telecommunications company in the world, it emerged yesterday. http://bit.ly/2jkt6rH
The Guardian
* Buoyant consumer spending kept the UK economy growing at the brisk pace of 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2016, marking a strong finish to the year despite the Brexit vote. The initial estimate for fourth-quarter GDP from the Office for National Statistics matched the 0.6 percent growth recorded in the third and second quarters. http://bit.ly/2jkpOVr
* Hermes, the courier company that delivers parcels for John Lewis and Next, is facing a legal claim from workers who believe they are wrongly classed as self-employed, according to the Labour MP Frank Field. http://bit.ly/2jk9T9w
The Telegraph
* BT is at risk of having its credit rating cut over fears that the heavy blow to profits from its accounting scandal in Italy and a slump in big contracts will slow effort to reduce its debt pile. The ratings agency Moody's has changed its outlook on BT from stable to negative in the wake of the company's profit warning earlier this week. http://bit.ly/2juWVZQ
* Tata Steel UK's pension fund is set to be spun off in a move that will ring-fence the business from future financial burdens flowing from the retirement scheme. Steel workers' unions are advising their members to vote for a deal which would close the 15 billion pounds ($18.89 billion) scheme to future accruals, with members getting smaller payouts. http://bit.ly/2jv1hjL
Sky News
* The proprietors of The Daily Telegraph, Barclay brothers, are accelerating plans to cash in on record festive trading at Shop Direct, their retail business, by offloading a significant chunk of the 2 billion pound business. http://bit.ly/2juXcMi
* The British Government has announced plans to close one in 10 Jobcentres as part of plans for "under-used" buildings. http://bit.ly/2jvah8r
The Independent
* Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, said Britain should "get used to" price rises triggered by a slump in the pound after the Brexit vote. http://ind.pn/2jvaoRp
* Barclays has reiterated that it will keep its global headquarters in London even after the UK leaves the EU, in response to media reports that it was planning on establishing a European headquarters in Dublin. http://ind.pn/2jv6Leb
Reported by Zero Hedge 8 hours ago.
· NATO, Russia and trade top the agenda for Trump talks with Britain's May (Reuters)
· Trump's plan for import tax worsens crisis with Mexico (Reuters)
· Nafta’s U.S. Impact is Modest (WSJ)
· Republicans Are Making Little Progress on Their Obamacare Repeal Strategy (BBG)
· Ghost of 1990s Is Haunting Dollar and Slowing Further Gains (BBG)
· Trump's hopes for Syria safe zones may force decision on Assad (Reuters)
· Trump’s Gamble: Luring Countries Into Deals (WSJ)
· Trump tells Republican lawmakers: Enough talk. Time to deliver (Reuters)
· UBS Clients Pull $15 Billion in Quarter as Margins Decline (BBG)
· GDP Growth Is Forecast to Have Slowed to 2.2% in Fourth Quarter (WSJ)
· Will Trump Make This $7 Billion Clean-Coal Plant Irrelevant? (BBG)
· Border Wall Tax on Mexican Crude Oil Would Cost U.S. Drivers (BBG)
· Weak exports may crimp U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth (Reuters)
· France’s Neighbors Sound Alarm Over Election ‘Catastrophe’ Risk (BBG)
· Jilting Jefferies Said to Cost Credit Suisse Bankers $10 Million (BBG)
· Fed to Align Itself With Government Hiring Freeze (WSJ)
· Challenging the U.S., Moscow Pushes Into Afghanistan (WSJ)
· Volkswagen’s Ex-CEO Winterkorn Probed on Suspicion of Fraud (WSJ)
· Toshiba to sell part of chip business, puts overseas nuclear ops under review (Reuters)
· Turkey threatens to cancel Greece migration deal in soldiers' extradition row (Reuters)
*Overnight Media Digest*
WSJ
- Toshiba Corp will spin off its computer memory-chip unit at the end of March, the company said Friday, in an effort by the cash-strapped industrial conglomerate to raise fresh capital for the businesses that require large investments. http://on.wsj.com/2jvBA2f
- Verizon Communications Inc is exploring a combination with Charter Communications Inc that would unite two giants in search of growth in a rapidly consolidating media and telecom landscape. http://on.wsj.com/2jvuzyL
- Ant Financial Services Group, which works closely with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and is controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, announced a deal Thursday to buy U.S. money-transfer provider MoneyGram International Inc for $880 million. http://on.wsj.com/2jzKUQs
- The Securities and Exchange Commission accused two former executives of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC of spearheading a long-running bribery scheme that funneled tens of millions of dollars to high-level officials in Africa. http://on.wsj.com/2jvBBTZ
- Brazilian police on Thursday declared former billionaire businessman Eike Batista a fugitive from the law and said they would ask other countries to help track him down, even as his lawyer said he would return to Brazil as soon as possible. Batista, once Brazil's richest man, is sought in relation to a wide-ranging corruption scandal. http://on.wsj.com/2jvlea6
- Tesla Motors Inc is accusing the former director of its Autopilot program and the former tech guru behind Google's self-driving car of improperly recruiting the auto maker's engineers to create their own autonomous-car startup. http://on.wsj.com/2jvlOom
- Publicis Groupe SA tapped Arthur Sadoun, the advertising giant's 45-year-old creative chief, to replace longtime Chief Executive Maurice Levy, part of a succession plan to steady a firm buffeted by massive changes in consumer behavior and technology. http://on.wsj.com/2jvA0O5
FT
Arthur Sadoun will take over as chief executive of advertising company Publicis Groupe SA from longtime CEO Maurice Levy on June 1, the company said on Thursday.
Britain and the United States should stand united and confront new challenges, including the rise of economies in Asia that people fear could "eclipse the West," Prime Minister Theresa May said in a foreign policy speech to congressional Republicans in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Tighter border controls after Britain's exit from the European Union will result in the hospitality, agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors to compete against each other for a smaller pool of low-skilled migrants, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said in a new report.
Banks, insurers and traders that comply with reinforced global financial sector rules should be allowed to operate unhindered across the world to spur economic growth and trade, Financial Conduct Authority Chief Executive Andrew Bailey said on Thursday.
NYT
- The White House is drafting a presidential directive that calls on Defense Secretary James Mattis to devise plans to more aggressively strike the Islamic State, which could include American artillery on the ground in Syria and Army attack helicopters to support an assault on the groups capital, Raqqa, officials said. http://nyti.ms/2jasrxG
- The Trump administration is pulling back advertisements that encourage people to sign up for health insurance under former President Barack Obama's health care law. http://nyti.ms/2jaoKYU
- President Donald Trump's chief White House strategist, Stephen Bannon said in an interview that media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while. http://nyti.ms/2janZiC
- Microsoft Corp released financial results for the last three months of 2016, reporting 4 percent growth in its overall earnings. http://nyti.ms/2javEx2
- Under a Reagan-era policy revived by President Donald Trump, the clinic on the University of Dakar campus in Senegal, may no longer be able to count on aid money from the United States Agency for International Development. http://nyti.ms/2jayimG
- President Donald Trump spoke by telephone with the acting director of the National Park Service the day after his inauguration to ask why someone from the agency had shared someone else's Twitter Inc's post giving an unflattering comparison of his inaugural crowd, according to Trump's deputy press secretary. http://nyti.ms/2japqNZ
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** TransCanada Corp has taken U.S. President Donald Trump up on his invitation and has formally submitted a new application to the U.S. Department of State for its Keystone XL pipeline. https://tgam.ca/2kamjVW
** Canada's housing agency has added Victoria to its list of real estate markets with problems, seeing danger signs in the British Columbia capital's home values. https://tgam.ca/2kajxzW
** Hunter Harrison has sold his shares in Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, shortly after quitting as chief executive officer of the Calgary company to pursue the top job at Florida-based railway CSX Corp. https://tgam.ca/2karqW7
** As Britain starts the process of leaving the European Union, Liam Fox, Britain's international trade secretary, tried to assure Canadian businesses that robust trade between the two nations would not be disrupted. https://tgam.ca/2karzZP
NATIONAL POST
** Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp is not removing the red flag it raised three months ago for the housing market, saying it still sees strong overall evidence of problematic market conditions. http://bit.ly/2karLIl
** Metro Inc has reaffirmed its commitment to the Air Miles program after a report implied the grocery chain might be looking to drop the loyalty program in Ontario. http://bit.ly/2kakFUc
** RBC Global Asset Management chief economist Eric Lascelles on Thursday pushed back against fears over the impact of a Donald Trump presidency on Canada, saying protectionist trade policies could instead serve to hobble U.S. growth in the long term. http://bit.ly/2kahdc8
Britain
The Times
* British Ministers sneaked out the news that the UK would leave the European Atomic Energy Community, known as Euratom, within the notes accompanying the bill published yesterday to trigger Article 50, the process for leaving the European Union. http://bit.ly/2jkvMVZ
* Verizon and Charter Communications are exploring a near-$300 billion merger to create the largest telecommunications company in the world, it emerged yesterday. http://bit.ly/2jkt6rH
The Guardian
* Buoyant consumer spending kept the UK economy growing at the brisk pace of 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2016, marking a strong finish to the year despite the Brexit vote. The initial estimate for fourth-quarter GDP from the Office for National Statistics matched the 0.6 percent growth recorded in the third and second quarters. http://bit.ly/2jkpOVr
* Hermes, the courier company that delivers parcels for John Lewis and Next, is facing a legal claim from workers who believe they are wrongly classed as self-employed, according to the Labour MP Frank Field. http://bit.ly/2jk9T9w
The Telegraph
* BT is at risk of having its credit rating cut over fears that the heavy blow to profits from its accounting scandal in Italy and a slump in big contracts will slow effort to reduce its debt pile. The ratings agency Moody's has changed its outlook on BT from stable to negative in the wake of the company's profit warning earlier this week. http://bit.ly/2juWVZQ
* Tata Steel UK's pension fund is set to be spun off in a move that will ring-fence the business from future financial burdens flowing from the retirement scheme. Steel workers' unions are advising their members to vote for a deal which would close the 15 billion pounds ($18.89 billion) scheme to future accruals, with members getting smaller payouts. http://bit.ly/2jv1hjL
Sky News
* The proprietors of The Daily Telegraph, Barclay brothers, are accelerating plans to cash in on record festive trading at Shop Direct, their retail business, by offloading a significant chunk of the 2 billion pound business. http://bit.ly/2juXcMi
* The British Government has announced plans to close one in 10 Jobcentres as part of plans for "under-used" buildings. http://bit.ly/2jvah8r
The Independent
* Paul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, said Britain should "get used to" price rises triggered by a slump in the pound after the Brexit vote. http://ind.pn/2jvaoRp
* Barclays has reiterated that it will keep its global headquarters in London even after the UK leaves the EU, in response to media reports that it was planning on establishing a European headquarters in Dublin. http://ind.pn/2jv6Leb
Reported by Zero Hedge 8 hours ago.
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Personal Accident and Health Insurance Investments in the United States to 2019: Market Databook - Research and Markets
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Personal Accident and Health Insurance Investments in the United States to 2019: Market Databook" report to their offering. The "Personal Accident and Health Insurance Investments in the United States to 2019: Market Databook" contains detailed historic and forecast data covering personal accident and health insurance investments in the personal accident and health insurance industry in the United States. This data
Reported by Business Wire 8 hours ago.
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Personal Accident and Health Insurance Claims and Expenses in the United States to 2019: Market Databook - Research and Markets
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Personal Accident and Health Insurance Claims and Expenses in the United States to 2019: Market Databook" report to their offering. The "Personal Accident and Health Insurance Claims and Expenses in the United States to 2019: Market Databook" contains detailed historic and forecast data covering personal accident and health insurance claims and expenses in the personal accident and health insurance industry in the
Reported by Business Wire 8 hours ago.
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Personal Accident and Health Insurance Policies and Premiums in the United States to 2019: Market Databook - Research and Markets
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Personal Accident and Health Insurance Policies and Premiums in the United States to 2019: Market Databook" report to their offering. The "Personal Accident and Health Insurance Policies and Premiums in the United States to 2019: Market Databook" contains detailed historic and forecast data covering personal accident and health insurance policies and premiums in the personal accident and health insurance industry i
Reported by Business Wire 8 hours ago.
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Delta Dental Hires Dr. Kenneth Yale as Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer
Dr. Yale will lead the company’s departments of network development and professional services.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 27, 2017
Delta Dental of California and its affiliates today announced the hiring of Dr. Kenneth Yale as senior vice president and chief clinical officer.
Dr. Yale brings with him more than 20 years of executive management experience in government, entrepreneurial, startup and large health care companies.
Most recently, Dr. Yale served as vice president, medical director and senior counsel at ActiveHealth Management, a subsidiary of Aetna. Prior to that, he led the innovation incubator division of UnitedHealth Community and State and also held positions at Matria Healthcare, CorSolutions, EduNeering, Advanced Health Solutions, Health Solutions Network and Jefferson Group. His government experience includes serving as legislative counsel in the U.S. Senate, executive director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, chief of staff of the White House Office of Science and Technology and commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service.
Dr. Yale currently has leadership roles or is actively involved with the American Medical Informatics Association, Bloomberg/BNA Health Insurance Advisory Board, Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society, Society for Participatory Medicine, URAC Industry Accreditation Organization, and on other advisory boards for pharmaceutical, genetics and translational bioinformatics companies and organizations.
He holds a dental degree from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Creighton University.
About Delta Dental of California
Delta Dental of California, Delta Dental of New York, Inc., Delta Dental of Pennsylvania and Delta Dental Insurance Company, along with their affiliated companies, together provide dental benefits to 34.5 million people in 15 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. All are part of the Delta Dental Plans Association, whose member companies collectively cover more than 73 million people nationwide.
##
Follow Delta Dental on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Reported by PRWeb 7 hours ago.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 27, 2017
Delta Dental of California and its affiliates today announced the hiring of Dr. Kenneth Yale as senior vice president and chief clinical officer.
Dr. Yale brings with him more than 20 years of executive management experience in government, entrepreneurial, startup and large health care companies.
Most recently, Dr. Yale served as vice president, medical director and senior counsel at ActiveHealth Management, a subsidiary of Aetna. Prior to that, he led the innovation incubator division of UnitedHealth Community and State and also held positions at Matria Healthcare, CorSolutions, EduNeering, Advanced Health Solutions, Health Solutions Network and Jefferson Group. His government experience includes serving as legislative counsel in the U.S. Senate, executive director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, chief of staff of the White House Office of Science and Technology and commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service.
Dr. Yale currently has leadership roles or is actively involved with the American Medical Informatics Association, Bloomberg/BNA Health Insurance Advisory Board, Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society, Society for Participatory Medicine, URAC Industry Accreditation Organization, and on other advisory boards for pharmaceutical, genetics and translational bioinformatics companies and organizations.
He holds a dental degree from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Creighton University.
About Delta Dental of California
Delta Dental of California, Delta Dental of New York, Inc., Delta Dental of Pennsylvania and Delta Dental Insurance Company, along with their affiliated companies, together provide dental benefits to 34.5 million people in 15 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. All are part of the Delta Dental Plans Association, whose member companies collectively cover more than 73 million people nationwide.
##
Follow Delta Dental on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Reported by PRWeb 7 hours ago.
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Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who shepherded Obamacare, talks about its uncertain future
As secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for the past two and a half years, Sylvia Mathews Burwell has overseen the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration and a wide range of social services from Head Start to family assistance programs. In a conversation with Tom Fox, Burwell discussed her concerns about impending changes to the Affordable Care Act, the presidential transition, her approach to leadership and playing basketball for President Obama's national security adviser. Fox is a guest writer for On Leadership and the vice president for leadership and innovation at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
*What are your concerns about the plans by Congress and the president-elect to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act?*
My concerns are focused on the millions of people across the country who rely on the law for coverage and for the protections it provides. It's important to note that "repeal and replace" is a campaign slogan. We need to separate this rhetoric from the reality of the Affordable Care Act. Today, more than 20 million people have health insurance who didn't have it before; no one can be discriminated against based on a pre-existing condition, and restrictions like lifetime and annual coverage limits are a thing of the past. Americans don't want to go backward, back to a world where women can be charged more for health insurance because of their gender or entrepreneurs have to choose between starting a business venture and staying in a job just to keep a health insurance plan. We can make fixes to the ACA without jeopardizing the health coverage of millions of Americans.
*How are you addressing this issue with the career employees at HHS who have been involved in implementing the ACA?*
We remain committed to a smooth transition of power to the next administration, and we are working with the transition team on that effort now. I have expressed great appreciation to the hard-working staff at HHS, and in the days remaining for this administration, I have instructed my team to keep working to finish strong and continue to ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care.
This post was originally featured on The Washington Post's website.
-- 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 4 hours ago.
*What are your concerns about the plans by Congress and the president-elect to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act?*
My concerns are focused on the millions of people across the country who rely on the law for coverage and for the protections it provides. It's important to note that "repeal and replace" is a campaign slogan. We need to separate this rhetoric from the reality of the Affordable Care Act. Today, more than 20 million people have health insurance who didn't have it before; no one can be discriminated against based on a pre-existing condition, and restrictions like lifetime and annual coverage limits are a thing of the past. Americans don't want to go backward, back to a world where women can be charged more for health insurance because of their gender or entrepreneurs have to choose between starting a business venture and staying in a job just to keep a health insurance plan. We can make fixes to the ACA without jeopardizing the health coverage of millions of Americans.
*How are you addressing this issue with the career employees at HHS who have been involved in implementing the ACA?*
We remain committed to a smooth transition of power to the next administration, and we are working with the transition team on that effort now. I have expressed great appreciation to the hard-working staff at HHS, and in the days remaining for this administration, I have instructed my team to keep working to finish strong and continue to ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care.
This post was originally featured on The Washington Post's website.
-- 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 4 hours ago.
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Trump made a move that could help wreck Obamacare
President Donald Trump has taken a bold step to wreck the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare.According to Politico's Paul Demko, the new administration has pulled all advertisements for Healthcare.gov and has frozen efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to encourage people to sign up for plans through the ACA.
The pulling of ads includes those that have already been paid for and placed, according to Politico. For the 2015-2016 open enrollment period, HHS spent around $35 million on ads encouraging people to sign up.
Americans with health insurance through their employer or Medicare or Medicaid can sign up for plans through the ACA's public exchanges through January 31 for a 2017 plan.
Typically, the run-up to deadlines is accompanied by a significant uptick in sign ups. As Politico reported, this is especially true for young people, who are needed to balance the risk in the individual market pools.
Trump has maintained the law would "collapse on its own." But according to CBO projections, the number of people enrolled will continue to increase and eventually stabilize, not go into the "death spiral" as Republicans predicted.
The end of the open enrollment period is crucial because the share of total enrollees that are age 18-34 increases substantially during that time.
This is important because the pools have been filled with too many older and sicker people in certain states over the past few years, causing many large insurers to lose money on the exchanges.
In turn, insurers leaving the exchanges and exacerbated cost increases. While there are some states that have mitigated these issues by expanding Medicaid and other provisions, it is crucial for the stability of some states' to get young people to sign up.
According to a report from The Huffington Post, an HHS official said the pulled ad buy was worth around $5 million.
The push to sign up young people was important to try to correct course, but it appears the move by Trump's administration could hamstring that effort.
Thus with fewer young people in the exchanges this year, the problems that GOP lawmakers have predicted would happen might come to pass.
It is unclear just how much the scaling back as impacted the law so far because the HHS under Trump has also scaled back on any communication about Obamacare.
The HHS Twitter account has not referenced the ACA deadline — after tweeting about it multiple times a day — since a tweet on January 19, the day before Trump's inauguration.
It is unclear how many Americans have signed up for care since the department has halted communications and not issued their typically bi-weekly enrollment update since the Trump administration took office. The last update on January 10 pegged enrollments through the ACA's provisions at 11.54 million.
Former director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Andy Slavitt, whose department of the HHS oversaw the ACA exchanges, tweeted his displeasure with the move, saying it was "misguided actions which purposely hurt ACA consumers."
NEW: very misguided actions which purposely hurt ACA consumers & cost insurance companies money. Disappointing.https://t.co/qG239eigXc pic.twitter.com/C4zZS5u40E
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) January 27, 2017
Trump has long been opposed to the ACA, calling it a "disaster" and promising to repeal and replace it.
Republican lawmakers kicked off the repeal of the law by advancing a budget resolution through the House and Senate that directs committees to draft a replacement bill using the budget reconciliation process.
So far, there has not been a concrete proposal for a replacement from Republican leadership, but a few GOP senators have introduced plans that are significantly different.
*SEE ALSO: Trump is making a massive promise about his Obamacare replacement*
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: 'The largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period': Trump press secretary disputes reports of low turnout at inauguration Reported by Business Insider 3 hours ago.
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