‘In The News’ Archives
Genie Out of Bottle on Health Reform
The harsh Supreme Court questions about the Affordable Care Act has fed a misleading impression that health reform is on life support. Here’s the reality – virtually every state is now engaged in using federal grants to build state exchanges and expand Medicaid – a process that will persist in some form even if the Supreme Court strikes [...]
Life Insurance Agent Arrested for Elder Abuse
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones says that 73-year-old Frank Conlon has been arrested and charged with felony elder abuse, grand theft and fraud after having been charged with embezzling more than $1 million in premiums from elderly people who gave him money for life insurance policies and annuities. Investigators say Conlon [...]
WellPoint Sees $100 Billion in ‘Duals’ Market
WellPoint’s purchase last year of CareMore Health Group and its neighborhood health clinics gives the insurer an edge in winning the business for so-called dual eligibles – the poor and elderly patients in Medicare and Medicaid programs. WellPoint, which has 29 CareMore centers in California, Nevada, and Arizona, plans to add 12 more and [...]
Lawmakers Considering Tax Breaks on Retirement Savings
Lawmakers for the first time began considering specific tax breaks to reduce or otherwise change, starting with laws that allow millions of Americans to avoid taxes while saving for retirement. Tax incentives for employer pensions, 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts and other savings programs rank among the largest breaks in the tax [...]
Insurance Regulation Opposition
Just about every initiative, including the pending healthcare initiative, presents a battle between special interests. After all, each union, trade association, advocacy group or other set of people organized around a cause is inherently a "special interest," and it's these organizations that are the most active forces in politics. The question [...]
Prime Healthcare Services’ Hospital Named Among Top 100
Five of the nine California community hospitals that earned a listing in the "100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmark For Success, 2012" were Prime Healthcare hospitals. Included in that list was Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Chino Valley Medical Center, Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center, West Anaheim Medical Center and Desert Valley [...]
Medical Device Monitoring to be Revamped
The Food and Drug Administration plans to unveil an improved medical device safety monitoring and reporting program. The program will help identify and remove defective devices from the market earlier than previous attempts. Currently, medical supplies and devices are not uniformly labeled with a unique identifier, making tracking difficult [...]
California Medical Malpractice to Save Millions
The California Department of Insurance announced that malpractice rate rollbacks on policies offered by the Medical Protection Company (MedPro) and NCMIC Insurance Company will save doctors and other medical providers nearly $4 million annually in premiums. These companies joined three others whose rates were recently lowered as a result of [...]
Tax Breaks for Retirement Should Be Simplified
Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee says more Americans would be coaxed to save for retirement if the tax codes were simplified. Camp, the top Republican tax writer, said he hasn't yet drawn conclusions as to what steps Congress should take on retirement savings as it overhauls the tax code by lowering rates and curtailing [...]
Health Net Chosen to Participate in “Dual Eligibles” Program
"Dual Eligibles" are the state's sickest and poorest residents, and the California Department of Health Care Services has selected Health Net to participate in it's Dual Eligibles pilot program, under which LA County residents who receive both Medicare and Medi-Cal would be enrolled in a managed care plan according to the San Fernando Valley [...]
