Adam V. Russo | November 25, 2009
Employer cuts costs by allowing workers to ‘earn’ lower rates
Joanne Wojcik
PHOENIX—Safeway Inc. has reduced its health care cost increases by more than $150 million since 2005 using an approach that closely resembles how auto insurers rate drivers. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 25, 2009
Adoption of CDHPs, other control efforts help limit increases
Jerry Geisel
Group health care plan costs rose 5.5% in 2009, the lowest increase in more than a decade, as employers stepped up cost-control efforts, according to a survey. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 25, 2009
Employers see bill as less threatening than House plan
Jerry Geisel
WASHINGTON—Sweeping health care reform legislation is awaiting its toughest test: approval by the U.S. Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week completed melding different reform bills passed earlier by the Finance and Health, Education and Labor and Pensions Committee into one measure, moving that test one step closer. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 23, 2009
By TIM HULL
(CN) – An insurance company must award benefits to an Ohio man who lost his leg in a drunken motorcycle crash, the 6th Circuit ruled, because the incident falls within the broad definition of an “accident.” (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 23, 2009
With lawsuits piling up against pension plan sponsors, individual fiduciaries would do well to protect themselves against financial risks, experts say.
Randy Myers – CFO.com | US
November 19, 2009
If you are a fiduciary for your employer’s retirement savings plan, you already know that life isn’t getting any simpler. Lawsuits against plan fiduciaries are on the upswing, and some fiduciaries have been found personally liable for plan losses under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 23, 2009
I recently received an interesting email regarding transplant network.
Enjoy the reading.
Adam V. Russo | November 23, 2009
SIIA Legislative Update – Healthcare Reform
November 21, 2009
Moments ago, the Senate passed a procedural vote that will allow formal consideration of Majority Leader Reid’s (D-NV) healthcare reform bill. Reid was able to secure the necessary 60 votes after Senate Democrat moderates, Lincoln, Landrieu and Ben Nelson committed their votes this afternoon. Formal debate on consideration on the bill, as well as on any proposed amendments, will take place when the Senate returns after its Thanksgiving recess.
Adam V. Russo | November 19, 2009
CBO Delivers Cost Estimate of Senate Health Care Bill
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Senate’s version of President Obama’s sweeping health care plan would cost $849 billion. This is less than the $1.2 trillion price tag of the House version passed earlier this month with a 220 – 215 vote. The CBO also stated in its analysis that the Senate bill would trim the deficit by $127 billion over 10 years and cover 94% of all Americans. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the bill and its price tag to his Democratic colleagues this afternoon. He and other Senate Democratic leaders including Senators Baucus, Dodd and Harkin have spent weeks merging two versions of the bill that passed out of two separate Senate committees. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 19, 2009
Senate Health Care Bill Set to be Released
SIIA’s Government Relations team got an advanced copy of the Senate Health Care Reform Bill. The bill is attached for your review. Our team is in the process of analyzing it and will report shortly on the effects on the self-insurance industry. As we reported earlier in the day, the the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported the plan would cost $849 billion. This is less than the $1.2 trillion price tag of the House version passed earlier this month with a 220 – 215 vote. The CBO also stated in its analysis that the Senate bill would trim the deficit by $127 billion over 10 years and cover 94% of all Americans. Majority leader Reid plans to hold a procedural vote tomorrow to begin debate on Saturday. It is expected he will have the 60 votes necessary to begin debate. Reid will still need to convince the same 60 Senators to vote for cloture after the bill moves to the floor. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 18, 2009
Born St. Louis , Missouri , August 21, 1944
Bar Admissions:
North Carolina, 1969
U.S. District Court, Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of North Carolina , 1969
U.S. Tax Court (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 18, 2009
Boris Senic is the Senior Claims Auditor and Never Events Specialist at the Phia Group. In his 7th year of employment, he has decided to share his views on the industry’s hardships and tries to offer some words of advice on how to approach these tough economic times. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 18, 2009
SIIA objections to House bill noted in NU: National Underwriter magazine’s coverage this week of insurance industry reaction to the House healthcare reform bill included two of Chief Operating Officer Mike Ferguson’s objections over possible damage to the self-insured employer-based healthcare system. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 18, 2009
The bill will eliminate subrogation and reimbursement rights for fully-insured health insurance plans in New York. The actual ramifications of this new legislation will not ne known until it has been tested in trial and appellate courts have had a chance to interpret the new law and its implications. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 18, 2009
The law in many states provides that reimbursement to a plan from tort settlements or judgments will not be allowed unless the plan participant is “made whole.” Certainly, the plan participant is not made whole if the settlement or judgment is less than the amount of benefits paid. But even if the settlement or judgment id greater than the amount of benefits paid by the plan, the plan participant may not be made whole by it. Sometimes, it’s hard to draw a clear line to determine when a plan participant is or is not made whole. (more…)
Adam V. Russo | November 18, 2009
When it is clear that the tort settlement proceeds are held in a separate account and the plan clearly provides for 100-percent reimbursement, the fact that the plan beneficiary is a minor child will not preclude the plan’s entitlement to reimbursement. The case is Iowa Health System, Inc. v. Graham, 2009 WL 2222780 (C.D. Ill., July 23, 2009). (more…)
