cmonfils | March 29, 2011

3/29/11

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has chosen India L. Minchoff, founding partner of The Law Offices of Russo & Minchoff, as an Up & Coming Lawyer at their annual “Excellence in the Law” event.  Attorney Minchoff is one of only 20 lawyers across the state to be chosen for this honor for all of her outstanding accomplishments in the legal community.

The “Excellence in the Law” awards event will take place on Thursday, June 2, 2011, from 5:30pm-8pm in Boston.

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 9, 2011

www.ahip.org

On February 3, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius addressed a letter to the nation’s governors, addressing recent requests that the federal government provide states more flexibility to operate state Medicaid programs in light of ongoing state budgetary concerns. (more…)

Category: Medicaid, News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 9, 2011

www.ahip.org

On February 2, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), focusing almost entirely on the individual coverage requirement, with three witnesses testifying that this provision is constitutional and two other witnesses arguing that it is not.

The hearing took place just two days after U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola, Florida issued a ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the individual coverage requirement. Because the judge determined that the individual mandate was not “severable” from the remaining ACA provisions, he struck down the ACA in its entirety. It is expected that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will appeal the decision and that the constitutionality of the individual mandate most likely will be decided by the Supreme Court after the courts of appeal review the various district court judgments. (more…)

Category: Health Care Legislation, News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 9, 2011

www.ahip.org

On February 2, the Senate defeated an amendment by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that called for repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This amendment was offered during the Senate’s consideration of S. 223, the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. (more…)

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 8, 2011

197772 (W.D.Wash.)

Judges and Attorneys

Only the Westlaw citation is currently available.

United States District Court, W.D. Washington,

at Seattle.

CGI TECHNOLOGIES AND SOLUTIONS, INC., in its capacity as sponsor and fiduciary for CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc. Welfare Benefit Plan, Plaintiff,

v.

Rhonda ROSE and Nelson Langer Engle, PLLC, Defendants. (more…)

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 8, 2011

www.subrogation.org

NASP’s Amicus Committee and its StateNet Sub-Committee are working hard to educate our members about court decisions impacting subrogation efforts and identifying pending legislation that might impact recovery efforts.

SUBROGATION LEGISLATION

NASP Opposes New Jersey Senate Bill 191/Assembly Bill 793

An anti-subrogation bill recently swept through New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate, receiving the requisite number of votes. The bill was presented to the Governor for his signature. Governor Christie did not sign the bill. However, the bill became law after forty-five (45) days of “no action” being taken. (more…)

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 7, 2011

www.bloomberg.com

By Greg Stohr and Justin Blum – Feb 4, 2011 12:

A U.S. Supreme Court showdown over President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul may be inevitable. His administration is in no rush for the court to get involved.

The Justice Department yesterday said it will oppose Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s request that the court immediately review the law, which a federal trial judge said was unconstitutional. The administration said the high court should follow its usual practice and first let an appeals court rule on Cuccinelli’s challenge. (more…)

Category: Health Care Legislation, News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | February 1, 2011

Greetings!

I wanted you to be among the first to know that I have just launched a new blog, which can be accessed at http://self-insuranceworld.blogspot.com.

The editorial concept is to provide original reporting and commentary on legislative/regulatory developments affecting the self-insurance/alternative risk transfer industry. As such, it will be a bit edgier than most other informational sources and will serve to compliment the more objective reporting normally provided by SIIA. The blog will also allow for readers to post comments, so I hope to receive feedback (I think?!). (more…)

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | January 19, 2011

www.businessinsurance.com    January 17, 2011

Roberto Ceniceros

Buyers seek clarity on fee arrangements in vendor contracts

Some risk managers want more transparency from their third-party administrators on the financial arrangements they have in place with vendors of workers compensation services.

Too often, TPAs don’t break out details on the arrangements and some risk managers fear the lack of transparency results in higher costs for employers and conflicts of interest, several sources say. (more…)

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | January 19, 2011

www.businessinsurance.com    January 17, 2011

Joanne Wojcik

HARTFORD, Conn.—Aetna Inc. has arranged debt-financed reinsurance coverage of a portion of its commercial group health insurance business, freeing up some cash needed to meet risk-based capital requirements set by state regulators.

The three-year reinsurance contract with Vitality Re Ltd., a Cayman Islands-based special-purpose vehicle, gives the Hartford, Conn.-based health insurer $150 million of collateralized excess-of-loss reinsurance that will be triggered if the medical loss ratio on Aetna’s fully insured commercial group business tops 104% this year. If its MLR exceeds 114% this year, Aetna can access the full $150 million. (more…)

Category: News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | January 12, 2011

www.latimes.com

By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times  January 4, 2011

State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issues emergency regulations to match provisions in the new national healthcare law. The regulations must still be approved by California’s Office of Administrative Law.

California’s new insurance commissioner sought Monday to force health insurers to spend more of their revenue on medical care. (more…)

Category: California, Health Care Legislation, News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | January 12, 2011

January 12, 2011 – As reported last week, a SIIA delegation met with senior officials from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Health and Human Services Agency to discuss separate studies on self-insured health plans as mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

This meeting has since prompted additional consultation with SIIA in order for the regulators to better understand self-insurance. Yesterday, a teleconference meeting was held with SIIA representatives and researchers from Rand Corporation, which has been engaged as a private independent contractor to collect and analyze information about the self-insurance marketplace, and more specifically why employers choose to self-insure. (more…)

Category: Health Care Legislation, News | No Comments »
Tags:

cmonfils | December 29, 2010

Single-payer proposal on Legislature’s menu

By Josh Goodman          Stateline.org

Published: Sunday, December 26, 2010

WASHINGTON — Congress never really considered a single-payer health plan run by the government. Vermont is planning for one. This isn’t some liberal fantasy. Vermont lawmakers are serious. To understand how serious, you only have to look at the resumes of William Hsiao and Jonathan Gruber. (more…)

Category: Health Care Legislation, News, Vermont | No Comments »
Tags:

Adam V. Russo | December 13, 2010

By Janet Adamy of The Wall Street Journal, www.online.wsj.com

WASHINGTON—A congressional committee is widening its investigation of bare-bones health-insurance policies to encompass potentially hundreds of plans offered by low-wage employers.

What started as a probe into McDonald’s Corp.’s insurance plan for store workers is expanding into broad scrutiny of “mini-med” policies that could ensnare large mini-med carriers including Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. (more…)

Category: Health Care Legislation, News | No Comments »
Tags:

Adam V. Russo | December 1, 2010

Companies that eliminate co-payments report better medication adherence – and lower health-care costs.

By Kimberly Blanton, www.CFO.com  

To control health-care costs, more companies are resorting to a strategy that doesn’t seem to make sense: They are spending more.

Employers are rejecting unpopular benefit cuts and instead eliminating co-payments on prescription drugs to encourage employees with severe health problems to take their medications and stay healthy. The theory is that the financial incentive will stave off emergency-room visits, hospital stays, and disability claims over the longer term. (more…)

Category: News, Welfare Benefit Plans | No Comments »
Tags: