bhoffman | August 12, 2010
CCH® BENEFITS, www.hr.cch.com
California
The California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS) has approved an average increase of more than 9% in health premiums next year for state and local government workers. CalPERS blamed the rate increase on rising costs for hospital care, doctor visits, and prescriptions. The increase will mean higher premiums for public agencies and their [...]
Adam V. Russo | July 9, 2010
The Wall Street Journal below mirrors everything I have been saying at conferences across the country. I guess I’m going to have to start calling the Mass health plan a “train wreck” too.
By Joseph Rago of The Wall Street Journal, www.wsj.com
President Obama said earlier this year that the health-care bill that Congress passed three months [...]
Adam V. Russo | June 28, 2010
Massachusetts. The state senate has approved a bill that would require wealthy hospitals to pay $100 million in a one-time contribution to help small businesses pay for health insurance premiums. The bill would let businesses with 50 or fewer workers form cooperatives to purchase insurance at a lower cost. The money paid by wealthier hospitals [...]
Adam V. Russo | June 25, 2010
Move a blow to Patrick’s health strategy
By Jenn Abelson and Todd Wallack, The Boston Globe, www.boston.com
In a blow to the Patrick administration, an insurance appeals board yesterday overturned the state’s cap on health premium increases for small business and individual customers covered by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
The three-member administrative panel — which consists of attorneys [...]
Adam V. Russo | June 15, 2010
FORTUNE — The best guide to how President Obama’s historic health-care legislation will reshape the nation’s medical marketplace and fiscal future is the pioneering model in Massachusetts. The Bay State’s reform program started in late 2006, and it shares virtually all the major features of the new federal plan.
Adam V. Russo | June 8, 2010
Elyas Bakhtiari, for HealthLeaders Media, May 26, 2010
Once again, Massachusetts is providing a testing ground for national healthcare policy. While the U.S. Congress is only beginning a debate about regulating and capping insurance premium increases, the Massachusetts government has already denied proposed rate hikes, and insurers’ reactions in the state may foreshadow what’s to come [...]
Adam V. Russo | April 29, 2010
Health network examined for possible antitrust violations
By Robert Weisman and Liz Kowalczyk
The US Department of Justice has opened a civil investigation into possible anticompetitive behavior by Partners HealthCare System Inc., the region’s most powerful hospital and physician network.
In a letter sent to Partners and the state’s three largest health insurers on April 19, investigators [...]
Adam V. Russo | April 26, 2010
Nytimes.com
Four years after Massachusetts enacted its ambitious health care reform, the state has achieved its goal: covering most of the uninsured without seriously straining its budget. Most citizens seem to like it.
Massachusetts cannot stop there. It also needs to figure out how to rein in the escalating costs of medical care and health insurance. The [...]
Adam V. Russo | April 9, 2010
By Robert Weisman Globe Staff / April 9, 2010
Lawyers for health insurers and the state sparred in court yesterday over regulators’ rejection of 235 proposed rate increases, and a judge said he would decide by Monday whether the companies will be allowed to charge the higher prices.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Neel’s promise of [...]
Adam V. Russo | April 7, 2010
New policies stopped in disputed category; Regulators demand resumption by Friday
By Robert Weisman Globe Staff / April 7, 2010
The standoff between Massachusetts regulators and health insurance companies intensified yesterday, as most insurers stopped offering new coverage to small businesses and individuals, and state officials demanded that the insurers post updated rates online and resume offering [...]
Adam V. Russo | April 6, 2010
By Robert Weisman
Globe Staff / April 6, 2010
A half-dozen health insurers yesterday filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to reverse last week’s decision by the insurance commissioner to block double-digit premium increases — a ruling they say could leave them with hundreds of millions in losses this year.
The proposed rate hikes would have taken [...]
Adam V. Russo | April 6, 2010
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts along with five other local, not-for-profit health plans and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans filed legal action against the Massachusetts Division of Insurance. The legal complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court contends that the Commissioner of Insurance exceeded his legal authority by arbitrarily setting premium rates in the [...]
Adam V. Russo | February 9, 2010
I received this from Dana Driscoll at National Underwriting Services, Inc.
By Bob Unruh
A community hospital in Batesville, Miss., has gone to the unusual lengths of posting a building-size banner on the side of its structure to thank Massachusetts voters for their choice in the recent election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Adam V. Russo | January 25, 2010
For the last few years, states have been leading the way toward more comprehensive health care coverage to ensure that more people have or can obtain health insurance. Because of the potential impact of this ongoing activity on employer-provided health insurance benefits, Spencer’s Benefits Reports provides regular updates about state health care reform.
Massachusetts. Lawmakers are [...]
Adam V. Russo | January 15, 2010
Massachusetts has a big election Tuesday. Please see the link to Scott Brown’s campaign if you wish to donate. We here in my home state have a great chance to make history and show the country that we are about REAL change. If we can elect a republican then anyone can!
Click here to donate
