| Nationwide Rates Set To Rise
31--TALLAHASSEE -- Arbitrators have overruled the state and will allow Nationwide Insurance to raise homeowners' premiums by an average of 54 percent. The increase by the Tampa Bay area's second-largest insurer applies to hurricane and nonhurricane coverage, though the amount will vary by location. Nationwide spokesman Eric Hardgrove said the company will implement the increase "as soon as possible." Nationwide, which has 240,000 policyholders in Florida and 42,005 in the Tampa Bay area, sought a 71 percent rate increase in July, but regulators rejected it. The company then filed for arbitration and won the case during hearings earlier this month. The ruling was released Friday. Under the original 71 percent average request, increases for the Tampa Bay area varied widely. Hillsborough County was projected to be 49.8 percent; Pinellas, 134.6 percent; Pasco, 73.7 percent; and Polk, 43.7 percent.
CIGNA: Sullivan employees filling prescriptions at 'alarming' rate
BLOUNTVILLE - Employees of Sullivan County, and their family members covered under the county's health insurance plan, are filling prescriptions at an "alarming" rate for a group their size, a CIGNA insurance company representative said Thursday. About 1,600 people are covered by the plan through CIGNA, Sullivan County Commissioner Sam Jones said. He is chairman of the Sullivan County Commission's Insurance Committee. According to a report given to the committee on Thursday, 75.5 percent of those enrolled in the county employee insurance plan filled at least one prescription during the seven-month period of July 1, 2006, through Jan. 31 this year. The most-prescribed type of drug was pain medication at 957 prescriptions filled, followed by acid-reflux medications at 722 prescriptions filled, and cholesterol-lowering medications at 606 prescriptions filled.
Concurrent Health Problems Take Heavy Toll On Seniors
In the later years of life, chronic diseases and other health problems tend to accumulate and negatively affect an individual's health, according to reports published in the latest issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences (Vol. 62A, No. 3). In a special section devoted to the presence of coexisting medical conditions - known as comorbidity - this edition of the journal features four separate articles on the topic.
New diagnoses of common health problems add complexity to an older person's health status, which is usually characterized by preexisting problems. In 1999, 24 percent of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older had four or more chronic conditions. The proportion was 31.4 percent among those 85 or older.
The authors outline a need to improve the understanding of the role of multiple comorbid conditions in the health of older adults.
Economic revival needs leap of faith
The Thai economy is slowing more than expected this year with further downgrading of growth projections likely, but there is hope that the situation will improve in the fourth quarter, according to economist Supavud Saicheua, managing director of Phatra Securities. Phatra Securities has already revised down its 2007 gross domestic product growth projection to 3.7% from the 4-5% level projected by most other research houses and analysts. The high degree of political uncertainty makes it difficult to say when the economy will start to show more signs of robustness, in Dr Supavud's view. ''A lot is apparently riding on the new constitution being found acceptable and on the elections going well so that we have an elected government,'' he said. ''At the moment recovery is predicated on everything going relatively smoothly on politics, although we warn too that political tension will keep rising and perhaps peak at mid-year.'' He noted that while the Thai stock market continues to be one of the cheapest in the world right now, with a price-earnings (P/E) ratio around nine times, against 12-13 for other comparable markets, Thai investors seem to be holding back while foreigners, especially hedge funds with their greater risk appetite, doing most of the buying.
Insurance Costs Become 3rd Storm
NEW ORLEANS -- Robert Lynn Green Sr.'s sign stands outside his FEMA trailer here in the Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood flooded after Hurricane Katrina, proclaiming: "If You Build It They Will Come." It's a vision of hope, of faith, of recovery. Yet that vision is ever more elusive for people here. In this once-vibrant community, still largely shuttered 19 months after Katrina, empty tracts stretch for blocks. The rebuilding of Green's neighborhood and others in Louisiana and Mississippi hinges on many factors, including the need for more construction aid. But perhaps nothing has slowed rebuilding more than the rising cost and fading availability of insurance. Homeowners and business owners say their premiums have doubled or tripled since Katrina. Businesses are delaying rebuilding. Workers have been slow to return.
Health insurance plan to face test at polls
Voters on Sunday decide on a proposal to introduce a single health insurance company in Switzerland and premiums based on income and wealth. The plan, which is supported by the centre-left but opposed by the centre-right as well as the business community, parliament and the government, is the latest in a series of attempts to cut increasing costs, notably health premiums. There are currently 87 private insurers providing mandatory coverage for basic health care for residents in Switzerland under a 1996 law. But health premiums have soared spectacularly over the past decade.More than 100,000 people are no longer covered because they haven't paid their premiums.The centre-left Social Democrats and the Greens say a single health insurance scheme would boost the efficiency of the system and allow annual savings of at least SFr300 million ($245 million) in administrative costs."The multitude of insurance firms creates nothing more than high costs, because they all provide the same service and try to win as many young and healthy clients," said Social Democratic Party president and parliamentarian Hans-Jrg Fehr.
We all get sick, need health care
Elizabeth Edwards is the wife of a Democratic presidential candidate and Tony Snow is the chief spokesman for a Republican president, but they are on the same side of the battle against cancer. Both recently announced that cancer for which they had previously been treated had come back. Mrs. Edwards, the wife of John Edwards, and Mr. Snow, President Bushs press secretary, have access to excellent medical care. The Edwards family is rich, and surely the White House has a fine employee health insurance plan. Not everyone is so fortunate. Almost 50 million Americans have no health insurance. While everyone supposedly is entitled to minimal health care regardless of ability to pay, uninsured people are less likely to get preventive care that may keep them from becoming seriously ill.
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