| Blue Cross of California Keeps Promise to Members: Enhanced ...
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross), through its affiliate BC Life & Health Insurance company, is now offering new health plan options for employers and individuals that will change the way consumers think about health care, helping them to lead healthier lives while also helping them gain control over the rising cost of care. These new consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) products and services are now available to large and small businesses as well as individuals. Previously, these products were offered only to national employers' members. "Our customers who choose these consumer-driven products will have new opportunities to lead healthier lives," said Blue Cross president Brian A. Sassi. "Our suite of Lumenos CDHP products puts consumers in control of their health care dollars and offers them an incentive to spend wisely and demand better health care quality and value." Blue Cross will offer the following core CDHP products: -- Lumenos Health Reimbursement Account -- Lumenos Health Savings Account -- Lumenos Health Incentive Account -- Lumenos Health Incentive Account Plus Consumers who choose Lumenos products will be eligible for extensive preventive care and personal health coaching, as well as smoking cessation and weight management programs.
What unions do
Union employees earn higher wages and are more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and retirement plans. The benefits of unions, however, extend far beyond the individual worker.Compared to states with few union members (like North Carolina), states with a high percentage of union members have higher average wages, fewer people in poverty, fewer people without health insurance, lower workplace fatality rates, higher public education spending per pupil and higher voter participation rates.The labor movement is responsible for the 40-hour work week, child labor laws and worker health and safety protections. In recent years, unions have organized against bad trade deals and the movement offshore of American jobs. Unions have fought to protect Social Security and increase access to affordable health care and prescription drugs.At a time when CEO pay, health-care costs and gas prices are skyrocketing while employees' wages remain stagnant, Americans need unions more than ever if we want the middle class to survive.Ajamu DillahuntOutreach coordinator, N.C.
Sun Life Financial Expands Stop-Loss Cost-Containment Program
WELLESLEY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The U.S. division of Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF) announced today that its Group Division is expanding its industry-leading Stop-Loss cost-containment program with new features. The company is also renaming the program to SunResourcesSM to reflect this expansion. "Through SunResources, we help employers lower their total cost of health care," said Christopher Brown, Vice President, Stop-Loss Products. "With the new services we are adding today — along with more in the near future — we can save our customers even more." Sun Life Financial is one of the nation's largest providers of stop-loss insurance, which protects employers who self-fund their employee health care plans against unexpectedly high claim costs. SunResources works by linking employers to money-saving vendors and services that can lower the cost of employee health care.
Baldacci reform plan calls for mandatory insurance
AUGUSTA - A broad package of health insurance reforms that builds upon Dirigo and would lead to mandatory coverage for businesses and individuals was unveiled Wednesday by Gov. John Baldacci.
Baldacci's plan, designed to move Maine closer to universal health care, also includes market reforms such as a state reinsurance plan, requiring insurers to give discounts for nonsmokers and worksite wellness programs, and more rigorous reviews before rate increases are allowed.
In the MaineCare program, Baldacci proposes a 50 percent increase in prescription copays, reducing administrative costs and recovery of more money from insurers, workers' compensation and Department of Veterans Affairs. The plan also sees a modest increase of roughly 1,000 people in the Dirigo Health program to 14,500 over the next year or so.
GPPI Hosts Roundtable on Universal Health Insurance
Georgetown Public Policy Institute and the O'Neill Institute on Health Law at the Georgetown Law Center will host Getting from Here to There, a roundtable discussion on the renewed interest in universal health insurance, on Monday April 9, 2007. The session will feature presentations by Katherine Baicker of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation, and Jeanne Lambrew of the Center for American Progress, and will be followed by a roundtable discussion by other experts on health finance. The event will take place from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. at the National Press Club. Every year approximately one million people are added to the rolls of the uninsured. As the number of firms offering health benefits declines, growing health costs stymie growth in earnings. Many insured Americans are seeing their benefits dwindle while health costs consume their wages, leaving some unable to pay their medical bills and others going without much needed care.
RI to debut small business health plan
Two new health plans available to employees of small businesses this fall will offer discounted coverage to people who agree to keep fit and quit smoking. Details of the plans were released Tuesday and will be offered in October by Blue Cross & Blue Shield for $323 a month and UnitedHealthcare for $309 per month. Both require customers to get a health screening, select a primary care doctor and create a plan to monitor long-term illnesses such as diabetes. People who are overweight will have to enroll in a weight-management program or show they're losing weight. Smokers would have to enroll in a program to stop. Those who don't will have to pay more. "There really is no free lunch," said Christopher Koller, the state's health care commissioner. "If you want to lower costs, there are going to have to be some commitments." Any insurance company that wants to insure the state's work force must offer the discounted plans, which can't exceed 10 percent of an average person's annual wages.
Ignagni to Discuss Low-Income and Minority Beneficiaries ...
As Congress debates budget and health care issues, the participation of low-income, minority beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage is sparking debate. Join Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), at a teleconference on Tuesday, April 10 at 10:00 a.m. to discuss this important issue. AHIP recently released an analysis of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), which found Medicare health plans are a vital choice among low- income and minority beneficiaries because of the lower out-of-pocket costs and additional benefits these plans provide. The complete study can be found at http://www.ahipresearch.org/. WHAT: Teleconference on low-income and minority beneficiaries' participation in Medicare Advantage WHEN: Tuesday, April 10, 10:00 a.m. WHO: Karen Ignagni, President and CEO, AHIP CALL-IN: (866) 259-6033 CONTACT: Robert Zirkelbach, 202-778-8493 or rzirkelbach@ahip.org America's Health Insurance Plans -- Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200 Million Americans.
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