Many cars and vehicles were caught in flash flooding, mud and muck this week in the Philadelphia area, television station WCAU reported. Now owners are faced with waterlogged cars that may just need a little drying out, or which may be a complete loss.
Jerry DeFrancesco, of Bala Motor Sports in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., spent a large part of his day Wednesday on the phone with insurance adjusters. His company towed about 25 cars off the Schuykill Expressway after heavy rains flooded the road. "Once they get water in them, there's nothing you can do. Just call the insurance company and get a new car," DeFrancesco said. "The problem is, there's so much electronics in a car today, that once the water gets in the electronics they total it out because the car is never gonna be right."
If flooding damaged your car, you may be wondering if you have the proper insurance. Just because you have auto insurance, that doesn't mean you are covered in the case of a flood.
According to Allstate insurance, a typical auto insurance policy will cover flood damage as long as the customer has elected comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive coverage is not mandatory coverage, so a customer must choose for the policy to cover this type of loss.
The best coverage, according to Allstate, is comprehensive coverage under a personal auto policy. Also, car owners may want to have rental reimbursement coverage in case a substitute vehicle is needed.
Allstate says you should dry your car out as quickly as possible to see exactly what has been damaged. Also, take your car to a mechanic as soon as you can, so he or she can figure out how much work needs to be done.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Bush unveils plan to expand health coverage
A new Bush administration plan designed to tackle the problem of the uninsured could help expand coverage, reducing provider cost-shifting to employers currently offering health insurance, benefit experts say.
Under the proposal, which President Bush outlined at the Republican National Convention in New York, employers with 100 or fewer employees would be eligible for a refundable tax credit for contributions they make to employees’ health savings accounts. The credit would apply to the first $500 in contributions an employer makes to each employee’s HSA for family coverage, while a maximum tax credit of $200 per worker would be provided for individual coverage.
Low-income individuals not covered by employer plans would be eligible for other tax credits. The credit would be available for both HSA-linked high-deductible health insurance coverage and for more traditional coverage.
In the case of HSA-linked coverage, the government would directly contribute — for family coverage — $1,000 to an individual’s HSA, along with a $2,000 refundable tax credit to partially offset the cost of the premiums for the high-deductible health insurance plan to which the HSA is linked. For individual coverage, the government would make a $300 HSA contribution and provide a $700 tax credit.
For low-income families who opt for a more traditional plan, such as a health maintenance organization, the government would provide a $3,000 health insurance premium tax credit for family coverage and a $1,000 tax credit for individual coverage.
Regardless of whether coverage is obtained through an HSA-linked plan or a more traditional plan, the tax credit would be advance refundable. That means an individual could use the credit immediately to offset the cost of the health insurance premium, rather than claiming the credit when filing income taxes.
Other provisions in the plan, which requires congressional approval, would allow individual health care purchasers to buy coverage from insurers outside their state of residence. That could cut costs for individuals who, for example, buy coverage in a state that imposes few benefit mandates on health insurers.
Additionally, the Bush plan calls for providing states with several billion dollars in grants to set up health insurance purchasing pools through which individuals eligible for health insurance tax credits could purchase coverage.
“HealthPools will use the purchasing power of thousands of individual families to help the reduce the cost of health insurance premiums,” the White House said in fact sheet, noting it envisions states setting up Web sites and toll-free numbers people could use to sign up for coverage. Pool coverage applications also would be available at heavily used government facilities, such as motor vehicle offices.
Finally, the proposal calls for devoting more federal resources to expanding enrollment in such government programs as Medicaid and the State’s Children Health Insurance Program, where millions of eligible beneficiaries have never signed up for coverage.
The administration estimates the entire package would increase the number of people with health insurance by between 11 million and 17.5 million. Currently, around 45 million people lack coverage.
The use of tax credits to expand coverage is not new. A 2002 federal law gives eligible beneficiaries a tax credit equal to 65 percent of the premiums they pay for health insurance. Those eligible for the so-called health coverage tax credit are individuals who have lost their jobs due to foreign competition and retirees age 55 through 64 whose former employers’ pension plans have been taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
Benefit experts say the small employer HSA-related tax credit could be enough to maintain coverage at those firms on the edge of folding their health insurance plans because of the high cost of premiums, while also pushing those leaning toward offering coverage to do so.
“It helps those on the edge,” said Andy Anderson, a consultant with Hewitt Associates Inc. in Lincolnshire, Ill.
The package’s $3,000 in subsidies — through a combination of direct federal contributions to lower-income individual’s HSAs and tax credits to offset health insurance premiums — would be what Mr. Anderson describes as “huge assistance” to people in the lower middle class who are not covered under employer plans and who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but find the cost of private health insurance prohibitive.
“It could make a big difference for them,” said Joe Martingale, national strategy health care leader for Watson Wyatt Worldwide in New York.
While large employers would not be eligible for the health insurance tax breaks, they still would benefit from it, experts say. If more people have health insurance, they say, hospitals would see a reduction in the amount of uncompensated care they provide to the uninsured, reducing their need to shift costs to insured patients, said Joe Walshe, a principal in the HR services unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. in Washington.
“Anything that diminishes the number of uninsured is good news for corporate America,” Mr. Martingale said.
Under the proposal, which President Bush outlined at the Republican National Convention in New York, employers with 100 or fewer employees would be eligible for a refundable tax credit for contributions they make to employees’ health savings accounts. The credit would apply to the first $500 in contributions an employer makes to each employee’s HSA for family coverage, while a maximum tax credit of $200 per worker would be provided for individual coverage.
Low-income individuals not covered by employer plans would be eligible for other tax credits. The credit would be available for both HSA-linked high-deductible health insurance coverage and for more traditional coverage.
In the case of HSA-linked coverage, the government would directly contribute — for family coverage — $1,000 to an individual’s HSA, along with a $2,000 refundable tax credit to partially offset the cost of the premiums for the high-deductible health insurance plan to which the HSA is linked. For individual coverage, the government would make a $300 HSA contribution and provide a $700 tax credit.
For low-income families who opt for a more traditional plan, such as a health maintenance organization, the government would provide a $3,000 health insurance premium tax credit for family coverage and a $1,000 tax credit for individual coverage.
Regardless of whether coverage is obtained through an HSA-linked plan or a more traditional plan, the tax credit would be advance refundable. That means an individual could use the credit immediately to offset the cost of the health insurance premium, rather than claiming the credit when filing income taxes.
Other provisions in the plan, which requires congressional approval, would allow individual health care purchasers to buy coverage from insurers outside their state of residence. That could cut costs for individuals who, for example, buy coverage in a state that imposes few benefit mandates on health insurers.
Additionally, the Bush plan calls for providing states with several billion dollars in grants to set up health insurance purchasing pools through which individuals eligible for health insurance tax credits could purchase coverage.
“HealthPools will use the purchasing power of thousands of individual families to help the reduce the cost of health insurance premiums,” the White House said in fact sheet, noting it envisions states setting up Web sites and toll-free numbers people could use to sign up for coverage. Pool coverage applications also would be available at heavily used government facilities, such as motor vehicle offices.
Finally, the proposal calls for devoting more federal resources to expanding enrollment in such government programs as Medicaid and the State’s Children Health Insurance Program, where millions of eligible beneficiaries have never signed up for coverage.
The administration estimates the entire package would increase the number of people with health insurance by between 11 million and 17.5 million. Currently, around 45 million people lack coverage.
The use of tax credits to expand coverage is not new. A 2002 federal law gives eligible beneficiaries a tax credit equal to 65 percent of the premiums they pay for health insurance. Those eligible for the so-called health coverage tax credit are individuals who have lost their jobs due to foreign competition and retirees age 55 through 64 whose former employers’ pension plans have been taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
Benefit experts say the small employer HSA-related tax credit could be enough to maintain coverage at those firms on the edge of folding their health insurance plans because of the high cost of premiums, while also pushing those leaning toward offering coverage to do so.
“It helps those on the edge,” said Andy Anderson, a consultant with Hewitt Associates Inc. in Lincolnshire, Ill.
The package’s $3,000 in subsidies — through a combination of direct federal contributions to lower-income individual’s HSAs and tax credits to offset health insurance premiums — would be what Mr. Anderson describes as “huge assistance” to people in the lower middle class who are not covered under employer plans and who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but find the cost of private health insurance prohibitive.
“It could make a big difference for them,” said Joe Martingale, national strategy health care leader for Watson Wyatt Worldwide in New York.
While large employers would not be eligible for the health insurance tax breaks, they still would benefit from it, experts say. If more people have health insurance, they say, hospitals would see a reduction in the amount of uncompensated care they provide to the uninsured, reducing their need to shift costs to insured patients, said Joe Walshe, a principal in the HR services unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. in Washington.
“Anything that diminishes the number of uninsured is good news for corporate America,” Mr. Martingale said.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Drivers urged to shop around for car insurance
More than a third of motorists have faced increased car insurance premiums despite growing competition in the market, research showed today.Around 35% of drivers said last time they renewed their motor cover their premium was higher, rising by an average of 8.9%.A further 17% said their premiums had stayed the same, while only 24% had seen a reduction.But Sainsbury’s Bank claims the majority could see the cost of their insurance fall if they shopped around, particularly if they looked beyond traditional providers.It estimates that motorists could reduce their premiums by an average of £90 each by scouring the market for the most competitive deal, a collective saving of more than £2 billion.Joanne Mallon, car insurance manager at Sainsbury’s Bank, said: “Competition has increased in the car insurance marketplace, which is good news for motorists if they are prepared to shop around for cover. They can increase the quality of their insurance and also reduce their premiums.”People living in the Midlands are most likely to have faced a hike in their premiums when they came to renew their cover, with 48% saying the cost of their insurance had gone up, followed by 43% of people in the North West, Wales and the West.Motorists in the North East and Yorkshire and Humberside were most likely to have seen the cost of insuring their car fall at 31%, while just over a quarter of drivers in London, the South East and East Anglia had also seen reductions.TNS questioned 1,005 people between July 30 and August 1.
Health Insurance Poised For Radical Shift
Kimber Dills has suddenly found herself on the front lines of one of the biggest changes in health insurance in years, but that's not where the Nashville human resources director intended to be.
Dills simply was looking for health insurance that her employer and her 160 co-workers could afford when she became the first executive in Tennessee to go with a Health Savings Account insurance plan from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.
It reduced premiums by about 30% in a year when the average U.S. health insurance premium increased more than 11%.
It also has changed the way Dills and her fellow employees at Mental Health Cooperative think about health insurance.
No more co-payments for drugs or doctor visits. A person pays the entire doctor bill and full cost of their prescriptions until they've spent a certain amount, and then insurance coverage kicks in.
How they work
Health savings accounts have two parts. The first part is a high-deductible health insurance policy. The second part is a type of savings or investment account into which a person can deposit pre-tax money and withdraw it tax-free to pay for health care.
While there are many variations, a typical HSA plan might have an insurance policy with a $2,500 deductible for a family. After the deductible is met, the insurance pays 100% of all costs.
The participant also opens a health savings account into which he makes pre-tax contributions, similar to Individual Retirement Accounts.
The participant can withdraw that money to pay for medical needs until the annual deductible has been met.
If the money in the health savings account is not used, it continues to grow year after year tax-free.
And after age 65, the money can be withdrawn for any purpose without penalty, although taxes apply if it is used for non-medical purposes.
Most health savings accounts are set up as money market accounts, earning small interest rates, but as the market develops, other types of investments are possible.
Interest grows
Jim McAlister, regional manager for Rogers Benefit Group, a wholesaler of health insurance, said his office has sold four plans in the Nashville area, but the program is still very new.
''We do have a lot of interest. I've been out on probably 50-plus appointments with agents. The interest is there,'' he said.
The savings in premiums are substantial, running between 25% and 35%, he said. In a typical situation, that can amount to about $60 to $90 in savings per month in premiums for an individual, and anywhere from $200 to $250 a month in savings on a family premium.
McAlister said that when he has sat down with employees and ''penciled'' scenarios, many find that they would save money with less risk exposure through the HSAs
''But it's a huge paradigm shift,'' he said. ''It's going to take a bit of time.''
Comparison shop
The idea is to put people on the front lines of managing their own health-care costs.
Because the money they are spending up front on drugs and on the doctor is their own, the logic is that they will become smarter consumers and shop around for the best prices, said Jason Corley, the agent who sold Dills the BlueCross HSA.
''You turn them into consumers,'' said Corley, managing general agent of The McAlister Group in Franklin.
Some plans are set up using the common preferred provider organization — which means a participant gets a negotiated discount rate at a doctor who is in the PPO network; but outside of the network, participants would be on their own in negotiating a price with the doctor.
Seeing the savings
Switching to an HSA plan at Mental Health Cooperative was almost overwhelming, Dills said.
''It's very scary. I didn't sleep. It was a huge decision. But this was the best thing,'' the human resource manager said.
The cooperative's premiums went down so much that it can afford to make deposits into the health savings accounts set up by its employees. The employees also make deposits into their own accounts, many of them using a payroll deduction as with their 401(k).
Krystina Babb, an employee of the Mental Health Cooperative, expects to come out ahead even though she now has a $1,200 deductible.
Under the old policy she spent more than $1,500 a year on co-payments for prescription drugs alone.
Now she will have to pay the full amount for her medicines, but only until she spends the $1,200 deductible. Then 80% of all costs will be covered by the insurance policy.
In addition to that, Babb said, the amount she pays toward her insurance premium went down by $1,200.
She expects to save hundreds of dollars each year.
''I wasn't the happiest when it was first presented,'' she said, ''but after six months I will have met my deductible,'' and most of her expenses will be covered.
When Babb shopped around for her prescription drugs, she was shocked to find that she had been paying a $10 co-payment for generic medications that really cost just $3 or $4.
Good health pays
Sherrie Jenkins immediately knew an HSA was right for her small company. Her policy has a deductible of $3,800 for single employees and $4,800 for families.
Jenkins, who owns the Supply Room, an office-products supply company that has four employees, was especially attracted by the tax-free savings account.
''If you're healthy and eat right and exercise, you get to keep your money. If you smoke or don't exercise, you'll use that money,'' she said.
Jenkins is the kind of health-care consumer that Brian Shipp is counting on.
Shipp, who is president and chief executive officer of United Healthcare's Tennessee and Arkansas division, thinks HSAs could change the way many Americans purchase health care, since the money they spend, or save, will be their own.
''More consumers will be asking about quality information, outcome information and cost information,'' he said.
Education is key
When consumers buy an HSA from Aetna, they can do their comparison shopping on the company's Web site, said Odie Pansius, the company's top official in Nashville.
The Web site will show what different pharmacies charge for the same drug and how much health-care providers charge for a procedure. Prices will vary depending on the policy the consumer buys. Aetna insures 180,000 people in Tennessee.
''Everyone is asking for as much information as they can get,'' Pansius said. ''It puts more power in the consumer's hand, and that's good for everybody.''
Market acceptance may hinge on the ability of people to understand a very different type of health plan in an era where people have grown up with cheap co-payments for day-to-day care — office visits and drugs.
''The biggest impediment we've seen has been the thinking through of how do I communicate this?'' said McAlister.
As insurance companies develop the product, however, McAlister said he expects videos and other material that will help people understand how it works. And with co-payments rising for doctor visits and drugs, some might find the system refreshingly simple.
''The bottom line for most people is, what is the bottom line? What are the premium savings? And then when I look at those premium savings compared with the plan benefits, does it seem worth it?''
''The whole idea behind HSAs is if you give people an incentive, then they may spend their money more wisely, then everyone saves money,'' he said.
Dills simply was looking for health insurance that her employer and her 160 co-workers could afford when she became the first executive in Tennessee to go with a Health Savings Account insurance plan from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.
It reduced premiums by about 30% in a year when the average U.S. health insurance premium increased more than 11%.
It also has changed the way Dills and her fellow employees at Mental Health Cooperative think about health insurance.
No more co-payments for drugs or doctor visits. A person pays the entire doctor bill and full cost of their prescriptions until they've spent a certain amount, and then insurance coverage kicks in.
How they work
Health savings accounts have two parts. The first part is a high-deductible health insurance policy. The second part is a type of savings or investment account into which a person can deposit pre-tax money and withdraw it tax-free to pay for health care.
While there are many variations, a typical HSA plan might have an insurance policy with a $2,500 deductible for a family. After the deductible is met, the insurance pays 100% of all costs.
The participant also opens a health savings account into which he makes pre-tax contributions, similar to Individual Retirement Accounts.
The participant can withdraw that money to pay for medical needs until the annual deductible has been met.
If the money in the health savings account is not used, it continues to grow year after year tax-free.
And after age 65, the money can be withdrawn for any purpose without penalty, although taxes apply if it is used for non-medical purposes.
Most health savings accounts are set up as money market accounts, earning small interest rates, but as the market develops, other types of investments are possible.
Interest grows
Jim McAlister, regional manager for Rogers Benefit Group, a wholesaler of health insurance, said his office has sold four plans in the Nashville area, but the program is still very new.
''We do have a lot of interest. I've been out on probably 50-plus appointments with agents. The interest is there,'' he said.
The savings in premiums are substantial, running between 25% and 35%, he said. In a typical situation, that can amount to about $60 to $90 in savings per month in premiums for an individual, and anywhere from $200 to $250 a month in savings on a family premium.
McAlister said that when he has sat down with employees and ''penciled'' scenarios, many find that they would save money with less risk exposure through the HSAs
''But it's a huge paradigm shift,'' he said. ''It's going to take a bit of time.''
Comparison shop
The idea is to put people on the front lines of managing their own health-care costs.
Because the money they are spending up front on drugs and on the doctor is their own, the logic is that they will become smarter consumers and shop around for the best prices, said Jason Corley, the agent who sold Dills the BlueCross HSA.
''You turn them into consumers,'' said Corley, managing general agent of The McAlister Group in Franklin.
Some plans are set up using the common preferred provider organization — which means a participant gets a negotiated discount rate at a doctor who is in the PPO network; but outside of the network, participants would be on their own in negotiating a price with the doctor.
Seeing the savings
Switching to an HSA plan at Mental Health Cooperative was almost overwhelming, Dills said.
''It's very scary. I didn't sleep. It was a huge decision. But this was the best thing,'' the human resource manager said.
The cooperative's premiums went down so much that it can afford to make deposits into the health savings accounts set up by its employees. The employees also make deposits into their own accounts, many of them using a payroll deduction as with their 401(k).
Krystina Babb, an employee of the Mental Health Cooperative, expects to come out ahead even though she now has a $1,200 deductible.
Under the old policy she spent more than $1,500 a year on co-payments for prescription drugs alone.
Now she will have to pay the full amount for her medicines, but only until she spends the $1,200 deductible. Then 80% of all costs will be covered by the insurance policy.
In addition to that, Babb said, the amount she pays toward her insurance premium went down by $1,200.
She expects to save hundreds of dollars each year.
''I wasn't the happiest when it was first presented,'' she said, ''but after six months I will have met my deductible,'' and most of her expenses will be covered.
When Babb shopped around for her prescription drugs, she was shocked to find that she had been paying a $10 co-payment for generic medications that really cost just $3 or $4.
Good health pays
Sherrie Jenkins immediately knew an HSA was right for her small company. Her policy has a deductible of $3,800 for single employees and $4,800 for families.
Jenkins, who owns the Supply Room, an office-products supply company that has four employees, was especially attracted by the tax-free savings account.
''If you're healthy and eat right and exercise, you get to keep your money. If you smoke or don't exercise, you'll use that money,'' she said.
Jenkins is the kind of health-care consumer that Brian Shipp is counting on.
Shipp, who is president and chief executive officer of United Healthcare's Tennessee and Arkansas division, thinks HSAs could change the way many Americans purchase health care, since the money they spend, or save, will be their own.
''More consumers will be asking about quality information, outcome information and cost information,'' he said.
Education is key
When consumers buy an HSA from Aetna, they can do their comparison shopping on the company's Web site, said Odie Pansius, the company's top official in Nashville.
The Web site will show what different pharmacies charge for the same drug and how much health-care providers charge for a procedure. Prices will vary depending on the policy the consumer buys. Aetna insures 180,000 people in Tennessee.
''Everyone is asking for as much information as they can get,'' Pansius said. ''It puts more power in the consumer's hand, and that's good for everybody.''
Market acceptance may hinge on the ability of people to understand a very different type of health plan in an era where people have grown up with cheap co-payments for day-to-day care — office visits and drugs.
''The biggest impediment we've seen has been the thinking through of how do I communicate this?'' said McAlister.
As insurance companies develop the product, however, McAlister said he expects videos and other material that will help people understand how it works. And with co-payments rising for doctor visits and drugs, some might find the system refreshingly simple.
''The bottom line for most people is, what is the bottom line? What are the premium savings? And then when I look at those premium savings compared with the plan benefits, does it seem worth it?''
''The whole idea behind HSAs is if you give people an incentive, then they may spend their money more wisely, then everyone saves money,'' he said.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Texas Auto Insurance
Two auto insurance companies in Texas will be forced to pay back nearly three and a half million dollars to their policy holder. The Texas Attorney General says the companies are guilty of an illegal practice called "betterment". The companies claim repairing a vehicle with newer parts raises its value so they charge customers more for their own repairs. You may be eligible for a refund if you made claims between 1996 and 2001 with Progressive County Mutual Insurance and Old American County Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Anthem remains committed to Wellpoint deal
Anthem Inc.'s (NYSE: HUM) top executive said Monday the company doesn't plan to halt in its stalled merger of Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based WellPoint Health Networks Inc., Reuters is reporting. Larry Glasscock, CEO of Anthem, said the company will keep all options open until the deal is completed. The $16.4 billion merger would create the nation's largest health insurance carrier. The combined company, called WellPoint Inc., would serve nearly 26 million medical members and operate as a Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 13 states.
Both Anthem and WellPoint are among the largest competitors of Louisville-based Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). Humana provides benefits to about 5.8 million medical members located primarily in 15 states and Puerto Rico. Anthem has been in a legal battle with California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, who rejected Anthem's application to control California-based BC Life & Health Insurance Co., a subsidiary of WellPoint. Anthem has since sued Garamendi, according to various news reports, claiming he went beyond his authority is preventing the merger. Indianapolis-based Anthem offers health benefits in Kentucky through its subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky. The parent company provides health care benefits to more than 12.6 million people in nine states.
Both Anthem and WellPoint are among the largest competitors of Louisville-based Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). Humana provides benefits to about 5.8 million medical members located primarily in 15 states and Puerto Rico. Anthem has been in a legal battle with California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, who rejected Anthem's application to control California-based BC Life & Health Insurance Co., a subsidiary of WellPoint. Anthem has since sued Garamendi, according to various news reports, claiming he went beyond his authority is preventing the merger. Indianapolis-based Anthem offers health benefits in Kentucky through its subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky. The parent company provides health care benefits to more than 12.6 million people in nine states.
Ex Blue Cross employee charged with Embezzlement
PROVIDENCE -- A retired Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island worker was charged Thursday with stealing about $723,000 from the insurer over eight years.
Vincent Bottoni Jr., 71, of Johnston, was arrested Thursday by state police. He was arraigned in District Court on one count of embezzlement. He was released on $50,000 bail.
Police said Bottoni worked as a cash receipts manager and was an employee for more than 30 years. He's charged with stealing cash from the company over an 8-year period, ending when he retired in April 2003. Blue Cross & Blue Shield discovered the theft through an audit.
News Channel 10's Bill Rappleye reported that the theft will not affect ratepayers. The company said it is insured for the losses.
Vincent Bottoni Jr., 71, of Johnston, was arrested Thursday by state police. He was arraigned in District Court on one count of embezzlement. He was released on $50,000 bail.
Police said Bottoni worked as a cash receipts manager and was an employee for more than 30 years. He's charged with stealing cash from the company over an 8-year period, ending when he retired in April 2003. Blue Cross & Blue Shield discovered the theft through an audit.
News Channel 10's Bill Rappleye reported that the theft will not affect ratepayers. The company said it is insured for the losses.
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