Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Health Insurance Cutbacks Squeeze The Insured

Excerpt from NPR: (click for entire article)

Amber Cooper and her husband were doing OK. They had jobs, a healthy 5-year-old son, a house in Riverbank, Calif., and health insurance from her job in the accounting department of a small manufacturing company.

Then one day everything changed.

"We were in a conference room ... and I had heard rumors but didn't know if it was true, and I started crying in front of everyone and actually had to excuse myself to gather myself together and go back in. It was devastating for me," Cooper said.

Devastating because the rumors — her worst fears — had come true. She was in that conference room for a meeting about her health insurance.

For Small Business Week, IRS Spotlights Expanded Tax Credit for Hiring Veterans, Credit for Providing Health Care Coverage to Employees and Tax Relief

Excerpt from IRS.gov: (click for entire article)

The Internal Revenue Service is marking Small Business Week, May 20 to 26, by encouraging small business owners to check out two key tax credits and a special relief program that could provide significant tax benefits during 2012.

Both the expanded credit for hiring veterans and the credit for employer-provided health care coverage can provide tax savings to eligible small businesses when they file their 2012 federal income tax returns. In addition, substantial relief from past payroll tax obligations is available to eligible employers who agree to reclassify their workers as employees in the future. Here are details on each of these benefits.

Expanded Tax Credit for Hiring Veterans

A law change enacted late last year now provides an expanded Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to employers that hire eligible unemployed veterans. The credit can be as high as $9,600 per veteran for for-profit employers or up to $6,240 for tax-exempt organizations. The amount of the credit depends on a number of factors, including the length of the veteran’s unemployment before hire, hours a veteran works and the amount of first-year wages paid. Employers who hire veterans with service-related disabilities may be eligible for the maximum credit.

Disability Insurance Awareness Month Highlights Need to Know about Social Security Benefits

Excerpt from PR Web: (click for entire article)

Many people in today’s workforce don’t think about disability until an illness or injury prevents them from working. But being knowledgeable about disability insurance is crucial to any person’s financial plan, according to Allsup, which has helped tens of thousands of people receive their Social Security Disability Insurance(SSDI) benefits. During May, Disability Insurance Awareness Month provides an opportunity to remind people to evaluate their insurance needs and planning in case they can no longer work because of a severe disability.

“Many people are more aware of the value of life insurance and health insurance than disability insurance,” said David Bueltemann, manager of senior claimant representatives at Allsup. “If we assume that someone’s working career may extend for 30 to 40 years or more, there’s a significant chance of experiencing disability with an injury or severe illness.”

The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that up to one-third of Americans are likely to need disability insurance sometime before their retirement years. The Council for Disability Awareness reports that one in three workers have private disability insurance through an employer or private plan. A majority of workers, about 100 million, do not. In addition, nearly 153 million people are insured for Social Security Disability Insurance through their FICA taxes.

Long term care insurance and more

Excerpt from Federal News Radio: (click for entire article)

This week on Your Turn, Federal Times senior writer Stephen Losey joins host Mike Causey to give us an up-to-the-minute status report of what's going on on Capitol Hill.

In the second half of the program, Paul Forte and Mary Lou McGuiness, will answer the 10 questions you were afraid to (or didn't know you should) ask about long term care. They are with Long Term Care Partners which manages the federal program.

GAO Report Examines Individuals With Pre-Existing Conditions

Excerpt from Health Reform Source: (click for entire article)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates the number of people with pre-existing conditions on a state-by-state basis. The report finds that “Depending on the list of conditions used to define pre-existing conditions in each of the five estimates, GAO found that between 36 million and 122 million adults reported medical conditions that could result in a health insurer restricting coverage. This represents between 20 and 66 percent of the adult population, with a midpoint estimate of about 32 percent.” Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act “prohibits health insurers in the individual market from denying coverage, increasing premiums, or restricting benefits because of a pre-existing condition.

The Elusive Insurable Interest Requirement

Excerpt from TaxProf Blog: (click for entire article)

Mary Ann Mancini & Caitlin L. Murphy (both of Bryan Cave, Washington, D.C.), The Elusive Insurable Interest Requirement: Are You Sure the Insured is Insured?, 46 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 409 (Winter 2012):

    The existence of an insurable interest in the life of the insured is a basic prerequisite to the enforceability of any policy of life insurance.

GAO Report: Millions Of Adults Have Pre-Existing Conditions

Excerpt from Kaiser Health News: (click for entire article)

A report issued by the Government Accountability Office estimated that between 36 million and 112 million American adults have some form of pre-existing condition that could result in health coverage denials or restrictions.

The Hill: GAO: As Many As 112 Million Adults Have Pre-Existing Conditions
Somewhere between 36 million and 112 million adults have pre-existing conditions, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report. President Obama's healthcare law requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Insurers have historically been able to deny coverage to sick people or offer policies that don’t cover their pre-existing conditions (Baker, 4/26).

An Insurance Policy Made to Order for the Sandwich Generation

Excerpt from Daily Finance: (click for entire article)

Imagine this scenario: You'll while away your golden years in excellent health and fair financial shape before dropping dead from a heart attack at 93. You'll never need to spend any money on nurses and long-term care.

As far as plans for one's eventual demise go, it's a fairly upbeat one. And more and more baby boomers are realizing that's probably not how it's going to go down for them.

They've watched as their parents have outlived their assets, burning through their retirement savings paying for nurses, long-term care, and a host of other medical expenses. And those in the sandwich generation -- with both children to send to college and aging parents to care for -- are often watching their own finances hemorrhage from both sides.

Auto Insurance Fee Rekindles Michigan Law Debate

Excerpt from Insurance Journal: (click for entire article)

An increase in the amount Michigan drivers will pay into a fund for accident victims with brain damage, paralysis and other catastrophic injuries is renewing a call by some lawmakers for more transparency in how the rates are determined and broader insurance reforms.

The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association in March announced that the state’s insured drivers will pay $30 more per vehicle annually into the fund effective July 1, raising the per-vehicle assessment to $175. The 21 percent increase is needed, the association said, to cover the costs of Michigan’s one-of-a-kind law providing uncapped lifetime coverage for medical expenses resulting from auto accidents.

Why long-term care insurance may become extinct

Excerpt from CBS Money Watch: (click for entire article)

A recent article in Investment News, a publication for investment advisors, examines the possibility that long-term care (LTC) insurance may go the way of the dinosaur. The article notes the recent mass exodus of insurance companies offering the product.

Over the last three years, Unum Group, Guardian, MetLife (MET), and Allianz have all exited the business. And Prudential (PRU) said in March it would stop issuing individual LTC insurance.

The problem for insurance companies is that they had little idea of what they would actually need to pay out since they had so little experience. Insurance companies collect premiums for years before the vast majority of the insured will become old enough to need the care. That problem is compounded by the low fixed-income returns insurance companies are making on the premiums.