By: Boston.com
State regulators wrestling with soaring well being care expenses this evening held fast to a cap on costs for 137 well being insurance coverage plans up for renewal this summer, freezing prices at 2009 levels, whilst sending 3 insurers scrambling to supply much more data to justify their proposed double-digit rate hikes prior to making a choice.
At the same time, four other insurance coverage businesses had been given approval for single-digit rate raises for 63 plans sold within the so-called little group marketplace, which covers individuals and little companies. Regulators mentioned individuals insurers showed much more restraint than they did within the past.
The extremely anticipated choice on proposed well being premium raises for that three-month period ending in September -- released early this evening following day-long deliberations by Patrick administration officials -- contrasts with regulators' earlier denial of 235 of 272 premium hikes for that April-to-June period. Individuals prices had been frozen at last year's levels, and insurers have spent the past 3 months challenging the rejection. It's unclear whether today's choice by the Division of Insurance coverage will have a long-term affect on Patrick's campaign to rein in well being care expenses.
State officials have mentioned rate caps are required to ease the burden of rising expenses on little companies and working families in a tenuous economy. But insurers have complained the state is forcing them to sell policies at a loss, threatening their financial stability. Last week, they had been buoyed by a Division of Insurance coverage appeals panel that overturned rate caps imposed on Harvard Pilgrim Well being Care.
Whilst none from the rate proposals had been rejected outright this time, Patrick administration officials mentioned their request for extra info -- including the amount of reimbursements they pay to various well being care providers -- left the burden squarely on the insurers to build the case for higher prices. The insurance coverage division will have 30 days to rules on individuals rate-hike requests once insured submit the extra info.
"We're not blinking," mentioned Barbara Anthony, state undersecretary for consumer affairs and company regulation. "We're doing our due diligence so we can stay the course. If the carriers can't supply info to justify these prices, they'll be disapproved."
Lora Pellegrini, president from the Massachusetts Association of Well being Plans, a trade group, mentioned today's ruling represented ongoing interference within the insurance coverage industry by Governor Deval Patrick. He has pledged to turn down premium increased that he considers excessive or unreasonable.
"This action by the Patrick administration to not approve prices will continue to cause chaos within the marketplace," Pellegrini mentioned.
Insurance coverage Commissioner Joseph G. Murphy these days asked Harvard Pilgrim of Wellesley, Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO Blue of Boston, and Fallon Community Well being Strategy of Worcester to supply extra info on their requested premium hikes.
The prices approved had been from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Neighborhood Well being Strategy of Boston and a pair of Connecticut-based insurers: Aetna and ConnectiCare. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is the corporate parent of HMO Blue.
3 other insurers -- Tufts Well being Strategy, United Well being Strategy, and Well being New England -- didn't submit prices for that summer period.
Following Insurance coverage Commissioner Joseph G. Murphy created great on Patrick's promise to reject well being premiums on April 1, six insurers filed a lawsuit seeking to reinstate their proposed raises.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Neel turned down the insurers' request for a preliminary injunction on April 12, instructing them to exhaust administrative appeals within the Division of Insurance coverage prior to returning to the court. Individuals appeals continued via the spring and, within the very first ruling, an appeals panel created up of 3 division lawyers last week overturned the Harvard Pilgrim rate cap.
Appeals by Boston-based Blue Cross Blue Shield, Tufts Well being Strategy of Watertown, and Fallon Community Well being Strategy of Worcester remain pending, with decisions expected over the summer.
MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the final draft of a new crop insurance coverage strategy Thursday that it mentioned will save the federal federal government about $6 billion more than 10 many years.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack mentioned $4 billion with the savings would go toward deficit reduction, whilst $2 billion would be utilized to expand farm danger management programs and also the well-liked Conservation Reserve Plan, which pays landowners to take environmentally sensitive land out of production and convert it into wildlife habitat.
"There is really a growing consensus within the country and certainly in rural areas that we have to be paying attention to the deficit, and this really is our effort at agriculture and USDA to do our component in deficit reduction," Vilsack told reporters during a briefing in Washington.
The plan as presently structured would cost $29.5 billion more than the coming 10 many years. The changes would cut that to $23.5 billion. The projected savings are down, nevertheless, from the USDA's original proposal for an $8.4 billion reduction.
The new strategy achieves its savings in big component by eliminating the kind of windfall federal government payments that were triggered by sharp commodity price spikes in recent many years. It will do that by capping the administrative and overhead expenses crop insurance coverage businesses can collect. Agents can expect average commissions of $1,140 per policy, Vilsack mentioned.
As it began the procedure of drafting the new strategy, which is going to be in place for five many years, the USDA had argued crop insurance coverage businesses were making excessive profits. The industry's return on equity in 2009 was 26.4 percent, the agency noted. The businesses acknowledged doing well, but mentioned they required to maintain big reserves in case of widespread crop failures.
Vilsack mentioned the new strategy projects the long-term return for the businesses at about 14.5 percent, which he called "a fair and reasonable rate of return that maintains the stability with the system."
Crop insurance coverage covers component of farmers' losses when crops fail and helps them get credit simply because lenders know they is going to be able to repay their loans. Whilst participating farmers pay premiums, the federal government subsidizes the plan to keep it affordable. Last year, it paid crop insurers $3.8 billion, much more than double the $1.8 billion it paid in 2006.
Farmers' premiums won't go up under the new strategy simply because they're fixed by Congress, Vilsack mentioned. Some farmers might even pay lower premiums simply because the strategy will introduce performance discounts, he mentioned.
Details still are being worked out but the incentives likely is going to be based on a farm's experience with the plan and for keeping great records, mentioned Bill Murphy, administrator with the USDA's Danger Management Agency.
Bob Parkerson, president of National Crop Insurance coverage Services, a trade group based in Overland Park, Kan. that's been active within the debate, did not instantly a phone call seeking comment.
But Vilsack mentioned he believes crop insurance coverage businesses will accept the strategy. Any that don't essentially would need to withdraw from the market, Murphy mentioned.
This really is the third draft with the agreement, and also the businesses had ample opportunities to raise concerns, Vilsack and Murphy mentioned.
Exactly how the $2 billion for expanded danger management tools and also the Conservation Reserve Plan is going to be spent hasn't been determined, they mentioned.
Presently about 30.5 million to 31 million acres are enrolled in CRP. The crop insurance coverage savings will let the USDA expand the plan to close to 32 million acres, Vilsack mentioned. A sign-up period is going to be held sometime this summer.
Vilsack mentioned the strategy also seeks to make crop insurance coverage much more readily accessible, partly by expanding funding for the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage plan, which advantages ranchers and forage producers, and by giving the businesses financial incentives to expand the availability of crop insurance coverage in underserved parts with the country.
By ANNE FLAHERTY and PAULINE JELINEK
(AP)
–
4 hours ago
WASHINGTON — An Army investigation has found that potentially
hundreds of remains at Arlington National Cemetery have been
misidentified or misplaced, in a scandal marring the reputation of the
nation's pre-eminent burial ground for its honored dead since the Civil
War.
Army Secretary John McHugh announced Thursday that the
cemetery's two civilian leaders would be forced to step aside, and he
appointed a new chief to conduct a more thorough investigation to
examine the graves and sort out the mix-up.
"I deeply apologize to
the families of the honored fallen resting in that hallowed ground who
may now question the care afforded to their loved ones," McHugh told a
Pentagon news conference.
Arlington National Cemetery is
considered among the nation's most hallowed burial sites, with more than
300,000 people buried there with military honors. An average of 30
funerals are conducted there every day.
Among those buried at the
cemetery are troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well service
members from past conflicts dating back to the Civil War.
Famous
presidents and their spouses, including members of the Kennedy family,
also have been buried there. The cemetery, located across the Potomac
River from Washington in northern Virginia, attracts more than 4 million
visitors annually.
An Army investigation was launched last year
after reports of employee misconduct, first reported by the Web site Salon.com.
Led by the service's
inspector general, Lt. Gen. Steven Whitcomb, the investigation found lax
management of the cemetery, where employees relied on paper records to
manage the dozens of burials each week and maintain the thousands of
existing gravesites.
Whitcomb said at least 211 remains were
identified as potentially mislabeled or misplaced and that there could
be more.
"We found nothing that was intentional, criminal intent
or intended sloppiness that caused this. ... But of all the things in
the world, we see this as a zero defect operation," he told reporters
Thursday.
Whitcomb could not say how old the mixed-up remains
might be or from what conflict, saying only that the problem had been
confined to three areas of the cemetery known as sections 59, 65 and 66.
Whitcomb
said he did find two cases of mis-marked graves in section 60, the area
for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. He said those mistakes had been
corrected.
Dorothy Nolte, 68, of Burns, Tenn., said she learned
last year that the remains of her sister, Air Force Master Sgt. Marion
Grabe, who had been buried at Arlington in March 2008, had been moved to
a new grave site. Nolte said she went to Arlington to find out that her
sister's urn had been buried on top of another soldier, but then it was
disinterred and moved to another grave site. She said she had not been
informed of the transfer.
"I made them unearth the urn so I could
see the name," Nolte said in a phone interview Thursday from New York.
"I have peace knowing my sister is indeed in the right place."
As
for the Army investigation, "I think that it's a good thing that the
truth is coming out, and it's certainly a situation that needs to be
rectified," she said.
Separately, the Army is investigating
whether the cemetery's deputy superintendent, Thurman Higginbotham, made
false statements to service investigators. Higginbotham, who ran the
day-to-day operations at the cemetery, has been accused by former
employees of creating a hostile work environment and breaking into their
e-mail systems.
Higginbotham is on administrative leave, pending
further review.
According to a defense official familiar with the
case, who discussed the details on condition of anonymity, Higginbotham
won't face criminal charges because of a lack of evidence. But, the
official said, the Army will ensure he never works at the cemetery
again.
The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the
case because it is ongoing.
Higgenbotham's boss, John Metzler, is
set to retire on July 2. Service officials say he is being pushed out
with a letter of reprimand that blames him for failing to rein in
Higginbotham's mistakes.
Taking their place will be Kathryn
Condon, a former civilian head of Army Materiel Command who as executive
director will in charge of fixing any burial errors. Patrick Hallinan, a
director with the Veterans Affairs Department, is temporarily being
assigned as the cemetery's superintendent.
McHugh also announced
the creation of an independent advisory commission that will be led by
former senators and Army veterans Max Cleland and Bob Dole.