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Month: October 2014
Officials concerned about health plans with no hospital benefits
By Jay Hancock
Kaiser Health News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Insurance consultants recently were shocked to learn that Obama administration rules allow large companies to offer 2015 worker health plans that don’t include hospital benefits. Now the administration is concerned too.
Treasury Department officials are preparing to reverse course on an official calculator that permits plans without hospital coverage to pass the health law’s strictest standard for large employers, said industry lawyers who have spoken to them. These sources expect the administration to disallow such coverage by the end of the year.
The calculator is an online spreadsheet developed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Successfully completing it is one way for large companies to certify whether their plans meet a “minimum value” of benefits, the health law’s toughest requirement for large employers – generally those with 50 or more workers. Offering minimum-value insurance at an affordable price spares companies from fines of as much as $3,120 per worker next year.
As previously reported by Kaiser Health News and the Washington Post, industry executives were surprised this summer to see consultants selling calculator-approved plans that lack hospital insurance and cost half as much as similar coverage with hospitalization.
Employees offered minimum-value coverage at work, even if it lacks hospital benefits, are barred from federal subsidies to buy policies in the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces.
No final decision has been made by the administration on blocking the plans, sources emphasized.
But “my best guess is that they will kill them,” said Frasier Ives, a benefits consultant for Wells Fargo Insurance who has talked with Treasury officials about the matter. “The only question is when they are going to make it effective.”
HHS designed the calculator, but Treasury is charged with enforcing the minimum-value standard. The agencies have stayed silent on the matter despite repeated queries.
“I’m actually going to decline comment on this,” said Treasury spokeswoman Erin Donar, when asked about the agency’s review.
“Not familiar with this one,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said last week.
Disqualifying calculator-approved plans without inpatient benefits could disrupt preparations by hundreds of firms, employing tens of thousands of workers, that are eyeing them for 2015, said brokers and benefits lawyers.
“These are cost decisions impacting employers,” said Anne Lennan, president of the Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, some of whose members administer the plans under scrutiny. “We’re getting close to Jan. 1. If you’re going to change this, you have got to let people know.”
Preliminary results from a member survey by the American Staffing Association show that 46 percent of the temp and recruiting firms that responded are considering such coverage for next year, said Edward Lenz, senior counsel for the trade group. The association’s 1,600 members employ about 3 million workers on any given day.
“A number of significant firms have signed up for it,” Lenz said. Some companies have implemented it as of Oct. 1, he added. He declined to identify them.
Higher-pay employers that have traditionally provided major medical coverage aren’t expected to sponsor insurance without hospitalization next year. But retailers, light manufacturers, restaurants, hotel chains and other low-wage employers also are keen on calculator-tested coverage without hospitalization, consultants said.
“I can’t tell you how many people are still interested,” said Bruce Flunker, president of Wisconsin-based EBSO, a small benefits firm. “We have two [plans] that are officially in place effective Oct. 1. We have, I think, 26 proposals out right now for Jan. 1 effective dates.”
While the health law doesn’t compel large employers to offer hospitalization and other “essential health benefits” required of plans sold to individuals and small employers, few expected the calculator to approve insurance without it. But it does, certifying plans that lack inpatient coverage but include rich outpatient benefits such as doctor visits and emergency-room care.
Many argue that the software is flawed, and that Congress never intended for large companies to avoid the health law’s “employer mandate” penalties by offering insurance that doesn’t pay for hospital care.
Others, especially consultants working with lower-wage employers, contend that the administration wanted to grant leeway to such companies that haven’t historically offered major medical insurance.
Alan Tawshunsky, a senior Treasury lawyer, told a legal conference last week that the calculator is under “active review,” said Mark Holloway, a benefits attorney for broker Lockton Companies.
Although Tawshunsky didn’t elaborate, “it seems pretty clear to me that the calculator will be changed” to require hospital coverage, said Holloway, who was at the American Bar Association meeting where Tawshunsky spoke. “It’s just a question of when” — and whether “any protection is given to employers who used the old calculator” to design coverage for 2015, he said.
Last week Lenz, of the American Staffing Association, met with senior Treasury officials whom he declined to identify.
While the officials didn’t spell out their next move, “our strong sense is that they will issue guidance before the end of the year [that] will say that plans that don’t offer hospitalization don’t qualify as minimum value,” he said. “That’s what we’ll be telling our members.”
If that happens, industry officials are asking the administration to allow such insurance next year for employers that have committed to it — even if it is banned in subsequent years.
Because plan years typically begin in January, Treasury is “acutely aware of the timing issue,” said Wells Fargo Insurance’s Ives. “They know if they don’t come out with something pretty damn quick it’s going to be more unfair to employers that have already implemented them.”
Lynn Quincy, associate director of health reform policy for Consumers Union, called administration scrutiny of the calculator “very welcome news.” But if policymakers temporarily let employers offer hospital-free coverage next year, she urged them to also allow workers at those companies to obtain exchange subsidies to buy alternative insurance.
“They should not be giving these employers any transitional relief if there is not also something to help their employees,” she said.
Revisiting the calculator would summon protests from industry and could open the administration to new criticism about the health law rollout right before an election.
“The people from Treasury aren’t stupid,” said Holloway. “They realize this is a political hot potato. I think they’re being deliberately tight-lipped about it. That kind of leaves everybody twisting in the wind.”
Jay Hancock is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
Sunny, mild Friday
Deep high pressure will keep mostly sunny, seasonal conditions through Tuesday.
Today Sunny, with a high near 68. North wind 8 to 11 mph.
Tonight Mostly clear, with a low around 40. Northeast wind around 6 mph.
Saturday Increasing clouds, with a high near 64. Light and variable wind becoming southeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning.
Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph.
Sunday Mostly sunny, with a high near 72. South wind 8 to 14 mph.
Sunday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 47.
Monday Sunny, with a high near 73.
Monday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 46.
Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 71.
What will keep unfounded Ebola reports from ‘going viral?’
So how scared should we be about the worldwide Ebola virus crisis?
For nearly all of us, the answer to that question will come through what we see, hear and read in the news media and in the U.S. that places a unique burden on those free to print, broadcast or post stories as they wish about efforts to control the spread of the virus.
But how much can we rely on our news media?
From grim images and statistics about deaths in West Africa, to reports about flaws in attempts to isolate or track those exposed, news media accounts can inform or inflame, promote protection or pump up panic, and discount or display the inevitable crackpot theories on how and why the epidemic came to be.
Our news media is charged by its constitutional protections to serve as a “watchdog on government.” The challenge is when to bark, bite, growl or just keep watching.
Mike Cavender, executive director of the Radio Television Digital News Association, said “largely, what I have seen has been very responsible” reporting. While some have criticized as unnecessarily frightening the news reports that a Dallas hospital apparently botched some protocols on handling the first Ebola-stricken patient, who later died, “… not to have reported what happened at the hospital would have been irresponsible,” Cavender said.
The shift in the epidemic from global to “local” in the U.S. helps the news media focus more on real issues — health provider readiness and personal safety issues — according to Chris Peck, president of the American Society of News Editors, and editor of the Riverton (Wyo.) Ranger. “But there’s no question that reporting on a potential national disaster of any kind requires an extra degree of diligence” on the part of the news media, he said.
Journalists, Peck said, need to take a “fact-based look” at the nature of the health threat, and consider the “tenor and the tone” of reports to present a “calm, measured look at how we will respond in this country.”
The news media also should be less concerned “about the politics and politicization” that has crept into public discussion, he said. “This has more to do with reporting the response on the health front.”
Online news media may well face the biggest challenge, since their reporting is intertwined with comments, postings and reports from a vast audience — which can include hoaxers, profiteers and rumormongers.
Still, social media and online news “hasn’t created anything new. It’s just made it easier to see the conversations already there,” said Joshua Hatch, a journalist who chairs the legal committee of the Online News Association. Hatch cited persistent and pre-Internet-era claims that the 1969 NASA moon landing “is a fake … those have been around since it happened.”
Even efforts to refute misinformation can backfire, Hatch said, citing a study that shows “by repeating the error and trying to knock it down, you give it credibility … and people believe it more.”
Hatch does see a “learning curve” among established Internet operations such as Google, Facebook and Twitter on how to blunt or block hoaxes or deliberate attempts to spread fear and terror — such as the now near-immediate takedowns of ISIS’s postings of its beheadings of journalists and aid workers. But, Hatch noted, “the online community is so dynamic, there will be many (new companies) that will have to go through” such incidents a first time before developing their own internal sets of controls.
In a media-saturated world of 24/7 news, with the voracious talk-show appetite for chatter, we’re already seeing questions about what has been presented.
On Oct. 13, Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith was critical of much of what he’s seen: “You would think 4 million people in America have Ebola, wouldn’t you?” he said.
Some interviews and news accounts have been slammed by critics as shallow or simply spreading misinformation. A CNN interview with an author of a 30-year old best-seller about a fictional Ebola outbreak raised concern that the virus might mutate to an easily-spread type — a theory discounted by virtually every scientist studying the disease.
A widely seen video of a doctor walking in a protective suit through Atlanta’s airport wearing a sign reading “CDC is lying” led to interviews in newspapers and a TV station — taking a publicity stunt to new levels.
Not all the news about the “new” news media is grim. Tom Risen, technology writer for the now-digital magazine U.S. News and World Report, wrote recently that “ … mobile networks and the Internet are helping doctors reach and treat people who may have come in contact with the lethal disease.” Risen reported that “the continent’s growing mobile access already has played a key role in the fight to contain Ebola, as Nigeria seems to have tracked all known infections of the disease in its nation.”
The American Psychological Association is telling health officials not to spare the public needed information and specific details. An Oct. 8 post on its website said “ … people want easy-to-comprehend information and access to more information if they want it. The news media will play a critical role if a health emergency occurs. Information flow to the public about very bad news should not be controlled in the name of trying to avoid an outbreak of mass panic.”
The APA post ends with this advice, which could be added right after the actual 45 words of the First Amendment: “The public should be armed with information.”
Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Washington-based Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. [email protected]
Home foreclosures down sharply in Kansas, Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A California-based real estate research company says new foreclosure cases in Kansas and Missouri declined sharply in the third quarter from year-ago levels while rising slightly nationwide.
RealtyTrac reports the number of default notices, auctions and bank repossessions fell 31 percent in Kansas during the July to September period, while they plummeted 45.5 percent in Missouri during that same period.
The Kansas City Star (https://bit.ly/1wNABbc ) reports foreclosures nationwide climbed .42 percent in the third quarter, which is the first quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2011. But they dropped 16 percent in September.
The states with the highest foreclosure rates in the third quarter were Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada and Illinois.
Kansas man gets 55 years in home shooting
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man has been sentenced to 55 years and one month in prison for a shooting that left a man paralyzed.
Tyler Ruhl was sentenced on Thursday, which was his 21st birthday. He was convicted in August of attempted first-degree murder, attempted aggravated robbery, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Authorities say 51-year-old Timothy Gurley of Wichita was found shot in his home in September 2013.
No. 25 FHSU men’s soccer team dominant in win over Southwest Baptist
FHSU Athletics
25th-ranked Fort Hays State pushed its win streak to seven matches with a 5-0 dismantling of Southwest Baptist on Thursday afternoon.
The shutout was FHSU’s sixth of the season, and came in dominant fashion, as the Tigers (9-3-1, 6-2-0 MIAA) allowed just three shots all afternoon (none of which were on goal) while firing 26 shots and putting 18 on goal. FHSU has now outscored Southwest Baptist 10-0 in the two games this season, completing the regular season sweep over the Bearcats.
David Lucio got things going for the Tigers early on, netting his third goal of the season off an assist from Tanner Brock. After a corner played short to Brock, who crossed the ball to the back post, Lucio headed it in from five yards out.
Six minutes before the break, Mauricio Castorino found Anthony Hernandez with a through ball, and Hernandez’s pass to Austin Clifton brought him to an open net score from 12 yards away.
Just 1:26 before halftime, Hernandez scored a goal of his own on Castorino’s second assist of the day. Castorino crossed from the right side of the field, where Hernandez fired the ball to the back post from inside the box.
Up 3-0 after the break, Castorino’s scored his first career goal at 59:53. Addison Pauler’s cross found the head of Castorino, who found the net to give FHSU a 4-0 advantage.
Inside 20 minutes to play, the Tigers scored their final afternoon off the head of Joe Albright. Tobias Patino fired a corner to the near post in the 74th minute, where Albright capitalized on a header from six yards away.
Castorino led the Tigers with five shots on the afternoon, while Diego Cabral (four shots on goal) and Clifton (two shots on goal) had four shots each.
Kent Freund played all 90 minutes, facing just three shots and lowering his goals against average to 1.03 per contest.
The Tigers continue MIAA play on the road this weekend with a Saturday matchup at Harding. FHSU defeated the Bison, 3-0, earlier this season in Hays. Game time for Searcy, Ark., is 1 p.m.
Kan. biofuels plant harbinger of renewable fuel future
ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says a commercial biofuels plant opening in southwest Kansas represents the future of ethanol production.
Moniz spoke to The Associated Press ahead of Friday’s grand opening of Abengoa’s second-generation cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kansas. The plant has a capacity to produce 25 million gallons of ethanol per year.
The $500 million plant is one of three commercially sized biorefineries in the United States that use only plant waste to produce ethanol. This means it doesn’t compete for food crops. The facility also includes an electric generation plant.
Moniz says the project represents the Energy Department’s approach to funding research on novel conversion approaches for biofuels, backed by a loan guarantee program that brings these commercial-scale projects to fruition.
Abengoa is a Spanish multinational corporation.
Brownback fills vacant Kansas judgeship
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has appointed a veteran Topeka attorney to a seat on the district court that considers challenges to state laws and agency actions.
Brownback announced Thursday that Teresa Watson will succeed Shawnee County District Judge Jean Schmidt, who recently retired.
Watson is an attorney in private practice who received her law degree from Washburn University in Topeka in 1994. She has also worked as a research attorney for both the Kansas Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals.
Brownback cited her experience in private practice and with the state.
The district court in Shawnee County has a higher profile than others because it is in the capital city and reviews questions about the constitutionality of laws or the legality of state agency actions.
Junior college puts on peace-building conference
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Promoting peace in part of the African nation of Uganda will the focus of a one-day conference at Johnson County Community College next month.
The gathering takes place Nov. 1 with the director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Missouri’s Park University giving the keynote speech.
The center supports something it describes as peace journalism and says choices about how stories are framed can improve the prospects for peace.
Breakout sessions will feature presentations from groups that include the Medical Missions Foundation. The conference will be geared toward students and others who are interested in international relations, journalism, providing health care in the developing world, social justice and peace/conflict studies.
Hays Post News for 10/16/14
Arts panel approves design for Eisenhower Memorial
BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A key arts panel has approved a revised design for a memorial to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington, which could clear the way for groundbreaking.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted Thursday to approve Frank Gehry’s design. A federal planning agency also recently approved the design.
The Eisenhower Memorial Commission that’s working to build the $140 million project says the approvals clear the way for groundbreaking in 2015.
Congress must still fund the project, however. So far, $63 million has been appropriated. The memorial group has $25 million of that on hand. But critics, including Eisenhower’s family, have delayed the project.
Gehry designed a memorial park with statues of Eisenhower. A large metal tapestry depicting the Kansas landscape of his boyhood home would serve as the backdrop.
Survey: slow growth in rural parts of 10 states
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new survey suggests slower economic growth ahead in rural areas of 10 states in the Plains and the West.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said Thursday falling grain prices and weak global growth are weighing down the economy in rural areas.
The overall economic index for the region fell to 43.4 in October from September’s already negative 48.2. The index has been steadily falling since June 2013 when it hit 60.5.
The survey indexes range from 0 to 100. Any score below 50 suggests decline in the months ahead.
Bankers from rural areas of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.