>May 10–To small-business owners, it can seem like every deal offered by the government comes with much head-scratching and a ton of paperwork.
The latest example is a tax credit offered in the new federal health-care law to encourage small businesses to provide insurance for employees.
Effective this year, the credit will take up to 35 percent of health-care expenses straight off the top of any taxes owed by the smallest businesses — those with fewer than 25 full-time workers earning less than $50,000 a year on average, and for whom the company pays at least 50 percent of premiums.
The deal is retroactive to the first of the year for taxes due next year.
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> OLDWICK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength ratings (FSR) of A (Excellent) and issuer credit ratings (ICR) of “a” of Great American Life Insurance Company (GALIC) and Annuity Investors Life Insurance Company (AILIC) key annuity companies of Great American Financial Resources, Inc. (GAFRI). Additionally, A.M. Best has downgraded the FSRs and ICRs of the supplemental health subsidiaries of GAFRI. The outlook for all the above ratings has been revised to stable from negative. GAFRI is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Financial Group, Inc. [NYSE: AFG]. The Full Article…
> Plane tickets, check. Passport, check. Medical evacuation insurance? It’s probably not something most people think about when packing for a vacation.
But Louise Robbins says she’d probably be bankrupt without it. The University of Wisconsin library educator and her husband, Robby, were in southwest China last summer when Robby slipped and fell backward on a hotel walkway made of the region’s famed red marble.
Their regular health insurance covered many expenses, but not flying him home on a jet specially equipped for transporting critically ill patients and medical equipment. The cost exceeded $100,000.
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> The White House unveiled details last week of a $5 billion program to provide financial relief to companies that offer health coverage to early retirees. Officials say the effort, mandated by the new health care overhaul law, will help keep firms from ditching those benefits because of the high costs involved, a trend that has accelerated in recent years. Without health coverage, many early retirees find it difficult to get insurance until they’re eligible for Medicare at 65.
The new program, sometimes called reinsurance, should help retirees 55 to 64.
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> A new Treasury study says the federal COBRA subsidy, included in last year’s economic stimulus package, may have slowed the growth in the number of uninsured Americans during the recession. The study estimates that up to a third of eligible unemployed workers have taken advantage of the subsidy, which covers up to 65% of the cost of continuing a former employer’s health care coverage for up to 15 months.
Under COBRA, workers who leave their jobs can continue their former employer’s health insurance coverage for up to 18 months. Ordinarily, though, they must pay the entire premium, plus administrative costs, making COBRA unaffordable for most people who are out of work.
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> By Stephen Ohlemacher
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Nearly 2 million people are waiting to find out whether they qualify for Social Security disability benefits. It will be a long wait for most, even if they eventually win their cases.
The Social Security system is so overwhelmed by applications for disability benefits that many people are waiting more than two years for their first payment. In Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and other states, the wait can be even longer. In Virginia, it is closer to a one-year wait.
The Social Security commissioner, Michael J.
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>Morris Chavez’ decision to quit his $98,400 job as state insurance superintendent isn’t good news for New Mexico.
Granted, Chavez bungled the public relations end – not the legal end – of a recent controversy over a health insurance premium rate increase for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico.
Once the PRC ordered a public hearing, Chavez should have let that process play out and taken advantage of the opportunity to explain how rates are set – it’s the numbers, not politics, and public sentiment really doesn’t figure in. Full Article…
>May 9–Chad Solvie, chief executive at Martha & Mary Health Care Center in Poulsbo, figures that 16 years ago when he entered the field, people 65 and older had a 10 percent chance of needing nursing-home care.
Today they have a 60 percent chance of spending time in a nursing home, he said. That’s because many of us live longer, and also because hospitals are spinning off more patients to nursing homes.
Are consumers prepared to pay $6,000 to $8,000 a month for nursing-home care; maybe $5,000 a month for an assisted-living arrangement; or even $500 a month for in-home care?
There’s Medicare and other help if you’re poor enough; private pay if you’re rich enough.
But experts say only 5 percent to 10 percent of Washington consumers are purchasing long-term care insurance, which can be the answer for most in the middle. Full Article…