| • WellPoint to Tie Health Improvements to Employee Compensation
Indianapolis-based WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE:WLP) says a new initiative will make it the first health benefits company in the nation to directly link success in improving the health of its members to employee compensation. The company is unveiling the Member Health Index, a program to measure the improvement of the health of its 34 million members. WellPoint says a portion of its employees' incentive income will be tied to improvements in the members' health index score.
Source: Inside INdiana Business
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Anthem's position in dispute with Alliance
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield takes the responsibility of providing quality and affordable health care seriously. This column is to share with the Greater Cincinnati community the objective facts around the potential disruption with the Health Alliance. First, please note the Health Alliance canceled Anthem's entire contract rather than choosing to remain in-network while negotiating future reimbursement changes. The Alliance is quick to point out that we are objecting to signing a new contract that would give them the same increase that they are receiving from the other insurance carriers locally, despite the fact that we are the largest insurer. We, in fact, did sign that agreement three years ago. As a result of that three-year financial agreement, the hospital reimbursement increases to the Alliance have been 12 percent, 12 percent and 9 percent, as compared to other large hospitals' increases and hospital consumer price index during that same period of 5 percent to 7 percent.
Lawmakers debate cigarette tax
Indianapolis - Indiana lawmakers have managed to revive a possible cigarette tax a day after the bitter end to a proposed same sex marriage ban. The two issues dominated events at the Statehouse Wednesday. The cost of smoking could create a ring of health insurance for those who need it most. It's part of a compromise to breathe life into medical coverage for the uninsured while raising the cigarette tax between 25 and 40 cents a pack. "I think everyone realizes the importance and the urgency and providing health coverage for the uninsured and the under-insured," said Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary). The Senate passed the governor's health plan but had no means to pay for it. The House voted on the cigarette tax, but it failed. Facing a stalemate, a House committee passed a new health plan with an agreement that the Senate would add a cigarette tax to pay for it.
WellPoint is Nation's First Health Benefits Company to Measure the ...
INDIANAPOLIS, April 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) , the nation's largest health benefits company in terms of medical membership, today unveiled its Member Health Index (MHI), a comprehensive initiative designed to measure the improvement in the health of its 34 million members. WellPoint is the first health benefits company to directly link success in improving the health of its members with the compensation of every associate in the company. The MHI will measure the success of WellPoint's programs to better manage care and improve the health and wellness of its members. "Our core mission as a company is to improve the lives of the members we serve, and by implementing the Member Health Index program we will be able to measure the progress we are making," said Larry C.
Injury coverage provision for Florida drivers set to expire this year
The clock is ticking on Florida's no-fault automobile insurance law, with the requirement that all the state's drivers carry mandatory personal injury coverage set to expire Oct. 1.
Whether Floridians still will have to carry personal injury protection, or no-fault coverage, will depend on the Legislature, which this week will consider several proposals designed to revise the law and keep it in place, rather than have it disappear later this year.
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The Importance of Disability Insurance Must Not be Overlooked
Death or dying is something that every living person has thought about at least once. The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else, said the late cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker. But according to Social Security Administration there is one other thing that people should think about – disability. While disability is something most people do not like to think about the agency said the chances of becoming disabled is possibly greater than most people assume. In 200, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that almost 20% of the population suffered from some form of long-lasting condition or disability. Social Security cited a study showing that a 20-year-old worker's chances of becoming disabled before retirement is 3 in 10 (or 30%). That is much higher than the chances of being killed in a bathtub accident, a car accident, any non-transportation accident, or by terrorist attack while visiting a foreign country.
9 Tips On Applying For A Second Mortgage
People usually apply for a second mortgage or home equity loan when they need money for debt consolidation, to pay large expenses or for home remodeling and home improvement. Second mortgages are generally categorized as fixed interest rate home equity installment loans (HELOANS) and adjustable mortgage rate home equity lines of credit (HELOCs). Which you choose depends on your needs, but the application and approval process is similar for both. These nine tips will help your loan process be as hitch-free as possible: 1. Compare options like mortgage refinancing and other loan options to determine if a second mortgage is the best choice. 2. Make sure you can tell lender what the purpose of the loan is. Your answer will help determine whether or not you are approved.
Bill would give domestic-violence survivors time off work to get help
Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking could take unpaid leave from their jobs to get services or treatment under a bill headed for a vote of the Oregon Senate. The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 946 on Wednesday. Jill Raichel of Hillsboro, a social worker and mental-health therapist, said such a law could have shielded her in a previous job from an abusive ex-husband who came to her workplace and threatened her and co-workers. "I did not feel I could obtain the support I needed to protect myself and thus had to resign from my job. This was a financial and emotional burden for me and my children, which resulted in our having to relocate and for me to acquire a new job," Raichel said. "Having a law, such as the one proposed, could have prevented me from this upheaval in my children's lives." The bill also won support from Rob Quesnel of Tualatin, the Oregon director of American Family Insurance, the nation's third largest mutual-insurance company.
Acupuncture pins down your pain
YOUR knee hurts, and every little movement is sheer torture for your aching back too. If medication or other therapy fails to help, acupuncture can bring relief. Inserting fine needles into the skin and underlying tissues can also combat allergies, menstrual pain and even moderately severe depression. "Acupuncture helps primarily in cases of chronic and acute pain such as migraines and arthrosis, but also stress and asthma," said Helmut Ruedinger, vice chairman of the Hamburg-based German Medical Association for Acupuncture (Daegfa). Timo, a 30-year-old from Berlin, suffered from severe, stabbing headaches during his studies, particularly when he was at the computer writing his final paper. "First they prescribed physiotherapy, then massages," he recalled. "Only acupuncture helped." After just eight acupuncture sessions, Timo was completely pain-free and still is.
ÈNOPK: Practical experience missing
German investors saw sturdy economic growth in 2006 in the Czech Republic, but they might change their minds about continuing expansion here and instead consider other locations if no reforms are made in labor laws or the educational system in the coming years, said Bernard Bauer, the new chairman of the Czech-German Chamber of Trade and Industry (NOPK). A study released by the NOPK March 28 temporarily eased the minds of those who feared that German investors, which make up about 26 percent of the countrys foreign direct investment (FDI), might migrate further east, attracted by increasing investment opportunities related to lower tax rates or the availability of a larger work force. The main obstacles faced by German companies are corruption, bureaucratic red tape and the availability of a skilled work force to fuel their expansion.
HP reinforces lead in x86 Indian server market
HP announced the HP ProLiant ML115 server, a new addition to its x86 server line-up that is designed to meet the growing IT and budgetary demands of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), while optimizing their business outcomes.
The HP ProLiant ML115 is an easy to use, affordable, entry-level computing solution built with the needs of Indian SMBs in mind. Powered by Second-Generation AMD OpteronT 1000 series processors based on DDR2 memory and dual-core technology or single-core AMD AthlonT 64 processor 3500+, the HP ProLiant ML115 is available at the price of a desktop server. The server is ideal for networking, file-and-print, shared Internet access, small team email and LAN infrastructure.
"HP combines proven trust and design excellence of the industry-standard ProLiant server technology with the power of AMD's Second-Generation processors for SMB customers by making it simple, reliable and affordable," said Vice-President and General Manager, Industry Standard Servers, HP Asia-Pacific, Tony Parkinson.
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