Concerns Abound if Health Care Reform is Enacted

A recent survey from Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health reports that a large majority of U.S. employers feel health care reform, if enacted, would lead to higher costs for both employer-sponsored benefit programs and health care services overall.

A separate Towers Watson survey of U.S. employees discovered that a majority of workers feel health reform will not only lead to higher costs, but reduce the quality of care and decrease the benefits available to them.

The Towers Watson - National Business Group on Health survey reports that approximately three-fourths (71%) of employers feel health reform will add to the overall cost of health care services in the United States, while 69% deem it will increase the cost of their benefit programs.

Additionally, more than one-third (35%) indicate health reform will lead to fewer employers offering subsidized benefits. Nearly half (46%) of employers feel it will lessen employer-sponsored offering of retiree medical benefits, while very few -- only 5% -- believe it will increase, and just 27% of employers state it will cause no change.

On balance, there are some pluses and some minuses in employers' views and expectations from health care reform.

On the one hand, approximately one-fourth (27%) claim it will lower health care quality and lessen the value of benefits that employers offer, but 39% and 40%, respectively, say it will have no change in these areas.

On the other hand, a majority (71%) believe health care reform will increase access to health benefit coverage. Also, 34% feel it will increase transparency of provider prices, and 30% state it will increase the transparency of provider quality.

Additionally, just more than one-third (34%) believe health care reform will increase adoption of total replacement consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) by large employers, while only 9% believe adoption will decrease, and 27% believe there will be no change.

The separate Towers Watson survey of some 1,000 workers at midsize and large U.S. companies discovered similar concerns over health reform. Two-thirds (67%) feel health reform would result in higher benefit costs, while more than one-half (54%) state it would reduce their available benefits and lower the quality of health care (53%).

This survey also discovered that 40% of employees would not feel comfortable buying their own insurance in the reformed markets as an alternative to getting coverage through their employer.

Insurer Backs H.B. 2513 Opposing Use of Credit Scoring

California-based Workmen's Auto Insurance Company says it supports H.B. 2513 proposed by Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler opposing the use of credit scoring in automobile insurance.

Workmen's Auto Insurance Company is reminding its Washington policyholders and agents that it has never used an individual's credit when considering their eligibility or determining their insurance premium.

"Your credit is your business, not ours,' President and CEO Nicholas Lannutti remarked. "Given the current state of the economy we would like to reassure our policyholders that the price they pay for insurance with Workmen's Auto is - and will continue to be - based on factors such as their driving record, where they live and the coverages they desire, and not on their credit score.'

Workmen's Auto Insurance Company has written automobile insurance in Washington for the past 27 years, working closely with local Washington independent agencies to provide coverage tailored to the specific needs of each policyholder. The company has been in business since 1949 and is active in 10 states, from Washington to Florida.

Funeral Home Director Arrested in Alleged Prepaid Burial Policy Scam

Indiana State Police reported the arrest of an Indiana funeral home director on nine counts of insurance fraud in a case involving prepaid burial insurance policies.

Detectives arrested Richard D. Pyke, alleging that Pyke obtained at least $65,285 beginning in March 2005 by submitting falsified documents indicating that a person to whom he had sold the pre-need burial insurance policies had passed away. In eight of the nine cases, the people were not deceased and didn't know that their policies had been cashed in.

To date, investigators discovered policies through Iowa-based Homesteaders Life Co. and Forethought Life Insurance Co., based in Indiana. These companies paid out on the policies, with detectives noting they probably will discover more victims before all is said and done.

A spokesperson for Homesteaders Life reported that the company's attorney is working with law enforcement personnel on the case. He believes a former agent of Homesteaders was involved and the agent also may have worked for several other life insurers.

The state police ask anyone who owns a pre-burial insurance plan through R.D. Pyke Funeral Services in Henryville to contact the insurer that issued it to confirm it has not been cashed prematurely.