Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.insur From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: insur Tue, Mar 3 1992 Date: Tue, 3 Mar 92 06:00:08 EST Message-ID: 03-03 0000 DECISIONLINE: Insurance USA TODAY Update March 3, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network HEALTH INSURANCE BAR UPHELD: A federal appeals court in St. Louis ruled Monday that states may bar elective abortions from routine health insurance coverage. The decision upheld a Missouri law that permits elective abortion in health insurance only as an option at additional cost. A lower federal judge had struck down the measure. LAW DOESN'T IMPOSE UNDUE BURDEN: The appeals court said the law "does not impose an undue burden on a woman's abortion decision" and is rationally related to a legitimate government purpose. Missouri, the only state with such a law, said it was to reduce insurance costs and protect consumers who don't want their premiums to subsidize abortions. Similar laws were struck down in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. DELAWARE TO SET UP POOLS: Delaware's Health Care Commission Monday applied for a $231,486 grant from the Robert Wood Foundation to provide health insurance to 32,000 uninsured people. The state would contribute $77,163. Goal: Develop the plan by local businessman Ernst Dannemann to set up insurance pools run by private insurers. IRS CHALLENGING DEDUCTIONS: The IRS is challenging a decision that allows deductions for premiums paid to a captive by its parent even though the captive also wrote outside business. The IRS is asking the court to reverse a decision that permitted The Harper Group to take deductions on captive premiums if the captive writes as little as 30% in outside business. Harper says it is working on a countering brief. RISK RETENTION ACT INTRODUCED: Amendments to the 1986 Liability Risk Retention Act developed by the Bush Administration have been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Robert Kasten, R-Wisc. Kasten noted that the defects in the law have had a limited effect due to relative calm in the insurance marketplace, but a return to hard market conditions could be just around the corner and amendments should be in place. CUTTING COSTS MEANS CUTTING JOBS: Reform of the nation's health care system could cause a decline in the number of jobs in some health care areas. One of President Bush's proposals would standardize and automate the various insurance billing systems, which account for $79.8 billion annually in administrative costs. But those steps would mean fewer clerical jobs for handling the vast number of insurance forms. CO-PAYMENT CONTROVERSY BREWING: A controversy is brewing in Virginia over discounts negotiated by health insurers that are not passed along to patients through their co-payments. Two states, Florida and Nevada, have passed laws requiring all hospitals to pass discounts along to co-payers. Virginia may follow suit. TRAVELERS, AETNA REPORT DECLINE: The Travelers Corp. and the Aetna Life and Casualty Co. this week reported sharp declines in fourth-quarter profits as the insurers continue to struggle against real estate losses. Traveler's net income fell 46.1%, and Aetna's earnings dropped 34.5% in the latest quarter. EYE CLINIC AGREES TO PAY: The Department of Justice said Monday Florida Eye Clinic P.A. of Altamonte Springs, Fla., will pay the United States $2.85 million to settle allegations it overcharged the government for Medicare reimbursements. The department said Florida Eye and another company, IncomRx, put together a scheme that charged the government twice for the same services. WORKERS DON'T HAVE TO PAY BILLS: Workers injured on the job don't have to pay for medical bills left unpaid by their employers, Alabama Attorney General Jimmy Evans ruled in an advisory opinion, which doesn't have force of law. Employers say doctors are charging too much and are refusing to pay the complete amount charged by the doctors. PROSTATE CANCER FOUND LATE: Although prostate cancer strikes men at the same rate breast cancer strikes women, men are much more likely to be diagnosed at a stage when the disease is incurable. Only 44% of cases are detected before the cancer has spread from the prostate gland to surrounding tissues, organs or bone marrow. But 52% of breast cancers are caught at the early stage, says the National Cancer Institute. WARNING OF INSURER FAILURES: Beware of your health insurer failing, "leaving you with unpayable bills," warned Jane Bryant Quinn in a recent Newsweek column. In the last three years, 121 life and health insurance companies went broke. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of West Virginia collapsed in 1990, leaving some $42 million in unpaid bills, Quinn said. About 131 HMOs failed between 1986 and 1990. Insurance Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM