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 Fri, Mar 13 1992 Date: Fri, 13 Mar 92 05:47:47 EST Message-ID: 03-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Insurance USA TODAY Update March 13-15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network POOR SENIORS PAYING TOO MUCH: More than 2 million impoverished senior citizens are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars a year in medical expenses the federal government is supposed to cover for them, according to a report out Thursday. The Families USA study said nearly half the poor seniors eligible for federal aid to cover medical bills not paid by Medicare fail to take advantage of the program. (For more, see special Seniors package below.) UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS MOUNT: Some 459,000 people joined unemployment lines in late February, proof that employment probably won't perk up until midyear and a new extension of jobless benefits will be needed, a congressional official said Thursday. Filings for initial unemployment benefits in the last week of the month were up 22,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported. LAWMAKER PUSHES BENEFITS REFORM: Rep. Tom Downey, D-N.Y., is working on legislation that provides for a third round of extended unemployment benefits to carry the program, slated to end in July, through December. He said that legislation and a more extensive bill designed to reform the federal unemployment compensation system could be introduced in Congress in about two weeks. PAULA INSURANCE FINED: Paula Insurance Co. and Paula Assurance Co. have been fined $50,000 for failure to report and obtain prior approval for transactions with affiliates between 1988 and 1991 in violation of the California Insurance Holding Company System Regulatory Act. Cited: Failure to report ongoing loans to affiliates, and failure to report and properly aggregate management fees and commissions. LIBERTY MUTUAL NAMES NEW CHIEF: Liberty Mutual Cos., Thursday elected Edmund F. Kelly, group executive of Aetna Life and Casualty Co., as president and chief operating officer of the Liberty Mutual Cos. The 46-year-old Kelly will assume his new responsibilities at Liberty Mutual by April 1. AEGON TO BUY HUNGARIAN INSURER: AEGON announced a plan Thursday to acquire a majority interest in Hungary's largest insurer, Allami Biztosito. The privatization of Hungarian state-owned enterprises allows AEGON to acquire 75% of the Allami Biztosito shares, while the Hungarian government will retain 20% of the shares. The remaining 5% of AB shares may be acquired by its employees. W.VA. PREMIUM HIKES CUT: Insurance premium hikes of up to 25% for West Virginia retirees have been scrapped, and those for state and county workers will be cut, Gov. Gaston Caperton said Thursday. Cited: Changes enacted by the state finance board in 1991 have helped curb costs. ARKANSAS RUNS SHORT OF FUNDS: Union County, Ark., probably won't qualify for federal disaster relief from a tornado which struck the area Monday with 165 mph winds, the state Office of Emergency Services said Thursday. Cited: There wasn't enough monetary and uninsured damage. Damaged: 57 homes and 18 businesses - about $5 million. Gov. Bill Clinton has approved $100,000 in disaster aide. FDA ISSUES HEART VALVE WARNING: The 60-degree Bjork-Shiley mitral heart valve, in nearly 23,000 people in the USA and Canada, has a risk of failure possibly five times higher than once thought, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. Patients with the device, which was taken off the market in 1986, should consider replacing it. New evidence suggests the failure risk is greater than the danger of replacement surgery. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SENIORS: HHS AWARE OF PROBLEM: Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged that many poor seniors have not taken advantage of the program and said they are stepping up ongoing efforts to publicize its availability. By law, seniors below the poverty line need not pay the $31.80 monthly Medicare premium deducted from their Social Security checks. MEDICAID CAN COVER COSTS: Seniors below the poverty line also need not pay their annual Medicare deductibles of $752 or their required co-payment of 20% of most doctors' bills. Those eligible - individuals with an annual income below $6,810 and assets of less than $4,000; or couples with an annual income below $9,190 - can get Medicaid, federal health insurance for the poor, to cover those costs. GROUPS SEES `FOOT DRAGGING': Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a non-profit citizens group that lobbies for expanded health care for the poor, accused the Bush administration of "foot dragging," charging that the availability of the so-called "Medicaid buy-in" has not been adequately publicized among the nation's 65-and-older population. TOLL FREE NUMBER AVAILABLE: Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan said his department has spent three years trying to boost awareness of the program's availability. He noted the department's Health Care Financing Administration, which administers both Medicare and Medicaid, has a toll-free telephone number to provide information on the program - 1-800-638-6833. MANY IN CALIF. WITHOUT MEDICAID: The Families USA report noted that California has the highest number of eligible seniors - more than 217,000 - not receiving the Medicaid assistance. New York was second (153,000), followed by Georgia (125,000), Pennsylvania (121,000), Texas (116,000), and Florida, (103,000). The average recipient of Medicare has to pay about $1,600 a year in premiums and deductible medical costs. (End of package.) 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