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 31 1992 Date: Tue, 31 Mar 92 05:49:46 EST Message-ID: 03-31 0000 DECISIONLINE: Insurance USA TODAY Update March 31, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network HARTFORD LIFE GETS FIDELITY: Hartford Life Insurance Co. will assume the policies of troubled Fidelity Bankers Life Insurance Co., Virginia's insurance commissioner said Monday. Under the plan, Hartford will assume all of Fidelity's annuities and insurance policies, said Commissioner Steven Foster, the court-appointed receiver for Fidelity Bankers. He assured policyholders they will not lose any money. BANK-CARD SYSTEM TO CUT COSTS: A proposed "bank card" system for health care would be more convenient for patients and doctors, and cut costs, a committee of the Health Policy Corporation of Iowa says. The group says doctors' offices, hospitals and insurance companies are awash in paper. Nationally, administrative costs made up about $43 billion of the $317 billion estimated to have been spent on health care last year. (For more, see special System package below.) MORE EMPLOYEES HAVE TO PAY: Surveys of more than 2,400 companies by A. Foster Higgins & Co. Inc., an employee benefit consulting firm, indicate that the number of employers requiring employee contributions for individual coverage grew from 41% in 1986 to 55% in 1991. In addition, 40% of the employers surveyed in 1986 required deductibles of at least $150. By 1991, that figure was 66%. EMPLOYEES PAYING MORE: Surveys by Towers Perrin, an international management-consulting firm, of 247 large corporations showed that in 1986 the average employee contributed $6.56 a month, or $78.72 a year, to an employer-sponsored health plan. In 1991, employee contributions rose to $20.67 a month or $248.04 a year, an increase of 215%. COURT GETS VIEWS ON AIDS CASE: The Supreme Court Monday asked the administration's views, in a pending Texas case, on whether AIDS sufferers may use a federal law to sue employers who cut health-care coverage for the deadly disease. MENTAL HEALTHCARE ADDRESSED: The National Council of Community Mental Health Centers recently released a White Paper on health insurance reform issues titled "New Perspectives on Mental Healthcare in America: Windows of Opportunity." It examines the stigma of mental illness that causes mental healthcare to be singled out for discriminatory treatment in public and private benefit plans. COVENTRY DIVESTS SUBSIDIARY: Coventry Corp. said Monday it will divest itself of American Service Companies, its health insurance subsidiary. Coventry is obtaining a two-week extension for filing its 1991 annual report on Form 10-K in order to allow the company to complete a determination of the amount to be charged against earnings as a result of the planned divestiture of ASC. PENN TREATY TO BUY INSURER: Penn Treaty American Corporation Monday said that it will assume a block of life and health business underwritten by Columbia Life Insurance Company of Bloomsburg, Pa., which is under a liquidation order. The block of business is approximately $1.6 million of annualized premium. The deal has already been approved by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. TRAVELERS' RATING AFFIRMED: Standard and Poor's Monday affirmed Travelers Insurance Co.'s single-`A'-plus claims-paying ability rating. Travelers Corp. contributed $100 million in cash and $68 million in managed-care companies to Travelers Insurance during 1991. This follows several other capital enhancement initiatives taken since 1988 in part to prefund real estate losses and add to the capital base. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SYSTEM: INSURANCE INFO. IN COMPUTER: Under the proposed "bank card" system, expected to be in place in 10 years, the patient's card would produce on a computer screen all the clinical and financial information for that individual. The screen would show whether the patient's insurance coverage is current, whether a co-payment is needed or whether the patient's deductible has been met. SYSTEM WOULD SAVE TIME: The bank card system, with the consent of those involved, would transfer money to the health-care facility directly from insurance companies or the patients' bank accounts. Also, the bill, showing any portion needed to be paid by the patient, would be printed out and waiting when the patient returns to the clerk's desk. COST OF SYSTEM NOT AVAILABLE: Participating pharmacies could receive prescriptions by computer directly from the doctor's office as well as instant payment from the patient or other payer under the system. Critics worry about confidentiality. Another obstacle may be cost, of which no estimate is yet available. Whatever it is, say the project's backers, it would be offset by administrative savings over a period of years. (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