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Employer-sponsored insurance still on the decline

Posted April, 27 2012 by arianne

A new report put out by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) looks at national trends in employer-sponsored benefits between 1997 and 2010.  Not surprisingly, what they are finding looks pretty darn grim.  During that time: The percentage of workers who are offered health insurance benefits by their employers has declined from 70.1% to 67.5%, and the number […]

Use your brain!

Posted April, 25 2012 by arianne

Got 5 minutes to kill? Or, maybe you are super busy but need to cleanse the ol’ mental palate? Well, the Kaiser Family Foundation just put out a nifty little quiz to test your knowledge on the uninsured.  Why not give it a try? It’s short – 10 questions – but some of them are a little […]

Insurance companies pull a fast one on consumers

Posted April, 24 2012 by arianne

Did anyone read the Times this morning? There’s an article out by Nina Bernstein about the latest in what seems to be an ever-growing list of insurance company shenanigans.  This time, it has to do with provider reimbursement rates for out-of-network care. You see, back in 2009 the state reached a settlement with insurance plans that required them […]

DFS puts Excellus in the dog house.

Posted April, 20 2012 by arianne

Yesterday, the NYS Department of Financial Services (DFS) announced that they had fined Rochester-based Excellus Health Plan $995,000 for violation of several insurance laws. Apparently, between 2003 and 2007, the company improperly denied 166 emergency room claims and failed to explain coverage to plan members in 337,689 instances.  Excellus has stated that the denied claims had to do with a computer error […]