“Playing” Brokers

By Bill Rusteberg

“Playing” health insurance brokers is the easiest sale ever. I was reminded of that today when a company rep. said “Bill, I never call on a prospect directly, I always work through the broker on the case. It’s the easiest sale ever. I don’t have to cultivate a relationship with the client. That can take years. It’s already been done by the current broker.”

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List of 10 Most Expensive Drugs

“Pssst Godfather….We Need To Get In The Drug Business!” We can make a lot of money in rebates…….I mean kickbacks. And we can open specialty pharmacies and skim off the float too and call it spread pricing or shrinkage……………We can call ourselves Pharmacy Benefit Managers……..Has a nice ring to it……………..We can make some really serious money Godfather!”

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Lawyers, Spiders, Snakes and Other Scary Things

“Thank You Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021!”

“The motherlode for the plaintiffs’ bar however is in the broker/consultant compensation disclosure rules. For starters, there is the obvious claim that the rule was not properly followed, thereby triggering a prohibited transaction. Equally obvious and even more worrisome, however, are claims that are right out of the 401(k) litigation playbook: the plan paid excessive fees and plan fiduciaries were not paying attention. Essentially, the statute’s focus on fee disclosure invites scrutiny of the underlying fees and the accompanying fiduciary engagement.”

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Replacing Traditional TPA’s With Next Generation Health Plans

Thinking Outside The Box

“Hue builds health plans around the concept of advanced primary care as the center of all patient care coordination–a “healthcare quarterback.” Their highly scalable, value-based network approach enables providers to focus on practicing medicine how they see fit based on what their communities need, spending dramatically less time on billing and administrative services.”

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Ukraine Invasion to Likely Have ‘Substantial Impact’ on Insurance Industry

“Sanctions also will affect the balance sheets of Russian insurers and their relationships with international partners,” added Todor Kitin, financial analyst. “The valuation of investments would be affected by a prolonged equity market downturn, any increase in the Russian Central Bank’s policy rate or a widening of credit spreads. On the other side of the balance sheet, higher-than-anticipated inflation would impact claims costs, with potential implications for the adequacy of reserves.”

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How Will Rising Interest Rates Affect My Health Insurance Premiums?

The Feds are about to set higher interest rates in March, or so those on the streets say. It is expected more hikes will follow each quarter of 2022. With the government printing presses working overtime, dumping more fake money into the economy, prices are going up everywhere and the feds are worried, or should be. The fake money supply has increased by more than 20% in the past year alone.

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Attention School Districts! Want Funds For An Onsite Clinic? ESSER To The Rescue

Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) fund, as well as reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to ensure that you can cover costs of hosting a clinic – including on-site set-up and operations as well as outreach and engagement activities.

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Texas Legislature Wants To Know If There Is Something Better Than TRS ActiveCare

In the last Texas legislative session SB1444 was passed requiring each regional service center to poll all districts within their service area to determine if TRS ActiveCare members are happy or unhappy with their crappy and expensive health insurance benefits.

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