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There are numerous new tax provisions coming as a result of the Affordable Care Act.  Some have already been enacted, some will be coming in 2013 and others, like the individual mandate penalty, are coming in 2014 and later.  In the meantime, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Constitutionality of the Law in late June.  The SCOTUS’ decision on the law may impact only parts of the law or may impact the entire law (or leave it intact).

Here is an article which lays out the various taxes which have been enacted or are coming soon (from insurancebroadcasting.com)

Do you need insurance product training? RitterIm.com has an up-to-date posting of all the top carriers’ trainings on our event calendar. Registration is “one click” away at Ritter Insurance’s “Events’ Calendar”! (You must be logged in to register!)

  • Monday, May 7 - Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being held in Little Rock, AR.
  • Tuesday, May 8 - Baltimore Life Home Secure Mortgage Term Protection Training webinar is open to all agents. North American: A Place to Call Home; Get to Know Their Product Portfolio webinar is open to all agents. Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being held in Racine, WI.
  • Wednesday, May 9 - Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being held in St. Louis, MO. Medico Monthly Training: Medicare Supplement Product webinar is open to all agents.
  • Thursday, May 10 - There are no scheduled trainings at this time.
  • Friday, May 11 - Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being held in Springfield, MO.
  • Monday, May 14 - Coventry Health Care of Florida, Inc Broker – Agent Sales & Marketing Training seminar is being held in Sunrise, FL.

Do you need insurance product training? RitterIm.com has an up-to-date posting of all the top carriers’ trainings on our event calendar. Registration is “one click” away at Ritter Insurance’s “Events’ Calendar”! (You must be logged in to register!)

  • Monday, April 30 - There are no scheduled trainings at this time
  • Tuesday, May 1 - Baltimore Life Silver Guard INSpeed Call Center Process Training and Baltimore Life Asset Transfer Product Training webinars are both open to all agents.
  • Wednesday, May 2 - Humana Certification 2-Day Class will be hosted in Reno, NV.
  • Thursday, May 3 - Humana Certification 2-Day Class will be hosted in Reno, NV.
  • Friday, May 4 - There are no scheduled trainings at this time
  • Monday, May 7 - Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being hosted in Little Rock, AR.

The GAO is questioning CMS’ demonstration project which gives bonuses to Medicare Advantage plans with 3 or more stars.  The Affordable Care Act only provided bonuses for plans with 4 or more stars.

Here is an article from Robert Pear of the New York Times.

Do you need insurance product training? RitterIm.com has an up-to-date posting of all the top carriers’ trainings on our event calendar. Registration is “one click” away at Ritter Insurance’s “Events’ Calendar”! (You must be logged in to register!)

  • Monday, April 16 - There are no scheduled trainings at this time.
  • Tuesday, April 17 -  Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Events are being held in Tucker, GA and Columbia, SC.
  • Wednesday, April 18 - Baltimore Life Asset Transfer Product Training is open to all Baltimore Life licensed agents. Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being held at Fort Smith, AR. North American Company Understanding Indexed Universal Life webinar is open to all agents.
  • Thursday, April 19 - Ritter Insurance Marketing is hosted a webinar for new agents and it is open to all agents. Foresters Whole Life Training webinar is open to all agents. Care Improvement Plus Study Hall Event is being held in Overland Park, KS. North American Company Insmark Tips & Hints webinar is open to all agents.
  • Friday, April 20 - There are no scheduled trainings at this time.
  • Monday, April 23 - Foresters New Producer Training webinar is open to all agents.

Here is a link the the 300+ page report which MedPAC provided to Congress last month.

MedPAC is a non-political Congressional Agency which reports on the status of the Medicare system and which makes recommendations to Congress for ways to improve the Medicare system.

Much of the volume of the report focuses on Medicare’s dealings with providers (chapters 3 through 11), but this report provides some insights into areas which may be of concern to insurance agents who work in the Medicare space (Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D).

There are 3 areas I would focus on:

1.  On page 21, under the topic, “Reasons for Growth in Healthcare Spending”, look at the “Health Insurance.”  Here MedPAC is arguing that the existence of Supplemental Insurance (like Medigap) has an inflationary effect on Medicare spending.  (I’ll blog more on this later.)

2.  On page 319, look at table 12-3.  This is the cost of the Medicare advantage program relative to the original Medicare fee for service spending.  The projection for 2012 is that Medicare advantage spending will be 107% of original Medicare FFS spending.  This is down from the 110% MedPAC projected last year.  The primary reason is the shift into HMO type Medicare advantage plans which have one of the lowest costs (106% for Medicare Advantage HMO’s).  Also, the “bid” for Medicare Part A and B services was 95% of Original Medicare for HMO’s and 98% for all types of Medicare advantage plans combined.  This is the first time I can recall in awhile that Medicare advantage was bidding less for A&B services than 100% of FFS Medicare for A&B services.  The difference between the 98% overall bid and the 107% overall payment is used for “Extra Benefits” above and beyond what Original Medicare does (examples would be an out of pocket maximum and “Value Added” benefits like Dental, Vision, Hearing, Transportation, Gym memberships, etc.).

3.  On page 330, MedPAC detailed the difference in payments to Medicare advantage which resulted from the CMS “Demonstration Project” which allowed for bonus payments for plans with as little as 3.0 stars.  The PPACA law only allowed for bonuses for plans with 4.0 stars or greater.  In 2011, only 22% of Medicare beneficiaries where in plans of 4.0 stars or greater, but almost 80% of Medicare beneficiaries are in plans of 3.0 stars of greater.  Thus, but lowering the threshold from 4.0 stars to 3.0 stars, CMS almost quadrupled the number of beneficiaries in plans with “Star bonuses”.  MedPAC estimates that this increased the amount of payments from a projected $200 million (based on PPACA guidelines) to a projected $2.8 billion (based on PPACA PLUS the CMS Demonstration project).  This projected 14-fold increase in bonus payments explains some of the reasons why Medicare advantage has enjoyed strong growth in 2011 and 2012.

This story came from PBS and is an interview of the author of a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation which looked at benefits for an individual over 65 on Original Medicare ONLY versus benefits for an individual over 65 on a typical large employer group plan or a Federal employee over 65 on the Federal program.

The study found that Original Medicare offers the least generous benefits of the 3 options.  The story notes that only 10% of Medicare beneficiaries have Original Medicare only, as the other 90% have Medicare Advantage, Medigap, Medicaid, Tricare or some other “supplemental” coverage.

The Kaiser study can be found here.

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