Debbie Perlman Blog

They keep searching for a politically safe silver bullet that slays Obamacare and yet leaves everyone happy. That plan doesn’t exist. By backing a flimsy, state-initiated lawsuit to throw out the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, President Trump has made himself and Republican candidates in 2020 vulnerable to attacks that they want to take health insurance away from millions of people. The president compounded the problem by saying Republicans are going to become the party of health care without having any plan, let alone a coherent proposal that would produce better results and could get through Congress. Republicans are now deeply divided on what should be done, and the president is no help in setting a course for the party. Yet not all is lost on the issue for Republicans. Many Democrats, by rushing toward a single-payer Medicare for All plan, are being pulled along by ideological yearnings instead of practical realities. Medicare for All would upend

Health care costs in the United States are generally measured as the highest in the world. Last year, many Americans could not afford their health care costs and so borrowed $88 billion to pay for that portion they could not afford. According to a new West Health and Gallup poll, in a new report titled "The U.S. Healthcare Cost Crisis," the $88 billion was borrowed in the year before the survey, which was done from January 14 to February 20. The poll was conducted via a random group of 3,537 adults over 18 living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Gallup reported that among the 36 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nation members, the United States had the highest health care costs in 2017. The total was $3.7 trillion nationwide, which translates to $10,739 per person. Another major personal financial concern among Americans is that 45% worry that a "major health care event" would leave them bankrupt

A class action legal ruling this month, on a case originally filed in 2014, found that UnitedHealthCare’s (UHC) mental health subsidiary, United Behavioral Health (UBH), established internal policies that discriminated against patients with behavioral health or substance abuse conditions. While an appeal is expected, patients with legitimate claims were systematically denied coverage, and employer/union purchasers who had paid for coverage for their employees and their family members received diminished or no value for their investments. Central to the plaintiff’s argument was the fact that UBH developed its own clinical guidelines and ignored generally accepted standards of care. In the 106 page ruling, Judge Joseph C. Spero of the US District Court in Northern California wrote, “In every version of the Guidelines in the class period, and at every level of care that is at issue in this case, there is an excessive emphasis on addressing acute symptoms and stabiliz

The steady extension of supply chains over recent decades has exposed businesses to various risks resulting from temporary interruption. These types of interruptions to a supply chain can result in significant losses, even over the short term. While it’s natural to focus on large-scale climatic or even geopolitical events as causative factors, the truth is that even local factors can trigger business interruption. For these reasons, insurers in the alternative risk marketplace have developed contingent business interruption products as an extension of their clients’ business interruption plans. These types of coverages are designed to replace loss of income and reimburse additional expenses suffered during an interruption to the insured’s supply chain. Furthermore, coverage is not merely limited to the supply chain, but can also be applied to any interruption initiated by an event away from the insured’s premises that prevents the insured’s business from operating.

Every uptick in wind speed along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline is of enormous interest to Mike Eilts. Eilts, senior vice president for weather at DTN, a Minnesota-based analytics firm, knows that an unexpected cold front in Louisiana, nudged southward by a jet stream unsettled by global warming, can push rising winds into the Gulf, putting dozens of floating oil rigs at risk. The rigs can withstand hurricane-force winds of 80 miles per hour if they have time to turn to face the tempest. But if they’re hit from the side, their pipes can be severed with just a bit more than a 35-mile per hour breeze. DTN is paid to make sure that doesn’t happen. “If they get blow-off, it’s a huge problem that can cost them about $15 million each per event,” Eilts said in a telephone interview. “We run special models to watch those fronts, and we call out the captains of each ship within three hours of a cold front coming.” From IBM and AccuWeather Inc. to outfits like Riskpulse, J

  A disturbing trend of insurance costs making football prohibitively expensive continues to grow, following the path of other organized youth. Americans just witnessed a historic Super Bowl, but I can’t help but wonder whether football as a sport will soon be history. A disturbing trend of insurance costs making football prohibitively expensive continues to grow, following the path of many other organized youth sports. One of the most troubling consequences, intended or unintended, is the pricing out of the youth players who need team sports the most. As someone who grew up in a household below the poverty line, and whose father didn’t finish high school, I didn’t even have cleats my first year of high school football. Had the other equipment not been provided, I would never have been able to afford to play at all. Similarly, I never had cleats growing up playing baseball. If the bats and helmets were not provided, and the uniforms not sponsored by a local bus

A Colorado insurance agent who created more than 80 phony life insurance policies has been sentenced to probation. Michael Nebeker, 38, pleaded guilty to four felony counts, but was only sentenced to 30 days in jail, six months of probation, and 120 hours of community service. As part of the plea agreement, 72 other charges were dismissed, according to a report by The Fort Collins Coloradoan. Nebeker was indicted last year after being accused of stealing information from members of his church and using it to create dozens of phony life insurance policies in order to collect commission, according to the Coloradoan. Investigators said that of 87 life insurance policies Nebeker wrote between July 23, 2015, and September 15, 2016, 83 were phony. Sixty-nine (69) people came forward to tell authorities that they did not buy policies from Nebeker or authorize the use of their information, the Coloradoan reported. Nebeker has also been charged with a slew of similar