State PMSA/SES News & Updates

Health care reform has now been signed into law - What will it actually mean for you? Don’t feel like reading the more than 2000-page bill yourself?

We’ll help you sort it all out.

In short, the new law puts us on a path to provide health care coverage for all Americans, empowers consumers over insurance companies and ensures we are moving to reduce health care costs in the long run. Now that the bill has passed the reconciliation process and will now be law, sweeping new policies will be ushered in. Many outlets are trying to tease out what this will mean for the average consumer. We’ve put together some information that will help you to understand it all. We will continue to sift through the many resources that have been providing information about this historic reform so you don’t have to. Check back often for updates.

THE TOP 10 IMMEDIATE BENEFITS YOU’LL GET

The new health care reform law will immediately:

·	Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;

·	Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;

·	Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

·	Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;

·	Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;

·	Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

·	Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;

·	Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

·	Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

·	Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

OTHER RESOURCES:

The New York Times has a great interactive summary.

CLICK HERE

Politics Daily gives a “Year-by-Year Rundown of What Happens & When”

CLICK HERE

“Republicans Set for Last Ditch Senate Assault on Reform.”

CLICK HERE

Investopedia.com lists “10 Ways The New Healthcare Bill May Affect You.”

CLICK HERE

CNNMoney.com reports “What health care reform means for your business.”

CLICK HERE

Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if your income stopped should you suffer a disability?

Expenses would continue ... probably greater than ever when you consider insurance deductibles and uncovered medical bills. Your income is your most valuable asset and without it your savings can quickly be turned into debt!

You insure your other valuable assets, like your home and your car. But you may not have thought to insure your income in the event you suffer a disability that prevents you from working - which is much more common than you think.

We want our members to be protected! Disability Income Insurance Protection plans are now available! These products are specifically designed to replace lost income due to a covered accident or illness, and both Short Term and Long Term disability products are available.

HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

Short Term Disability

Short Term Disability plans “Underwritten by Professional Insurance Company In California, PIC Life Insurance Company" A Subsidiary of Sun Life Financial.

·	Guaranteed Issue – everyone accepted. No one can be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. (pre-ex wait period still applies)

·	Coverage ages 16-68

·	Fully portable

·	Shorter elimination periods – benefits payable as soon as the 15th day of an accident or illness

·	Benefit periods up to 1 or 2 years

·	Pays on and off the job benefits; benefit reduced if worker’s comp. Pays

·	Can be used to fill the gap while waiting for your Long Term disability to begin Plan designs to meet your individual needs and budget

Long Term Disability

Long Term Disability plans underwritten by Peterson International, MetLife and Principal Financial Group.

·	Fully Portable

·	1, 3 or 5 year Benefit Periods

·	60, 90 or 180 day elimination

·	Medical underwriting questions required

We’d like you to know more about this, so please click on the link below to complete our online quote request form, or you may contact our agent for additional information.

As you hear more and more about “health care reform,” from the news, from your doctors, from your employers, it can become confusing, and you want to be sure you’re making the right decisions for you and your family.

To help you stay informed, we now feature sections that contain a variety of information that you might be interested in.

With all the resources available, and limited time to devote to sifting through it all, we try to put together a good mix of information and resources that can help you move forward in our 21st century health care system.

If you have a topic you want to see posted, or would like to know more about, please contact lyndafpd@aol.com.

May 6, 2010

Office of Governor Charlie Crist
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Dear Governor Crist:

Once again the Florida legislature has seen fit to pillage dedicated state employees. While anyone can argue that “things could have been worse”, the fact of the matter is that even with the potential of maintaining the “status quo,” this legislature still saw fit to take a final “whack” at your employees.

Certainly one does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand the economic state of affairs that we all are facing, but to nickel and dime the very people who provide needed services in order to ensure the well being of our states populous is somewhat unconscionable.

State-employed physicians, attorneys and non-professional managers and supervisors are all SES employees and, because of their statutory status, they serve at the pleasure of their respective agency heads. In effect, they have no right to “due process” and in many cases the loss of this basic right was the minimal entitlement to enjoy greater pay and benefits than their career service counterparts. However, each year over the past decade the State’s promise has been eroded by a legislature that has seen fit to attack the most vulnerable of your employees by chipping away at their basic benefits and entitlements. Not to mention, they’ve had no wage adjustments for five years and they have to work under increasingly dangerous level workloads.

We have seen you, even in the toughest of times, as a fair employer. This has been shown during the course of collective bargaining and/or through a meaningful and thoughtful veto process. We believe you recognize the worth and the value of those who serve. As such, we respectfully request that you consider vetoing any increased health insurance costs and premiums for SES employees, the prohibition of agencies funding the cost of state-employed attorneys’ bar dues, and the reduction in life insurance benefits for state employees. These nickel-and-dime economic attacks on state employees by the legislature is simply wrong and does nothing constructive to resolve an economic crisis that could be better through other methods.

Thank you for your consideration regarding this matter. As always please feel free to have your office call with any questions.

Sincerely,

Jack Seddon
Executive Director

Mark Neimeiser
Legislative Consultant