Monday, June 01, 2015

Monday Morning Spindle-clearing

In no particular order:

■ Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Biden family on the loss of Beau to brain cancer. The fight against this terrible disease is still on-going, but help may soon be on the way to save other families from experiencing this kind of loss:

"MD Anderson researchers identify protein with therapeutic potential for brain cancer ...  FGL2 protein is a crucial immune-suppressive factor in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cancer. As such, blocking FGL2 may promote GBM patients’ enhanced survival."

Still early days, but promising.

■ Courtesy of FoIB Holly R, we learn that "44% of Covered California customers report difficulty paying premiums." Of course, this must be a lie, since the President explicitly promised that rates would decrease by 3000%.

So there.

■ Regular readers know that part of that Medical Loss Ratios are a grab-bag of admin costs which carriers must use to determine whether or not they're paying out enough in claims. One controversial such expense has been agent compensation (fees and/or commissions). The Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) has recently clarified when that comp may not be excluded from carriers' MLR calculations (Spoiler Alert: pretty much always). Look for lower commissions and fewer agents (that's NOT a good thing, by the way).
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