| Kucinich Predicts Retreat On Health Care Reform
Much of the controversy surrounding health care reform has swirled around the so-called public option - a government insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. Congressman Kucinich wants the public plan to be the ONLY option; in other words, a single payer government system for everyone. Kucinich has for years been pushing such a plan. He says the problem with the U.S. system is the layer of bureaucracy imposed by insurance companies. Cut the private health insurers out of the mix, he says, and affordable, universal coverage is within easy reach. Kucinich: "One out of every three dollar goes to the activities of the for-profit system. They cream it right off the top for corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, the cost of paperwork. If you took that 800 billion dollars a year, which is what that represents, and put it into care for people you'd have enough to cover everyone, doctor of choice, vision care, dental health, mental health care, long term care, prescription drugs - we'd all be covered." Kucinich says anything less amounts to just a subsidy to the insurance industry. He's a co-sponsor of House Resolution 676, introduced early this year by Michigan democrat John Conyers. It's a bill that would extend medicare, the single payer government insurance plan for seniors, to all Americans. So far only 85 house members have signed onto the single payer bill, and for now it looks to have little chance of gaining much traction. But Kucinich thinks the outlook this year for ANY reform looks bleak. Kucinich: "I don't think there will be a bill brought to the president's desk. I think that it's been mishandled and that we need to go back to the American people, and I'm certainly ready with John Conyers and 83 other members of Congress to push for our single payer proposal. But we have to show people why it's important. We need to listen to them first about their tale of woe." Bill Rice, 90.3 .
Top 10 Reasons CRM Has Fallen Short in Commercial Insurance
In the complex and competitive market of commercial insurance, a personalized sales presentation based on real-time information can make the difference between landing a lucrative account or retaining a valuable renewal and losing the business. Although cross-industry customer relationship management (CRM) systems may be adequate for providing insight into sales activity over time, they often fall short when deployed in an insurance context and cannot provide sales professionals � agents, brokers, and carrier field reps � the accurate and timely insight they need to close a deal. There are ten reasons why many agencies and insurers have found that traditional CRM systems are insufficient to support the sales function and are turning instead to specialized collaboration and search solutions to achieve their growth objectives.
We Reply to Washington Post Blast at Federal LTC Insurance
In his August 13, 2009 "Federal Diary" column in the Washington Post titled "Federal Diary: Buyers of Long-Term Care Insurance Riled by Premium Increase," Joe Davidson recounts the frustration of two Federal LTC insurance policy holders about a recent premium increase. We replied to the columnist thus . . . .
India's Mphasis to Acquire AIG Systems Solutions
The transaction also further strengthens the financial services and insurance industry offerings of Mphasis with a "significantly enhanced insurance solutions portfolio." Currently, over 39% of Mphasis' revenues are from the financial services and insurance industry vertical, the company said. Ganesh Ayyar, chief executive officer of Mphasis, said the company has a "strong presence" in the insurance "vertical," and that the acquisition further strengthens the company�s ability to add greater value to insurance clients.
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Insurers ready to tackle expected surge in swine flu claims
In the aftermath of the swine flu outbreak, health insurance companies have seen a surge in enquiries from policyholders. People are anxious to know whether the existing policies cover the disease that has claimed 24 lives so far and infected over a thousand people in India. But insurance companies say all hospitalisation charges arising out of any pandemic or epidemic are covered under mediclaim policies. Like in any other health insurance policy, illness contracted in the first 30 days of taking a fresh policy is not covered. After 30 days, any hospitalisation expenses other than those due to pre-existing illness or those specifically excluded under the policy are covered. As swine flu is an infectious disease, it does not fall in the critical illness category of any insurance policy.
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