Thursday, April 19, 2012

BREAKING: MLR = More Lovely Revenues [UPDATED]

"UnitedHealth Group Inc. had no complaints about the effects of the new medical loss ratio (MLR) on first-quarter earnings ... MLR-related adjustment added $130 million to its profits for the quarter."

Why does HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious love insurance carriers so much?

UPDATE (from comments): Bob notes some additional issues with this:

What is really fun is when the rebate goes back to an employer who is then supposed to divvy up the rebate among all participants if the plan was contributory. This would include participants only on the plan a few months and those who are no longer employed.

Which is one more nail in the employer-based health insurance coffin. Imagine that nightmare.

Bob also observes:

The rep told me at least one carrier ... is going to charge back any commissions paid to agents an amount equal to the rebates offered on their clients.

As we noted regarding insureds' tax liability, this also opens a major can of worms: that charge-back means that the agent (and his agency, if applicable) will have to re-file the previous year's taxes. OTOH, one supposes this will be a gold mind for the CPA's.

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