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PIA Western Alliance
Since November 1st of last year close to 6.4 million people have signed up for health insurance on the ObamaCare federal website Healthcare.gov. That's 400,000 more than the same time period in 2015. Will that matter since soon-to-be President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress is going to make doing away with the Affordable Care Act a high-priority in the first 100 days of the Trump administration. That leads to a big question. What exactly are they going to do?
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PIA Western Alliance
Tension is growing between independent insurance agents and carriers. Much of the conflict involves growing margins while rates are declining. That was the conclusion of W.R. Berkley president and CEO Robert Berkley in the first quarter of last year.
A survey from the Insurance Journal's research partner Channel Harvest Research bears out much of Berkley's concerns. It's the ninth time the two have partnered on the subject and the fifth where comments on compensation have been included.
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PIA Western Alliance
Every year R Street grades the insurance regulators of the nation's states. The grading is done by R Street Senior Fellow R.J. Lehmann and it is on how — in his words — "effectively and efficiently they discharge their duties to monitor insurer solvency and to foster consumer choice and competitive, private insurance markets."
It's the fifth-year R Street has done the report and for two years in a row Vermont — with the only A+ score — has been tabbed as having the best insurance regulatory system in the nation. North Carolina — again — is pegged as the worst and picked up an F.
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PIA Western Alliance
McKinsey Quarterly — a publication of McKinsey & Company — did an article recently on workplace behavior and on incivility in particular. The publication said hurtful behavior like an employee being intentionally ignored, belittled publicly or undermined by co-workers can create lasting damage to the company and that employee, and other employees.
The article says it impacts performance, increases the always dreaded turnover and can — in some cases — cause harm to customer relationships.
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PIA Western Alliance
In November, voters of Oregon soundly defeated Measure 97 — a $3 billion a year business tax. If it had passed a 2.5% tax would have been placed on the income of corporations operating in Oregon with $25 million or more in annual sales.
Proponents said the money would be spent on education, senior services and health care. The voters didn’t believe it and worried that the 2.5% tax would be more like 10% or more because some items would be taxed more than once.
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PIA Western Alliance
Phase one of the Anthem-Cigna merger lawsuit is now in the hands of U.S District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. She heard closing arguments in mid-December and would not say when she'll issue her decision.
The first phase looked at the impact of the merger on large employers. Phase two started a week before Christmas and it looks at the impact on small employers and consumers.
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PIA Western Alliance
Sometimes government is the insurance industry's best friend. In fiscal 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice got more than $4.7 billion in settlements and judgements from fraud and false claims.
Some of them involved insurance.
This is the third highest total in False Claims Act history. And since 2009, the fiscal average has topped $4 billion a year. Even more impressive is the total from 2009 to 2016. It's $31.3 billion.
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PIA Western Alliance
President elect Donald Trump has finally picked his Interior Secretary. He's Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke. The department runs the nation's federal lands including wildlife, parks, offshore drilling and handles relations with the nation's American Indian tribes. The Department of Interior has 70,000 employees.
Speaking of Zinke, Trump said, "He has built one of the strongest track records on championing regulatory relief, forest management, responsible energy development and public land issues. As a former Navy SEAL, he has incredible leadership skills and an attitude of doing whatever it takes to win."
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PIA Western Alliance
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