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William Byrnes (Texas A&M) tax & compliance articles

Posts Tagged ‘healthinsurance’

The Changing World of Health Insurance: MLR’s Slam Commissions

Posted by William Byrnes on August 31, 2011


Increased medical loss ratios (MLRs) are devastating health insurance producers’ balance sheets and driving agents out of the health insurance business. As of  January, the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act increased the MLR requirement imposed on health insurance companies, forcing many carriers to reduce agent commissions by 25 percent or more.

The objective behind imposing MLRs is to ensure that consumers receive the full value of their premium dollars. This is accomplished by implementing a shift in how insurance carriers spend their money. Insurance carries are now required to spend premium dollars on direct medical services, rather than on administrative costs and profits. Under the new MLR program, insurers must spend 80 to 85 cents of every dollar on direct medical services. Insurers who fail to meet the MLR requirement must either adjust their premiums to account for any discrepancies, or refund excess premiums to consumers.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of health care reform in Advisor’s Journal, see Long-term Care Insurance Reform Act of 2010 (CC 10-46), Changes Affecting Large Employers in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-17), Changes Affecting Business in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-16), & Changes Affecting Individuals in the 2010 Health Reform Law (CC 10-15).

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Study Exposes Impact of Health Care Act’s Employer Penalties

Posted by William Byrnes on March 4, 2011


The Congressional Research Service last week released a publication describing the employer healthcare mandate and penalties for large employers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.  Although penalties under the Health Care Act will not be applicable until 2014, the Act brings about a sea of change in the employer’ role in employee health insurance that requires significant present preparation.

Contrary to popular miscomprehensions about the Act, it does not mandate that employers provide their employees with health insurance; however, the Act does incentivize large employers to do so by penalizing them if their employees are not covered to a minimum level by employer-provided health insurance.  Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

 

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New York Life Insurance Commission Disclosures

Posted by William Byrnes on January 20, 2011


Beginning last week life insurance brokers in the Big Apple started disclosing commissions to consumers.  New York is one of the first states that are mandating life insurance commission details to be disclosed to clients.

Under New York Insurance law, [1] an insurance producer selling or renewing an insurance contract must disclose the following information to the purchaser orally or in writing not later than application for the insurance contract or the renewal:

(1)     whether the insurance producer represents the purchaser or the insurer for purposes of the sale;

(2)     that the insurance producer will receive compensation from the selling insurer based on the  insurance contract the producer sells;

(3)     that the compensation insurers pay to insurance producers may vary depending on a number of factors, including the insurance contract and the insurer that the purchaser selects, the volume of business the producer provides to the insurer or the profitability of the insurance contracts  that the producer provides to the insurer; and

(4)     that the purchaser may obtain information about the compensation expected to be received by the producer for the sale and for any alternative quotes obtained by the producer by requesting such information from the producer.

To read this article excerpted above, please access http://www.advisorfyi.com/2010/12/new-york-life-insurance-commission-disclosures/

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Insurance Agents Sued for Giving Bad Tax Advice

Posted by William Byrnes on January 7, 2011


Can life insurance agents and their carriers be held responsible for adverse tax consequences resulting from their advice to customers about transactions involving the policies agents recommend and sell?  A customer who relied on agents for tax advice concerning an annuity transaction believed the agents should be held to account for recommending a transaction that turned out to carry an unexpected tax bill.   She sued the Insurance Company in federal district court, claiming its agents committed fraud against her by failing to inform her of the tax consequences of an annuity rollover.

The plaintiff owned two annuities—valued at about $80,000 and $12,000—that she received in a divorce settlement.  She contacted the insurance company to find out her options for rolling the annuities over into one policy. Read this complete article at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

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