FEBRUARY 2001

Florida AGENT - Life & Health News Headlines

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Here are the stories making news in February 2001

Special Issue: Health

This month's focus is on health insurance. Guest columnist Jeff Nasser, vice president of marketing for International Medical Group Inc, writes that nearly four million U.S. citizens currently live abroad, and more than 30 million non-U.S. citizens arrive in the U.S. each year. How many of them do you insure?

As an agent, it is your job to find a company and plan for these individuals and groups that will go well beyond what would be expected from a domestic carrier. Domestic insurance coverage is not able to keep up with these travelers because it usually does not cover them when they leave their home country. Even if their current plan offers international coverage, usually it is for a very limited time and offers very minimal benefits.

Privacy, Mandated Benefits Will

Dominate State Legislatures

The most prevalent health insurance-related issues state legislatures will debate this year are a range of privacy initiatives and a host of bills mandating that health insurance cover specific services, according to a new state legislative forecast released by the Health Insurance Association of America.

Job-Based Benefits Increase

The percentage of Americans with job-based health insurance coverage increased between 1998 and 1999, while the ranks of the uninsured went down after years of growing, according to recent research by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

This expansion continued a longer-term trend that began in 1993.

Breaking a long-term upward trend, the percentage of uninsured Americans under age 65 fell from 18.4 percent in 1998 to 17.5 percent in 1999 (42.1 million people in 1999, down from 43.9 million the year before) -- primarily as a result of a strong economy and tight labor market.

"It is notable that the expansion in employment-based health insurance and the decline in the uninsured occurred at a time when health insurance costs were rising," said Dallas Salisbury, EBRI president and chief executive. "Moreover, employers have not been shifting the cost increases to employees."

Several relatively new state lawmakers will move into House committee chairmanships this year, with term limits having depleted the Florida Legislature of many of its long-serving members.

Leslie Waters, R-Seminole, an insurance committee executive, will chair the Insurance Committee.

The chairmen and chairwomen, all Republicans, were named by incoming House Speaker Tom Feeney. The GOP has a 77-43 lock on the House.

Florida Business

Lauds LTC Reform

Associated Industries of Florida responded favorably to Gov. Jeb Bush's proposals to assist Florida's elders.

Included among Bush's reforms is a proposal that would conform nursing home litigation to the medical malpractice laws that apply to all other health care providers. Shebel called the explosion in litigation against nursing homes and assisted-living facilities the greatest threat to the industry.

AIF's interest in LTC is sparked in part by the anticipated explosion in the costs to government of providing this care. Many employers would like to add LTC insurance to their menu of employee benefits, a move that would lessen the burden on taxpayers for funding this care.

Palm Beach Policyholders

Seek $1 Billion From Pru

Fifteen Palm Beach County residents have accused Prudential Insurance of using deceptive sales tactics and are seeking $1 billion in damages.

The residents filed their own lawsuit after deciding a national class action would not get them the damages they wanted, said David Sheller, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

Prudential settled the national lawsuit in 1997, agreeing to pay customers $2.4 billion, an average of roughly $220 for each of the 10.7 million policies it sold from 1982 through 1995.

The lawsuit accuses agents of misleading policyholders by persuading them to upgrade to more expensive policies by promising the upgrades wouldn't cost more.

Former Execs Admit Defrauding MetLife

Two former executives of a MetLife subsidiary have confessed to swindling the company out of $2.4 million in one of the largest fraud cases ever prosecuted in Eastern Washington.

Kartchner and McLean both face 46 to 57 months in federal prison when they are sentenced March 30 by Judge Frem Nielsen. They also will settle a civil lawsuit by MetLife by repaying $2.4 million.

Kartchner, 55, of Houston, and McLean, 49, of Wenatchee, are both free without bond.

They confessed to setting up their own dummy companies and submitting phony bills that were paid by MetLife subsidiary companies.

Bringing Prospects To Your Web Site

With thousands of new Web sites popping up each month, you're probably wondering how to give your Web site presence above all others. How do you ensure that potential customers find your site as they surf the Net?

Victoria Hall Smith tapped the wisdom of three Internet experts for ideas that will help you stand out in the crowd. The Web gurus are Richard Seltzer, a Boston-based Internet marketing consultant and co-author of The Alta Vista Search Revolution (Osborne/McGraw-Hill); Vince Emery, best-selling author of How to Grow Your Business on the Internet (Coriolis Group Books) and director of his own Web site at www.emery.com and Gautam Godhwani, who helped found Register It!, one of the growing number of online registration services. Together, these influential leaders compiled 10 suggestions to promote your Web site.

Guest columnist Jack Fries, of Fries & Fries consulting, discusses those in this month's issue.