On July 13, as SAG-AFTRA leadership declared the union was going on strike, SAG-AFTRA Foundation president Courtney B. Vance and executive director Cyd Wilson drafted a letter to 2,700 of the union’s highest-earning actors outlining the financial need that many would face in the work stoppage.
“Having been through this during COVID and having such a great response from our own membership to take care of their own, when the strike was decided, Courtney and I sat down with our team and said, ‘Here we go again,’” Wilson tells Variety.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation…
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Massena retirees ask for a faster change to a new health plan
Jul. 21—MASSENA — Town of Massena retirees say they would like to see the process move faster in switching to a new health insurance plan.
Several retirees were on hand Wednesday to ask the Massena Town Board to speed up the process and approve the transition to the new plan.
Deputy Town Supervisor Patrick M. Facteau said they had followed up with Zachary Zuckerman, a group benefits consultant at USI Insurance Services in Syracuse, and he had made contact with most of the retirees to discuss the new plan.
“As far as I know, we’ve had no negatives in regards…
Opinions | Fixing Health Care Starts With the Already Insured
There is no shortage of proposals for health insurance reform, and they all miss the point. They invariably focus on the nearly 30 million Americans who lack insurance at any given time. But the coverage for the many more Americans who are fortunate enough to have insurance is deeply flawed.
Health insurance is supposed to provide financial protection against the medical costs of poor health. Yet many insured people still face the risk of enormous medical bills for their “covered” care. A team of researchers estimated that as of mid-2020, collections agencies held $140 billion in unpaid medical bills, reflecting…
Restaurants charging extra for water, bread and workers’ health plan
A Los Angeles restaurant has come under fire after a prominent podcaster took issue with an unfamiliar surcharge on his guest check: an extra 4% fee automatically added to the bill to help fund the workers’ health insurance.
While Alimento, the restaurant in the Silver Lake neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, was singled out for the move, eateries across the US are increasingly upcharging diners beyond the stated food prices on menus. One in six restaurants said they are adding fees or surcharges to checks to combat higher costs, according to an August survey from the National Restaurant Association.
Alimento’s…
What is an Irrevocable Trust?
A trust is an estate planning tool that allows a person to control their assets during their lifetime and make provisions for incapacity and death. Many trusts are revocable, however, irrevocable trusts can be an incredibly useful way to plan for your future.
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One thing you should know about irrevocable trusts is that, unlike revocable or living trusts, irrevocable trusts cannot be changed or amended. They are set in stone.
A…
Biden to crack down on ‘junk’ health insurance
President Joe Biden is also slated to give a speech Friday touting his health care agenda, during which a White House official said he plans to “announce major actions to lower health care costs and crack down on junk fees.”
The White House declined to comment, and the Democrats with knowledge of the matter cautioned that the timing of the rollout could still change.
But the White House’s budget office signed off on the proposed rule last week, according to a regulatory review notice posted to its website, a signal that the regulations had cleared the final internal hurdles. The…
Japan aims to fix medical fee errors linked to My Number by August
The health ministry said Thursday that it would take measures to resolve the issue of My Number card holders being overcharged for medical expenses by August.
System errors over the use of My Number cards as health insurance certificates have caused many patients to have to pay the full amount of medical costs out of their own pocket instead of the regular amount — basically set at 30% for those between ages 6 and 70 .
The ministry presented its plan to resolve the issue at the first meeting of a new task force that day.
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New Reporting on Insurance Claim Denials Highlights ‘Scam’ of For-Profit Healthcare
A pair of new stories examining the increasingly common but shadowy US insurance industry practice of refusing to pay for certain treatments drew outrage Wednesday from patient advocates and Medicare for All proponents, who said the reporting further revealed the harms of for-profit healthcare.
The investigative outlet ProPublicafocused its attention on the “galling” secrecy around insurance companies’ claim denials, which frequently leave patients with massive medical bills and little clarity as to why their claims were rejected.
“How often insurance companies say no is a closely held secret,” ProPublica‘s Robin Fields reported. “There’s nowhere that a consumer or an employer…