TAHU Update Volume No. 5 Issue No. 8 April 2004

Next Meeting

Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Brier Creek Country Club
Main Clubhouse
11:45 am, Luncheon Meeting

Please RSVP before Friday, April 9, 2004
to Mike Alexander, at
jmalexander@nc.rr.com or 919-544-5681

GUEST SPEAKER
Louis A. Newsome, R.Ph.
Director of Pharmacy Services for UnitedHealthcare

Mr. Newsome is a native of Ahoskie, North Carolina and is a graduate of the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently Director of Pharmacy Services for UnitedHealthcare of the Carolinas. Prior to his employment with UnitedHealthcare, Mr. Newsome served as Raleigh Area Pharmacy Director for the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of North Carolina. This responsibility included the administration of the pharmacy program in several multi-specialty ambulatory care centers that provided medical services for over 65,000 Kaiser Health Plan members. Mr. Newsome began his pharmacy career at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh where he ultimately implemented and supervised the hospital pharmacy’s initial Intravenous Medication Admixture Program.

SPONSORED BY
UnitedHealthcare

Click here for UnitedHealthcare's ad in PDF format.

President's Message:
Nancy Gibson, HIA, MHP

There are just three months left in our meeting year. We have had some excellent speakers and I hope that you have found the time that you have spent at our meetings beneficial.

I had posed a question on our “TAHU Talks” requesting feedback from the membership about what you did and did not find valuable about our meetings this year. If you have not yet given a response, please click on our TAHU Talks link and give us some feedback so that we can make your investment in TAHU even more valuable next year.

Many of us attended the NCHU Symposium in March. Along with the opportunity to earn CE credits, we had the privilege of hearing some very worthwhile speakers and doing some valuable networking. If you have not attended symposium, put a reminder on your calendar to set aside the time next year, March 2-4th at the Showplace in High Point.

Although we are just past the end of our contest year for membership, please keep a NCTAHU application with you so that you can take the opportunity to recruit a new member before the year is out. We have delivered quality CE courses at a cost of $1.00 per CE credit to our members. For that reason alone, membership is worthwhile.

As we look forward to the coming year, I would also encourage each of you to consider the opportunity to serve on the Board or on one of our committees. You will increase your knowledge of our organization, get to know other members much better and provide a valuable service to the organization. If you have any interest in taking a more active part in our organization, please let one of the Board members know at our next meeting.

One of the “perks” of being on the Board is the opportunity to attend the Leadership Conference that will be held in Wilmington this year on July 15-16. This is another opportunity to learn more about your organization and to get to know others in the state who have a professional commitment to the insurance industry.

I look forward to seeing all of you at our April 13th meeting at Brier Creek.

Nancy Gibson, HIA, MHP
Principal Financial Group
1616 East Millbrook Road, Suite 210
Raleigh, NC 27609
919-783-7790
919-783-9748 Fax
gibson.nancy@principal.com

Awards:
JoAnn Davis

The Awards Committee would like to extend our appreciation to everyone who participated in our TAHU TALKS nomination process for the selection of a charity for this year's Golf Tournament. Based on those nominations, a general election was held at our March luncheon. We are pleased to announce that 2nd Chance Pet Adoptions was elected, by our members, to benefit from the proceeds of this year's tournament.

We are recruiting volunteers to assist with the Awards portion of the Tournament. Please feel free to contact me for more information if you think you may be interested. As always, thank you all for your time and efforts on behalf of TAHU! I hope to see you at our next luncheon.

Happy Selling,

JoAnn Davis
Ameritas Life Insurance Corp.
3732 N. Roxboro Road, #200
Durham, NC 27704-1729
919-477-9199
919-477-8867 Fax
jodavis@ameritas.com

Continuing Education:
David Smith

COMING IN MAY - ERISA BASICS for AGENTS

A follow-up to the hour received during the Symposium, this 3 hour CE class will help agents and employee benefits specialists better understand the impact of these federal laws on the employee benefit plans offered by employers.

This law will talk about the structure of ERISA as well as the various notice, claims and inter-relationship of IRS, DOL and the various tax and benefit laws that impact nearly every employer providing benefits to their employees.

This class will begin around 1:15 pm following our May meeting. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to give me a call at 919-806-4481 or email to david@beninslaw.com.

David C. Smith
The Benefits & Insurance Law Center
2530 Meridian Parkway, Suite 200
Durham, NC 27713
919-806-4481
919-882-9745 Fax
davidcurtissmith@yahoo.com

Golf Tournament:
Mike Alexander

Monday, May 17th is the date for the 10th Annual TAHU Golf Tournament benefiting 2nd Chance Pet Adoptions. This year's event will return to beautiful Brier Creek Country Club, an Arnold Palmer designed layout voted 'Best New Private Course' by North Carolina magazine. A shot-gun start will kick off the Captain's Choice format at 11:00 A.M. with a cookout immediately following the conclusion of the event.

For information regarding registration & sponsorship, please click here for a registration form; otherwise you may contact Mike Alexander at #544-5681. Volunteers are also needed for registration, goody bags, prizes, recruitment of sponsors,etc.

J. Michael Alexander
Magellan Benefits Group
#4 Haycox Court
Durham, NC 27713
919-544-5681
919-806-8455 Fax
jmalexander@nc.rr.com

HUPAC/NCPAC:
Sam King, CHC

The political season is upon us. The radio has already begun to be filled with ads, bumper stickers are popping up on cars, and a television blitz will soon be upon us. These ads take money, as we all know. It is the way our political system works. As a single contributor you and I as an individual’s voice can get lost. It is for that reason that PAC's have become so important for groups like us. If you have not already done so, I encourage you make a contribution and forgo that steakhouse dinner this weekend and give to either our state or national PAC. There are many campaigning for a major shake up in the industry by which we make our living. Your contribution, along with the contribution of fellow TAHU members, has in the past had an impact on a candidate's position. Don't let this important election year pass without your involvement.

Archie Samuel King
1711 Mohegan Drive
Durham, NC 27712
919-815-0433
SamKingTAHU@aol.com

Law and Legislation:
Bill Hendrickson

HEADLINES

Preventable health conditions cost North Carolina nearly $16 billion in 2002
Malpractice legislation again on Legislature’s docket
NC House Select Committee on Rising Health Care Costs readying legislation
Nationwide Risk Pools would lower insurance costs for small businesses
Institute of Medicine urges universal health coverage for all by 2010

NC Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom led a panel of business and health care leaders focusing on prevention. The event was titled “The Ounce of Prevention Summit”. Of the $16 billion spent on preventable health conditions, $4.75 billion was for tobacco use, $4.9 billion was due to poor nutrition and obesity, and $6.2 billion was because of physical inactivity. Various experts spoke during this symposium, explaining how various entities have incorporated health awareness into their employment practices. One expert to testify during this event was Gale Adcock of SAS Institute in Cary who said that their onsite primary health care services for employees reduces employee turnover, increases productivity and results in both short and long term revenue payoffs for SAS.

Another group, the NC House Blue Ribbon Task Force on Medical Malpractice is planning legislation for this session of the Legislature. The legislation is far reaching and is partially modeled after California legislation enacted in 1988. If any TAHU member would like to read the elements of this potential legislation, I will be glad to FAX it to you. In essence, the legislation seeks to reform malpractice partially by improving the quality of care given by physicians, by discouraging frivolous medical malpractice actions, and by reforming malpractice litigation.

An ultimate goal would be to lower medical malpractice insurance rates required of physicians. There would be more pretrial conferences to avoid litigation and the non-economic cap on judicial awards would be set at $250,000. There are other elements in this potential legislation, all of which make the bill’s outlook rather clouded at this time.

The House Select Committee mentioned above has decided on some of the elements to be presented to the Legislature in addition to the Medical Malpractice legislation. Some potential legislation could include:

Expand Community Care of NC-the Medicaid managed care program
Direct the head of the State Employees Medical Plan to strengthen its disease management programs
Evaluate and identify the problems small employers face when they attempt to obtain health insurance coverage for their employees and families
Initiate regional demonstration projects to assist in solving the problems that might have been identified.
Study the feasibility of establishing a high risk pool for people with serious medical conditions who cannot find affordable health insurance.
Study the existing mandated benefits as to their value and extend a moratorium on new mandates until July 1, 2006

There are other potential bills to be presented, but, as you can see, there will be plenty of activity for our membership to follow and speak out on during the coming legislation session-beyond.

Interpreting nationwide high risk pools as Association Health Plans (AHP) is still a controversial topic. President Bush even supported AHP’s in his State of the Union address which has brought added attention to the topic. The idea driving AHP’s is that by having many small firms join together, the costs of insurance will be reduced. Those of us who have worked with associations and trusts know that such combinations do not automatically lower costs. We also know that insurance companies presently underwriting health insurance for small employers already combine these employers in large pools. Further, association plans remain healthy only if new members continually join to replace those that inevitably fall away and that the plans are administered efficiently.

NAHU has taken a “watchful waiting” approach to this potential legislation and we have no idea whether Congress will act on it or not.

There still is continued pressure and rumbling for a nationalized universal health plan of some kind. A group called the Institute of Medicine wants Washington to rapidly design a plan for affordable, continuous health coverage. The Institute also encourages state and local governments to put enough resources into existing public programs to make sure all eligible people enroll.

This Institute claims that uninsured people get about half the medical care of those with coverage and therefore have more serious medical problems. They also claim that each year 18,000 people die without insurance unnecessarily. (This would seem to be a statistic difficult to verify.)

The chief government spokesman for health issues, Tommy Thompson, the Health and Human Services Secretary says that this recommendation for Universal coverage is unrealistic and is not feasible

One last topic for TAHU members: be alert to fake health insurance plans. The General Accounting Office of the Federal Government reported that during the period 2000 to 2002 fraudulent health plans left a trail of $252,000,000 in unpaid medical claims. A fraudulent health plan or an agent caught selling such a plan is subject to heavy penalties. A WORD TO THE WISE!

William Hendrickson
Hendrickson & Company, Inc.
2219 Lawrence Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278
919 644-8636
919 644-6433 Fax
bill2219@mindspring.com

Website:
Michele Gregory, MHP, RHU, REBC

The Tax Man Cometh

Okay - we all know what April is famous for (and I’m not talking about April Fool’s jokes).

It’s time to pay your website taxes.

You have been receiving continuous benefits from www.nctahu.org for the entire taxable year - access to members’ contact information, minutes of Board meetings, details about Continuing Education, announcements of events, and much, much more.

Since TAHU has not withheld anything from your total benefits package, you will be responsible for the maximum taxable amount, based on the official TAHU Tax Table.

Luckily for you, it’s not too late to decrease your tax liability. If you are itemizing this year, you can donate a good idea to the “TAHU Talks” page. This could be in the form of an original topic for the good of the organization, or a response to something that is already there.

I promise that no forms are required, and that we will ignore all requests for Automatic Extension of Time to File.

Now, if you still want to see an April Fool’s joke, close this newsletter and take a look at my 1040.

Michele Gregory, MHP, RHU, REBC
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
2501 Aerial Center Drive, Suite 200
Morrisville, North Carolina 27560
919-765-4671; 800-228-6216
919-467-2823 Fax
Michele.Gregory@bcbsnc.com

As the success of the Triangle Association of Health Underwriters largely depends upon the benevolence of corporate contributors, we are proud to honor the following organizations for their continued support of our many programs and activities:

Diamond Sponsors
2003-2004

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of NC

Cigna

UnitedHealthcare

Please extend your appreciation to the Triangle members representing these organizations and remember their generosity when placing coverages.

Triangle Association of Health Underwriters
P.O. Box 19177
Raleigh, NC 27619-9177