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Academy Suggests Tweaks to Enzi Health Bill
proposed earlier this year to establish small-business health plans was an improvement on previous association health plan (AHP) bills, it wasn’t perfect, said the Academy in a May 4 letter to Senate leaders. The legislation, sponsored by Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), was reported out of committee on March 15 but failed in mid May to garner enough votes to end debate and move forward. “Many of the negative consequences were addressed in the Enzi legislation,” said Academy Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello. “The bill appeared to apply the same rules to all health insurance providers, thus creating a level playing field. But hile legislation
there was still more to consider.” The legislation that was reported out of committee would have permitted small businesses to offer basic plans that might not provide state coverage mandates. If the plan didn’t comply with state mandates, an enhanced plan, offering at a minimum the benefits covered by state employee coverage plans in one of the five most populous states (California, Texas, New York, Florida, or Illinois) would have had to be offered as well. Before suspension of the debate as a result of the failed vote, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) was preparing to offer an alternative that would require plans to cover mandates from at least 26 states. In its analysis of the bill, the Academy’s Small-Group Market Task Force (with input from the Individual Medical Market Task Force) found that it enabled
all insuring entities in the small-group market to follow common rating rules and benefit package requirements. However, the Academy warned in its letter, any subsequent change to the bill that reintroduced self-funded AHPs without clear rating rules and adequate capital requirements would likely destabilize the market and create plan insolvencies. The letter also warned that as the bill moved through the Senate and into conference, there needed to be a clear definition of benefit requirements. Similarly, the legislation needed to define transition rules to prevent a disruption to the existing small-group market. While association health plan reforms have been offered in both the House (where it has been adopted) and Senate in recent years, this was the farthest any such legislation has moved in the Senate.
a c ad e m y N e w s b r i e f s , continued from Page 3 because interest rates were low and we now know that the stock market was ready to head up. But to put money into opaque risky assets—that I think is dangerous.” On the Move
® Dave Gustafson, chief policy actuary and acting director of the Policy Research and Analysis Dept. at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), recently received the agency’s distinguished career service award in recognition of his professional accomplishments. A 25-year veteran of the PBGC, Gustafson helped design numerous reforms in the federal pension insurance
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system and the funding rules that became law with enactment of the 1987 Pension Protection Act and the 1994 Retirement Protection Act. Gustafson was instrumental in creating the PBGC’s early warning program, the Corporate Finance and Negotiations Dept., and played a principal role in developing and maintaining the agency’s Pension Insurance Modeling System, a tool for assessing the PBGC’s current financial status and its future outlook. ® Richard Rush, a consulting actuary with Leif Associates Inc. in Denver, received a 2006 Outstanding Communicator Award from the National School Public Rela-
A c t u a r i a l U p d at e J u n e 2 0 0 6
tions Association. The award recognizes Rush’s volunteer work supporting the success of students and public schools in Jefferson County, Colorado. ® Hugh McHaffie has joined the John Hancock Variable Annuities division of Manulife Financial in Boston as senior vice president for its variable annuity business. He was formerly senior vice president of product management for the individual business segment of MetLife. ® Kent Sluyter has been appointed chief actuary for the individual life insurance business of Prudential in Newark, N.J. He was formerly responsible for
Prudential’s individual life insurance underwriting, claims, and special investigations units. ® Lise Hasegawa has been named vice president in the financial division of MetLife Auto & Home in Warwick, R.I. As chief reserving actuary, she oversees loss reserves. ® Craig Kliethermes has joined RLI in Peoria, Ill. as the company’s new vice president for actuarial services, including pricing, reserving, enterprise risk modeling, and actuarial analysis of new business opportunities. He was formerly senior vice president and director of quantitative analysis for Lockton Cos. in Kansas City, Kan.