News

Court: No dump, no fees

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week ordered the U.S. Department of Energy to stop collecting annual fees from nuclear power corporations to pay for disposal of nuclear waste because DOE has no foreseeable plans to store the waste—and has even been unable to calculate the fees with any certainty.

The federal government in the 1950s and ’60s encouraged the construction of nuclear power plants and for years has collected fees from power companies for an eventual solution to waste storage. Congress in 1987 ended the scientific study of three candidate sites for a waste dump and targeted Nevada as the only site. Since then, the process has slowed to a crawl as Nevada, its congressional representatives, and environmental opponents have opposed the site. The federal targeting of Nevada left no back-up option for a single dump.

Although last week’s court ruling characterized the petitioners as “a group of nuclear power plant operators,” the lawsuit was actually filed by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, an indication of how cozy regulators have become with the industry they are supposed to scrutinize. The NARUC issued a statement:

“Today’s decision from the court is great news for consumers of nuclear power. Nuclear utilities and their consumers have paid more than $30 billion since the early 1980s for the construction of a nuclear-waste repository. These consumers have upheld their end of the deal, but unfortunately all they have to show for their investment is a hole in the Nevada desert. Putting aside the political dispute about the proposed Yucca Mountain facility, nuclear-power ratepayers should not be charged for a program the federal government has closed down.”

The ruling is an uncertain victory for the industry, which wants storage more than it wants relief from fees. The industry saves an estimated $750 million, but still has no dump. The court opinion claimed there is “no viable alternative” to the Nevada site, but critics say the existing on-site storage is a viable option, one that prevents hazardous transportation of the waste. Moreover, if there is no viable alternative to Yucca, it is in part because the federal government failed to follow through on a promised dump in the eastern United States, where most of the waste is generated.

The U.S. is nearly alone in seeking deep underground storage of nuclear waste. No other nation has built such a dump and only one other nation—Finland—has even committed to try.

“[W]e are presented with an opinion of the [DOE] secretary that sets forth an enormous range of possible costs,” the court ruling reads. “According to the secretary, the final balance of the fund to be used to pay the costs of disposal could be somewhere between a $2 trillion deficit and a $4.9 trillion surplus. This range is so large as to be absolutely useless as an analytical technique to be employed to determine—as the secretary is obligated to do—the adequacy of the annual fees paid by petitioners, which would appear to be its purpose. (This presentation reminds us of the lawyer’s song in the musical Chicago —‘Give them the old razzle dazzle.’) Thus, the secretary claims that the range is so great he cannot determine whether the fees are inadequate or excessive, which is essentially the same position we rejected only last year as in derogation of his responsibility under the statute. The Secretary may not comply with his statutory obligation by ’concluding’ that a conclusion is impossible.”

At the same time last week, in response to a different court ruling, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it would revive evaluation of the Yucca site, though it is not clear how that will be paid for, because Congress has not funded it. Indeed, the NRC was having trouble figuring out how to make the relevant documents available to the public because of the lack of money. There is about $11 million remaining for Yucca evaluation, a pittance given the cost of the work. The NRC has asked also DOE for a supplementary environmental impact statement, but it is unclear how that study would be funded.

—Dennis Myers

Health insurance corporations are under scrutiny on the way they explain coverage  options to their policyholders

Misleading?

Insurance corporations accused of steering policyholders away from ACA

Suspicions that insurance companies are misleading consumers about their by health insurance options under the Dennis Myers federal Affordable Care Act have prompted a state probe by Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper. Kipper acted after a request by U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, who released copies of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield open enrollment letters that Horsford said fail to “accurately communicate to options consumers have when purchasing or renewing their plans.”

“It is our goal to communicate with members about all of their options.”

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield

The Nevada ACA exchange is at NevadaHealthLink.com

“The letters do not list the state exchange, Nevada Health Link, as an option for consumers to purchase health insurance,” Horsford wrote to Kipper in requesting action at the state level. “Only in a footnote do the [renewal] letters briefly mention that customers may qualify for federal subsidies through the exchange. … For example, a letter sent by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nevada listed only three options for policyholders: renew a similarly designed plan, do nothing, or shop for a different Anthem plan.”

However, the letter does say—in the main text, not the footnote—that if the customer does choose to keep his or her current plan, “You will not be eligible for financial assistance from the government for your health coverage. Check the [footnote] notice below to see if you might qualify.”

Whether the letters are sufficiently informative is a subjective judgment. The main body of the letters does not go into detail about ACA options. That information appears below the signature and consists of three paragraphs—a boxed note followed by two lengthy footnotes. The boxed note reads, “IMPORTANT: Financial assistance for your health coverage may be available. You could qualify if you have a modified adjusted gross income of $11,490 to $45,960 a year (or $23,550 to $94,200 for a family of four).” The boxed note and the footnotes are in the same size typeface as the body of the letter.

A third letter released by Horsford does mention the Nevada health exchange prominently and in the main body of the letter, but Anthem said that letter was sent to policyholders only after they failed to respond to the first letter.

Anthem said in a statement, “We are one of only two insurers selling products on the exchange throughout the entire state of Nevada. ... It is our goal to communicate with members about all of their options so they can make an informed decision. We’ve partnered with local agents, online channels and retail locations to expand information and access.”

Anthem insures about a quarter-million Nevadans and sells policies through the state exchange, NevadaHealthLink.com.

Commissioner Kipper, who had already issued a joint warning with Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto of the risk of scams when ACA was introduced, spoke with Horsford on Nov. 20, the same day Horsford sent his message and told him he would undertake an inquiry. (Kipper did not return calls seeking comment.)

“Last night, Commissioner Kipper and I had a productive conversation,” Horsford said the next day. “He assured me that the Nevada Division of Insurance is launching an investigation into misleading letters sent by insurance companies to thousands of Nevadans. I trust Commissioner Kipper and his staff will thoroughly review the letters and offer a full report on the situation. Nevadans deserve clear, complete, and transparent options when it comes to their health care choices, not misleading information.”

Countrywide concern

Horsford noted that another corporation, Humana, has been fined $65,430 by the Kentucky Department of Insurance for offering policyholders a chance to amend their health insurance in a letter characterized by regulators as “misleading.”

In that case, too, the corporation sent letters to 6,543 policyholders that mentioned the state ACA exchange only in a footnote. Some of the matter included in the mailing had not been approved by state regulators. The fine imposed by the Kentucky insurance commissioner came to $10 per letter sent. In addition, Humana was required to send new letters retracting and apologizing for the first mailing and explaining the ACA and all other options in detail, in mailings approved by the state.

Humana’s offense in regulators’ eyes was exacerbated because the corporation’s letter, sent in August, said policyholders had to choose between two options within 30 days,

which ended before ACA operations began. As a result, customers had to make up their minds on what to do with their Humana coverage without knowing what they could get through the Kentucky ACA exchange. That was characterized by the insurance commissioner as a high pressure sales tactic.

Humana experienced similar disputes in Colorado and Missouri.

Health writers around the nation have been exploring the problem of insurance corporations and the advice they are giving policyholders.

At Talking Points Memo, reporter Dylan Scott wrote that a Seattle resident who had been anticipating savings under ACA received a letter from her insurer, LifeWise of Washington—a subsidiary of Blue Cross/Blue Shield—that told her she’d be paying another $300 a month for coverage—and made no mention of her options under ACA and only a vague mention of the financial support for which she could qualify. To tie things together neatly, it said she would be enrolled in the more expensive plan “if we don’t hear from you.” (By contrast, the Anthem letters released by Horsford said that if Anthem did not hear from the policyholder, s/he would be kept on the existing policy.) In Washington, the insurance commissioner issued an alert to consumers urging them to explore all options.

Earlier, Trudy Lieberman at the Columbia Journalism Review reported on a Pennsylvania woman who received contacts with her insurer, Aetna, in which “Aetna was asking her to make a choice without all the facts. The company’s letter omitted a crucial factor: the

possibility of an ACA subsidy, which would make coverage more affordable. She could only get that subsidy if she buys in the exchange. … That kind of help might allow Carol to buy a better policy than Aetna’s ... with more benefits and less cost-sharing.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported that Nevada’s exchange had put 1,217 customers together with policies, as of Nov. 2. That lags far behind other small Western states. Ω

“Theselettersare misleadingandimpair theabilityofNevadansto makeinformeddecisions.”

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford Nevada Democrat

A grass root speaks

At an immigration rally last weekend, U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei listens to a boy read text off a device. The child’s father had to work and was unable to attend, so his son read his father’s message to Amodei. The event was a rally that preceded a walk through Reno to show support for changes in immigration law. In something of a surprise, Amodei had announced he would join the first portion of the walk. As it turned out, the rally at Amodei’s office preceding the walk ran overlong, and he was unable to participate in the walk, but he did address the rally.