Art Kraus, NAIFA's CEO, Is Retiring

Caskie says ACLI raised the issue with Senate Banking Committee members and staff. While they were sympathetic to ACLIs concerns, he says, there were fears that a fix might be perceived as giving the life insurance industry a special deal.

Even though the Committee understood ACLIs point of view, Caskie says, and wanted to find a solution, it did not want to send the wrong message to corporate America.

ACLI sent a variety of approaches to the committee, he says, but they were all rejected.

Both the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., weighed in on the issue and insisted it needed to be fixed.

Finally, the problem was solved by adding language to the legislation that, in effect, defines “statutory audits required for insurance companies for purposes of state law” as an audit service rather than a non-audit service.

Had the problem not been solved, Caskie says, it would have cost life insurers millions and millions of dollars.

Finally, on the 37^th anniversary of the creation of Medicare, Karen Ignagni, president of the American Association of Health Plans, is calling on Congress to save the financially troubled Medicare+Choice program.

The creation of Medicare, Ignagni says, is one of the most significant and valuable legislative accomplishments in American history.

“Now, policymakers are confronted with the challenge of how to strengthen and secure this program for future generations,” she says.

“Medicare+Choice is an important starting point for this effort,” Ignagni says.

The Medicare+Choice program allows Medicare beneficiaries to acquire their medical services through health plans.

Ignagni says this enables millions of beneficiaries to have access to affordable benefits and choices that might otherwise be unavailable.

Ignagni says a recent study commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the Medicare+Choice program is responsible for allowing some two million beneficiaries to gain access to prescription drug coverage.

This shows the positive impact Medicare+Choice can have if it is fully funded, she says.

With health care costs rising and prescription drug coverage out of reach for many beneficiaries, Ignagni says, policymakers are debating how to preserve and expand access to benefits and choices, including drug coverage.

“As a first step toward expanding Medicare benefits, we must secure existing choices by adequately funding Medicare+Choice for the millions who depend on it,” Ignagni says.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services Edition, August 12, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.