Federal Government Offers States Greater Flexibility In Designing Essential Benefits
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on December 17th, 2011 5:35 am by HL
Federal Government Offers States Greater Flexibility In Designing Essential Benefits
Despite the GOP’s characterization of the Affordable Care Act as a one-size-fits-all federal mandate, the actual provisions of the law and the regulations promulgated by federal agencies reveal a state-based reform that allows governors and state legislators significant leeway and input in its implementation. For instance, today, the federal government issued guidance about oh the […]
Despite the GOP’s characterization of the Affordable Care Act as a one-size-fits-all federal mandate, the actual provisions of the law and the regulations promulgated by federal agencies reveal a state-based reform that allows governors and state legislators significant leeway and input in its implementation. For instance, today, the federal government issued guidance about oh the law’s essential health benefits: the standard benefits insurers will have to offer beginning in 2014.
Regulators have long sought to balance affordability with comprehensiveness and in today’s “pre-rule bulletin,” the federal government has chosen to leave that task up to the states. Instead of establishing a single national standard, “states will be able to design benchmark plans based on one of four choices
Those benefits, which must be offered by insurers in most policies sold to individuals and small businesses, are one of the key flash points in the federal health law. Patient advocates have called for a broad national standard covering a wide range of treatments, while business groups say affordability must be a top consideration, even if it means a more limited package.
Because state employee plans and policies sold in the states can vary widely, the move means there will likely not be one national standard benefit package, but rather “benchmark” plans in each state. That gives states the flexibility they had called for, but also means coverage will vary.
Indeed, the package will vary depending on the coverage levels in each state, though the differences may not be too great. The law requires that all insurers offer at least 10 general categories of services like hospitalization, maternity care, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and prescription drugs, and states will, as HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius put it, “tailor their package to the needs of their own residents.”
NBA Official Allegedly Fired For Reporting Sexual Harassment Against Female Employees
A long-serving NBA official with a sterling record says he was fired from the organization in July for sticking up for women who were being sexually harassed: A former N.B.A. security official says that he repeatedly warned his superiors that women in the office were being sexually harassed or discriminated against, but that his concerns […]
A long-serving NBA official with a sterling record says he was fired from the organization in July for sticking up for women who were being sexually harassed:
A former N.B.A. security official says that he repeatedly warned his superiors that women in the office were being sexually harassed or discriminated against, but that his concerns were ignored and that he was ultimately fired for his actions on the women’s behalf. He is suing the league for lost wages and damages.
Warren Glover, 50, was fired as a security director in July, after 10 years with the N.B.A., despite a glowing performance record for most of his tenure, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday morning in New York State Supreme Court. In the suit, Glover accuses senior N.B.A. security officials of creating a “hostile work environment” in which he was “demeaned,” “treated differently from other employees” and denied promotions because of his willingness to speak out.
Glover says he witnessed several disturbing incidents, including a senior security official making sexual advances toward a female colleague, then demeaning her publicly when she rejected him. One secretary quit when her boss forced her to photocopy lude materials for a presentation to NBA players.
But Glover says it was his cooperation with a sexual harassment lawsuit against Bernard Tolbert, who was then the league’s senior vice president for security, that ultimately led to his ouster. The woman reportedly received a large settlement, and Tolbert told him, “It’s all your fault. You testified for your girl.”
Tolbert and Gregory Robinson, the senior director of security, also failed to act when Glover relayed sexual harassment complaints by two women against the same official. According to the suit, Tolbert even “delivered a thinly veiled threat” that Glover would be fired if he told the women that their peers had experienced the same treatment. Glover expressed his concern to Joel Litvin, the NBA’s president for league operations, but they fell on deaf ears.
This is not the first time the NBA has been under fire for enabling a culture of rampant sexual misconduct. In 2007, Anucha Browne Sanders, a former Knicks executive, received a $11.5 million settlement in her suit against Madison Square Garden and coach Isaiah Thomas. She said she was fired from her job for pursuing a sexual harassment case against Thomas.
Glover’s attorny, Randy McLaughlin commented, “I think there’s a culture of misogyny in this association…and it’s tolerated and condoned at the higher levels. Because there’s nothing being done.”
