{"id":585,"date":"2020-04-08T16:12:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T16:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/?p=585"},"modified":"2025-05-08T15:55:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T15:55:43","slug":"coronavirus-wrap-uplife-health4-8-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/08\/coronavirus-wrap-uplife-health4-8-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus wrap-upLife\/Health(4\/8\/2020)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9079 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.iii.org\/insuranceindustryblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1205252001-1-1-1024x683.jpg\"><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20200406005747\/en\/Best%E2%80%99s-Market-Segment-Report-Holds-Stable-Outlook\"><strong>A.M. Best Holds Stable Outlook on U.S. Health Industry Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Insurance<br \/>\nrating agency A.M. Best&nbsp;said it is maintaining its stable market segment<br \/>\noutlook on the U.S. health insurance industry, despite the impact of the<br \/>\nCOVID-19 virus outbreak. It cited:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A trend of strong earnings;<\/li>\n<li>Strengthened risk-adjusted capitalization;<\/li>\n<li>Lower-than-estimated utilization and medical cost trends; and<\/li>\n<li>The cancellation or postponement of visits for routine care and<br \/>\nelective procedures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/platform.mi.spglobal.com\/web\/client?auth=inherit#news\/article?id=57760836\"><strong>U.S. life insurers&#8217; growing commercial mortgage portfolios may face<br \/>\nvirus pressure<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>U.S. life insurers continued in<br \/>\n2019 to increase their holdings of commercial mortgage loans, an asset class that<br \/>\nindustry participants say faces unique challenges during the coronavirus<br \/>\npandemic, S&amp;P Global reports. The long-term nature of<br \/>\ncommercial mortgages makes them a good asset match for the long-duration<br \/>\nliabilities life insurers carry. However, commercial mortgage loans could be<br \/>\nunder stress as the pandemic-sparked economic slowdown continues.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/business\/article\/Calls-for-Medicaid-expansion-renewed-as-COVID-19-15181700.php\"><strong>Calls for Medicaid expansion renewed as COVID-19<br \/>\noutbreak strains health care system<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>More than 50 Texas health policy<br \/>\nand industry groups are urging Gov. Greg Abbott to expand the state\u2019s Medicaid<br \/>\nprogram to cover more than 1 million people as a way to slow the spread of the<br \/>\ncoronavirus and the illness it causes, COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2020\/04\/03\/826316458\/coronavirus-reset-how-to-get-health-insurance-now\"><strong>Coronavirus Reset: How to Get Health Insurance<br \/>\nNow<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Millions of people have lost jobs<br \/>\n\u2014 and often the health coverage that came with those jobs. More still have had<br \/>\ntheir work hours reduced or have received drastic pay cuts, so monthly premiums<br \/>\nthat may have been manageable before are now out of reach.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/uninsured\/issue-brief\/estimated-cost-of-treating-the-uninsured-hospitalized-with-covid-19\/\"><strong>Estimated Cost of Treating the Uninsured<br \/>\nHospitalized with COVID-19<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A great deal of uncertainty<br \/>\nsurrounds how the COVID-19 epidemic will evolve, including how many people will<br \/>\nbecome infected and how many will become severely ill and require<br \/>\nhospitalization. The Kaiser Family Foundation provides a range of cost<br \/>\nestimates for the Trump administration\u2019s proposal to reimburse hospitals for<br \/>\nCOVID-19 treatments for uninsured patients, based on results from recent<br \/>\nstudies and models.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A.M. Best Holds Stable Outlook on U.S. Health Industry Amid COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis Insurance rating agency A.M. Best&nbsp;said it is maintaining its stable market segment outlook on the U.S. health insurance industry, despite the impact of the COVID-19 virus outbreak. It cited: A trend of strong earnings; Strengthened risk-adjusted capitalization; Lower-than-estimated utilization and medical cost trends; and The cancellation or postponement of visits for routine care and elective procedures. U.S. life insurers&#8217; growing commercial mortgage portfolios may face virus pressure U.S. life insurers continued in 2019 to increase their holdings of commercial mortgage loans, an asset class that industry participants say faces unique challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, S&amp;P Global reports. The long-term nature of commercial mortgages makes them a good asset match for the long-duration liabilities life insurers carry. However, commercial mortgage loans could be under stress as the pandemic-sparked economic slowdown continues. Calls for Medicaid expansion renewed as COVID-19 outbreak strains health care system More than 50 Texas health policy and industry groups are urging Gov. Greg Abbott to expand the state\u2019s Medicaid program to cover more than 1 million people as a way to slow the spread of the coronavirus and the illness it causes, COVID-19. Coronavirus Reset: How to Get Health Insurance Now Millions of people have lost jobs \u2014 and often the health coverage that came with those jobs. More still have had their work hours reduced or have received drastic pay cuts, so monthly premiums that may have been manageable before are now out of reach. Estimated Cost of Treating the Uninsured Hospitalized with COVID-19 A great deal of uncertainty surrounds how the COVID-19 epidemic will evolve, including how many people will become infected and how many will become severely ill and require hospitalization. The Kaiser Family Foundation provides a range of cost estimates for the Trump administration\u2019s proposal to reimburse hospitals for COVID-19 treatments for uninsured patients, based on results from recent studies and models.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":586,"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions\/586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drkarlgeorge.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}