Walmart closing health centers
Florida sees a jump in workers’ compensation insurance cost per claim, a new lawsuit alleges ACA call centers targeted low-income consumers with a plan-switching scheme, and Florida’s community health centers step up to fill a gap as Walmart retreats from the health clinic market. It’s all in this week’s Healthcare Digest.
Florida Workers’ Comp Cost Up: Florida workers’ compensation insurance payouts increased 7% in both 2022 and 2023, leading to an average claim valuation of $30,000, according to a report published by the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) comparing COVID-19 pandemic-era costs in Florida and 16 other states. Researchers noted the increase was driven by higher wages across Florida and longer periods of temporary disability benefits. Florida’s average weekly wage increased 15% between 2021 and 2023 (from $1,099 to $1,260), increases we haven’t seen since the 1980s. This jump is statistically huge, and researchers say there’s a myriad of causes but none more apparent than the lingering effects of the pandemic. Not only did employers have to pay higher wages to attract workers after the shutdown, but they were forced to hire less experienced employees to fill gaps, which may have lengthened durations of temporary worker disability from injuries as a result. These trends are echoed in policy and infrastructure changes statewide, including the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation raising its 2024 maximum weekly indemnity benefit to mirror the growth. You can read more in William Rabb’s Insurance Journal article.
ACA Plan-Switching Scheme: An expansive lawsuit was filed in late April against several insurance sales agency call centers with Broward County ties. They are accused of enrolling large numbers of low-income individuals in the Affordable Care Act marketplace plans or changing their existing coverage without permission. Two of these centers allegedly paid tens of thousands of dollars daily to buy the names of people who had responded to misleading advertisements or solicitations over the phone in the past and then used their personal information to enroll them in ACA plans or entirely switch policies. In turn, many of these people lost access to doctors and medication and faced many financial burdens brought on by the duplicative policies including having to repay tax credits put towards the unauthorized coverage. Attorneys Jason Doss and Jason Kellogg are seeking class action status due to the scope of the issue. TrueCoverage, Enhance Health, Speridian Technologies (a New Mexico LLC that owns TrueCoverage), and Number One Prospecting, operating under the name Minerva Marketing, were all named as defendants in the suit, which further alleged these companies knew the customer information was obtained under false pretenses of cash benefits.
Walmart Exits from Florida Healthcare: Walmart has joined the list of retailers reducing or eliminating its health centers. Walmart announced it’s closing all 51 of its Walmart Health locations, 23 of them in Florida. The company cited the challenge of reimbursement and high operational costs in a public statement about the closures. Florida’s government-funded community health centers are ready and able to bridge the gap, according to Benjamin Browning, the Vice President and COO of the Florida Association of Community Health Centers. Florida’s 53 community health centers operate in 740 locations in all 67 counties, providing primary care services, especially in mostly rural and underserved communities.
LMA Newsletter of 5-13-24
