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Self-funded Health Care
Self-funded health care, also known as Administrative Services Only (ASO), is a self insurance arrangement in the United States whereby an employer provides health or disability benefits to employees using the company's own funds.About.com > What is a self-funded health plan?From Kelly Montgomery, former About.com Guide. Updated November 12, 2008 This is different from fully insured plans where the employer contracts an insurance company to cover the employees and dependents. In self-funded health care, the employer assumes the direct risk for payment of the claims for benefits. The terms of eligibility and covered benefits are set fourth in a plan document which includes provisions similar to those found in a typical group health insurance policy. Unless exempted, such plans create rights and obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"). Health plans In the United States, a self-funded health plan is generally established by an employer as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Self Insurance
Self insurance is a risk management method in which an organization that is liable for some risk does not take out any third-party insurance, but rather chooses to bear the risk itself. When used prudently, the organization that self insures sets aside money using actuarial and insurance information and the law of large numbers so that the amount set aside (similar to an insurance premium) is enough to cover the future uncertain loss. The advantage is that no premium has to be paid, but the organizations own assets are used to pay out claims or losses. The idea of self insurance is that by retaining, calculating risks, and paying the resulting claims or losses from captive or on-balance sheet financial provisions, the overall process is cheaper than buying commercial insurance from a commercial insurance company. Cost savings to the self-insured entity are usually realised through the elimination of the carrying-costs that commercial insurers are obliged to pass on to their insuranc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care provider. Etymology The word patient originally meant 'one who suffers'. This English noun comes from the Latin word , the present participle of the deponent verb, , meaning , and akin to the Greek verb ( ) and its cognate noun (). This language has been construed as meaning that the role of patients is to passively accept and tolerate the suffering and treatments prescribed by the healthcare providers, without engaging in shared decision-making about their care. Outpatients and inpatients An outpatient (or out-patient) is a patient who attends an outpatient clinic with no plan to stay beyond the duration of the visit. Even if the patient will not be formally admitted with a note as an outpatient, their attendance is stil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Health Insurance Premium
Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among many individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health risk and health system expenses over the risk pool, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to provide the money to pay for the health care benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization, such as a government agency, private business, or not-for-profit entity. According to the Health Insurance Association of America, health insurance is defined as "coverage that provides for the payments of benefits as a result of sickness or injury. It includes insurance for losses from accident, medical expense, disability, or accidental death and dismemberment". A health insurance policy i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaiser Family Foundation
KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, which is its business operating name, to reduce confusion because it is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente and it is no longer a Foundation (nonprofit), foundation. KFF states that it is a Nonpartisanism, non-partisan organization focused on health policy. It conducts its own research, polling, journalism, and specialized public health information campaigns. Its website has been praised for having the "most up-to-date and accurate information on health policy" and as a "must-read for healthcare devotees." Current activities Policy analysis and polling KFF publishes analysis, polling and journalism about health-care issues, and states that much of its work especially concerns persons with low income or those who are otherwise especially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor. Bankrupt is not the only legal status that an insolvent person may have, meaning the term ''bankruptcy'' is not a synonym for insolvency. Etymology The word ''bankruptcy'' is derived from Italian , literally meaning . The term is often described as having originated in Renaissance Italy, where there allegedly existed the tradition of smashing a banker's bench if he defaulted on payment. However, the existence of such a ritual is doubted. History In Ancient Greece, bankruptcy did not exist. If a man owed and he could not pay, he and his wife, children or servants were forced into " debt slavery" until the creditor recouped losses through their physical labour. Many city-states in ancient Greece limited debt slavery to a perio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insurance Company
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss. An entity which provides insurance is known as an insurer, insurance company, insurance carrier, or underwriter. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as a policyholder, while a person or entity covered under the policy is called an insured. The insurance transaction involves the policyholder assuming a guaranteed, known, and relatively small loss in the form of a payment to the insurer (a premium) in exchange for the insurer's promise to compensate the insured in the event of a covered loss. The loss may or may not be financial, but it must be reducible to financial terms. Furthermore, it usually involves something in which the insured has an insurable interest established by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stop-loss Insurance
Stop-loss insurance is insurance that protects insurers against large claims. Stop-loss policies take effect after a certain threshold has been exceeded in claims. Overview Insurance companies themselves, as well as self-insuring employers, purchase stop-loss coverage for a premium to protect themselves. In the case of a participant reaching more than the specific (or "individual") stop-loss deductible ($300,000, for example), the insurer will reimburse the insured (the company, not the participant) for the remainder of the claim to be paid over that deductible amount. There is also typically an aggregate-claims deductible, which is applied to all paid claims combined. For all claims at or below their specific stop-loss level, if the sum of these are more than the aggregate stop loss level, then the insurer will reimburse the insured for the difference. Insurance companies and health and benefits consultants typically use mathematical models analyzing historical claims data to pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discretion
Discretion has the meaning of acting on one's own authority and judgment. In law, discretion as to legal rulings, such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge. The ability to make decisions which represent a responsible choice and for which an understanding of what is lawful, right or wise may be presupposed. In law In the legal system, discretion is often defined as the ability of a judge to choose where, how and with what severity to sentence a person who has been convicted. A person chooses to utilize his or her options and decides which to use, whether this is a police officer arresting a person on the street (criminal) or evicting someone from an apartment (civil) or anywhere in between. Discretion can be found in all stages within criminal justice systems. Prosecutors have discretionary power in the criminal justice process. They have the ability to initiate and terminate all criminal prosecutions. They have to use discretion to weig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another. The term ''outsourcing'', which came from the phrase ''outside resourcing'', originated no later than 1981 at a time when industrial jobs in the United States were being moved overseas, contributing to the economic and cultural collapse of small, industrial towns. In some contexts, the term smartsourcing is also used. The concept, which ''The Economist'' says has "made its presence felt since the time of the Second World War", often involves the contracting out of a business process (e.g., payroll processing, claims processing), operational, and/or non-core functions, such as manufacturing, facility management, call center/call center support. The practice of handing over control of public services to private enterprises ( privatiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiduciary Duty
A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (legal person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. One party, for example, a corporate trust company or the trust department of a bank, acts in a fiduciary capacity to another party, who, for example, has entrusted funds to the fiduciary for safekeeping or investment. Likewise, financial advisers, financial planners, and asset managers, including managers of pension plans, endowments, and other tax-exempt assets, are considered fiduciaries under applicable statutes and laws. In a fiduciary relationship, one person, in a position of vulnerability, justifiably vests confidence, good faith, reliance, and trust in another whose aid, advice, or protection is sought in some matter... In such a relation, good conscience requires the fiduciary to act at all times for the sole benefit and interest of the one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Investment Trust
An investment trust is a form of investment fund found mostly in the United Kingdom and Japan. Investment trusts are constituted as Public limited company, public limited companies and are therefore closed ended since the fund managers cannot redeem or create shares. The first investment trust was the Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, started in 1868 "to give the investor of moderate means the same advantages as the large capitalists in diminishing the risk by spreading the investment over a number of stocks". In many respects, the investment trust was the progenitor of the investment company in the U.S. The name is somewhat misleading, given that (according to law) an investment "trust" is not in fact a "English trust law, trust" in the legal sense at all, but a separate legal person or a UK company law, company. This matters for the fiduciary duties owed by the board of directors and the equitable ownership of the fund's assets. In the United Kingdom, the term "investment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another. A trustee can also be a person who is allowed to do certain tasks but not able to gain income.''Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition'' (1979), p. 1357, . Although in the strictest sense of the term a trustee is the holder of property on behalf of a beneficiary, the more expansive sense encompasses persons who serve, for example, on the board of trustees of an institution that operates for a charity, for the benefit of the general public, or a person in the local government. A trust can be set up either to benefit particular persons or for any charitable purposes (but not generally for non-charitable purposes): typical examples are a will trust for the testator's children and family, a pension trust (to confer bene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
