Julie Appleby | KFF Health News Unauthorized switching of Affordable Care Act plans appears to have tapered off in recent weeks based on an almost one-third drop in casework associated with consumer complaints, say federal regulators . The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the ACA, credits steps taken to thwart enrollment and switching problems that triggered more than 274,000 complaints this year through August. Now, the annual ACA open enrollment period that began Nov. 1 poses a real-world test: Will the changes curb fraud by rogue agents or brokerages without unduly slowing the process of enrolling or reducing the total number of sign-ups for 2025 coverage? “They really have this tightrope to walk,” said Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. “The more you tighten it up to prevent fraud, the more barriers there are that could inhibit enrollment among those who need the coverage.” CMS said in July that some types of policy changes — those in which the agent is not “affiliated” with the existing plan — will face more requirements, such as a three-way call with the consumer, broker, and a healthcare.gov call center representative. In August, the agency barred two of about a dozen private sector online-enrollment platforms from connecting with healthcare.gov over concerns related to improper switching. And CMS has suspended 850 agents suspected of being involved in unauthorized plan-switching from accessing the ACA marketplace. Still, the clampdown could add complexity to enrollment and slow the process. For example, a consumer might have to wait in a queue for a three-way call, or scramble to find a new agent because the one they previously worked with had been suspended. Given that phone lines with healthcare.gov staff already get busy — especially during mid-December — agents and policy analysts advise consumers not to dally this year. “Hit the ground running,” said Ronnell Nolan, president and CEO of Health Agents for America, a professional organization for brokers. Meanwhile, reports are emerging that some rogue entities are already figuring out workarounds that could undermine some of the anti-fraud protections CMS put in place, Nolan said. “Bottom line is: Fraud and abuse is still happening,” Nolan said. Brokers assist the majority of people actively enrolling in ACA plans and are paid a monthly commission by insurers for their efforts. Consumers can compare plans or enroll themselves online through federal or state marketplace websites. They can also seek help from people called assisters or navigators — certified helpers who are not paid commissions. Under a “find local help” button on the federal and state ACA websites , consumers can search for nearby brokers or navigators. CMS says it has “ramped up support operations” at its healthcare.gov marketplace call centers, which are open 24/7, in anticipation of increased demand for three-way calls, and it expects “minimal wait times,” said Jeff Wu, deputy director for policy of the CMS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. Wu said those three-way calls are necessary only when an agent or a broker not already associated with a consumer’s enrollment wants to change that consumer’s enrollment or end that consumer’s coverage. It does not apply to people seeking coverage for the first time. Organizations paid by the government to offer navigator services have a dedicated phone line to the federal marketplace, and callers are not currently experiencing long waits, said Xonjenese Jacobs, director of Florida Covering Kids & Families, a program based at the University of South Florida that coordinates enrollment across the state through its Covering Florida navigator program. Navigators can assist with the three-way calls if a consumer’s situation requires it. “Because we have our quick line in, there’s no increased wait time,” Jacobs said. The problem of unauthorized switches has been around for a while but took off during last year’s open enrollment season. Brokers generally blamed much of the problem on the ease with which rogue agents can access ACA information in the federal marketplace, needing only a person’s name, date of birth, and state of residence. Though federal regulators have worked to tighten that access with the three-way call requirement, they stopped short of instituting what some agent groups say is needed: two-factor authentication, which could involve a code accessed by a consumer through a smartphone. Unauthorized switches can lead to a host of problems for consumers, from higher deductibles to landing in new networks that do not include their preferred physicians or hospitals. Some people have received tax bills when unauthorized policies came with premium credits for which they did not qualify. Unauthorized switches posed a political liability for the Biden administration, a blemish on two years of record ACA enrollment. The practice drew criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle; Democrats demanded more oversight and punishment of rogue agents, while Republicans said fraud attempts were fueled by Biden administration moves that allowed for more generous premium subsidies and special enrollment periods. The fate of those enhanced subsidies, which are set to expire, will be decided by Congress next year as the Trump administration takes power. But the premiums and subsidies that come with 2025 plans that people are enrolling in now will remain in effect for the entire year. The actions taken this year to thwart the unauthorized enrollments apply to the federal marketplace, used by 31 states . The remaining states and the District of Columbia run their own websites, with many having in place additional layers of security. Related Articles Feds suspend ACA marketplace access to companies accused of falsely promising ‘cash cards’ More foods are making us sick: What to know as foodborne outbreaks hit Cities, states say they’ll need more help to replace millions of lead pipes At least 19 people are sick in Minnesota from ground beef tied to E. coli recall Which health insurance plan may be right for you? For its part, CMS says its efforts are working, pointing to the 30% drop in complaint casework. The agency also noted a 90% drop in the number of times an agent’s name was replaced by another’s, which it says indicates that it is tougher for rival agents to steal clients to gain the monthly commissions that insurers pay. Still, the move to suspend 850 agents has drawn pushback from agent groups that initially brought the problem to federal regulators’ attention. They say some of those accused were suspended before getting a chance to respond to the allegations. “There will be a certain number of agents and brokers who are going to be suspended without due process,” said Nolan, with the health agents’ group. She said that it has called for increased protections against unauthorized switching and that two-factor authentication, like that used in some state marketplaces or in the financial sector, would be more effective than what’s been done. “We now have to jump through so many hoops that I’m not sure we’re going to survive,” she said of agents in general. “They are just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks when they could just do two-factor.” The agency did not respond to questions asking for details about how the 850 agents suspended since July were selected, the states where they were located, or how many had their suspensions reversed after supplying additional information.WASHINGTON , Nov. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chief Executive Officer of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) expressed his profound thanks to President-elect Donald Trump and extended his heartfelt congratulations to Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer on her nomination as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor. "On behalf of our 4,000 NECA contractors and the hundreds of thousands of workers they employ across the nation in our nearly quarter trillion-dollar industry, I want to congratulate Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer on her nomination to head up the Department of Labor," said David Long , CEO of NECA. "Her leadership, dedication, and commitment to fostering economic growth and workforce development make her an outstanding choice to lead the Department of Labor. We are confident she will bring a thoughtful and collaborative approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities facing America's workforce." Representative Chavez-DeRemer has demonstrated a deep understanding of the critical role skilled trades play in building a strong economy. Her support for apprenticeship programs, workforce training initiatives, and fair labor practices aligns with NECA's mission to create a thriving environment for the electrical construction industry and the people who power our nation. "As NECA continues to champion the skilled trades and the electrical construction industry, we look forward to working closely with Representative Chavez-DeRemer to advance policies that ensure a robust workforce, uphold workplace safety, and promote innovation in our sector," Long added. NECA stands ready to collaborate with the Department of Labor under Representative Chavez-DeRemer's leadership to unite the needs of employers, workers, and apprentices across the nation. We extend our best wishes to her for a successful confirmation process and look forward to seeing the positive impact of her work in this critical role. ABOUT THE NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION NECA is the voice of the $240 billion electrical construction industry that brings power, light, and communication technology to buildings and communities across North America. NECA's national office and 118 local chapters advance the industry through advocacy, education, research, and standards development. Go to www.necanet.org for more information. View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/electrical-contractors-congratulate-representative-lori-chavez-deremer-on-nomination-as-us-secretary-of-labor-302315777.html SOURCE National Electrical Contractors Assoc Inc.top 646 。

Stock market today: Wall Street slips to a rare back-to-back loss

Ireland’s Justice Minister commends woman who won civil claim against McGregor

KATIE Price has revealed the real reason she no longer shares pictures of Bunny and Jett online. The star, 46, is mum to five kids – her eldest is 22-year-old Harvey Price, whose father is former professional footballer Dwight Yorke . Advertisement 4 Katie Price has revealed the real reason she no longer shares pictures of Bunny and Jett online Credit: YouTube 4 Katie is a mum-of-five Credit: katieprice/Instagram The Celebrity Big Brother winner also shares Princess, 17, and Junior, 18, with her ex-husband Peter Andre. And she has two younger children, Bunny, 10, and Jett, 11, with her third husband, Kieran Hayler. But Katie has now revealed why she doesn’t post photos of her two youngest children. Speaking to magician James Phelan on his podcast How To Be Famous, she discussed the fact that Harvey, Junior and Princess grew up on a TV show and have been in the limelight from a young age as a result. Advertisement Read More on Katie Price price to pay Katie Price reveals heartbreaking way Harvey deals with fame JUNGLE WARS I’m A Celeb's full of two-faced snakes but I want kids on it, says Katie Price Katie said: “They’re very good with the media. “But I don’t even do pictures with [Jett and Bunny].” James asked if it’s because they’re not interested in the limelight, to which Katie responds: “I think it’s different now. “When Junior and Princess were growing up it was all newspaper and magazines and there wasn’t social media . Advertisement Most read in Celebrity GETTING LIPPY Helen Flanagan hits back at trolls after she's cruelly mocked for huge lips LO & BEHOLD The secrets behind Lindsay Lohan’s rumoured '£235k new face' Cracking Christmas 4 tricks Christmas whizz Kirstie Allsopp swears by ONLY POUNDS The OnlyFans stars earning more stripping off than Premier League footballers “So they’ve grown up with it that way, whereas Jett and Bunny are in the social media world and it can be a nasty world with all the trolling, so it’s different.” Watch the moment Katie Price's ex Kris Boyson says he'll 'fight ALL of her exes' as they all turn up to same Xmas event The star went on: “I don’t even put pictures of them up anymore because they’re going to big school and I want them to have their identity. It’s just all different. “I don’t do all the reality shows and things like that and I would do it again yes as I think it’d be more interesting now than it ever was.” Earlier this year, the former glamour model had been locked in a feud with her ex-husband Kieran Hayler over allowing their nine-year-old to use social media . Advertisement Back in November of last year, Kieran slammed Katie for letting Bunny film online content , asking, "Where is the parental protection and safe guarding?" She was also banned from TikTok for being underage, with the platform setting a strict thirteen-plus age requirement. 4 Katie said Princess and Junior grew up without social media Credit: Rex 4 Katie was locked in a feud with her ex for letting their kids on social media Credit: Getty Advertisement

Police became convinced they were investigating a crime in the disappearance of University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee when they interviewed the man now on trial in his death, a top officer testified Tuesday. Lee had been missing for two weeks when officers arrested Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr. on July 22, 2022, said Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen. Authorities interviewed Herington twice that day, and he gave conflicting information about the hours before Lee vanished, the chief said. “From the moment that we gave Tim Herrington the opportunity to tell the truth and he couldn’t and he lied and we backed that up, we knew then,” McCutchen said. Herrington, 24, is being tried on a capital murder charge in the death of Lee, 20, a gay man who was well known in the LGBTQ+ community at Ole Miss and in Oxford. Lee disappeared in Oxford, where Herrington’s trial is in its second week. Prosecutors and the defense both called their final witnesses Tuesday, and Herrington did not testify. Closing arguments are set for Wednesday. Lee’s body has never been found, but a judge has declared him dead. Herrington maintains his innocence and his attorney, Kevin Horan, told jurors last week that prosecutors have “zero” proof Lee was killed. Lee has not contacted friends or family, and his financial transactions and once-prolific social media posts have stopped since the day he went missing, investigators testified. Before officers interviewed Herrington, they had already obtained sexually explicit text messages exchanged between social media accounts belonging to Herrington and Lee in the early hours of July 8, 2022, when Herrington disappeared in Oxford, McCutchen said. Lee communicated with his mother daily, and sent his last message to her hours before he vanished to wish her happy birthday, according to earlier testimony. Google records obtained through a warrant showed that Herrington searched “how long does it take to strangle someone” at 5:56 a.m., University Police Department Sgt. Benjamin Douglas testified last week. The final text message from Lee's phone was sent to a social media account belonging to Herrington at 6:03 a.m. from a spot near Herrington's apartment, and cellphone tower in another part of Oxford last located any signal from Lee's phone at 7:28 a.m., McCutchen said Tuesday. A security camera showed Herrington jogging at about 7:30 a.m. out of a parking lot where Lee's car was abandoned, investigators testified earlier. “We’ve been looking for Jay Lee’s body for two years, and we’re not going to stop 'til we find it," McCutchen said in court Tuesday. On the day Lee vanished, Herrington was also seen on security cameras buying duct tape in Oxford and driving to his own hometown of about an hour away, police have testified. Herrington is from an affluent family in Grenada, Mississippi, about 52 miles (83.7 kilometers) southwest of Oxford, testified Ryan Baker, an Oxford Police Department intelligence officer who was a detective when he helped investigated the case. Herrington’s grandfather is bishop of a church in Grenada, other family members work at the church and Herrington himself taught youth Sunday school classes there, Baker said. Herrington “was not portraying himself as gay” to family or friends, Baker said. During testimony Tuesday, Herrington's father and grandfather both said Herrington had never spoken about having boyfriends. Herrington operated a furniture moving business with another man while they were students at the University of Mississippi, and they had a white box truck that Herrington drove to Grenada, Baker said. Security cameras at several businesses and a neighbor’s house showed Herrington and the truck in Grenada hours after Lee disappeared, Baker said. During McCutchen's testimony Tuesday, Horan asked whether DNA tests on items taken from Herrington's apartment and the truck showed “any trace evidence at all implicating my client.” McCutchen said they did not, but police first searched Herrington's apartment two weeks after Lee vanished and they searched the box truck a few days after the apartment. Both Herrington and Lee had graduated from the University of Mississippi. Lee was pursuing a master’s degree. He was known for his creative expression through fashion and makeup and often performed in drag shows in Oxford, according to a support group called Justice for Jay Lee. Prosecutors have announced they do not intend to pursue the death penalty, meaning Herrington could get a life sentence if convicted. Mississippi law defines capital murder as a killing committed along with another felony — in this case, kidnapping.Electrical Contractors Congratulate Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer on Nomination as U.S. Secretary of Labor‘Dumbass’: Zelensky’s brutal jab at Putin

NFL NOTESA man named Luigi Mangione is being questioned in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the internet is thirsting over how hot he is. A high-powered executive was killed in cold blood in a brazen daylight shooting, but society is so lost and out of touch that the suspect in the investigation is now the center of an internet drool-fest and people across the globe can’t get over how “hot” he is. Memes are popping up all over the place as Mangione gains popularity online. “The internet losing its collective mind over the (alleged) assassin being hot is *exactly* how i wanted to start this week,” one person wrote on X. “That uhc assassin hot as hell !!!!!! I need more of that!!!!!!!!” another wrote on the platform . People are so enamored by his good looks that total strangers have started a GoFundMe page to help Mangione fund any potential defense if he is charged, according to TMZ. That uhc assassin hot as hell !!!!!! I need more of that!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/uslUKQpr4k — Gourmet 5⭐️ World Class Content Enjoyer 🍷 (@NiseMonoSama) December 5, 2024 Social media is exploding with people saying the suspect is making them weak in the knees. Mangione is currently being questioned by authorities after being picked up in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He started the day with a mere 975 followers on Instagram and has since shot up by tens of thousands after his identity was revealed to the public, according to TMZ. The suspect is now sitting firmly at 73,500 followers at the time of this writing. So the assassin is...hot? pic.twitter.com/HN2nfEVY8A — Rothweiler Event Design (@RothweilerEvent) December 5, 2024 The comments on his Instagram page were wild. The page appears to be down at the time of publication. “Free my man, he’s sexy af. I wish I was that CEO so I could get these backshots 😭❤️” one person wrote, while another said, “can we make a baby before you go to jail? 🙏🏼 your legacy must be continued in the next generation.” Me liking all the posts about the hot assassin who killed the united healthcare CEO pic.twitter.com/DF3bMeAAiH — Alex 🫦 (@iLoveDikk) December 6, 2024 The fan club for the suspect is growing rapidly and includes memes of people falling all over themselves after realizing how good-looking he is. His ripped muscles are on full display in a number of photos as excited fans take comments made by Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams to heart. Adams spoke in a press conference Monday and said that Mangione is a “strong person of interest” in Thompson’s murder. Fans are acknowledging the “strong” part and fawning over his strong physique. now i know why that hostel worker asked him to lower his mask 🥵 I present to you the hot assassin, Luigi Mangione pic.twitter.com/EtD3Z2SePw — samantha (@drakeismyzaddy) December 9, 2024 My new goal in life is to match with the hot UnitedHealthcare assassin on Tinder. Not to turn him in, but for sex reasons. pic.twitter.com/iDEfsPUPuG — Lane Moore is on Bsky + Substack 🍉 (@hellolanemoore) December 7, 2024 The internet is full of mad love for Mangione as he makes hearts melt across the globe. One social media user went so far as to say, “My new goal in life is to match with the hot UnitedHealthcare assassin on Tinder. Not to turn him in, but for sex reasons.” (RELATED: Police Identify Person Of Interest In Insurance CEO Assassination) If this keeps up, “hot assassin” will be trending for days as the internet turns a blind eye to the issues at hand in favor of gawking at Mangione.