Experts say a unique four-way partnership that includes the Pacers and Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association may be the favorite to run the city’s sports and
convention venues.
Mayor Greg Ballard this month rolled out the first of what he hopes will be 10 to 15 city sponsorship and advertising deals
this year, with the aim of saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
A dozen heavyweight firms have responded to Indianapolis’ proposal to privatize Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center and, perhaps, Conseco Fieldhouse. IBJ reviewed all 12 responses, which the city released today, after a public records request. As sports industry experts expected and IBJ reported first on the front page of its Nov. 23rd edition, […]
A dozen heavyweight firms have responded to Indianapolis’ proposal to privatize Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center and, perhaps, Conseco Fieldhouse. IBJ reviewed all 12 responses, which the city released today, after a public records request. As sports industry experts expected and IBJ reported first on the front page of its Nov. 23rd edition, […]
The only merged city-county government in the state is in Indianapolis, which underwent its consolidation in the early 1970s.
Attorney General Greg Zoeller says he’ll look at the constitutionality of parts of the federal health care bill, including
the so-called Nebraska compromise.
A state senator said his committee will consider legislation that would allow riverboat casinos on Lake Michigan and the Ohio
River to move inland in hopes of staving off new competition from neighboring states.
The state Supreme Court is considering changing Indiana’s rules governing advertising by attorneys.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally defined the "meaningful use" standard for
hospitals and doctors to receive subsidies to install electronic health records.
State lawmakers say a proposed bill would help people get quicker access to in-home care that most seniors
prefer to nursing homes.
The agency said the meeting was canceled “to allow time for the FDA to review new information” about a proposed new use for
the drug.
Hancock County officials will consider a request by lithium battery maker EnerDel to set up operations in a business park
near Indianapolis.
Mayor Greg Ballard is on the right track with his plan to ask the City-Council to raise fees on businesses in order to
improve code enforcement. But the push-back he’s receiving from
the business community is understandable.
The Hoosier Environmental Council and Citizens Action Coalition see an expansion of the state’s
“net metering” policy as achievable during the short legislative session that starts Jan.
5.
The bill imposes hefty new taxes and coverage rules that will pinch insurers such as WellPoint Inc. by forcing them to cover
more sick people without gaining enough healthy, lower-cost customers, industry insiders say.
Legislation that could bring more wind turbines and solar power projects to the state failed in the last session’s closing
hours.
Legislation that could bring more wind turbines and solar power projects to Indiana has a good chance of passing in the upcoming
legislative session after failing in the last session’s closing hours, two state lawmakers say.
It’s tough being a most-favored nation. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut, a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based
WellPoint Inc., got a tongue lashing from that state’s attorney general for the “most-favored
nation” clauses it inserts in its contacts with hospitals. The clauses insist the hospitals give
no other insurance plan a discount larger than that given to Anthem. The clauses are preventing some
of Connecticut’s hospitals from signing up for a new state-run insurance plan for the uninsured,
called Charter Oak. It pays rates lower than those negotiated by Anthem, and many hospitals have refused
to join for fear Anthem would insist that the hospitals allow Anthem to lower its payment rates to equal those
of Charter Oak. Connecticut Attorney general Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter this month to Anthem asking it to promise not
to insist on receiving discounts equal to Charter Oak. “I call on Anthem to break its death grip on hospitals and encourage
them to join in this critical health insurance program,” Blumenthal said in a statement. Most-favored nation clauses
were banned in Indiana by the General Assembly in 2007.
Even though Wall Street likes the Senate health reform
bill, that doesn’t mean rank-and-file insurance professionals do. But in the Christmas spirit, Susan Rider, president-elect
of the Indianapolis Association of Health Underwriters found some positives in the latest version of health
reform. She likes that there will be no government-run health plan or an expansion of the Medicare program—although
she still does not like the proposed expansion of Medicaid. She likes that a cap on flexible-spending
accounts of $2,500 will now rise in line with inflation. She likes that the federal Department of Health
and Human Services will not set broker commissions in the newly created insurance exchanges. But she
does not like much of the meat of the bill. She thinks the requirement for insurance plans to spend at
least 85 percent of premiums on care (80 percent for individual policies) needs to be reduced, likewise the $6.7 billion in
annual taxes assessed on for-profit health insurers and the 40-percent tax assessed on insurance
policies costing $23,000 or more. Rider said the fines used to enforce the mandate that all individuals
buy health insurance will be “completely ineffective” because they will allow
Americans to pop in and out of insurance pools only when they need health care services.
This
can’t be good for business—especially for a human resources business. Indianapolis-based
consultant HR Solutions Inc. was sued in federal court last month for allegedly failing
to pay commissions earned by a saleswoman and then firing her the day after she got out of the hospital after a pancreatitis
attack. The saleswoman, Candi Marsch of Evansville, wants HR Solutions to shell out back pay, punitive damages and legal
fees.
The Akron company had been meeting its obligations for decades before Tim Durham acquired it seven years ago.
The word “tax” tends to immediately raise the blood pressure of most Americans. And while the purpose of most
taxes is to raise revenue for the assessing government body, taxes can also be targeted toward changing individual and corporate
behavior.
