Actuary

WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed Dr. Mark B. McClellan, President Bush's nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid, yesterday after the Senate majority leader promised to help develop legislation to allow imports of lower-cost prescription drugs, with safeguards to protect consumers. The nomination was approved without a roll-call vote. Administration officials wanted to get McClellan into his new job so he could carry out and defend the sweeping Medicare law that Bush signed Dec. 8. The law will expand Medicare to cover prescription drugs and gives private health insurance companies a big new role in the program.

Here's the question about Baltimore County's pension borrowing plan ("Balto. County to borrow money for pension system," Oct. 16) that almost no one asks: If this is such a good idea, then instead of borrowing $255 million, why don't they borrow $500 million, $1 billion or even $2 billion and put the money "in the market?" You don't even need a pension fund to do it, just borrow the money and invest. What could go wrong? Stocks always go up like home values, don't they? People, including those that should know better, develop a mind-numbing myopia when it comes to pensions, the associated trust funds and foolish (GASB & FASB)

Dwight K. Bartlett III has neither the attention-getting persona nor the maverick style of his predecessor, John A. Donaho. The former state insurance commissioner was fired in April by Gov. William Donald Schaefer after he took to the public spotlight last year to force Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland to open its books and clean up its finances.But the man to be sworn in today at the helm of the state's insurance division may not need the spotlight as much.He takes over the Maryland Insurance Administration -- the name for the newly independent agency as of July 1 -- as it receives more attention and money than ever before.

The pension system for most city workers has nearly $700 million in unfunded liabilities, according to an audit released Wednesday. In contrast, the smaller system for elected officials — who contribute to their pensions — is in strong financial shape, another audit shows. City auditor Robert L. McCarty presented the documents to the city's spending panel, the Board of Estimates, along with annual financial reports that provided details about the fiscal health of the two systems.

The County Council has decided to fix the financially troubled pension fund for elected and appointed officials by switching, at the recommendation of the Pension Oversight Commission, to a plan that pays benefits based on employee contributions rather than years of service.The commission, a panel of citizens and representatives of county employee unions, had earlier recommended approval of a plan devised by County Executive Robert R. Neall that would have merged the plan for elected and appointed officials with the financially healthy fund for general county employees.

CommunicationsEloise G. Irwin joined McCormick & Co. Inc. as Manager, Audio-Visual Communications. Irwin will be writer, producer and host of McCormick's video news program, "People on the Move," and will coordinate production of other video materials. An independent video producer, photographer and media consultant for the last three years, she previously spent 21 years with Black & Decker.Cynthia Hayen was named staff accountant at Charles M. Solomon, P.A., and Michael Wiley director of computer operations.

Jim Hagerty's letter ( "State is looking to gut pensions," Dec. 1) relates how the legislature is looking for $400 million in savings from "reform" of the state's pensions systems. Marylanders should know that the state has already reaped billions during the past decade from its failure to meet its funding obligations to active and retired employees and state teachers. Here's how that was done by the Glendenning, Ehrlich and O'Malley administrations with our General Assembly's budget wand: In its 2001 report, the pension system's actuary stated that the pension systems were in the best condition ever, that "unfunded liabilities were extinguished" and the state's contribution rate was the lowest in 20 years.

Stevenson University had the highest income disparity between its president — who made $1.49 million in 2009 — and rank-and-file professors, according to a salary survey of hundreds of institutions released Monday by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Kevin J. Manning ranked 15th in compensation among the 519 presidents in the survey. Former Johns Hopkins President William J. Brody ranked second on the overall list, receiving $3.8 million, almost all from his retirement package, in his last year on the job. The Chronicle used Manning's salary to illustrate a significant gap between executive compensation and salaries given to most university employees, comparing the situation at the private college to the oft-criticized pay packages for CEOs in corporate America.

Among the points discussed in this "fiscal cliff" conversation is the impending insolvency of Medicare. That "entitlement " program must be reformed. There is a solution for this part of the equation. The present age of eligibility for Medicare is 65. Lowering the age of eligibility for Medicare to 55 will add about 20 million new premium paying subscribers to the Medicare rolls. These 20 million are relatively healthier than the current cohort above the age of 65. Thus there will be more money into the system via 20 million people paying the present rate of about $1,200 a year in premiums, and due to their statistically healthier status requiring much less outflow of dollars for services.

The Injured Workers' Insurance Fund, a quasi-state workers' compensation insurance provider, said yesterday that more than 30,000 of its policyholders will see a 5 percent reduction on average in their standard rates next year. IWIF customers will see a total savings of $13 million to $15 million, said Tom Phelan, the fund's president and chief executive officer. Moreover, 16 industries, including independent schools, new auto dealer franchises and printing businesses, will receive additional rate cuts.