Kip Sullivan: Health care report card was flawed | StarTribune.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
"Minnesotans should be alarmed by a report recently issued by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The Minnesota Health Care Quality Report claims to measure the quality of care delivered by Minnesota's clinics and hospitals, but its methodology is so crude that it is impossible to say what is being measured."
Click here for the rest of the LTE
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Alex MacGillis: Prices remain the malady in health care | StarTribune.com
Alex MacGillis: Prices remain the malady in health care StarTribune.com
This article goes into the argument about value versus quantity in the health care cost debate. Is it the insurance companies, the providers or us patients that are the cause of the problem? Hmmmm.....I can't help but wonder about the trend not only for providers to consolidate but for insurance companies to get into the provider buisness -- directly and indirectly via selling business support services. Still might be just the big coporations playing us all to make as much money as possible with no regard for our real health care needs.
This article goes into the argument about value versus quantity in the health care cost debate. Is it the insurance companies, the providers or us patients that are the cause of the problem? Hmmmm.....I can't help but wonder about the trend not only for providers to consolidate but for insurance companies to get into the provider buisness -- directly and indirectly via selling business support services. Still might be just the big coporations playing us all to make as much money as possible with no regard for our real health care needs.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Health group may offer plan to trim costs | StarTribune.com
Health group may offer plan to trim costs | StarTribune.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
This calls the public programs that pay for medical care INSURANCE. Insurance is defined as "promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company". Since Pre-paid Medical Assistance started in MN the managed care companies get a payment per person to cover them like any other managed care plan would. Going from the State paying for medical bills to paying MCOs to pay them costs more but the State will not provide a cost comparison to show how wasteful this is. But then the MCOs have paid a lot to the politicians and lobbyists to keep us all ignorant of the ugly truth.
This calls the public programs that pay for medical care INSURANCE. Insurance is defined as "promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company". Since Pre-paid Medical Assistance started in MN the managed care companies get a payment per person to cover them like any other managed care plan would. Going from the State paying for medical bills to paying MCOs to pay them costs more but the State will not provide a cost comparison to show how wasteful this is. But then the MCOs have paid a lot to the politicians and lobbyists to keep us all ignorant of the ugly truth.
Monday, October 4, 2010
How can a family with $50,000 in income pay $18,000 in medical expenses? | Physicians for a National Health Program
How can a family with $50,000 in income pay $18,000 in medical expenses? Physicians for a National Health Program
"The individual insurance market is highly dysfunctional, and was one of the primary motivators for the regulatory changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). About 30 percent of individuals who apply for individual plans are denied coverage. The private insurers will cover only individuals with an unblemished health record. Most health care costs for those individuals are very low and often below the deductible. This is why the insurers can sell an individual family policy for only $6,328 - these are healthy people who rarely file significant claims. In fact, when they do file larger claims, the private insurers routinely look to see if they could find an omission in the application such as a prior yeast infection not reported, and then they would reject all claims and rescind the coverage. Both of these practices are illegal for employer-sponsored group coverage, which is partly why group coverage is more expensive, but they were very effective in limiting claims losses in the individual market. The new law requires guaranteed issue (all applicants accepted) and prohibits rescission (retroactive revocation of insurance). These two changes will wipe out the individual insurance market as we know it, and will result in skyrocketing insurance premiums.
Another reason that individual plans are so cheap (if you call $6,328 cheap) is that they do not provide nearly as good coverage - both in benefits and cost sharing. Individual plans frequently omit pharmaceuticals, mental health services, maternity benefits, etc. Also they tend to have larger deductibles ($1,000 to $25,000) and high coinsurance (a percentage of fees which is usually much higher than co-pays would be). The bankruptcy studies have shown that medical debt contributes to about 60 percent of personal bankruptcies, and three-fourths of those with medical debt had health insurance. Individual plans have deteriorated to a degree that they don't keep people out of bankruptcy when they develop significant medical problems. The new law will establish a standard benefit package which will also drive premiums up, though it will still permit excessive cost sharing (at an actuarial value of 60 to 70 percent)."
"The individual insurance market is highly dysfunctional, and was one of the primary motivators for the regulatory changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). About 30 percent of individuals who apply for individual plans are denied coverage. The private insurers will cover only individuals with an unblemished health record. Most health care costs for those individuals are very low and often below the deductible. This is why the insurers can sell an individual family policy for only $6,328 - these are healthy people who rarely file significant claims. In fact, when they do file larger claims, the private insurers routinely look to see if they could find an omission in the application such as a prior yeast infection not reported, and then they would reject all claims and rescind the coverage. Both of these practices are illegal for employer-sponsored group coverage, which is partly why group coverage is more expensive, but they were very effective in limiting claims losses in the individual market. The new law requires guaranteed issue (all applicants accepted) and prohibits rescission (retroactive revocation of insurance). These two changes will wipe out the individual insurance market as we know it, and will result in skyrocketing insurance premiums.
Another reason that individual plans are so cheap (if you call $6,328 cheap) is that they do not provide nearly as good coverage - both in benefits and cost sharing. Individual plans frequently omit pharmaceuticals, mental health services, maternity benefits, etc. Also they tend to have larger deductibles ($1,000 to $25,000) and high coinsurance (a percentage of fees which is usually much higher than co-pays would be). The bankruptcy studies have shown that medical debt contributes to about 60 percent of personal bankruptcies, and three-fourths of those with medical debt had health insurance. Individual plans have deteriorated to a degree that they don't keep people out of bankruptcy when they develop significant medical problems. The new law will establish a standard benefit package which will also drive premiums up, though it will still permit excessive cost sharing (at an actuarial value of 60 to 70 percent)."
Friday, September 24, 2010
HealthCare.gov
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Find out which private insurance plans, public programs and community services are available to you.Your Health Care, Explained
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Maine Voices: New federal health care law falls far short of being a real reform | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Maine Voices: New federal health care law falls far short of being a real reform | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"
"Now Washington sends us, by a narrow vote, new health care "reforms" touted as bipartisan solutions to our crippled health care system. Even a glance at these changes uncovers little more than a Ponzi scheme enriching some at the expense of others."
I found these comments from a doctor in Maine to be right on. The reason the 'big boys' in the health care industry are not trying to kill what has been touted as reform is because they wrote it and will get richer from it.
"Now Washington sends us, by a narrow vote, new health care "reforms" touted as bipartisan solutions to our crippled health care system. Even a glance at these changes uncovers little more than a Ponzi scheme enriching some at the expense of others."
I found these comments from a doctor in Maine to be right on. The reason the 'big boys' in the health care industry are not trying to kill what has been touted as reform is because they wrote it and will get richer from it.
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