UnitedHealth's 1Q profit climbs 13 percent

UnitedHealth's 1Q profit climbs 13 percent:
Rising profits, rising CEO pay, much via public tax funded programs. Is this what we want in health care payment reform? I guess it is what I'd want if I were a United Health investor or big shot manager. BUT.........................
(If link to article above doesn't work, try this.)

Ludicrous and Cruel - NYTimes.com

Ludicrous and Cruel - NYTimes.com: Voodoo Economics -- mentions Medicare and health care costs and points out the added cost of the middle man if vouchers are put in requiring going to the private market. In case you reached your limit on viewing NYT articles or this link expires, the column can be viewed at this link.

Plain Talk: How corporate spin sets public agenda

Plain Talk: How corporate spin sets public agenda:
Great column on Potter's book.
An excerpt: "Specifically, “Deadly Spin” describes how the health insurance industry has been able to demonize any plan to improve health coverage for Americans, including so-called ObamaCare, which for the first time expands health coverage to millions of citizens who have had to go without in our terribly broken health system.
Potter insists that much of the vehement anti-health care reform rhetoric trumpeted by Republican politicians and “angry” tea partiers is being orchestrated and underwritten by for-profit insurance corporations. While those corporations assure consumers they really care about consumers’ health, the truth, according to Potter, is that millions die as a result of inadequate health care, and it’s all aimed at increasing profits."
If above link to article doesn't work, try this one.

Winona Daily News Editorial on HMO's running Medicaid

Our view: Making sure Minnesota gets the best deal:
These comments talk about transparency and accountability. It mentions how HMOs hide behind the idea of not having to reveal "Trade Secrets". In Minnesota HMOs, by law, are to be non-profits. However, they operate as "for profits" are are beholden to the big boy "for profit" - United Health. All states should be pushing for reducing the political control the big multi-million dollar HMO/insurance CEOs have of the legislative process.
If the link to the editorial doesn't work, a copy is here.

Dr. Frank Bures: Doctors overwhelmed by needless regulation

Dr. Frank Bures: Doctors overwhelmed by needless regulation:
If the above link to the article doesn't work, try this copy.

This local Doc's comments on the red tape he has to deal with and how it raises cost are worth considering in the efforts at reform. An excerpt:
"In order to implement the process, immense expense will be incurred to the benefit of the medical computer companies, such as Cerner, which has Winona in its grip. Every time there needs to be a change, it’s an “upgrade,” leading to additional cost. This adds to the charges you and I pay for “medical care.”

The private insurers have followed suit, and have cleverly twisted it further to their advantage to add even more layers of insurance cost, siphoning off real dollars that could be spent for true medical care.

This is a small fraction of the complexity that has become everyday life

for doctors. The insurers, private or public, the administrations of hospital groups, the bureaucrats assigned to monitor “health care” have become entirely self-serving and self-perpetuating."

Editorial from Mass. : Official’s single-payer comment worth longer look - Watertown, MA - Watertown TAB & Press

Editorial: Official’s single-payer comment worth longer look - Watertown, MA - Watertown TAB & Press

"It sounds strange, but one way to rein in health costs may be to get the private sector to become as efficient as the government."

Minn. Senator Wants To Kick HMOs Out of Public Health Plans

Created: 03/06/2011 10:44 PM KSTP.com

State Senator, John Marty, (DFL) Roseville, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS  that he plans to introduce legislation this week that would eliminate seven HMOs from delivering public health care plans like Meidicaid and Minn-Care.  Marty says HMOs spend three billion dollars of your tax dollars every year on public health care plans and do not open their books to state auditors. According to HMOs, they made a 109-million dollar profit on those programs in 2009 alone. Marty says, if HMOs are unwilling to submit to state audits, then he wants them removed from the process entirely.
Marty says the state of Connecticut faced a similar issue with HMOs refusing to submit to state audits, so the governor in that state kicked them out of the public programs. The Minnesota Council on Health Plans declined our request for an on-camera interview, but in a written statement the HMOs say they have delivered high quality health care at an affordable price to low-income Minnesotans for 25 years. They also said there are better options to transparency and efficiency than having government take over health care.

[Full newspaper article and series of KSTP stories in this document.]