[…] His Plain Language In insurance bill passed out of the House last week, and is headed for the Senate this week. It would require that all auto, dental, long term care, and health insurance policies sold in Colorado be written at no more than a 10th grade reading level starting in 2010. It would also require that all the fine print be no finer than a 10 point font. […]
CBO Numbers Convince Colorado Rep To Vote Yes
Colorado Representative Betsy Markey has announced that she will vote yes on the health care reform bill on Sunday, following her no vote last November. The new CBO numbers that were released this week apparently had a lot to do with her decision; she stated that reducing the deficit by “$138 billion in the first 10 years, $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years — those are figures I simply cannot ignore.” The CBO numbers are better than expected, and will likely convince some fence-riding Democrats to vote for the bill. […]
A Good Start With Colorado Senate Bill 115
[…] Ultimately, I’d like to see us reach a point where medication waste is virtually eliminated. Medication bottles that allow pills to be removed but not re-inserted, or a switch to only using blister packs for pills, could allow even partially used prescriptions to be returned to pharmacies for redistribution. And with the cost of prescriptions becoming more of a barrier between patients and needed treatment, the destruction of perfectly good unused medication seems like a travesty.
Going In The Wrong Direction
Amnesty International has released a shocking and sobering report about maternal mortality in the US. In 1987, there were 6.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Two decades later, that number had risen to 13.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. Part of the increase is due to better reporting, but there are also more women dying from pregnancy complications than there were in the 80s. […]
The Grass Might Be Greener, But It Sure Is Pricey
[…] Individual health insurance is a great option for people who are healthy, and especially those who are relatively young… But the price increases with age, and many early retirees find it a challenge to pay for health insurance during the years before they are eligible for Medicare. My guess is that even if private individual policies could be purchased by people over the age of 65, very few people would take that option, simply because of the price.
The Value We Get From Our Healthcare Dollars
[…] Perhaps the question we should be asking is not who should be paying for healthcare, but rather, why in the world are we paying so much in the first place? Health insurance premiums will continue to rise as long as health care costs do the same. It won’t do any good to try to address premiums without first figuring out why we’re paying so much for our health care in the first place, and doing something about it.
Starting Over Seems Like A Waste
Last week’s seven hour health care summit was basically a rehash of the ideas that were tossed around throughout the last year of health care reform debate. Neither party seems willing to negotiate much more in terms of the nitty gritty of the reform, and it’s looking like the Dems might try to use reconciliation to push through their reform bill. […]
Competition Among Private Health Insurance Companies
[…] I will be interested to see more on the Wellpoint story as the rate increases are investigated this spring, but I imagine that it’s not a simple problem or one that has a simple solution. It’s true that Wellpoint is in business to make money. But a dramatic, highly publicized rate increase is bad for business, and it’s hard to explain it away as a company simply trying to raise profits.
Mandate Still Too Weak In Health Care Reform Compromise
[…] If people know that they won’t be penalized for pre-existing conditions and that health insurance companies will have to accept everyone, a penalty that is just a tiny fraction of the cost of coverage might be the preferred option for a lot of people. And without a large pool of healthy insureds, I just don’t see a way that premiums won’t increase significantly. I’m keeping an open mind, but I’m skeptical that we’ll be able to provide all of the proposed consumer benefits with such a lax enforcement of mandatory health insurance.
Wellpoint Premium Increases Provide Strong Case For Mandate
[…] People who buy their own health insurance must pay the whole bill, every month. When it’s time for their rate increase, there’s no employer shouldering part of the burden. The option to continue or drop coverage is there every month when it’s time to pay the premium… and if it comes to a decision between the rent or the health insurance, it’s easy to understand how a healthy person might opt to go uninsured.
Putting Costs Into Perspective
[…] even if we redistributed income and expenses completely, so that every household in American earned exactly $50,000/year and spent exactly $15,000 on health care, we’d still be struggling to pay for health care (only in that scenario, we’d ALL be struggling, rather than the way it is now, with some families crushed completely by health care expenses, and others unaware of how much their health care costs in the first place).
Reform Needed, But No Consensus On The Details
[…] We’ll have to wait and see what congress comes up with next week during their summit with the president, but there’s no way they’re going to make something out of nothing. In order to provide health insurance for everyone, we’ll either have to give up some freedoms (in the form of a mandate requiring everyone to carry coverage) or pay a little extra in taxes or premiums.
Efforts Underway To Improve Colorado Health Report Card Score
Last week I wrote about the poor results – specifically for children – on the Colorado Health Report Card. Governor Ritter has issued an explanation about the poor results, detailing how the numbers used in the report card are largely outdated (from 2007), and that many improvements have since been made in terms of the health of Colorado children. […] I’m hopeful that the next Colorado Health Report Card will show a big improvement across the board, but especially in the area of children’s health.
Poor Results On The Colorado Health Report Card
The 2009 Colorado Health Report Card was just released, and the score for healthy children slipped from a C- in 2008 to a D+ in 2009. I find it particularly interesting that our state ranks at the very top of the list in terms of the percentage of adults who are obese (we’re the only state in the nation with less than a 20% adult obesity rate) and yet our kids aren’t even close to the top of the list, with 22 states having lower childhood obesity rates. […]
More On Overutilization
David Williams has written an excellent article about the overuse of mammography screening in older women with cognitive impairment. When you read his article, especially the part about how women with a higher net worth are more likely to be screened, it’s obvious that money is playing a large role when it comes to determining who should get mammograms. […]
Mandates And Health Insurance Premiums
[…] We cannot continue to just tack on more mandates that increase health insurance benefits without addressing the inevitable premium increases that will follow. We absolutely need to address the problem of people facing staggering bills when a medical condition is not covered at all by their health insurance, but if we continue to add mandates without looking for ways to bring down costs, we’re only going to push more people into being uninsured.
Overuse Of Medical Imaging
[…] What if we implemented a system whereby doctors could not be compensated for ordering medical imaging for their patients? The imaging equipment could be strategically located throughout each city and state, but not in doctors’ offices, and not run by doctors who order the tests. If a doctor were to have no financial incentive one way or the other, we could probably assume that imaging would only be ordered when it was deemed medically necessary, and we would expect to see roughly the same rate of imaging use from one doctor to the next.
Maternity As An Option Rather Than A Mandate
[…] It would be nice to see more options available for our clients who are looking for maternity coverage. My preference would be if clients could select their health insurance policy based on all of the other features of the plan, and then add maternity benefits after they had settled on a policy, rather than choosing a policy by default simply because it is one of a very few options that offer maternity benefits.
A Good Alternative To Mandatory Health Insurance
[…] there wouldn’t be an incentive for people to remain uninsured and wait until they got sick to purchase health insurance. The choice to be uninsured would come with consequences, but it would still be a legal choice. This would allow people to make their own decisions, but would also protect health insurance companies and people who maintain continuous coverage.
Health Care Reform Does Not Mean Government Run Health Care
[…] Yes, we would all have to purchase health insurance under the proposed reform bills. But if we want guaranteed issue universal coverage, and we don’t want the government running the health care system, there isn’t really a way around the requirement that everyone obtain coverage. And yes, we’ll need some additional tax revenues in order to help subsidize health insurance coverage for families who would otherwise be unable to afford it. But I can’t see how these things translate into the federal government running the health care system.
Americans More Concerned About The Economy Than Health Care
[…] A good deal of President Obama’s state of the union address last night was focused on his plans for economic recovery, and this makes sense. But bringing health care costs into line with what the rest of the world spends should still be a priority, and I hope that we continue to look for solutions that will eventually result in affordable, accessible health care for all Americans.
Definition Of Candy In HB 1191 Is Too Narrow
[…] At first glance, I’m in favor of HB 1191. I believe that our health care costs will not truly be contained until our overall health improves, and I believe we need to focus on much better eating patterns in order to make that happen. Taxes levied on foods like soft drinks is a good place to start. But Enstrom’s complaints made me look a little more closely. […]
Updating Communication Between Providers And Insurers
[…] What if our health insurance ID cards came with barcodes that could be scanned in the doctor’s office or hospital, immediately allowing the office staff to see our benefits, how much of our deductible still needs to be met, and any exclusions on our policy? Then admission and treatment data could be transmitted directly to the health insurance carrier, without the need for phone calls or extra staff. […]
Cadillac Tax Could Impact Non Cadillac Plans Too
[…] But setting a flat dollar amount above which a plan will be taxed seems ill-advised. It doesn’t really do a good job of weeding out health insurance plans that truly have too many bells and whistles, and it wrongly penalizes people who live in areas where health care costs are higher than average, or companies with a disproportionate number of older workers.
A Misguided Initiative
[…] The decision to not carry health insurance (despite being able to afford it) is one that has ramifications for more than just the person who opts to be uninsured. In addition, there is no way to keep health insurance premiums affordable unless a large number of healthy people are paying premiums to offset the cost of care for those who are not as healthy.