[…] I don’t see a disparity between making more hospitals like the Mayo Clinic and focusing on how to cut costs in places like McAllen. I see them as two sides of the same story. Until we address the underlying issues that create cost structures like we see in McAllen, we aren’t likely to be successful in implementing healthcare reform that models itself on the Mayo Clinic.
Blog
State Versus Federal Regulation Of Health Insurance
Marcy Morrison, the Colorado insurance commissioner, has made it clear that she supports keeping insurance regulation at a state level. The creation of a Health Choices Commissioner is part of the reform bill drafted by House Democrats, and would basically duplicate a lot of the responsibilities currently handled by state insurance commissioners. […]
Healthcare Reform Ideas From An Economist Point Of View
[…] On an issue as complicated as healthcare reform, it’s disingenuous to claim that one side has all the answers, and Jason does a fantastic job of highlighting all sorts of issues from an objective viewpoint. His article includes recommendations and strategies that he feels would help to reform our healthcare system. […]
Surgery Might Not Be Best For Breech Births
[…] In the current quest to reform health care, everyone is talking about controlling costs. Lowering the rate of c-sections would have a significant impact on the cost of maternity care, since vaginal births are much less expensive than surgical births. Maternity care is something that most women eventually use, and lowered costs would translate to lowered health insurance premiums for all of us. […]
Where Medicare Leaves Off
[…] I agree with Mike that we need to be having more of a discussion here in the US about how to better fund long term care. Private insurance policies work well, for the relatively few people who purchase them. But I think more intensive public education is needed in terms of what is and isn’t covered by Medicare.
Medical Underwriting And Policy Rescission
[…] Electronic medical records that allow underwriters to see complete medical histories at the time of application would greatly reduce the number of policy recissions. Then again, there’s a lot of talk on the table right now about eliminating medical underwriting all together, which would solve the problem once and for all.
Some People Already Pay Too Much Of Their Own Costs
[…] I know that a lot of our clients in Colorado request HSA qualified plans, mainly because the premiums tend to be lower. But the perspective probably looks a whole lot different if you’re not only funding your own HSA and paying for your own high deductible health insurance, but also facing the prospect of meeting that deductible year after year.
Removing An Exclusion Rider On Our Policy
[…] It’s a lot of hoops to jump through, but if you have an individual health insurance policy in a state like Colorado that allows pre-existing condition exclusion riders, you might want to double check to see if your rider can be re-evaluated. Most carriers in Colorado require that the condition be resolved for at least a year before you can request a review of the rider. […]
Multiple Viewpoints On Health Care Reform
[…] Topics like health care reform sometimes become so politically polarized that people start to think of one side as good and the other as bad, with no gray areas in between. Forums that allow multiple, often conflicting, ideas to be shared alongside one another are a great way to get past argument and start to find common ground.
Health Care Must Be About More Than Money
[…] We all need to take a hard look at our motivations and what we consider to be our primary responsibilities. Anyone who puts making money at the top of the list might be better served in a different profession. Obviously, money will be somewhere on the list – we all need an income. But the health care industry isn’t a place where money should be the driving factor. […]
Keep It Simple Senators
[…] I’m seeing lots of things that would be very beneficial to the clients we serve in Colorado who are purchasing individual health insurance: no underwriting, premiums that are not based on gender or health history, and no caps on benefits. I haven’t yet found any wording about how these changes would be financed though, and that could become a sticking point. […]
Profitability And The Health Insurance Industry
[…] The industry as a whole chalked up a profit margin of more than 10% in 2007, but that was carried by the life insurance side of the industry. Health insurance companies don’t fare nearly as well when it comes to making profits. Far more of their revenues are eaten up by claims, which continue to grow year after year as health care costs increase.
A La Carte Not Such A Good Idea For Health Insurance
[…] the al la carte insurance idea, written as a piece of satirical genius, reminded me of policies that are sold by some of the less scrupulous health insurance carriers in Colorado. If your health insurance application is asking you to decide whether you’d like to have coverage for cancer and ambulance rides, you might want to keep shopping.
Humana Approved Our Appeal
[…] We’re thrilled with Humana’s decision, and we’re glad to be able to offer their policies to our clients in Colorado. Jay’s knees are really the first time we’ve had to use our health insurance for anything more than preventive care, and we’re happy to be able to report that everything has worked the way it’s supposed to. […]
Public Option Not The Same As Medicare
[…] would a disproportionate number of sick people join the public system? Or perhaps more healthy people would switch to the public option? Would the premiums increase substantially over the first few years as the new system tried to balance costs? Would people be able to switch back and forth between the public and private systems? A lot remains to be seen. […]
Health Insurance Companies Performing Better
[…] health insurance companies are indeed working to be better stewards for the customers they serve – insureds and providers. In 2008 (vs 2007), health insurance companies paid providers 5.3% faster and denied 9% fewer claims. This is what the health insurance industry is in business to do: pay claims, and pay them quickly. […]
Subsidies Are Key To Making A Mandate Work
[…] As of 2007, Colorado ranked 33rd in the nation in terms of percentage of working age adults (18 – 64) without health insurance. One in five working-age adults in Colorado is uninsured. My guess is that the majority of those people would love to have health insurance – if they could afford it. Most of the people who don’t have insurance cite cost as the main reason.
Designing An Effective, Enforceable, Individual Mandate
[…] As readers of the Colorado Health Insurance Insider know, Insurance markets pool risk. An insurance system will only work if the exposures of low risk individuals are pooled together with the exposures of higher risk individuals. Life insurance, homeowner’s insurance, auto insurance; they all work the same way. If health insurers are required to offer guaranteed access without an effective mandate requiring all Americans to maintain coverage, there would be a clear disincentive for healthy people to secure or maintain coverage. […]
Colorado Senate Bill 88 Signed Into Law
I missed this news last week, but apparently I wasn’t the only one: Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 88 into law last Monday, granting dental and health insurance benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian state employees. Even the bill’s sponsors didn’t know until after the fact that it had been signed by the governor. […]
Gender, Age, Geography, and Health Insurance Premiums
The new proposal put forth by AHIP would take into account only age and geography (not gender) when setting rates. Jaan points out that while this is all well and good, doesn’t it leave things open to cries of foul regarding ageism and geographism? In my opinion, it does. Age and gender are both factors that are beyond our control, and to a large part, so is geographical location. […]
Gay Marriage And Health Insurance Benefits
I am not sure where to begin dissecting the logic in RNC Chairman Michael Steel’s recent attempt to sway public opinion on gay marriage. He is trying to turn gay marriage into an economic issue by maintaining that it will hurt profits for businesses if they have to provide health insurance benefits to partners of gay employees. […]
Steps Towards Health Care Reform
The House has pledged to have a sweeping health care reform bill on the floor by the end of July, and details are starting to come out about the direction they want to take. Requiring everyone to have health insurance coverage is one of the cornerstones of the reform, and I strongly believe that without this piece of the puzzle in place, no reform will truly be effective. […]
Some Government Can Be A Good Thing
I always appreciate it when someone actually throws a potential solution into the mix, rather than just complaining about the way things are/were/will be. The Happy Hospitalist has outlined his ideas for healthcare reform in a comment on his blog. I like his out of the box thinking, and the simplicity. But there are some issues that immediately come to mind […]
Insuring Low Income Children Through Tax Returns
[…] In Colorado, there are 100,000 children who are eligible for Medicaid or CHP+ but remain uninsured. The state is working to expand access to these programs, but getting those 100,000 kids enrolled would make a good dent in the number of uninsured children in Colorado. And tax returns are a great way to identify families that qualify for state-funded health insurance. […]
Reid Absent In Sick Around America
[…] Reid wanted to make Sick Around America into a push towards national health insurance, and the producers wanted more of a documentary of how the health care system currently works. Reid withdrew from the film and asked that his interviews be edited out – he’s not in the new documentary at all, which will make it quite a bit different from last year’s show. […]