Russell Hutchinson, from Chatswood Consulting, brings us the Cavalcade of Risk this week, with lots of kiwi flair. Jaan Sidorov the DMCB has a great article in the Cavalcade. He checked out the nitty gritty details in reports from the Commonwealth Fund and Milliman. He’s not too impressed with the recommendations from the Commonwealth Fund. Their idea of spreading healthcare costs over a large population (by forcing more people into health insurance pools) doesn’t do anything to lower the actual cost of healthcare, and might be seen as putting a layer of paint on a crumbling wall. I’m not quite as quick to discount this idea, although I agree with Jaan that more needs to be done than simply increase the number of people paying into the health insurance system. But it would be a start. And I do like the Commonwealth Fund’s idea to eliminate the two year waiting period that Medicare imposes on disabled Americans.
Jaan is much more impressed with the report from Milliman, and I agree that they have some really good ideas. Rather than focusing on big picture strategy like “make everyone enroll in health insurance”, the Milliman report looks at small but significant changes that could be implemented in hospitals, ERs and medical offices to increase efficiency and keep costs down. There are some good, fresh ideas here, and the report (along with Jaan’s article) is worth a read.
And thanks to Hank Stern for reminding me to be grateful that I am a woman.
