Election Will Decide Health Law’s Future
The highest court in the country upheld most of the Affordable Care Act in June. But everybody knew it was only an overture to today’s contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Industry Likes Medicare Home Care Expansion, But Cost Is Unknown
Patient advocacy and industry groups are cheering Medicare’s move to start paying nursing home, home care and physical therapy bills for some patients who were previously denied coverage. But how much extra it will cost the government is far from clear. The change “is expected to affect the lives of tens of thousands of Americans, perhaps hundreds of thousands” […]
Insurers Get Ready For Exchanges, But Exchanges May Not Be Ready For Them
Insurers are spending big dollars on marketing, technology and risk analysis of the new health care landscape. But with exchanges supposed to go live in late 2013, where and how companies will plunge – and how deep – is far from clear.
Md. Blues Chief Blasts Plan To Shift Hospital Costs To Insurers
Negotiations to avert a breakdown in Maryland’s unique system of regulating hospital prices have deteriorated into a stalemate between the state’s largest insurer and the Maryland Hospital Association. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield CEO Chet Burrell, speaking out for the first time about the talks, blames hospitals for their proposal to shift hundreds of millions in costs to CareFirst and other private insurers in an attempt […]
Recessions Harm Older Workers’ Long-Term Health, Data Show
There are 20 million Americans between 55 and 60. Nearly 1 million are unemployed, according to the Labor Department. Many more lack health coverage, suggests the Census Bureau’s new report on income, poverty and health insurance. Thanks to the lousy economy, the whole group is at higher risk for long-term health problems and earlier death, suggests new research from Wellesley College. Wellesley economist Phillip B. Levine and colleagues mashed mortality and […]
How Is Your Medicare Drug Plan Like Your Cable Company?
Economists have long chronicled the “lock in” effect — the ability to attract shoppers with low prices and then sock them with increases once they’ve stopped paying attention. Think car insurance or bank fees. Consumers often stay put even when they notice the higher bills, deciding that the hassles of switching represent an even greater cost. Boston University economist Keith M. Marzilli Ericson […]
Pressure From Insurers, Government Cuts Radiology Use And Spending
Here’s another reason health care inflation is down: The slowing growth in MRI scans, CT sessions and other diagnostic imaging that began in the mid-2000s has continued, paired with sharply lower Medicare reimbursements. The end of the MRI boom may not rank with the poor economy, high-deductible health plans and expiring blockbuster drug patents as a factor in slowing cost trends — scans make up about 5 […]
UnitedHealth Cases Show Big Cost Differences For Same Illness
We’ve seen this before: a study showing large spending disparities to treat similar ailments and little if any link between expenditure and effectiveness. What’s different about this analysis is the patients. Many reports on cost and quality disparity (the best known is the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care) are based on data from the government’s Medicare program for seniors. This […]
Feds Push Maryland To Think Big On Health Cost Control
Federal officials are urging Maryland and its powerful health industry to build on the state’s unique hospital rate-setting system to develop sweeping cost controls that could be used as a model for other states.
Survey: Hospitals Name Their Least Favorite Insurers
Updated at 11 a.m. with comments from Cigna. It is a truth universally acknowledged that health insurance companies can be a pain for patients. What may be a surprise is that hospitals often complain, too. For the same reasons: Denied claims. Low reimbursement. Late reimbursement. Thickets of red tape. Each year ReviveHealth, a hospital public relations firm in Santa Barbara, […]
Maryland Seeks A New Balance In Its Unique Hospital Payment System
Maryland hospitals want insurers to pay more as the state considers cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates.
Don’t Change Medicare, Most Republicans Say In Poll
As Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to overhaul Medicare makes campaign headlines, a majority of Republicans oppose changing the government program for seniors, according to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.) That could spell trouble for presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his designated running mate Ryan as […]
Businesses Will Push Perry to Rethink Medicaid Expansion
Though Texas Gov. Rick Perry likens the Medicaid expansion to adding people “to the Titanic,” insurer WellPoint is grabbing for a piece of the business it thinks will grow in that state by buying Medicaid managed care provider Amerigroup. The move could mean an extra $1 billion in annual revenue for the insurer.
Study: High CEO Pay Doesn’t Boost Hospital Quality
Everybody agrees the health system needs to improve patient results even as it becomes more efficient. So shouldn’t we reward hospital managers who make progress in both areas? That doesn’t seem to be the case in New Hampshire, according to a new study from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. At a time when many contend that hospitals should focus […]
Doc Payments Show Underbelly Of Pill Marketing
How do pharmaceutical companies boost sales and drive up health costs? Pay celebrity doctors to talk about their pills. Take doctors on lavish junkets. Misrepresent research. Push pills for unapproved uses. None of which comes as news, given previous revelations. Documents unsealed as part of GlaxoSmithKline’s settlement with federal prosecutors, however, offer a rare look […]
Hospitals Celebrate Decision, But Threats Remain
The decision to let states opt out of the Medicaid expansion means hospitals serving the poor could still be stuck with unpaid care.
Hospital Stocks Soar As Court Upholds Health Act
Updated at 2:40 p.m. on June 28. Hospitals were the businesses with the most to lose from a negative Supreme Court opinion on the 2010 health law. Sure, insurers would have lost millions of potential customers. But if the act were struck down, they would have also been freed from restrictions on their profits, leading Wall Street analysts to predict mixed […]
Some Health System Changes Will Stay, No Matter How SCOTUS Rules
Soaring costs, tight budgets, better technology and industry consolidation ensure health care won’t go back to 2009, no matter what the Supreme Court or Congress do.
Rewarding Docs For Efficiency Reaps Savings For Insurer
Can bonuses of $10,000 or more spur primary care doctors to cut expensive hospital admissions and emergency room visits without harming care? CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield says the answer is yes. The insurer, which covers people in Maryland, Washington and Virginia, says its “patient-centered medical program” shaved $40 million — or 1.5 percent — off expected costs last year, its first in operation. Much […]
The New Normal In Health Insurance: High Deductibles
Supporters say high-deductible insurance can contain health costs by giving patients an incentive to take better care of themselves and to shop more carefully. Critics say the plans are just a way for corporations to shift costs onto workers, especially those dealing with chronic illness.
