From the category archives:

Insurance

Shifting Healthcare Costs and Online Pricing Tools

Know your healthcare costs and save money

Great article from Jane Sorenson-Kahn pointing out that employers see “cost-sharing among employees as a top #1 cost-control strategy.” and that employers are “less satisfied [with] online comparison tools.” That’s a bad mix. No information on price AND you’re going to have to pay for it. Sounds like going to the auto-repair mechanic who [...]

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The 55 Buy In Option

Under the new Medicare plan, consumers ages 55 to 64 would for the first time be allowed to buy into the federal program for the elderly, starting as soon as 2011. Congressional aides estimate that two million to three million people would participate.
The Medicare plan could be good news for some in the 55-64 bracket [...]

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IBM to cover 100% of primary care visits

In an article today on BusinessInsurance.com states that IBM plans to cover 100% of primary care visits in 2010, going against current trends of pushing a great portion of the health care cost burden onto employees shoulders.
With 80% of their 115,000 employees currently on one of the company’s self-insured health care plans, the cost of [...]

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Planning & Implementation for Healthcare Reform is Like Herding Cats

Image from Mike Moreu
As long as we’re herding cats on healthcare reform, let’s ask a critical question…What is the timing for the changes being made for healthcare reform? Not “when will it get passed” but rather “when will the changes, whatever they end up being, go into effect”?
Logistically, it’s a nightmare.
Healthcare Reform Will NOT be [...]

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How Consumerism Hurts Wellness and Disease Management

Consumerism in healthcare has been hailed by many including ourselves as one of the key components in solving the healthcare crisis in the U.S.
“…one of…”
Pushing cost to the patient is merely the first step. Without transparency, consumerism has the potentially devastating affects on the gains that wellness and disease management have begun to make.
Under Consumer [...]

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Your Health Insurance and Network Questions Answered!

Today, change:healthcare had two great health care questions that I thought I should share with the rest of the change:healthcare community.  Remember, we are hear to help and answer your questions… so let us know if we can be of service!
First user question: I had surgery and received a bill for anesthesia. When I called [...]

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Worthwhile convo between Jay Parkinson and Ortho…

I am soooo behind on sharing everything that is going on around me related to healthcare, employers, consumerism, and the proposed government ‘public plan’ for healthcare [I get 2-3 phone calls a week from various system constituents and politicians posing questions, ideas, or plans around healthcare consumerism].  However, what causes me to perk up is [...]

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Illinois Law is Step 1 for Uninsured

As of April 1 in Illinois, they have taken step 1 in protecting the uninsured. A new law caps uninsured patient bills at cost +35%.
Hooray! A good first step!
Now don’t rest on your laurels, Illinois.
Cost plus is great if you can understand the “costs” portion, but most patients do not. Step 2 is to root [...]

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20% of Employers Plan to Drop Health Benefits… Let change:healthcare help!

In a recent survey conducted by Hewitt Associates, about 20% of employers said they are planning to stop offering health benefits over the next three to five years.
Sad… as if we need another player in the health care game to quit! See Workforce Management for more details on the study.
Equally as interesting as those planning [...]

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The Fiscal Health of U.S. Hospitals

Thursday’s Healthpopuli post caught my eye – Hospitals’ fiscal health is eroding. More than 50% of hospitals had a negative margin in Q4 2008. Sounds like the hospitals need wellness and disease management programs to address their ailing health just like patients are getting.
The main reason cited in Healthpopuli for the poor fiscal health is that [...]

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