In Dire Health
By Arnold Relman
The American Prospect, Jan. 13, 2012
Most people assume that insurance is an essential part of the health-care system. Some think it should be provided through public programs like Medicare, while others prefer to see it purchased from private insurance companies, but the majority believe that insurance is needed to help pay the unpredictable and often catastrophic expenses of medical care. That is why so much public policy focuses on extending coverage to as many people as possible and controlling its cost. I think this emphasis on insurance is mistaken. We would have a much better and more affordable health-care system if the reimbursement of medical expenses through public or private insurance plans was replaced by tax-supported universal access to comprehensive care, without bills for specific services and without insurance plans to pay those bills.
The American Prospect, Jan. 13, 2012
Most people assume that insurance is an essential part of the health-care system. Some think it should be provided through public programs like Medicare, while others prefer to see it purchased from private insurance companies, but the majority believe that insurance is needed to help pay the unpredictable and often catastrophic expenses of medical care. That is why so much public policy focuses on extending coverage to as many people as possible and controlling its cost. I think this emphasis on insurance is mistaken. We would have a much better and more affordable health-care system if the reimbursement of medical expenses through public or private insurance plans was replaced by tax-supported universal access to comprehensive care, without bills for specific services and without insurance plans to pay those bills.
Our for-profit health care system is broken
By John Benziger, M.D.Letters, Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine), Jan. 7, 2012
Last year, people woke up to the fact that corporate greed and injustice are hurting Americans.
We have a broken for-profit health care system. More than 50 million Americans are uninsured. Medicare and hospitals, along with other public programs like Medicaid, are under constant threat of new cuts by lawmakers. Meanwhile, last year, the nation's five largest for-profit health insurers netted $11.7 billion in profits, and their CEOs took $54.4 million in pay.
Private insurers succeed not by offering better healthcare. They maximize profits by charging high premiums, avoiding high-risk individuals, limiting services for those they do cover, and, whenever possible, shifting costs to other payers or to individuals in the form of high deductibles and co-payments.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2012/january/our-for-profit-health-care-system-is-broken
Last year, people woke up to the fact that corporate greed and injustice are hurting Americans.
We have a broken for-profit health care system. More than 50 million Americans are uninsured. Medicare and hospitals, along with other public programs like Medicaid, are under constant threat of new cuts by lawmakers. Meanwhile, last year, the nation's five largest for-profit health insurers netted $11.7 billion in profits, and their CEOs took $54.4 million in pay.
Private insurers succeed not by offering better healthcare. They maximize profits by charging high premiums, avoiding high-risk individuals, limiting services for those they do cover, and, whenever possible, shifting costs to other payers or to individuals in the form of high deductibles and co-payments.
http://www.pnhp.org/print/news/2012/january/our-for-profit-health-care-system-is-broken
Hospitals say LePage’s DHHS budget ignores debt owed them
Posted Jan. 17, 2012, at 6:32 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — As lawmakers grapple with the governor’s proposal to close a more than $120 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services budget for the next six months, the funding gap could be twice as big.
The state owes hospitals $125 million through the remainder of this fiscal year, debt that has accumulated since 2009 as hospitals continue to serve Medicaid patients without being fully reimbursed by the state.
“The hospital debt has masked the true size of the problem, I think for a long time,” Jeff Austin, a lobbyist for the Maine Hospital Association, told lawmakers last week.
latimes.com
latimes.com/business/la-fi-get-thin-whistleblower-20120118,0,2725024.storyWorkers at weight-loss surgery centers affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign persuaded patients to have medically unnecessary surgeries and billed insurance companies for procedures that were never performed, a new lawsuit alleges.
Two women who formerly worked at surgery centers associated with the Lap-Band ad campaign also alleged that executives covered up mistakes that contributed to the Sept. 8 death of Paula Rojeski, a Lap-Band patient from Orange County.
The new lawsuit seeks damages from eight people, including brothers Michael and Julian Omidi, who the lawsuit says run the weight-loss business from offices in Beverly Hills. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, also seeks damages from 13 companies it says are controlled by the Omidis.
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/17/health/hospitals-say-lepages-dhhs-budget-ignores-debt-owed-them/print/
'Tiered' Insurance Confounds Consumers, Docs In Mass.
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes WBUR,
and Kaiser Health News.BOSTON — Sarah Bechta, a wife, mother and physician from Northborough, Mass. sat down at her kitchen table with a folder full of brochures, pages from insurance websites and a hand-drawn spreadsheet to try to find out if a new "tiered" health plan would be the cheapest option for her family.A tiered plan would cut Bechta’s premium in half and "would save about $1,400 a year. It made me stop and think," she said.She started by comparing her premium for traditional insurance and a tiered plan. Tiered insurance is being offered by various companies in Massachusetts as a way to meet employers’ demands for cheaper insurance premiums.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/January/17/Mass-Tiered-Insurance.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment