May 13, 2014
Jeffrey Singer, M.D., or Dr. Singer, is a general surgeon in Arizona. He’s also an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.
He claims that healthcare costs are too damn high—and they’re only getting worse. He’s got every reason to make that claim. Turns out that last week, researchers at Harvard and Dartmouth released a report estimating that healthcare costs will continue to grow faster than the economy for at least the next two decades.
May 12, 2014
High-deductible health plans appeared after legislation was passed in 2003 that required persons opening a health savings account to enroll in a high-deductible plan. They gained prominence recently as employers watched their own healthcare spending skyrocket.
And in 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that healthcare spending had grown at a record low pace from 2009 to 2011.
However, in this new HSA environment, practices need to think more like a business.
April 26, 2014
While open enrollment for coverage under the Affordable Care Act is closed, many of the newly insured are finding they can’t find doctors, landing them into a state described as “medical homelessness.”
Rotacare, a free clinic for the uninsured in Mountain View, is dealing with the problem firsthand.
April 3, 2014
Obamacare still needs more young people to sign up. This will offset the high cost of the older, and probably less healthy people who are joining Obamacare plans. Oh, but then the White House has to coerce a sufficient number of thirty-somethings to join, too. Problem is, the health plans don’t make economic sense for many of these young adults.
March 28, 2014
WellPoint surprised industry experts when it announced it will likely seek “double-digit plus” rate hikes. Insurers still have two months before they must submit their 2015 rates, so WellPoint’s prediction could impact other insurers’ rate-setting plans, Bloomberg reported.
July 18, 2013
Many outlets are reporting on a New York Times article claiming that “health plan costs for New Yorkers are set to fall 50%” as changes under the federal health care law take effect. This was announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Wednesday, July 17. He is quoted as saying, “New York’s health benefits exchange will offer the type of real competition that helps drive down health insurance costs for consumers and businesses.”
One problem with the article is that it actually says, “While the rates will fall over all, apples-to-apples comparisons are impossible from this year to next because all of the plans are essentially new insurance products.” This immediately got us thinking, well where did a 50% price drop come into play?