From the New York Times -
Health Insurers Agree to End Higher Premiums for Women
AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) has basically said to the federal government "if you make everyone buy health insurance then we'll stop charging more to women and sick people".
guarantee
Makes sense. There are civil libertarians that are going to be bothered by this, but if we all have to pay for the uninsured to go and clog up the emergency rooms, then we have a pretty big incentive to fix the mess in which we now find ourselves.
People who can afford it will buy private insurance, and those who cannot will be subsidized by the government. This will do very little to control cost, but it's a small step towards addressing the health care crisis in this country. Hopefully people will at least get a little healthier.
Showing posts with label AHIP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AHIP. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Monday, September 03, 2007
Don't Mess Up!
Hey all you doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, listen up. Medicare is no longer going to pay for mistakes (like sponges left inside of patients after surgery). Read about it here in the New York Times.
Private insurers are going to monitor the new policy to see if they can implement something just like it -
"Susan M. Pisano, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, said, 'Private insurers will take a close look at what Medicare is doing, with an eye to adopting similar policies.'"
"The Bush administration estimates the new policy will save Medicare $20 million a year. But other experts say the savings could be substantially greater."
$20 million might as well be 20 cents when you're talking about government spending. It sounds like this will result in a lot of finger pointing and tons of spending by hospitals, but I suppose time will tell. The statistics for rates of infection and accidents will be released sometime in the future, and we'll see if this initiative has given medical care providers the right incentive to give better, more efficient care.
Private insurers are going to monitor the new policy to see if they can implement something just like it -
"Susan M. Pisano, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, said, 'Private insurers will take a close look at what Medicare is doing, with an eye to adopting similar policies.'"
"The Bush administration estimates the new policy will save Medicare $20 million a year. But other experts say the savings could be substantially greater."
$20 million might as well be 20 cents when you're talking about government spending. It sounds like this will result in a lot of finger pointing and tons of spending by hospitals, but I suppose time will tell. The statistics for rates of infection and accidents will be released sometime in the future, and we'll see if this initiative has given medical care providers the right incentive to give better, more efficient care.
Friday, January 19, 2007
FYI - UHA, New HSA? Maybe, if AHIP has its way.
If you haven't been reading my blog, I don't know where to start. Oh wait, yes I do:
FYI - For Your Information (that's easy)
UHA - Universal Health Account (that's new)
HSA - Health Savings Account
AHIP - America's Health Insurance Plans (organization of health insurers)
Read the entire article on Heartland.org.
"The UHA could be paired with any health plan--or none at all, if the UHA owner opted not to purchase insurance."
That differs from current HSA rules which require the participant to have a qualifying high deductible health insurance plan.
"Moreover, the UHA plan described by AHIP would allow contributions to be made into the accounts by the federal government. For persons with incomes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, the federal government would make matching contributions up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for families. AHIP suggests the federal government should also create rules to allow states to contribute to the UHAs as well."
FYI - For Your Information (that's easy)
UHA - Universal Health Account (that's new)
HSA - Health Savings Account
AHIP - America's Health Insurance Plans (organization of health insurers)
Read the entire article on Heartland.org.
"The UHA could be paired with any health plan--or none at all, if the UHA owner opted not to purchase insurance."
That differs from current HSA rules which require the participant to have a qualifying high deductible health insurance plan.
"Moreover, the UHA plan described by AHIP would allow contributions to be made into the accounts by the federal government. For persons with incomes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, the federal government would make matching contributions up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for families. AHIP suggests the federal government should also create rules to allow states to contribute to the UHAs as well."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)