Revolution Health, founded by AOL's Steve Case, has just merged with an ever-growing Waterfront Media. There's lots of good stuff on those sites.
In international news, here's some coming out of Europe that is disheartening. In Greece, 75% of adults are now overweight or obese. This New York Times article laments the waning popularity of the Mediterranean diet.
"Compared to traditional American menu — high in red meat and in butter and other dairy products — the Mediterranean diet is lower in saturated fat, more varied and often more satisfying."
Mamma Mia!
Showing posts with label consumer-directed health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consumer-directed health. Show all posts
Friday, October 03, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
HSAs
Sharon Alt, whose radio show I listen to from time to time, has written a good article on the evolution of consumer directed health plans and health/medical savings accounts. They've been around for about 4 years, and legislation has been enacted to better them several times. They seem to be just about there.
The main issues are to get the premiums down even more to justify the high deductibles, while considering the likelihood of consumers to get better deals when shopping for care, and allowing coverage for medication to treat chronic diseases (classifying it as "preventive"). The main objection I hear about these plans is from people who have expensive medication that would eat up the deductible (and therefore, the HSA money) and likely make the plan more expensive for the insured.
The main issues are to get the premiums down even more to justify the high deductibles, while considering the likelihood of consumers to get better deals when shopping for care, and allowing coverage for medication to treat chronic diseases (classifying it as "preventive"). The main objection I hear about these plans is from people who have expensive medication that would eat up the deductible (and therefore, the HSA money) and likely make the plan more expensive for the insured.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Usual and Customary
How do you like the banner ad above this post? Ha ha.
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, as well as subpoenaed the other major insurers in the Empire State regarding pricing practices. When an insured person goes to a health care provider outside of his or her network, reimbursement is based on what are called "usual and customary" rates. Well, there is an obvious conflict of interest if the company that calculates those figures is owned by UnitedHealth.
From the New York Times -
"Citing an example of what he said was a pattern of underpaying for care, Mr. Cuomo said his office had compared the prevailing market rate for a doctor visit to the amount Ingenix had calculated as usual and customary. While doctors in the metropolitan New York City area typically charged $200 for an office visit, he said, Ingenix calculated the rate at only $77. Under a typical plan, the insurer would pay 8o percent of the $77, or only $62. The patient was responsible for covering the remaining $138 balance."
This is a very good reason to get to know the details of your health insurance plane. Once you have an emergency, it's often too late to figure it out until after the bill arrives. That is one of the reasons consumer-directed health plans are effective. They get people thinking about these potential problems before they occur.
New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, as well as subpoenaed the other major insurers in the Empire State regarding pricing practices. When an insured person goes to a health care provider outside of his or her network, reimbursement is based on what are called "usual and customary" rates. Well, there is an obvious conflict of interest if the company that calculates those figures is owned by UnitedHealth.
From the New York Times -
"Citing an example of what he said was a pattern of underpaying for care, Mr. Cuomo said his office had compared the prevailing market rate for a doctor visit to the amount Ingenix had calculated as usual and customary. While doctors in the metropolitan New York City area typically charged $200 for an office visit, he said, Ingenix calculated the rate at only $77. Under a typical plan, the insurer would pay 8o percent of the $77, or only $62. The patient was responsible for covering the remaining $138 balance."
This is a very good reason to get to know the details of your health insurance plane. Once you have an emergency, it's often too late to figure it out until after the bill arrives. That is one of the reasons consumer-directed health plans are effective. They get people thinking about these potential problems before they occur.
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