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| Features and Opinion Learn what experts think about the current trends in the health care industry and the steps already being taken towards health care reform. Interested in contributing to this page? Please contact us at editor@reformplans.com.
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McCain Is the Radical on Health Reform - The Wall Street Journal |
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John Goodman, The Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2008
Goodman argues that it is not Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama who have offered up the most radical proposals for heatlh reform, but rather it is John McCain. McCain's approach to tax credits for buying health insurance represents a "fairer, more efficient system with a much better chance of insuring the uninsured and controlling health costs at the same time," Goodman writes. He adds that "The McCain plan does not raise taxes, nor does it lower them. Instead, it takes the existing system of tax subsidies and treats everyone alike, regardless of income or job status."
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State High Risk Pools for the Uninsured, Who Would Want to Be In Them? - HCPMR |
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Robert Laszewski, Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review, July 29, 2008
What do we do with people who are uninsurable because they have a pre-existing medical condition?
That is a particularly important question as both McCain and Obama propose reforming American health care by building on the private health insurance system.
One of the solutions being discussed--by McCain among others--is to use state-based risk pools. Under McCain's plan heavily dependent on an individual platform, people who don't have employer-based coverage and healthy enough to qualify for individual health insurance could get a private mainstream plan and people who do not qualify for a standard individual plan could buy into a state-run high risk pool for the uninsurable.
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Deval Patrick's 'Step Up' Demand Ignores the Obvious - Boston Herald |
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Boston Herald, July 28, 2008
Massachusetts businesses have already absorbed an extra $500 million for the state's subsidized Commenwealth Care health insurance program, and now they are being asked to "pony up" another $130 million by Governor Deval Patrick. This editorial points out that employers are already hard hit by rising health care costs, adding that the business community has asked House Speaker Sal
DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray "to take no action on the
governor’s proposal, and to concentrate instead on enacting a bill
aimed at controlling health care costs."
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Mass. Must Find the Money for Health Plan Soon - Boston Globe |
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Boston Globe, July 25, 2008
The heat is on Massachusetts Governor Patrick Deval to find the money to sustain the state's Commenwealth Care subsidized health insurance program, and he's planning to ask employers, insurers, and providers to step up and pay. This editorial calls for everyone to "pony up" especially since: "The debate over closing the Commonwealth Care gap will inevitably have
echoes in Washington, where the state and the Bush administration are
negotiating over a Medicaid waiver with hundreds of millions of dollars
at stake. The state's bargaining position will be stronger if it can
demonstrate that all stakeholders in health reform - insurers,
providers, consumers, and employers - are doing their part to make
reform work."
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Steps Small Business Can Take To Curb Health Costs - David Neiswenter |
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David Neiswenter, Manager of Clinic Operations, Texas, July 29, 2008
Reader David Neiswenter recently responded to ReformPlans' call for solutions for small business owners with this commentary:
Cost sharing and cost shifting have taken its toll on small businesses and their employees. Skyrocketing medical costs have put most small business owners and their employees in a position where they must decide on buying gas or paying they medical bills. Democrats seem to think SOCIALIZED medicine is the cure. Let's look closely at Canada and several European states before we jump in. Yes, everyone qualifies for care, so get in line. Why do affluent Canadians cross the border into the US to get their medical needs served? Why are thousands (reported tens of thousands) of Europeans investing in medical tourism? Maybe socialized medicine didn't pan out quite like they hoped.
A valid approach for small businesses wanting to continue offering medical benefits is to investigate in a cooperative effort of combining their numbers and resources. Most companies can offer enrollment into a high deductible co-pay driven health plan, which shifts most of the burden to the employee. Fortunately, most of us don't need catastrophic coverage routinely. What we need is Primary Care and wellness initiatives to help get us well and stay that way. Most surveys suggest primary care costs range from 16% - 24% of health plan payouts and up to 25% for RX.
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If McCain Picks Romney... - HCPMR |
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Robert Laszewski, Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review, July 25, 2008
Mitt Romney seems to be at the top of the list when it comes to speculation over who John McCain will pick for his vice presidential running mate. I am not sure if that is what John McCain is thinking as much as the Romney people, trying to boost their guy, want us to think.
But if McCain picks Romney, it will make for an interesting health care debate this fall.
The Obama Health Plan is a virtual clone of the Massachusetts health law. Romney signed it and continues to support it--most recently a couple of weeks ago in an enthusiastic Wall Street Journal Op-Ed.
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Paying Doctors to Ignore Patients - The New York Times |
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Peter B. Bach, The New York Times, July 24, 2008
Dr. Bach argues that although Congress narrowly avoided Medicare’s scheduled 10.6 percent cut in payment rates for doctors, “this action fails to address the problem with the Medicare payment system, which is not the amounts doctors are paid but the way their payments are calculated.”
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Tier 4 Drugs and the Fraying of the Social Compact - NEJM |
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Thomas H. Lee and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, New England Journal of Medicine, July 24, 2008
These authors discuss how a growing number of health plans are asking consumers to pay a greater share of high cost biologic medicines. They point out that there is no reason that the same trend should not start affecting high-priced medical devices or other therapies.
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United Health's Response to Death of Medicare Private Fee-for-Service - HCPMR |
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Robert Laszewski, Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review, July 22, 2008
Now that we know private fee-for-service (PFFS) is dead on January 1, 2011 in all but the most rural markets, how will the health plans who have significant PFFS business respond?
UnitedHealth is the first health plan to report earnings this quarter and I thought they had the right answer. From their earnings call transcript (Ovations CEO commenting):
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Kaiser Experts Discuss High-Risk Pools -- Reform Plans |
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A Reform Plans recap of Kaiser's Ask the Experts: High-Risk Pools, July 17, 2008
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has identified state high-risk pools as a vehicle for health care reform. Kaisernetwork.org assembled experts in the area to discuss high-risk pools--how they currently function and how they might evolve.
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We Need to Turn Healthcare on Its Head -- David Moskowitz, MD, for Reform Plans |
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David Moskowitz, MD, for Reform Plans, July 16, 2008
What's your fix for healthcare? We asked readers that question in our July 3 newsletter. Among the answers we received is this one, from David Moskowitz, chairman, CEO, and chief medical officer at GenoMed. Dr. Moskowitz states, "A system that kept you healthy and out of the hospital, so that you could die at home at the age of 125, would actually cost much less than our current one."
Read Dr. Moskowitz's healthcare solution:
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Featured Podcast
Current State and Prospects for Consumer Directed Health Care
Kim D. Slocum, President of KDS Consulting speaks with Malorye Allison, editor-in-chief of ReformPlans.com.
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