What Does Health Insurance Consolidation Mean for You?
Listen to this Marketplace report on consolidation in the world of health insurance. It is an interesting report, and also the first public acknowledgment that I am, gulp, a Business Professor!
Listen to this Marketplace report on consolidation in the world of health insurance. It is an interesting report, and also the first public acknowledgment that I am, gulp, a Business Professor!
In a recent Washington Post article, Sarah Kliff reported that “Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients” because of reductions in reimbursement caused by the sequester. Specifically, oncologists will no longer be able to markup the price of chemotherapy by 6% “to cover the cost of storing and administering” the drugs….
See this Fayetteville Observer story about a disturbing new type of doctor’s office, called an express care center. And in the process of reading the article, you’ll see my take on the relevance of gas stations for understanding our insane health care system. (Click here to view comments)
I have been writing a fair amount lately about the out-of-pocket costs that many Americans face when they receive healthcare services. A new report by The Commonwealth Fund provides a picture of the scope of this issue. It compares the US to 10 other developed countries, and shows not only that people in the US spend…
Here is a nice news report about what the Medicaid portion of the Supreme Court decision means for state governments. Short version: North Carolina needs to decide whether to expand Medicaid by up to 500,000 people, with the federal government picking up 95% of the cost. Left unsaid in this news report: hospitals are going to push hard to expand Medicaid, so they will have more paying customers. Wonder if they will have success in states like NC, with Republican legislatures.
Many readers will recognize Ronald Reagan’s famous maxim that: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Some will even recognize his vehement opposition to Lyndon Johnson’s Medicare proposal, before the program was passed into law: “We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb…
Recently, Congressman Paul Ryan put together another budget balancing proposal. It has received a lot of attention in the news, even though it is as likely to be enacted as is the Senate Democrat alternative– in other words, it won’t be enacted. Nevertheless, for those of you interested in healthcare and healthcare policy, here’s a…