…private insurance industry that merely screws up our health care and replace it with an improved version of Medicare that covers everyone. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/health/lower-health-insurance-premiums-to-come-at-cost-of-fewer-choices.html?hp&pagewanted=all Comment: By Don McCanne, M.D. This article…
Beware: Health insurers shaving networks
…than rationing for profit. This is pure politics. They are grabbing profits under the anarchy of Obamacare.” Stacey Singer is a staff writer at the Palm Beach Post. http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/lifestyles/health/beware-health-insurers-shaving-networks/nbfpc/?icmp=pbp_internallink_textlink_apr2013_pbpstubtomypbp_launch ]]>…
Low payment rates for exchange plans threaten adequacy of provider networks
…up for the lower pay by seeing more patients, since the plans tend to have smaller networks of doctors. http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/November/19/doctor-rates-marketplace-insurance-plans.aspx Comment: By Don McCanne, M.D. Insurers will be paying physicians…
Wall Street’s view of narrow networks
…taking some pretty strong steps to narrow their networks. On the physician side, it’s been the most notable. In fact, there was a, there’s been some communication about that. There…
While Obamacare enrollment continues to lag, labor builds support for improved Medicare for All
…Baucus, do you not know the meaning of the word “retire?” All good wishes for a (hopefully) healthy and happy New Year! Jonathan Stone also contributed to this post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pearl-korn/while-obamacare-enrollmen_b_4516708.html?utm_hp_ref=politics…
‘Accountable care’ model revives HMO strategy, boding ill for patients, physicians: JGIM article
…mark@pnhp.org In a cautionary reply to a new medical society report embracing accountable care organizations (ACOs) and bundled payment – two key reforms embedded in the Affordable Care Act –…
Bare-bones plans still with us
…long as companies offer at least one plan that complies with the law’s requirements, they are free to keep offering ones that don’t. That has enabled companies to find ways…
In 1965, Medicare Was Rolled Out In 8 Months. How?
…of private companies on the exchanges? SW: The website problems reflect the immense complexity of health financing under the ACA. This is not just a problem of a multiplicity of…
The Case Against Privatization of U. S. Health Care
…however, gives us solid evidence that privatization brings higher costs, less efficiency, less service, more bureaucracy, waste, and profiteering than not-for-profit public programs. Moreover, privatized companies and contractors keep coming…
Is Insurance Bureaucracy Lengthening Physician Workdays?
…if commercial insurers had paid all claims correctly since 2010. The AMA created an Administrative Burden Index to rank insurers based on unnecessary costs. The index rates commercial plans using…
Physicians & Medical Students: Sign the open letter on the truth about Medicare-for-All
…by more than 560 other physicians and medical students. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steffie-woolhandler/setting-the-record-straig_24_b_9341782.html With the recent often inaccurate and ill-advised debate taking place in the media over the financing of single payer it…
Corporate Social Responsibility in Health Care: No Such Thing
…profitable. • Hospital systems Expanding hospital systems game the new system by mergers that limit competition, having wide latitude to charge what they want, shifting some services to affiliated outpatient…