deductible health news from FierceHealthcare
NewsMandated coverage: A smart idea?
Following the high-profile lead of Massachusetts, states like California are considering legislation requiring that citizens have health coverage. And in theory, that's good for providers, who Read more...
Mass. hospitals want insurers to collect high deductibles
Sure, virtually everyone in Massachusetts should end up with health insurance under the state's new health reforms. But for many patients, those Read more...
Study: High-deductible plans cut ED visitsA new study performed by Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care suggests that consumers with high-deductible health plans visit hospital emergency departments less often than patients with traditional health plan designs. The study, which compared 60,000 members of a traditional Massachusetts plan with 8,700 members of a high-deductible plan, found that there was only a slight difference between the groups for first-time emergency room visits. Members of the … Read more...Pediatrics group comes out against CDHPsThe American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has officially come out against high-deductible health plans. In their policy statement, published this week in the journal Pediatrics, the group contended high-deductible consumer-driven health plans are often bad for children. Given the financial burden filling the health savings account, low- and moderate-income families and families whose children have special medical needs may very well delay or even avoid seeking needed care, the AAP … Read more...Press Release: PricewaterhouseCoopers Identifies Top Seven Health Industry Trends of '07Press Release: PricewaterhouseCoopers Identifies Top Seven Health Industry Trends of '07 Read more...Interview: Price, quality and the AmishIn a recent interview with Mark Hochstetler, M.D., vice president of clinical affairs with the VHA, we discussed the issues of price and quality transparency and the effect that these trends are having on the healthcare industry. There have been quite a few price and quality transparency initiatives lately, driven by the current administration's support of CDHPs. Dr. Hochstetler noted that while this has caused quite a stir in the healthcare industry, it has had very little impact on … Read more...ALSO NOTED: Kaiser to offer HSAs in Calif.; HCA, United Healthcare debate contract; and much more...> In Missouri, State Representative Dr. Rob Schaaf is calling for more competition in St. Joseph, a town with only one hospital: Heartland Regional Medical Center. He claims that HRMC's monopoly has artificially inflated medical costs, but hospital administrators say the facility makes only a small profit. Article > California Pacific Medical Center workers say that the hospital has violated an … Read more...Blog: Golden Rule, balance billing and other outragesThe Health Care Blog has a vivid rant today on Golden Rule, a perennially low-cost and shady provider of individual health policies that was acquired by United Health Care awhile back to make it an instant player in high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts. Apparently, Golden Rule claims to its customers that it has negotiated rates with providers, but its contracts with providers allow them to balance-bill the customer if the negotiated rate isn't enough--and why … Read more...CDHP movement gains groundThere was a victory for low premium, high deductible health plans (CDHPs) this weekend as Target announced steps to make employees responsible for health costs. The Minneapolis-based retailer also said it is considering doing away with employee-based insurance. The retailer enters a fray occupied by large employers from Wal-Mart to General Motors. Is the move a symbolic win for fans of CDHPs? Perhaps so. It also may serve as a rallying cry for supporters of traditional employer-based … Read more...Medicare Part D, healthcare play out in an election yearIt will escape no one's attention that 2006 is an election year. Many hopeful Democrats are looking at the rough 2005 "enjoyed" by the Bush administration and have decided that 2006 is shaping up to be the reverse of 1994 all over again. While it's hard to imagine the news for Republicans staying as bad as it's been, there are at least three areas where healthcare will play into politics this year. The most obvious is the roll out of Medicare Part D's drug coverage, about which there has … Read more... |
