hsa news from FierceHealthcare
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Highmark helps providers, patients know costs up front
Health plan Highmark is giving its providers a new way to reduce bad debt that can result when patients aren't prepared for the large costs they may incur under high-deductible plans. Under its new... Read more...
Health plans storm the banking biz
Hoping to make CDHPs more palatable--and to profit on deposits, of course--the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is moving to expand the reach of its Blue Healthcare Bank. The bank allows BCBS members to establish health savings accounts, then use debit cards or checks to access HSA dollars. The idea is to make it simpler for consumers to use and track their HSA funds, while saving them the trouble of waiting for reimbursement checks. This, in turn, makes CDHPs more acceptable to …
... Read more...Editor's Corner
So, HIMSS is already beginning to slow down, even though the show doesn't officially end until tomorrow. (It could be that people are exhausted after walking the exhibit hall floor--we're talking a brightly colored, …
... Read more...BCBS association opens HSA-oriented bank
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has decided to enter the national healthcare banking business, angling for the dollars flowing into health savings account portion of their members' CDHPs. Blue Healthcare Bank, which has just gotten a federal savings bank charter, will be owned by 33 Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. Between 12 and 15 of the Blues should begin offering HSAs by the end of this year, according to Blue Healthcare Bank CEO Robert Gross. The bank already offers …
... Read more...CDHPs: Stand and Deliver
While a tiny 1 percent of U.S. workers are enrolled in CDHPs, lots of people are suggesting that they have an extremely rosy future, notably the health insurance industry, the employers who see big cost savings, and the banks slavering over the profits from the be made a billion-dollar inflow of health savings account funding. Still, those without financial skin in the game, such as The …
... Read more...Insurers vigorously defend CDHPs
In recent weeks, various studies citing stats on CDHPs have hit the press, some favorable and others criticizing the plans' impact on patients. But few have had the impact of the CDHP study just released by the Employee Benefits Research Institute and the Commonwealth Fund. The EBRI/CF study, which seems to have touched a nerve, found that many of the consumers insured by CDHPs …
... Read more...Press Release: HSAs Receive a Major Opportunity From Congress
Press Release: HSAs Receive a Major Opportunity From Congress
... Read more...Press Release: Setting the Record Straight on Consumer Directed Health Plans
Press Release: Setting the Record Straight on Consumer Directed Health Plans
... Read more...ALSO NOTED: Former HealthSouth CFO gets prison sentence; GA in need of more docs; and much more...
> UnitedHealthcare and Froedtert & Community Health are trying to iron out an ongoing contract dispute. Report
> Authorities have arrested three Brooklyn, NY men--two brothers and an employee--for defrauding Medicaid of millions of dollars. One brother was a doctor, the other a pharmacy owner and the third man a pharmacy employee. The three allegedly billed Medicaid for …
... Read more...HSAs won't do the job, says Bloomberg columnist
Columnist John Berry at Bloomberg News analyzes why the Health Savings Accounts being pushed by the Bush administration won't have the desired effect on healthcare costs. Using a recent Health Affairs paper as a springboard, he interviews the authors and concludes that for many, the accounts wouldn't increase cost-sharing and might actually reduce it in some cases. The flaw is the tax-deductibility of HSA money, which can mean that the consumer's total liability is less in after-tax …
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