December 14th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
1 Comment »
Over at The Corner, Ramesh Ponnuru theorizes that people want more control over how they spend their health care dollars:
[Ezra] Klein’s argument is that if employees understood that the employer’s alleged share of their health-care costs are really part of their wages — and if they saw it on their paychecks — they would be more supportive of cost control. I agree with that. But I assume he means (based on his examples in this op-ed) that they would be more supportive of cost controls imposed by HMOs or Congress. I think they would be more inclined to favor turning over control of health insurance from their employers to themselves, and making the cost-quality trade-offs for themselves with their own money. Under the status quo, those trade-offs are made by other people and the fact that it’s the employees’ money is obscured.
It sounds nice in theory. But in practice it seems to be exactly wrong.
Here’s why. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
December 8th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy
No Comments »
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Caritas Christi Health System are announcing a new agreement that some suggest may be a model for the rest of the country.
Under it, the non-profit insurer will stop paying the non-profit hospital on a fee-for-service basis for certain insureds:
Under the deal expected to be announced Friday, Caritas . . . will be paid to take care of about 60,000 Blue Cross members in its new program — whether or not they get sick. Caritas will use some of the payments for preventive services to help keep patients healthy. If Caritas can keep health-care costs under a certain budget, it can make a profit. But if health-care costs go over the agreed-on amount, Caritas is on the hook. . . . . Blue Cross is adding a carrot: If doctors and hospitals can meet certain quality targets, they can earn a bonus of as much as 10% on the value of the deal. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
November 30th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
I’ve spent the last few days with much of our European team, today in Madrid, Spain.
Here are a few quick observations, as the American reform process continues.
1. Every country’s health care system has developed in the unique circumstances of its history. That is, the health care system of each country is the result of a collection of changes, fixes, restrictions, reforms, market developments and whatever else has happened over the last several decades. The result in each country are systems that work better or worse, but which in most all cases are very confusing to the people that work in them or get care from them. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
November 23rd, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
No Comments »
There is a disturbing story in the Hartford Courant (via the WSJ Health Blog) on how Connecticut state lawmakers have helped hospitals keep medical mistakes secret from the public. It’s true:
The legislature in 2002 ordered hospitals to disclose all serious patient injuries “associated with medical management.” But after the first reports were made public, hospital lobbyists persuaded lawmakers to rewrite the statute in 2004, limiting the kinds of adverse events that must be divulged, and promising to keep reports secret unless they led to an investigation.
What happened next is predictable. According to the Courant, public access to data about hospital adverse events dropped by 90%. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
November 16th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
Health care reformers say they want to improve the quality and affordability of health care.
It sounds good. But it’s not like there’s no one out there trying to do that. Employers of all sizes have been working on this problem for a long time, and they’ve come up with a great many interesting successes and failures.
So what’s the problem?
Well, it seems like reformers in Congress are completely uninterested in these things. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
