October 11th, 2011 by DavedeBronkart in Health Policy, Opinion
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Last week the New York Times reported that some health insurers have applied to regulatory agencies to push premiums sharply higher – usually double-digit increases, while citizens are suffering. This falls on top of the 11 year history reported last year by the Kaiser Family Foundation: wages and inflation are up ~40%, while health costs and worker contributions were up 138% and 159%:
No wonder we feel squeezed. (Last week’s announcement comes on top of this history.)
This has enormous human impact. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at e-Patients.net*
July 12th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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Kaiser Health News proves its value once again with an under-the-radar story covering some items you won’t see in many other news sources. An excerpt:
“…several lesser-known provisions also take effect in coming months that could have a lasting impact on the nation’s health care system.
These provisions include eliminating patients’ co-payments for certain preventive services such as mammograms, giving the government more power to review health insurers’ premium increases and allowing states to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income adults without children.
While these changes might not have gotten at lot of attention, they could help build support for the law in the run-up to the contentious mid-term elections.”
Their list:
• Prevention For Less
• Knowing Which Treatments Work Best
• Helping Cover Early Retirees’ Health Costs
• Keeping Tabs on Health Insurance Premiums
• Expanded Medicaid Coverage
• Care Coordination for ‘Dual Eligibles’
• FDA Approval For ‘Follow-On Biologics’
Read the full story at the link above for details.
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
