Sen. Ron Wyden (D OR) has come up with a plan for health care that just might work. Wyden’s plan requires all Americans to purchase health insurance, prohibits medical underwriting, replaces Medicaid with private insurance, and funds the program by a combination of employer contributions, individual payments, and recaptured funds from the mishmash of programs that attempt to address cost-shifting and indigent care.
Those folks making less than the poverty level will not pay anything for their coverage, with graduated subsidies for those making from 1x the poverty level to 4x. There’s a lot more detail to the plan, which you can peruse at your leisure at Wyden’s site.

Continue reading Wyden’s on to something

The body of knowledge concerning consumer directed health plans is increasing steadily, and unfortunately for advocates, it does not appear to include much in the way of good news.

Continue reading What’s really happening with consumer-directed health care

This looks to be the week for health care quality, outcomes, and reporting posts. The latest comes to us courtesy of Fierce Healthcare and the Boston Globe in a report on cardiac surgeons’ patients’ death rates.

Continue reading What quality data is available?

If the recent contretemps in the mass media and blog-o-sphere about provider quality measures, patient responsibility and cost issues are any indication, a lot of folks are thinking hard and talking loud about these issues.
Here’s a synopsis of some of the more trenchant observations.

Continue reading Patient responsibility/costs/quality

Next year, CIGNA will be (financially) encouraging members to go to more cost efficient providers. The mid-tier health plan has announced that it will be charging members less if they go to lower cost physicians.
CIGNA’s not alone. Aetna’s been a leader in disclosing cost data. Other health plans, partially motivated by a mandate from the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program to publish cost data, more and more health plans are dipping their corporate toes in the water.

Continue reading Patients should know which providers are cheaper