Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
If watching the legislative process in DC is akin to watching sausage made, the passage of the Medicare Drug bill might be akin to the composting process. Roy Poses at Health Care Renewal reflects on “60 minutes'” recent piece on the making of Part D; Roy’s deep experience with big pharma adds a good bit of perspective.
Health care reform is coming; read Roy’s piece for a heads’ up on what the legislative process may look like.
Bob Laszewski weighs in on the Wellpoint insurance cancellation debacle. As a former health insurance company president, Bob’s perspective is unique.
California, New York, and Texas are all in various stages of reforming their workers comp systems. Florida’s reforms have been in place for several years, and rates have dropped thru the floor. WC premiums have decreased even more, with some employers seeing cuts of 50%. South Carolina may also see changes, and there are initiatives on the table in several other states as well.
Lower costs are great, for the buyer. Employers can move on to other important issues, shoving risk management initiatives to the bottom of the pile. They can move their business easily, as there are more work comp insurers clamoring for their business, eager to lower premiums even further in an effort to capture market share.
But there can be a significant downside to successful reform efforts.
Jane Hiebert-White at Health Affairs has just posted the latest and greatest of the health policy blogosphere. Her edition is rich with the latest on policy, with compelling posts for and against “socialized medicine”.
Read on!
Consumer directed health plans will make all of us better users of the health care system. We’ll shop for price, be careful about what procedures we get from whom for how much how often. We’ll bargain, examine data, and carefully compare providers.
And as a result, we’ll all save a bundle, and the US health care system to boot.
Sort of.
More evidence is emerging about the rather minimal impact medical malpractice has on medical costs.
The financial reporting season for publicly traded companies using the calendar year is just about over. AIG’s numbers look rather good, with a 34.1% improvement in net profits on revenue growth of 3.9%. Sure, the company has had its struggles with regulators, but the overall results are quite impressive.
The increase in profits came on the heels of a $1.8 billion increase in reserves for workers comp claims over 2005. The reserves were bumped up despite an improvement in the loss ratio for the DBG operation (domestic business group, the home of most of AIG’s work comp business) from 82.5% in 2005 to 69.1% in 2006.
No, I’m not obsessed. At least not with the Concentra-FirstHealth merger. But information keeps popping up about various aspects of the deal that a few readers actually find very interesting.
The latest concerns the IME business.
The fine may be a million bucks, but the PR damage is much worse.
California workers comp rates are likely to drop again. Clearly, the WC reform initiatives are starting to pay off.
That’s good. Sort of.
When rates drop, employers’ costs go down, leaving more money for investment, profits, higher wages, and perhaps even health insurance.
That’s the good news.
Continue reading California’s rate reduction – not all good news
