In baseball parlance, sometimes its the trades you don’t make that are the best ones. And it looks like the much-ballyhooed Health Week has ended with the trade deadline slated to pass with no blockbuster moves. As discouraging as that might be for those really interested in health care reform, at least Washington won’t screw it up any more.
That’s because once again, politicians are focusing on the fringes, ignoring the real cost drivers in health care, playing politics with statistics, and getting nowhere in the process. Health Week was supposed to be Congressional Republicans’ public policy win, a series of bills that would show the nation they were serious about health care reform. Were they serious?
To quote Hertz ads, “Not exactly.”
Let’s look at medical malpractice reform and the Association Health Plan Bill.

Continue reading “Health Week” ends with a whimper

One of the more common complaints about insurance for small businesses, and actually for businesses of all sizes, but here we’re talking small ones, is the cost of administration. Premium billing, eligibility, enrollment, card and plan booklet issuance, underwriting and sales all add significant cost to the smaller employers’ already-pricey health insurance tab.
And that’s the main reason fewer and fewer small employers are offering health insurance, and fewer and fewer of their employees are signing up for insurance. As healthy employees decline coverage because they think they won’t need it, the sicker ones stick around, driving up claims costs and furthering the vicious circle that is today’s insurance cycle.
Costco has stepped into the fray, offering its “executive members” on the West Coast slightly cheaper health insurance through its stores. While the rates won’t make you think you’ve entered a time machine and been transported back to the sixties (or 2002, for that matter), the program does seem to be catching on. Over the last three years, membership in the big retailer’s plans has increased by 40% to 15,500 members in Nevada, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington.
Considering only 52% of small employers in Oregon offer health insurance to employees (and only 38% of those offer dependents and spouses coverage), Costco’s efforts won’t solve the health insurance coverage crisis any time soon. It does represent an interesting alternative, as the program reduces adminstrative expenses through automated underwriting, enrollment, and eligibility processes.
I tried out the enrollment process, and it is pretty simple and relatively quick. Rates don’t look too bad, if $541.00 per person for a company with an average age of 44 for single coverage aren’t “too bad”. (I can’t believe I just wrote that; we’re talking $6500 in annual premiums for single coverage!!)
What does this mean for you?
A smart business move by CostCo, which will be quite overmatched by macro factors making health insurance increasingly unaffordable for more and more small employers.
Fierce Healthcare gets the nod for tipping me off to the story.

The President’s health care “reform” package has been deader than Social Security reform for weeks, and yet Mr. Bush remains atop his charger, madly taking on windmills wherever he can find them. The latest tilting was spotted at the American Hospital Association meeting in Houston, wherein Mr. Bush once again called for more Health Spending Accounts, malpractice tort reform, increased investments in technology…
Sen. Trent Lott (R MS) was seen yawning.
When Bush’s hometown paper and staunchest supporters both are less than positive about his so-called health care plan, it is truly dead.
Thank goodness.
Meanwhile, many states are taking control of their own destiny. One of the more intriguing efforts is West Virginia’s AccessWV program , which enables high-risk people to obtain insurance at somewhat affordable premiums, and by all accounts is working well. Although the premiums for AccessWV can be pretty high, the program is the best alternative for individuals and families unable to get coverage due to health conditions.