Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
A couple of sources informed me that the company CorVel bought in California is actually a Work Comp claims company – a third party administrator or TPA. This is really confusing. Not only does CorVel sell their services to TPAs, … Continue reading Even more Mystified
Read More...Here’s a synopsis of the initial reactions from the health blogosphere to Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D OR) Healthy Americans Act. Ezra Klein notes that insurance companies will have to compete on quality and low cost instead of medical underwriting and … Continue reading UPDATE – Other thoughts on Wyden’s Health plan
Read More...Medicare Advantage subsidies will be cut, while Medicare will gain the ability to negotiate drug prices, albeit on a limited basis. Those are my predictions for legislation that will be passed early in January by Congress. The trick will be … Continue reading January on the Hill
Read More...Non-insurance folks, especially those who aren’t happy with their insurance for whatever reason, or those seeking to write best-selling books (John Grisham, for one), use some pretty strong adjectives describing the heartless penny-pinching mean-spirited folk who are “the insurance company”. … Continue reading What insurance people are really like
Read More...CorVel’s stock has hit the stratosphere, giving the company a market cap of over half a billion dollars, and a PE of 37. The stock’s price has more than tripled in the last year, and trading has been particularly heavy … Continue reading Is there a First Health in CorVel’s future
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Read More...Medical tourism looks to be exploding, growing much faster than many (your author included) had expected. The latest figures indicate a half-million Americans sought care overseas last year. Much of the care is delivered in Canada and Mexico, but lots … Continue reading the flattening world of health care
Read More...Coventry announced their third quarter earnings this week, and much of the news was good. Health plans have been experiencing declining medical loss ratios and strong pricing, resulting in solid profiits and increasing revenues, and Coventry’s results mirror the industry. … Continue reading First Health’s unfulfilled promise
Read More...I’m suffering from a severe case of cognitive dissonance, brought on by completely conflicting statements in articles from a single source, the New York Times. In Friday’s business section, Alex Berenson notes that big pharma, led by Pfizer, Lilly, Novartis … Continue reading Drug-induced dissonance
Read More...Dr Mark McClellan has left his post as administrator for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). On his way out he talked about the future of the Medicare program, his views on the benefits of market-based competition, and … Continue reading McClellan’s parting views
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