The National Governor's Association may seem like an odd place to get health information but it issues an interesting report on state efforts to manage complex patients.
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A survey from provider price comparison vendor Vitals finds that most consumers who have serious medical costs also have limited skills and resources to effectively manage those costs.
http://www.fiercemedicaldevices.com/press-releases/fda-approves-expanded-use-innovative-trial-system-incontinence-therapy-0?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internalOne of my favorite annual reports is out, from the International Federation of Health Plans, comparing prices for medical services and goods in various countries.
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In part III of our look at the Kaiser Health Benefits Survey we cover drug benefits, wellness and miscellaneous matters.
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The National Committee for Quality Assurance releases its health plan quality scores for 2015, on a 1 to 5 scale. Some interesting reading, most of the big players, including UnitedHealth, Cigna and Blue Cross, have some very poorly rated plans.
http://healthinsuranceratings.ncqa.org/2015/Default.aspxIn the second part of our review of the Kaiser health benefits report, we focus on plans offered and employee uptake.
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Another one of the health plan co-ops created by the reform law bites the dust, as New York regulators close down Health Republic Insurance for insolvency. How's that "these co-ops will provide inexpensive competition to the big guys" rationale working out? And how should taxpayers feel as their tax dollars circle the drain when these co-ops don't repay their loans, which by the way totaled $265 million for Health Republic.
http://www.dfs.ny.gov/about/press/pr1509251.htmThe Kaiser Foundation has released its outstanding annual survey of employers in regard to health benefits.
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A blog post in Health Affairs underscores that individual practice variation across physicians may be the most basic unit of health care utilization and cost variation. This variation is likely driven both by physician practice styles and preferences and patient preferences.
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2015/09/23/physician-level-practice-variation-who-you-see-is-what-you-get/The latest Institute of Medicine report regarding health care quality explores diagnosis issues.
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Someone needs to explain health insurance to Hillary Clinton. In a supposed effort to help middle-income voters, er, I mean people, she proposes to limit copays on doctor visits. All this will do is drive up insurance premiums and increase consumer premium cost-sharing. There is no free ride.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/hillary-clinton-health-care-affordability-plan-213982About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at khroche@healthy-skeptic.com.