Not For Profits Best For Profit Health Plans in Customer Satisfaction

No particularly reason given for not for profits doing better here. Overall though health plans have very low customer satisfaction scores.

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/print/HEP-290331/Nonprofit-Health-Plans-Edge-ForProfits-in-Customer-Satisfaction

Great Results When Hospitals Share Best Practices

Former CMS head Donald Berwick has good news to report on a national initiative to improve hospital performance. Most eye popping number--over 92,000 lives saved as a result of reduced infections and better care. Amazing.  Plus these hospitals provided this better care at lower costs.


http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/print/QUA-290313/Berwick-Quest-Program-Results-A-Breakthrough

Best Analysis of the two Medicare Proposals by Far

This article by Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic easily does the best job I have seen of comparing the two Medicare reform  initiatives of the two presidential candidates:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/106298/guide-to-medicare-debate-romney-ryan-obama-voucher-premium-support#comment-377242

Supplemental Policies Sales Increase

With high deductible coverage becoing increasing popular due to its lower costs for employees, it appears that employees are buying supplemental policies to fill in the gap:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/us-insurance-supplementary-gaps-idUSBRE87111K20120802t

Maasachusetts Legislature Passes Bill to Rein in Health Care Costs

The Legislature in MA yesterday passed a bill that limits the cost of health care to the rate of economic growth in the state. This will be a challenge for providers and insurers as medical costs increased 6-7% in 2010 while the state economy grew by only 3.6%. More details in this Boston Globe article:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/07/30/legislative-leaders-reach-compromise-plan-control-health-care-spending/nVM0gPAYznIo4Vc9YYlgyH/story.html?

Will this work? Hard to say but MA s the first state in the country to set such a target. More details to follow.

HCCI Report: Rising HC Costs Due to Children

According to a report from the Health Care Cost Institute, a Washington, DC-based research group, spending on healthcare costs for commercially insured children under age 18 grew faster than spending for adults from 2007 to 2010. HCCI had access to three billion health insurance claims from Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare.

Insurers and consumers spent nearly $88 billion on healthcare for children in 2010, up by 12% percent from 2007, according to the HCCI. Spending increased even though the number of children covered by employer-sponsored insurance dropped from 44 million in 2007 to 41.4 million in 2010.

By comparison, healthcare costs for adults increased by 8%. For  the full report please clink on the link below.
http://www.healthcostinstitute.org/childrensreport

Good Summary of What the SC Ruling Means for Medicaid Expansion

One of the key ways of expanding coverage in the ACA was raising Medicaid eligibility to 133% of the poverty level. 29 states opposed being compelled by the feds to do so and now given yesterday's ruling they now have the option not to do so. What does this mean?

If some states do reject the Medicaid expansion, consumers between 100% of poverty and 133% of poverty would become eligible for the private federally subsidized insurance in the exchanges since the subsidies start at 100% of poverty. That would mean more business for those offering private insurance in the exchanges.

It also means that the federal government’s cost of covering these people would increase—covering them under Medicaid would be cheaper than under the private plans in the exchanges.

For those between 100% of poverty and 133% of poverty, it would be a mixed bag. Instead of a Medicaid plan, they would get a mainstream private insurance plan from the exchange that could gain them access to the health care system beyond only the providers who accept Medicaid patients. But they would have to pay 2% of their income in premiums—$600 a year if they make $30,000 a year. And, unlike Medicaid, they would be subject to standard deductibles and copays—perhaps an upfront $1,000 deductible per person. The cheapest plan, the bronze plan, is intended to only cover about 60% of health care costs.

Governors even end up having an incentive to dump Medicaid people onto the exchange—the state has to pay 10% of any Medicaid extension starting in 2017 but none of the cost of subsidies in the private exchanges.

And, some states don't now provide Medicaid coverage for some poor people making less than 100% of the poverty level--leaving them caught in a gap before federal coverage starts at 100%.

So, it’s not an open and shut case for the states on what they should do.