Private Insurers Already Forming ACOs

Forget about waiting for Medicare ACOs, private insureres are moving forward:

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-1/LED-265538/ACO-Creation-Driven-by-Commercial-Market

Employers Sending Employees to Private Exchanges

Instead of purchasing insurance for their employees, some employers are providing a defined contribution and sending them to private exchanges to buy individual coverage. This seems fine to me if you are healthy, but what if you are not?

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2011/April/29/private-health-exchanges.aspx

Employers Continue to Pass Costs Along to Employees

Here are the results from another employer survey on health benefits cost increases:

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/HEP-265299/3-in-4-Employers-to-Increase-Health-Plan-Deductibles-or-Copays.html

More Data on "Skin in the Game " Effects on HC Costs

To continue the discussion on how having "skin in the game" could reduce HC costs, I offer this link which examines out-of-pockets costs of HC in various countries. What it shows is that high out-of-pocket costs are NOT correlated w/low HC costs:

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/skin-game-continued

VT Moves Closer to Single Payer

Legislation for Green Mountain Care passed the state senate and now moves to conference. A single yet to be identified single funding source will be employed:

http://www.businessinsurance.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110427/BENEFITS03/110429937/1233

Consolidation of the HI Market Implicaions

Here is an interesting interview with the IL DOI Commissioner who will soon be moving to DC to become Director of the Federal Office of Insurance:

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2011/April/27/Moore-McRaith-Office-of-Insurance-On-Reform.aspx

Why Patients Are Not Consumers

Conservatives consistently say how having "skin in the game" will control the cost of health care. Given what I have seen of how little people understand about their health care insurance, I have always had my doubts about how these same individuals transform into super-educated consumers of health care, particularly when good cost and quality data are still not available. Here is the perspective of an ER doc on the issue that is definitely worth a read:

http://allbleedingstops.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-patients-are-not-consumers.html