Health Buzz: Health Insurers Propose Overhaul and Other Health News
Health Insurers Propose Coverage for All
Representatives of the insurance industry told Congress yesterday that they support an overhaul of the healthcare system that would call for them to accept any customer who applies for coverage, regardless of health status, the Associated Press reports. But insurers also favor a requirement for all Americans to have health insurance. Requiring health insurance for all is needed, according to industry analysts, because mandatory inclusion of both healthy and sick people would allow insurers to distribute risk over a larger group of people. Two health insurance trade organizations—America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association—put forth separate proposals that each called for coverage of those with pre-existing medical conditions in conjunction with mandating coverage for all Americans.
In September, U.S. News's Michelle Andrews reported that health insurance premiums are up again. Earlier, she listed four ways to save on your medical bills.
How to Deal With Digestive Problems
The digestive system has many varied and unpleasant ways of asserting itself when the process isn't going smoothly—all well worth pondering as the holidays approach. But while everyone suffers the occasional Imodium moment, a surprisingly large number of people wrestle every day with more disabling disorders, from Crohn's disease to gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome, which by itself afflicts as many as 1 in 5 people, Michelle Andrews reports. For many, severe pain and the unpredictable need for a bathroom can mean living as prisoners in their own homes.
Andrews explores whether hypnosis and counseling can help ease the symptoms of IBS and Crohn's disease. Also, U.S. News lists seven common digestive problems and how to end them. And Adam Voiland reports on the growing use of the gluten-free diet, a therapy for celiac disease, in people who don't have that digestive condition.
Exploring the Usefulness of Hospital Ratings
Last Friday, U.S. News's Avery Comarow criticized a report in the public policy journal Health Affairs arguing that consumers' relatively restrained use of hospital ratings and data (such as America's Best Hospitals) can be blamed on confusion: The ratings and rankings measure different aspects of care, cannot be compared, and often contradict one another. He wrote that consumers can wade through the information, just as families sift through facts and numbers in America's Best Colleges and other college guides of more than 1,500 pages and cobble together custom lists online by sorting and clicking. He charged the study authors with condescending to consumers and underestimating their capabilities to do the same with hospital data.
This week, Comarow explored whether hospital ratings are a mess, a message, or both. Check out U.S. News's America's Best Hospitals special report, including how we conducted our rankings, a glossary of terms, and an in-depth look at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which is one top hospital.
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—January W. Payne
Reader Comments
Service or Right?
Does everyone need health insurance? No. They only need it if they want to live.
Does everyone need food? No. They only need it if they want to live.
Does the government mandate that everyone eat? No. So why would we mandate health insurance?
Those who advocate for government-run health care apparently have never received medical services at government-run clinics or hospitals like the old and poorly-equipped state-run Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Government-employed doctors and nurses have no incentives to work hard i.e. seeing more patients because they are on fixed salaries. i.e. they get the same pay whether they see 20 or 100 patients a day. In a single-payer health care system, because of the lack of competition, government-run hospitals and clinics have no reasons or incentives to improve their facilities and services due to constant government budget constraint and deficit. On the other hand, private hospitals/ clinics and private physician practices are constantly trying to improve their facilities, their services, and their efficiency because they are in competition for more customers (patients). The more patients they see the more money they make. The next time you are sick, just check into one of you local government-run public clinic or hospital and see how long the wait line and wait time is and what kind of services you receive. Or you can follow these links and read this news story to learn about some of these government-run facilities.
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Three_Hospital_Employees_Fired_After_Patients_Death_29603.html
http://www.cherryhospital.org/
If we are willing to pay taxes at 2 to 3 times the rate we are currently paying, then our government will probably be able to provide universal “free” health care for everyone like the system the Europeans are receiving. I don’t know what the tax rates for the Europeans are but I suspect theirs are much higher than ours. I do know for a fact that a gallon of gas here costs 3 to 4 dollars; in Europe it’s 10 to 12 dollars.
Adding Uninsured to the Pool Reduces Cost How?
Points to ponder: 1) The British system is a nationalized system built from the ground up after WWII. It's highly unlikely this country will ever nationalize all the providers; no margin = no mission. 2) How is adding 50M uninsured people (recall, low finances usually = poorer health status) going to spread the risk and the cost? Adding people with poorer health status means fees have to go up for the current payers, or services have to be reduced. 3) If you increase demand for services and not service delivery capacity (see Mass.) then expect to wait for treatment unless care is rationed. 4) There will always be conditions not cured or managed by good nutrition and exercise. But, the majority of the health problems Americans face are directly related to poor diets and lack of exercise. A lot of costs could be avoided if we, as individuals, were truly committed to healthy lifestyles. It's not that lip service is all that's paid to nutrition/exercise. It's that most folks don't want to be bothered with the time and effort it takes and healthcare providers grow weary of talking the the unreceptive or unwilling. 5) There's no such thing as something for nothing. That said, we should be able to figure out how to at least keep people from going bankrupt due to medical expenses. 6) If it was an easy fix, then it would've been done by now. Complex problems can have easy solutions, but they require a lot of resources. Some of those resources are public (law making; public money) and some are private (taking responsibility for the things you can control about your health). Good luck and good health to all.
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