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Individual Health Insurance Plans: Too Many Options, Too Little Guidance
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2012 Comment (5)Each year U.S. News, like most sizable enterprises, offers its employees various options for health insurance coverage. This past fall my wife and I, with the usual uncertainty and trepidation, selected one. We hope we chose wisely.
But we had it easy compared with the roughly 33 million Americans who can't get group health coverage and aren't eligible for public coverage through Medicaid and Medicare. They must either go without coverage (otherwise referred to as going bare) or shop for one of the commercial health plans marketed directly to individuals. Since employers aren't picking up part of the cost, the size of the monthly premium will have a lot to say about the coverage these individuals and their families can afford. Perhaps it's not surprising that at least half of them go without.
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Welcome to Second Opinion
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2012 CommentThe tone and much of the message of this new blog may ring a bell with those who visited Comarow on Quality during its several-year run. As CoQ did, Second Opinion will focus on how U.S. News and other institutions evaluate healthcare quality. We will offer a behind-the-curtains view of Best Hospitals and other U.S. News health rankings—why we include certain data and exclude other types.
We will devote more space in Second Opinion, however, to discussions of what might be termed demonstrative data. These are the metrics that reveal important facets of healthcare performance, quality, and value. Finding, analyzing, and presenting such numbers—even creating them when necessary—are vital to all U.S. News health-related rankings and ratings.
