The DNA Dilemma: Desperate for a Diagnosis?
June 11, 2008
Yesterday, we posted on last month’s passage of the Federal Government’s Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
We hope that the law will help protect Americans’ coverage and employment despite their genetic likelihood for disease. This should allow them to feel more comfortable with seeking information about their own DNA in order to better manage their health.
Prior to this legislation passing, however, patients were seeking more private ways of testing their DNA - primarily through take-home kits.
Can You Profit from Health Care? Part 2
May 21, 2008
A couple weeks ago WhatIf explored whether the U.S.’ largest industry – health care – is recession-proof. It seems health insurance companies’ profits are starting to slip. Rising health care costs means that insurers must pay out more to cover health services, which means they raise the price of their policies to recoup these costs. As a result, the number of employers purchasing insurance is decreasing.
Even so, the nation’s largest publicly-traded health plans say they will continue to raise premium prices and reduce provider payments in order to please Wall Street. “We will not sacrifice profitability for membership,” WellPoint President and CEO Angela Braly said recently.
When Insurers Take Their Toys and Go Home
May 10, 2008
For the past few years there has been work in cities and states across the country to improve our citizens’ access to health care. From San Francisco to Vermont, 39 states and a number of cities are in the process of creating legislation that would help address their numbers of uninsured.
Washington, D.C. is one of these. A look at the trouble our nation’s capital is facing on this issue may shed a light on why the words “health care reform” are often greeted with less than a smile.
Can You Profit from Health Care?
May 7, 2008
…..let’s see…
…it used to be the steel industry…and for awhile it was AT&T
…then in the 90’s, the place to put your money was dot.coms
…is it now health care?
With all the talk lately of economic downturn and recession, in many people’s minds (at least those over 50) lurk the tales of the Great Depression and the infamous 1929 stock market collapse. Heck, we don’t even have to go back that far! Remember the early part of this decade when all the Silicon Valley dot.com stocks plummeted and recently millionaired 25-year-olds found themselves trading in their Porsches for middle management jobs at Starbuck’s?
Insurers Dropping Patients Should Think Twice
April 24, 2008
UPDATE:
On April 17, California’s Department of Managed Health Care announced the state’s most assertive stance yet on policy recission: that an independent arbiter will review and hold accountable the state’s 5 major insurers for its past 4 years of canceled policies. Thousands of people will have a chance to win back their coverage and be reimbursed by the insurers for outstanding medical bills if they were deemed to have had their coverage wrongly rescinded.
Originally posted March 17, 2008:
Dialysis Treatment – A Punch in the Kidneys
April 2, 2008
Here’s a fact that may surprise you: kidney failure is the one disease that you can get coverage for – from the Federal Government - no matter what.
For this reason, after 30 months of treatment by a private insurer, dialysis facilities bill Medicare regardless of whether the patient is over 65 or financially stable. For those with kidney failure (End Stage Renal Disease) due to diabetes or other causes, having a machine take over the complicated (and therefore expensive) task of cleaning their blood several times a week allows them to live.
Congress Ready to Promote Mental Health
March 5, 2008
Originally posted November 17, 2007: Metal Health Discrimination? The AP reports that the Senate has passed a bill that would require group health insurance to cover mental health services and substance abuse treatment at the same levels as typical medical coverage. From this little article one gets a glimpse at the way the US has treated mental health. There is a more expansive House version of the mental health parity bill that would also require insurance changes to begin in January 2008 - almost a year earlier than the Senate bill, which has the support of insurance companies. The House bill has made it through three committees.
Finish that Report and Lose 20 LBs
January 25, 2008
Employers, frustrated with how growing health care costs for their employees are eating into their bottom line, are experimenting with incentives for workers to get healthier so as to minimize long-term company spending on health care. Smoking-cessation and weight loss programs are now a growing part of employee health plans, with employees rewarded for “good behavior” with lower monthly premiums, or penalized for “bad behavior” with fines - or in one lawsuit-inducing case, firing. IBM, which sponsors a smoking-cessation program for its employees, is about to expand these financial incentives to employees who enroll their children in obesity education.
My Doctor, the Boss
October 22, 2007
As employer health costs rise, large employers (as many as 30% of them by next year) are building on-site health clinics for their employees - and saving millions. Companies like Perdue, Toyota, Pepsi and Sprint Nextel are returning to the days, not so long ago, when workers’ health care was a company affair. These employees now get access to cheaper doctor visits while on the clock. But current loopholes in HIPAA (the health care privacy law) beg the question: will an employee with a drug problem feel safe getting treatment at work?
-
Connect to WhatIfPost.com
