Even With Malpractice Insurance, Doctors Opt for Expensive, Defensive Medicine Manoj Jain The Washington Post, 08/31/10
Most malpractice suits turn out to be against doctors who were not at fault. Of every 100 malpractice claims filed, only 17 appeared to involve a negligent injury, such as a medication overdose resulting in death, according to a 2004 New England Journal of Medicine review. This means that patients and lawyers appear to be suing the doctors and hospitals for non-negligent injury 83 percent of the time. Some researchers have likened our malpractice system to a traffic cop who gives out 100 tickets to nab 17 drivers who have run a red light, in the process ticketing 83 who drove through a green light quite properly. The second paradox is this: Studies of hospital records show that of every 100 injuries that occur due to medical negligence, only two result in malpractice claims. This means that 98 of 100 negligent injuries go unchallenged. To continue with the traffic analogy, of all the drivers who run red lights, only a very few are caught and receive a ticket. Read more...
The Facts About Health Care Reform Michael Egren Egren's Insights, 2/10/10
As the CEO of a manufacturing business I spent over 25 years developing extensive expertise regarding the issues of health care. There is a good reason that most politicians, commentators, and journalists know so little about the problems and solutions. It is a tremendously complex problem that touches on everything from the health care system itself, to Federal, State, municipal and school budgets, to even our education system which fails to adequately educate students to understand our own economic system. It is frustrating to be dependent on politicians to improve the health care system, who appear to have such inadequate problem solving skills. Frequently it appears they are coming up with solutions when they don’t even understand the problem or the cause of the problem. Perhaps the following list of questions below can help people understand the importance of reform, the problems that need to be solved, and possible solutions. Read more...
Next Step for U.S. Health Care Michael Egren Egren's Insights, 4/5/10
If you understand my summary of health reform issues, now that ObamaCare has passed, you will realize that instead of solving the root causes of the health care problems, the new legislation makes them worse. As a result, the government will continue to “negotiate” unrealistic costs for providers. More and more providers will refuse to take Medicaid and Medicare patients, there won’t be enough retail patients to whom to spread a higher and higher cost. As costs for non-government beneficiaries continue to increase, along with mandates in the new legislation, insurance costs will have to increase. There is no way they can decrease as anticipated by the Democrats. Read more...
More Health Care Fiction Boston Herald, 8/30/10
The notion that “if you like your health plan you can keep it” under Obamacare has already been proven a lie. Just ask the 200,000 Massachusetts residents enrolled in Medicare Advantage who will be forced to switch, with the elimination of that popular program. Now a new analysis by a private research firm estimates that more than 3 million Medicare beneficiaries nationwide will be forced to find a new prescription drug plan, thanks to an expected culling of the plans offered in each state. Gee, nobody mentioned that! According to the Associated Press, the analysis by Avalere Health estimates that 2.75 million Medicare beneficiaries would be forced to enroll in a new drug plan because of a Medicare requirement that limits insurers to offering one “basic” plan in each state. When other changes are factored in as many as 3.7 million recipients could have to deal with the inconvenience of a switch. Read more...
Health-care Funding Provision Could Face Repeal N.C. Aizenman Washington Post, 8/29/10
Five months after the adoption of the sweeping new health-care law, momentum is building to modify and possibly repeal one of its funding sources. The sums in question are small in comparison with the total trillion-dollar tab for the health-care overhaul, but some see the move as an opening for further changes to a law Democrats had been determined to leave untouched. The provision, which takes effect next year, will require businesses to file 1099 tax forms reporting any purchases they make of goods or services above $600 from any individual or business, including corporations. Currently, businesses only need to file 1099s when they buy services - and only when the vendor is an unincorporated person or business. The move - designed to clamp down on tax evasion- was projected to raise $17.1 billion over 10 years toward the cost of the health-care law. But the measure has prompted alarm from small businesses, who complain that it could prove exceedingly labor-intensive and expensive. Read more...
Cash-Poor Governments Ditching Public Hospitals Suzanne Sataline The Wall Street Journal, 8/29/10
Faced with mounting debt and looming costs from the new federal health-care law, many local governments are leaving the hospital business, shedding public facilities that can be the caregiver of last resort. A patient and care giver at Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna, Alaska, where the government is considering a partnership with the for-profit LHP Hospital Group of Texas. Officials in Lauderdale County, Ala., this spring opted to transfer their 91-year-old Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital and other properties to a for-profit company after struggling to satisfy an angry bond insurer. "We were next to knocking on bankruptcy's door,' said Rhea Fulmer, a Lauderdale County commissioner who approved the deal with RegionalCare Hospital Partners, of Brentwood, Tenn, but with trepidation. She said the county had no guarantee the company would improve care in the decades to come. "Time will tell.' Read more...
Emily Litella Response to Medicare Trustees Report–Never Mind Dennis G. Smith Leavitt Partners Blog, 8/26/10
During the late 1970s, Saturday Night Live (SNL) featured a skit with Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner in which Ms. Radner, in the character of Emily Litella, would provide her views on topics of the day. After informed by the news anchor (Chase) that she misunderstood the topic, Litella would sheepishly respond, “Never mind.” On August 5, the Department of Health and Human Services released a press statement, entitled “Trustees Announce Solvency of Medicare Trust Fund Extended By 12 Years to 2029” with a subtitle, “Affordable Care Act Helping to Extend Life of Trust Fund.”(1) But on the very same day, the Office of the Actuary (OACT) released a memorandum, “Projected Medicare Expenditures under an Illustrative Scenario with Alternative Payment Updates to Medicare Providers,” that flatly states, “… the projections shown in the (Trustees) report do not represent the ‘best estimate’ of actual future Medicare expenditures.”(2) In other words, never mind. Read more...
The First Victims of Health Care Reform Kate Pickert Time, 8/26/10
As Democrats on the campaign trail do their best to drum up support for health care reform by touting the benefits that take effect this year, it's easy to forget that the full thrust of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act doesn't kick in until 2014. But by then, a few major players in the health care industry might have already experienced a real downside of the massive overhaul, so much so that they may no longer exist. Insurance agents and brokers and small insurance companies are among those who may have to scramble to stay afloat over the next few years. This is partly by design and partly an unintended consequence of a new law that is so sweeping, it will affect nearly every corner of an industry that accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Read more...
Explaining Colorado Amendment 63: Right to Health Care Choice Brian Schwartz PatientPowerNow.com, 8/10/10
Barring unforeseen obstacles, The Colorado Right to Health Care Choice Initiative (Colorado Amendment 63) will be among the ballot measures Colorado voters can vote on in this November’s election -- in addition to others in Colorado politics. Some people are bound to misunderstand what the amendment would do, and not do, as Representative Diana DeGette illustrated with her statement last week. For a better understanding, I recommend first reading the the text of Colorado Right to Health Care Choice initiative (less than 300 words). Then I recommend listening to Independence Institute’s Director of Operations Mike Krause and II President Jon Caldara discuss the Colorado Right to Health Care Choice Initiative. Read more...
