“New patient in the office today had a CT scan ordered by his urologist for presumed symptomatic kidney stones, which was denied by his insurance for 2 months. I ordered the study stat, cash pay. Done 30 minutes later, $220 cost paid by the patient. Stone identified, results given same day. Treatment and care plan initiated. Now that we have a diagnosis, the urologist has the insurance logjam relieved to proceed with a care plan if our conservative therapy is ineffective. Insurance is frequently an obstacle to health care.” #DPC
Some believe the Individual Market is too weak to revive, given the hit it took as as result of the ACA.
I am optimistic that this ruling to utilize HRA is this manner will be a “shot in the arm” and revitalize the market again.
This article below highlights the benefits of a defined contribution approach as a means to purchase health insurance. Anything that makes us less dependent on ESI and gives more portability & options, freeing the labor market from job-lock is a good thing. – Forum for Healthcare Freedom
Avek Roy
“Last week, the White House finalized a rule that allows employers to fund health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) that can be used by workers to buy their own coverage on the individual market. This subtle, technical tweak has the potential to revolutionize the private health insurance market…
…The council found an elegant way to give employers the opportunity to voluntarily convert their health benefits from a defined benefit into a defined contribution. For example, an employer could fund an HRA for each worker and their family, which they could then use to shop for a plan that best suits their needs.”
“There’s a need for cohesive education that shows corporations and benefits advisors how to tie together value-based approaches to health care that provide higher quality health care at significantly lower costs,” program director Dr. Tom Scott said. “Health care is expensive and unnecessarily complex. This program not only makes health care understandable, but it shows the way to lower costs and better outcomes.”
Unfortunately, outrage buys fewer tongue depressors than one might hope. The top health insurers averaged 4.1 percent profit in 2017 (perYahoo Finance). That’s taken on half (at most) of spending for-profit insurers handle. Eliminating those profits would save about 2 percent. Since health care gets 4.5 percent more expensive every year, that would in effect roll prices back to last August.
The UK saw costsrisewhen it launched the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. Health Minister Aneurin Bevan bought doctors off (“stuffed their mouths with gold”) to win support for it. Pent-up demand put it over budget immediately. In the first year, it spent32 timeswhat it had planned for eyeglasses. It had to raise salaries to attract more nurses. Prime Minister Clement Attlee pleaded over the radio with citizens not to overburden the system.
“Just as health insurance is not health care, so too health insurance reform is not health care reform. Yet, because the ACA got so much press, and many previously uninsured individuals did secure insurance (giving us all the warm and fuzzies), the result was a nationwide misconception that affordable insurance equates with affordable health care. For many, ObamaCare is therefore viewed as a success because millions of uninsured Americans are now insured.
Yet, insurance isn’t a magical money-tree. Like a college student wielding his first credit card, a newly insured America forgets that “someone” has to pay, eventually. What you buy – with your own money, or with insurance – and how much it costs, still matters. Insurance just passes the buck – to other insureds, and to you, when the time comes to renew. It blows my mind. People are involved in car accidents, get out of their vehicle, examine the minor damage, and agree NOT TO REPORT IT TO THEIR INSURANCE, because they DON’T WANT THEIR PREMIUM TO INCREASE! People actually choose to pay for car repairs out of pocket, because they fear insurance premium increases and want to save their insurance for “when they really need it.” Yet, if we treated auto insurance the way we treat health insurance, we’d be outraged that insurance doesn’t pay for the air in my tires, or the dancing hula girl on my dashboard.”
Way back in 2009, some folks on the left shared a chart showing that national expenditures on healthcare compared to life expectancy. This comparison was not favorable to the United States, which e…
Hundreds of NHS managers have amassed million-pound pension pots while presiding over the worst financial crisis in the history of the health service… As patients face crippling delays for treatment, A&E closures and overcrowded wards, bureaucrats have quietly been building up huge taxpayer-funded pensions. They will be handed tax-free six-figure lump sums on retirement, and annual payouts from the age of 60 of at least £55,000 – guaranteed for life.
Nearly 300 directors on NHS trust boards have accrued pension pots valued at £1million or more; At least 36 are sitting on pots in excess of £1.5million – with three topping a staggering £2 million; The NHS pays a staggering 14.3 per cent on top of employees’ salary towards their pension – almost five times the average of 3 per cent paid in the private sector…
Back in 2013, I got very upset when I learned that senior bureaucrats at the IRS awarded themselves big bonuses, notwithstanding the fact that the agency was deeply tarnished by scandal because of …
Our Rights come from God, not government. Physician/ Patient/ Survivor/ Wife/ Mother of 4 daughters/ Small biz owner/ Limited Government/ No Socialized Medicine/ Texan/ President www.AAPSonline.org
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