February 2012

The Subjective Nature Of The Affordability Of Health Insurance

by Louise February 29, 2012

[...] Health insurance is definitely not cheap. For those who qualify for programs like Medicaid and CHP+, the subsidized or free coverage is likely a lifesaver. But what about middle class families who don’t qualify for public health insurance, but for whom health insurance premiums are a budget buster? Why is health insurance more of a priority for one family than for another (to the point that one family will cut their budget in other areas, like clothing and vacations and vehicles, in order to keep paying for their health insurance)? Is it all about personal experience? If you’ve had a medical scare or have a loved one who has had significant medical bills (especially at a young age, or for an out-of-the-blue medical condition), are you more likely to rearrange your priorities to make health insurance affordable, regardless of your income? If you’ve always been healthy, are you more likely to see health insurance as a money-pit and opt to spend your money elsewhere?

We know that the percentage of our income that is being spent on healthcare has climbed significantly over the past decade. For a lot of people, it’s becoming a much more significant monthly expense than it used to be. But whether or not it’s “affordable” really depends on the person being asked.

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Would Premiums Without A Mandate Really Only Be 2.4% Higher Than With A Mandate?

by Louise February 27, 2012

[...] Keep in mind that all of those prices are based on the fact that the individual policies are medically underwritten (which means that the rates can be increased during underwriting or the application can be denied based on medical history), while the group plans are guaranteed issue and the rates cannot vary based on the group’s health status. There’s a huge range of options available, both in the individual and small group markets. But the premiums in the small group market for our family of four (parents in their 30s with two young children) would be roughly double what they are in the individual market.

Although I realize that the RAND study is important and useful, I wonder why the real-life scenario of individual versus small group premiums is so different. And although the ACA does put a cap on how much greater premiums can be for older people versus younger people, it doesn’t stipulate what the base premiums have to be for the younger people. Premiums have to follow the MLR rules (with insurers spending at least 80 – 85% of premiums on medical expenses), but they will reflect claims expenses pretty closely. [...]

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Will The Colorado Health Benefits Exchange Be Integrated With Public Assistance Programs?

by Louise February 23, 2012

[...] Last summer, lawmakers in Colorado were concerned that federal requirements that visitors to the exchanges be screened for eligibility for Medicaid, CHIP and federal health insurance subsidies would increase enrollment in Colorado’s safety-net health insurance programs. Given the budget woes that those programs have had, the lawmakers were hesitant to make the exchange a “one stop shop” for public assistance programs. But much has also been said about the importance of integrating the exchanges with public benefits programs in order to close the gaps that people can fall into if their incomes fluctuate between eligibility for federal health insurance subsidies and eligibility for Medicaid. This proposal calls for the exchange and the public benefits programs to be interoperable as of January 1, 2014 and integrated as of December 15, 2015. For the sake of simplicity and protecting the needs of low-income families, it seems that the more seamless we can make the health insurance enrollment process (particularly for those who go back and forth between Medicaid and private health insurance), the better.

It will be interesting to see how the separate/interoperable/integrated scenarios for the health benefits exchange and Colorado’s public assistance programs play out over the next couple years as the exchange is created and implemented.

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Preauthorizations And Legal-eze: Why Health Insurers Have To Use Them

by Louise February 22, 2012

[...] Starting in 2014, health insurance will be guaranteed issue and all of us will be required to have coverage. But until then, individual health insurance is priced based on medical underwriting and (in most cases) slightly less comprehensive benefits than group policies. That’s why it’s less expensive to have an individual policy than a group policy or a guaranteed issue policy like CoverColorado. If health insurance carriers (both individual and group) don’t go over their claims closely and utilize preauthorizations, they run the risk of being defrauded – which will only drive premiums higher than they already are. If they don’t use the specific legal-eze required by state regulations, they will run afoul of the Division of Insurance.

There are plenty of examples of health insurance carriers using unfair or deceptive practices. We’re lucky in Colorado to have a strong Division of Insurance that works hard to protect consumers. Regulations that protect patients and insureds from unfair business practices are largely beneficial (and tend to weed out the shady insurance carriers). But Jaan’s article highlights the fact that health insurance carriers also have to protect themselves. If they don’t, they will end up with premiums that are far higher than the rest of their competition – and that isn’t sustainable.

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Too Much Paperwork

by Louise February 21, 2012

[...] I don’t know what the solution is here. On the one hand, we need regulation. We know that without it, there are way too many cracks into which all sorts of things can fall. And regulation is meaningless without having a way to objectively measure compliance and progress. But when we reach the point where doctors feel that they’re spending more of their time doing clerical work (eg, filling out compliance paperwork, documenting everything for their lawyers and for their patients’ health insurance carriers, etc.) than interacting with patients, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate.

This is especially important as the ACA rolls out over the next few years. One of the goals is to make healthcare more efficient. But if we inadvertently end up bogging down the healthcare professionals in a sea of red tape and bureaucracy, efficiency is likely to decline. Hopefully doctors and nurses and other healthcare professionals – who work in the healthcare field on a daily basis – can be consulted to provide input on how best to measure compliance with well-intentioned regulatory programs.

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New T.R. Reid Documentary Highlights Greatness In Our Healthcare System

by Louise February 17, 2012

[...] Overutilization – driven by supply rather than demand – was another common theme in the program. Basically, that the more healthcare supply we have (eg, scanning machines), the more utilization we have. This accounts for a large part of the huge variation in healthcare costs from one city to another. And in all of the hospitals and medical practices featured on the program, curbing over-utilization has been a high priority. One hospital figured out that blood transfusions during surgery aren’t nearly as necessary as they once thought (and indeed, the patients often do better without them). Given that the total cost of blood transfusions is about $1000/pint (!), that’s quite a cost-saving discovery. In another large clinic, pharmaceutical reps were no longer allowed to visit and they also removed the samples of brand name drugs that once filled their drawers. This was a controversial move, but they analyzed a lot of data provided by their local Blue Cross insurance carrier and found that they could optimize pharmaceutical care for a lot less money – patients had better outcomes and the clinic reduced overall Rx spending by $88/million a year compared with the state average.

The Program also showed and example of how patient-centered medical homes work in the real world. PCMHs are a huge buzz word these days, but the PBS documentary shows one in action, and they did a great job of making it easy for patients to visualize how such a program would work and how it would benefit us – including things like much more face time with doctors, and a reduction in the number of hospitalizations and ER visits. In addition to PCMHs, shared decision making between doctors and patients (another buzz word in healthcare reform) was highlighted as having a positive impact on both utilization and patient satisfaction. [...]

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Health Wonk Review At The Healthcare Economist

by Louise February 16, 2012

[...] One of the most interesting pieces in this edition comes from Avik Roy, writing at Forbes about the historical relationship between political conservatives and individual mandates for health insurance. It’s a long article, but definitely worth reading. The individual mandate is going to be on everyone’s radar this year (if it wasn’t already) once it gets taken up by the Supreme Court. Roy’s piece gives us a bit of perspective on how political viewpoints regarding an individual mandate have changed over the decades.

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Doctors, Patients, and The Exercise Discussion

by Louise February 15, 2012

[...] Encouraging people to take responsibility for their health (specifically in terms of what they eat and how much they exercise) could be one of the keys to reducing our out-of-control healthcare spending (and in turn, help to control ever-increasing health insurance premiums). I think that discussions about exercise and nutrition have to become a cornerstone of every preventive care office visit, and hopefully also find a place in visits with specialists. But getting from here to there will take an adjustment of expectations on the part of both patients and their doctors. Kudos to Dr. Schattner for starting the discussion.

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Nearly Half Of The Uninsured Believe The ACA Won’t Affect Them

by Louise February 13, 2012

[...] One of the most interesting parts of the interview is the discussion about Americans’ awareness of the ACA details, and their expectation of whether the bill will impact them directly. Karen notes that a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation last August found that only half of uninsured Americans had a good understanding of the main provisions of the ACA. This is particularly interesting because the 50 million uninsured people in this country were one of the primary groups that the ACA was aiming to help. In addition, 47 percent of the uninsured felt that the ACA wasn’t going to affect them directly. I have to wonder if there is any overlap between the people who are unaware of how the major provisions in the ACA work, and the people who have expressed an opinion – one way or the other – about whether they support or oppose the ACA. Karen also pointed out that a lot of Americans are getting their information about the ACA from sources like talk radio and cable TV programs. The likelihood that this information is biased and/or overly hyped in one direction or the other is quite high. [...]

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