At the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, we’ve written about how PCPs are an effective weapon in the battle against overuse of technology and increasing costs in health care. We’ve also written about how a salary (based on quality and outcomes) for PCPs would make more sense than the piecemeal income they currently earn.
uninsured
Why Just Insuring Everyone Is Not The Answer
[…] just providing health insurance to the uninsured would still leave us with a pretty big mess. We don’t have enough primary care docs, our drugs are too expensive, our hospitals are too focused on turning a profit, we spent more than any other country on our healthcare, and yet our results are mediocre at best. […]
Hospital Bling A Bad Idea
[…] while some hospitals are adding beautiful atriums, Denver Health is struggling to stay afloat. Adding non-essential services in hospitals that cater to well-to-do clients may make the hospital experience more enjoyable for those who can afford it. But the unintended consequence is that as time goes on, fewer people will be able to afford health care at all.
How Guaranteed Issue Health Insurance Could Work
[…] I do believe that such a system could work under roughly the same framework that we have today in the private health insurance market. It remains to be seen what health insurance reform will actually come about over the next few years. I think that the combination of guaranteed issue and mandatory coverage has a lot of merit and deserves a second look.
Cancer And Poverty In Colorado
A Rocky Mountain News article reports that Colorado residents who live in poverty are more likely to get cancer and more likely to die from it than Coloradans who live above the poverty level. Some changes in our tax and employment systems to eradicate poverty might be a good place to start. This would benefit all of us, not just the impoverished. […]
Cost Of Treating The Uninsured At Denver Health
Here in Colorado, Denver Health Medical Center treats a large number of patients without health insurance, and the cost is staggering. Last year, it cost the hospital $275 million to treat uninsured patients. That number rose to $300 million this year, and is projected to increase to […]
Guest Blogger Writes About Health Care Reform
[…] Over half of all Americans have gone without needed health care (such as doctor visits, medications, and other treatments) due to cost. In most cases, it’s preventative care that suffers. That neglect leads to far higher costs for patients and society in the long run. In light of this study, many are calling for health care reform in the United States.
The Failings Of The Free Market In Health Care
At the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, we’ve often written about the “free market” in health care. In our corner of the industry, there’s really only a free market for the healthiest of applicants. Those with pre-existing conditions can’t get some polices no matter how much they’re […]
Health Wonk Review – The Election Is Over Edition
If you’re wondering what to do with yourself now that the election is over and you can’t listen to pundits debate the finer points of political campaigning, the Health Wonk Review is here to entertain and educate. So how exactly will health care reform fare under our new […]
The Cover Colorado Option
[…] going uninsured means that if (when) they do run into an expensive medical problem in the future, they will be out of luck, as Cover Colorado (and other high risk pools) will enforce a waiting period on pre-existing conditions. So we still find ourselves in a situation where people are uninsured and lacking realistic access to health care.
Leaving a Four Year Old Kid With No Options
[…] I realize that anecdotes are not statistical data. And the story of one family’s struggles with health insurance, regardless of how compelling that story may be, is indeed an anecdote. But I challenge anyone who believes that our health care and health insurance systems are not broken, to come up with a workable solution for the Wilkes family.
Where The Uninsureds Live
[…] In Colorado, there are 12 counties with at least 29.7% of their population with no health insurance. I think this micro-analysis of the uninsured population is long overdue, and I’m hopeful that it will help lawmakers and health insurance carriers target the hardest hit areas when new policy designs and future government health care subsidies are introduced.
Health Insurance And The Free Market
For Colorado residents who are unable to afford a private policy, or unable to qualify at any price, we need a safety net funded with tax dollars. For essential commodities, I don’t believe that having a government back up system signifies the downfall of the free market – it just guarantees a service that isn’t adequately provided in a fully market-driven system. […]
No Health Insurance – Not A Matter Of Choice
At the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, we strongly believe that there are some fundamental problems with our health care system, not the least of which is the often-quoted statistic that 47 million Americans are without health insurance. Let’s take a look and see how many of these people are truly choosing to be uninsured […]
A Bail Out For The Health Care Industry
[…] A little government intervention could go a long way towards getting health insurance and access to health care for all Americans. It does appear that the government is willing to bail out a major free market system if things get bad enough. I just wonder how bad things will have to get in the health care industry before it’s considered bad enough.
Looking At US Health Care From A Developing Country
[…] We live in a shockingly wealthy nation. While you might not be able to find a clinic in the US that doesn’t have gloves, you will find millions of Americans who are unable to afford health care or health insurance. For those people, does it really matter that American hospitals can afford all the best medical equipment that the world has to offer?
What Issues Concern Debra Bartoshevich?
I was watching our local Colorado news after the DNC tonight. John McCain had a commercial featuring a Hillary Clinton supporter who said she was voting for McCain. The ad said she was a “Former Hillary Delegate” and she claimed she was voting for McCain’s “experience and judgement.” This intrigued me because she was obviously very involved in the political process […]
The Power Of Anecdotes
[…] We talk to clients in Colorado on a regular basis who have very little in the way of options for health insurance, despite their best efforts to obtain coverage. Should we simply tell these people that life isn’t fair, and carry on with our day? I just don’t think that’s enough. There but for the grace of God go a lot of us.
Individual Health Insurance Vs Government Intervention
[…] regulations would also be eliminated. For example, state laws that mandate coverage for mammograms or hospital stays after childbirth could be ignored at will.” I’m not sure what they’re referring to here, as there are plenty of mandates on individual policies in Colorado, and I haven’t heard anything about individual health insurance carriers being able to ignore them.
Number Of Underinsureds Rising Rapidly
While an employee at a big company might consider $500 to be a high deductible, the majority of our individual health insurance clients in Colorado choose deductibles between $2000 and $5000, in order to keep the premiums down. That same employee at the big company may only be paying a few dollars a week for health insurance (with the employer paying […]
Uninsured Patients Not Causing ER Overcrowding
and thus three emergency rooms – are within 20 minutes of our home in Broomfield Colorado (and if we were to go a few miles down the road to Denver, there are several more). But I don’t know the location of any urgent care facilities near our home. So in the event of a serious illness or injury, my first reaction would probably be to head for an emergency room […]
Young And Uninsured
Most individual and group health insurance policies drop children once they are no longer full time students, although the rules on that have been changing in recent years. Colorado now allows dependent children to stay on their parents’ health insurance policy until age 25, and many other states have taken a similar position, with some allowing […]
How They Do It In Other Countries
At the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, we tend to be a little behind the times with our TV viewing. Jay and I just watched Frontline’s “Sick Around The World” – sort of like how we watched and reviewed Sicko months after everyone else. Lots of bloggers […]
McCain Health Care Hangs States Out To Dry
In Colorado, we’re lucky to have Cover Colorado available for uninsurable residents who do not have access to other coverage. At least our state has a high risk pool that is open to new enrollees and provides health insurance for people who would otherwise be uninsured. But it’s far from ideal. The policies are expensive and the out of pocket costs are higher than […]
Rescinded Health Insurance Policies Getting Reinstated
I’m curious to see how the situation in CA will affect our health insurance industry practices here in Colorado. I firmly believe that health insurance companies should do their homework before approving a policy, and that once a policy is issued by the insurer and accepted by the member, it should be a binding agreement. I know that would cost the health insurance companies […]