http://www.pnhp.org/news/ en-us Copyright 2008 Fri, 16 May 2008 18:49:46 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Since the employer's contribution to the premium is actually paid by the employee in foregone wage increases, the entire $15,609 in typical family medical costs comes out of the employee's total compensation package. Just think of how much more those who actually need health care would be paying. The increasing shift of costs from the employer to the employee, although only nominal, does make more explicit the employee's role in paying for health care. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/employees_nominally_.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/employees_nominally_.php Quote of the Day Fri, 16 May 2008 18:49:46 +0000 The 2008 FEHBP monthly premium for the standard Blue Cross/Blue Shield family plan is $1,027.95, or $12,335.40 per year. Policy analysts have recommended that premiums be limited to 10 percent of income. At this rate, the family would have to have an income of $123,000 just to pay the premium, excluding out-of-pocket expenses for health care. If the premium for a standard Blues plan for a relatively healthy population is no longer affordable, a premium for a plan that includes those who need health care (risk adjusted insurance pools in a universal system) you can forget about. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/tie_contributions_to.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/tie_contributions_to.php Quote of the Day Thu, 15 May 2008 14:31:00 +0000 So the private health insurance companies "will not sacrifice profitability for membership." Yet the presidential candidates insist on keeping this industry in charge. Whose arrogance is this? http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/insurers_choose_betw.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/insurers_choose_betw.php Quote of the Day Wed, 14 May 2008 16:05:48 +0000 Ouch! In this special issue of Health Affairs, we hear once again that the politics of reform requires compromise. The current political dynamic moves forward with the assumption that a single payer national health program represents an uncompromising position on health policy that ignores political realities. That may be true, but does that warrant the exclusion of consideration of policies that would improve the efficiency, equity and affordability of health care merely because the political alignment is not yet optimum? http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/health_affairs_exclu.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/health_affairs_exclu.php Quote of the Day Tue, 13 May 2008 15:51:59 +0000 by Ben Elgin and Jessica Silver-Greenberg | BusinessWeek
In fall 2006, Ralph Giunta Sr. decided to buy his son Ralph Jr. a practical birthday gift: health insurance. The father, who owns a small financial-services company that lacks an insurance plan, phoned Palm Beach Community College, where his son was on the dean's list. The Lake Worth (Fla.) school recommended a policy provided by MEGA Life and Health Insurance, whose student business was acquired in late 2006 by giant UnitedHealthcare. Giunta wrote a check for $1,044 for one year. "They assured me he was well covered," he says.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/is_your_kid_covered.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/is_your_kid_covered.php Articles of Interest Mon, 12 May 2008 18:18:45 +0000 By MARIA BRANDECKER | Legislative Gazette Staff Writer
Supporters of a single-payer health care system held a rally outside the Capitol in Albany last Tuesday urging state and federal leaders to ensure all Americans get coverage.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/advocates_asking_for.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/advocates_asking_for.php Articles of Interest Mon, 12 May 2008 17:18:35 +0000 It is astounding that UnitedHealthcare has been able to achieve a medical loss ratio as low as 10%, retaining 90% of the premiums for administration and profit, simply by selling college students nearly worthless products that fail to prevent financial hardship in the face of medical need. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/unitedheathcares_pl.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/unitedheathcares_pl.php Quote of the Day Mon, 12 May 2008 16:57:37 +0000 By Karen Gadiel | Ithaca Times
A group of area physicians, frustrated by the limitations of providing health care to all who need it, recently formed a regional chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, or PNHP. "We think the time has come," said Dr. John Paul Mead, doctor of internal medicine.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/a_new_health_care_pl.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/a_new_health_care_pl.php Articles of Interest Mon, 12 May 2008 16:44:03 +0000 Jerry Frankel | Los Angeles Times | Business Letters
Except for the healthy and the wealthy, the rest of us -- not just employers -- are being pinched, if not strangled, by rising healthcare costs. ]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/lets_share_cost_of_.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/lets_share_cost_of_.php Articles of Interest Mon, 12 May 2008 16:09:49 +0000 By Saul Friedman | Gray Matters | Newsday.com
I know, everyone has a doctor story, including me. But most of today's doctors are besieged, working under great pressure from insurance companies and the corporations that own or finance their practices. They are trying to keep up with the latest devices, drugs and developments in their fields, and dealing with sick patients who can't afford all the medical care they should get.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/rising_insurance_cos.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/rising_insurance_cos.php Articles of Interest Fri, 09 May 2008 19:50:13 +0000 By Julie Illi Laird | Synapse, UCSF Student Paper
As a nurse, I have seen countless examples of the devastating outcomes that result when people do not have access to care due to lack of insurance. Just last week, I visited a 35-year-old cancer patient to help her manage oxygen treatments at home. She had beaten breast cancer at age 25. However, she was a restaurant worker and did not have health insurance; consequently, once she started working again, she no longer qualified for MediCal and could no longer see a doctor to be screened for recurrence. Sadly, when the cancer did come back it was not detected until she went to the ER one night when she could no longer breathe.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/singlepayer_healthc.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/singlepayer_healthc.php Articles of Interest Fri, 09 May 2008 19:44:28 +0000 Anyone following the national dialogue on reform is certainly aware of the rhetoric over "choice." Those supporting reform that builds on private health plans use "choice" to mean choice of health plans. Those supporting a publicly financed and publicly administered national health program use "choice" to mean choice of physicians and hospitals and other health care professionals and institutions. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/herzlinger_and_mccan.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/herzlinger_and_mccan.php Quote of the Day Fri, 09 May 2008 17:08:52 +0000 The Real News Network
Health care scholar and author Regina Herzlinger and PNHP Senior Health Policy Fellow Don McCanne each take a look at how effective the proposals will be in increasing quality of health care and the number of insured.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/video_who_will_fix_.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/video_who_will_fix_.php Articles of Interest Thu, 08 May 2008 19:34:55 +0000 Medigap plans are standardized supplemental private insurance plans that fill in some of the gaps in Medicare coverage. Medigap plans, as a group, have amongst the lowest medical loss ratios of all private insurance plans; that is, they pay out the least for health care benefits. Thus the plans are very lucrative for the private insurers, but they are amongst the worst values in private health care coverage. http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/ahip_on_medigaps_im.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/ahip_on_medigaps_im.php Quote of the Day Thu, 08 May 2008 18:24:39 +0000 by JOEL ALBERS | Southside Pride
Proposed solutions to the health care crisis have reached a crossroads, with essentially two paths that Minnesota and the U.S. can follow. One path views health care as a market commodity, in which health care is for sale. Patients are also consumers who must shop around, compare prices and quality of care, and buy insurance. That is if you can afford it. If you cannot, you are uninsured. And therein lies the crisis.]]> http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/pariah_diplomacy.php http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/may/pariah_diplomacy.php Articles of Interest Thu, 08 May 2008 17:22:20 +0000