09-17-2009, 01:42 PM
Here's an interesting read on the explosive growth of health care premiums over the past 10 years.
When you factor in depressed wages, health care premiums have ballooned 260% since 1999.
The WSJ is reporting that 2/3 of employers plan to reduce health care offerings for employees in 2010.
And as I wrote last week, NPR reports that the healthy majority accounts for only 3 percent of all health care spending. To find out how lousy your health insurance is, you have to get really sick.
Private insurers waste money better than Medicare/Medicaid ever can. My local health insurer - which is chartered as a nonprofit - probably spends tens of millions of dollars annually flying a blimp around my state, purchasing prime billboard space and owning a few luxury boxes at the local sports arena. Overhead costs for private insurance is estimated by some to top 30 percent.
My local newspaper columnist cites his own recent trip to the hospital to describe the riddle wrapped inside an enigma that is known to the rest of us as medical billing. The insurance-medical-industrial complex hires more employees to process complex paperwork than the densest IRS office:
Would standardization of fees and billing codes among private insurers be a start? DiIonno's column above states that private insurers are talking about increased cooperation and streamlining, but are failing to take action.
When you factor in depressed wages, health care premiums have ballooned 260% since 1999.
The WSJ is reporting that 2/3 of employers plan to reduce health care offerings for employees in 2010.
And as I wrote last week, NPR reports that the healthy majority accounts for only 3 percent of all health care spending. To find out how lousy your health insurance is, you have to get really sick.
Private insurers waste money better than Medicare/Medicaid ever can. My local health insurer - which is chartered as a nonprofit - probably spends tens of millions of dollars annually flying a blimp around my state, purchasing prime billboard space and owning a few luxury boxes at the local sports arena. Overhead costs for private insurance is estimated by some to top 30 percent.
My local newspaper columnist cites his own recent trip to the hospital to describe the riddle wrapped inside an enigma that is known to the rest of us as medical billing. The insurance-medical-industrial complex hires more employees to process complex paperwork than the densest IRS office:
Every medical care giver, from your family GP to the giant UMDNJ, has to hire an office staff or full department or outsource to another company just to keep up with it. From Aetna and AFLAC to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, from Horizon to Humana, from United to UniCare, from Cigna to Mega. Different forms, different rules. A labyrinth of forms, faxes and phone calls.This issue should cut across party lines, because no one likes waste. Whether you're for a public option or not, how can our current bloated, inefficient health care system better encourage cost savings from doctors, patients and its own employees?
The doctor's office has become a business office. All those forms and rules need more people to sort them out. At the Atlantic Health rehab center, where I was a patient for a month after I crashed, five full-time nurses were needed just to handle the insurance claims -- and subsequent negotiations -- of about 100 patients. One nurse for every 20 patients, just for insurance.
Would standardization of fees and billing codes among private insurers be a start? DiIonno's column above states that private insurers are talking about increased cooperation and streamlining, but are failing to take action.