Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Ten days away does wonders.
My real job was rather hectic last year, so I missed out on a few notable events, and finally got a few minutes to warap up some of 2006’s more interesting developments.
MCM will be taking a vacation till January 2. To all – best of the season, rest up, we have a lot to do next year.
Hank Stern of InsureBlog has posted the latest from the world of risk management and related topics. There’s interesting and wide-ranging stuff from car insurance to physician credentialing.
I’ve been virtually talking with other interested parties and staff from Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D OR) office about his Healthy Americans Act and how it deals with pricing. Here’s my preliminary take.
There are two core concepts central to HAA’s viability. First, universal coverage. If everyone has coverage, than there is no (or at least a lot less) need for providers to charge folks with insurance more to cover their losses incurred when they treat people without insurance. Cost-shifting drives up health insurance costs for those folks fortunate and employed enough to have coverage.
Here’s a synopsis of the initial reactions from the health blogosphere to Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D OR) Healthy Americans Act.
Ezra Klein notes that insurance companies will have to compete on quality and low cost instead of medical underwriting and risk selection. I’d agree but note that HAA should push health plans to take all those dollars they have been investing in risk selection and broker commissions and invest them in care management. Health plans talk a lot about managing care, but few are really doing anything innovative or productive.
Continue reading UPDATE – Other thoughts on Wyden’s Health plan
Non-insurance folks, especially those who aren’t happy with their insurance for whatever reason, or those seeking to write best-selling books (John Grisham, for one), use some pretty strong adjectives describing the heartless penny-pinching mean-spirited folk who are “the insurance company”.
While I don’t doubt that a few individuals and insurance companies really are cold-hearted emotionless drones, I’ve met very few that fit that description.
This was brought to mind recently while listening in on a meeting at an insurance company.
Ok, it has been a really long week – mostly spent in airplanes and hotels and conference rooms. So when good friend Chazzy Stone sent me this I just had to put it up.
Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which
produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very
little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad
breath. This made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it’s good)….. A super
calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
My ribs hurt.
I’ve received several anonymous comments from readers recently, which has caused me to rethink comment policy. Here’s how these will be handled in the future.
Anonymous comments that are specific to a topic, show knowledge of that topic, and are not (overly) snarky or mean-spirited or accusatory without substantiation will probably be published. Anonymous posts that don’t meet these criteria will probably not be published.
And anonymous comments from authors that call into question my ethics will most definitely not be published. I’m quite willing to address any concerns if, and only if, the commenter has enough courage and honesty to show their (virtual) face.
I have no patience for cowards who criticize without revealing their identity and therefore enable me, and other readers, to understand the cowards’ potential biases.
Florida is one of, or perhaps the only, state to have as an official elected position a state CFO. The incumbent is supposed to oversee state spending, review state contracts and investigate insurance fraud among other functions. Florida’s CFO is also part of the four person cabinet along with the governor, attorney general, and Commission of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.
Obviously, the CFO would have a broad and deep impact on the state’s insurance industry, the provision of same, and purchase of insurance by the state. That makes it interesting for we insurance types.
Mark McClellan is leaving his post as head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He served long and loyally, sticking to the Administration’s line even when facts indicated otherwise, remaining a calming force when Part D enrollment was going nowhere. McClellan is also known for listening hard to suggestions and criticism from all sides, and working diligently to address problems.
Here’s what’s happened during his tenure.
Part D was passed, implemented, and operational. This was a monumental task, and one McClellan was instrumental in accomplishing. It’s not his fault it is a fatally flawed program; well, maybe it is, in some small part, as he was probably involved in writing/editing/opining on the legislation. Nevertheless, under McClellan the program became reality, with the initial enrollment problems addressed (in large part).