Health Care Cost Discrimination – Not All Prices Are Equal

kidding

“If you want the $6,221 MRI, you should have it — but you should pay for it, not me, not my employer, not my government. If you want the $300 test, it’s yours. If you want to buy your prescription for $150, go ahead. But you should also know that if you walk two blocks, you can get it for $17. (Yes, these are real numbers.)”

Editor’s Comment: The following article is a good one. It clearly shows the convoluted pricing of health care in this country. It also brings up a valid issue: health cost discrimination in health care. Health insurance is a reimbursement benefit. Members incur medical expenses, and are then reimbursed (never mind Assignment of Benefits – all that is extended credit by providers). So why should a plan sponsor reimburse employee Jones $3000 for an MRI and only reimburse employee Smith $400 for the same exact medical procedure? That is discrimination of the worst kind…………..

“Not all prices are equal in health care” – Molly Mulebriar

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Protection Money Staves Off Balance Billing

"Let's get this straight-who's paying who protection money?"

“We all know that the average American health care consumer seldom have the money to pay their own health insurance deductibles and co-insurance, especially now that health plans are gravitating to higher deductibles and out-of-pocket exposure. Paying these expenses is difficult enough, much less balance bills” – Molly Mulebriar

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Drug Politics – A Bipartisan Issue?

godfather

“Psst, we should get in the prescription drug business Godfather!”

Drug politics go Republican as Rubio criticizes industry

Oct 20, 2015 | By Drew Armstrong and Sahil Kapur

(Bloomberg) — Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio joined the debate over U.S. drug prices, saying in a speech last week that some practices by the industry amounted to “pure profiteering.”

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Amazing Rx Cash Pricing Differencials For Lantanaprost

frankly

Lantanprost average retail pharmacy cost $6

Retail Cash Prices:

HEB – $90

Walgreens – $76

Independent Pharmacy – $18

Cash paying customers see this and act accordingly. Those with insurance see only a small co-pay and don’t give a damn

FANMAIL

From a Doctor:

Check this out – www.healthwarehouse.com/latanoprost-0-005-opthalmic-solution-1.html

From a PBM:

You are right on it.  I looked up our MAC for Latanoprost with NDC 17478-0625-12.  Our current MAC effective for October is $3.58085 per unit and the bottle contains 2.5 units which mean ingredient cost would be $8.95.  Pretty good reference based pricing, huh.

Aetna and Humana Merger A Bad Deal For Texas, Physicians Warn

angrydoctor

“……if Aetna and Humana are allowed to merge, the new company would gain control of 36 percent of Texas’ health insurance market……..physician groups especially could be negatively affected by a merger as they could end up with “very little negotiating leverage to allow them to secure favorable pricing terms.”

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Stories Causing Atlas To Shrug

Your Benefit Solution

In California taxpayers pay 75% of premium for Obamacare recipients. Families making up to $96K qualify for the handouts.

The government is not prepared for the complicated 2016 Obamacare reporting required to determine who is eligible for premium handouts. As a result the IRS is going to assess penalties against employers even if an employer does not receive the legally required warning notice.

Governmental Budgeting Prowess: When held to private standards (without the ability or print money to borrow infinitely) this Obamacare fund will only be able to pay 13% of the money it owes under the statue.

The Federal Government decided that the old system of 13,000 medical codes wasn’t enough and has commanded that all medical providers move to a new system with 68,000 so that we can have codes for repeatedly walking in lampposts and getting sucked into a jet engine.

 

Measuring Change

brilliant

QUESTION: How do we know we are doing much better this year than last year?

ANSWER: What was this year is last year plus or minus this year’s changes.

If change is the only constant why do we need to measure it? You don’t know if something is better if you didn’t now how to measure what it was before. 

Source: Unknown

HIPPA Audits To Begin

hippaaudits

Source: DK Pruitt

 “United States: OCR Confirms HIPAA Audits To Begin in Early 2016 – Forced to respond to a stinging audit report recently released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found less than effective enforcement of the HIPAA privacy standards, HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will commence its long-awaited HIPAA audits in early 2016.” By James E. Bowers for Mondaq, October 9, 2015

http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/433540/Healthcare/OCR+Confirms+HIPAA+Audits+to+Begin+in+Early+2016

 “EHRs provide long-term savings, convenience.” (No byline, ADA News, December 6, 2013).

http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2013-archive/december/ehrs-provide-long-term-savings-convenience

Harlandale ISD Questions Land Deal – Quid Pro Quo?

quid“He bought a waterfront home near Rockport from the CEO of an insurance company that does business with the district. Diane Mullen is competing to win contracts worth more than a million dollars.”

“Madrigal recommended board members choose her, but did not disclose he had done personal business with her.”

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Asserta – A Better Way To Pay For Healthcare

Asserta Health provides enabling infrastructure for “cash” health plans that deliver significant cost savings by eliminating the “value drain” associated with the typical payment process. The entire healthcare transaction is simplified, transparent, and supported by a service model that effectively frees clinical and financial resources to focus on improving the cost, quality, and efficiency of the care itself. The result is a better healthcare experience—and outcome—for the consumer, the provider and the payer.

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Associated Builders & Contractors Announce Medical Plan For Members

abc111AUSTIN, Texas, October 1, 2015 — Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and Fringe Benefit Group today announced the expansion of The Contractors Plan, a benefits platform designed specifically for construction contractors, to include a full suite of benefits including ACA-compliant major medical, dental, vision, life, disability, retirement and HRA plans – all managed through a single online platform.

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Thanks ObamaCare!

thanksI just got the first year bill from my payroll company for the extra reporting we have to do each year vis a vis Obamacare:  $7195.50 for 2015.  Note that this adds absolutely no value — this is not the cost of insurance or cost of any extra taxes sent to Uncle Sam.  This is merely the cost to handle all the new paperwork required in the law.

I will repeat what I have said before — the Republicans tend to focus narrowly on taxes and often tend to miss or downplay the regulatory issues, which I think actually loom larger in destroying economic growth.

Source: coyoteblog.com