Poor management leads to shortfall………………….
Continue reading County Discovers $9.5 Million Health Plan Shortfall
Poor management leads to shortfall………………….
Continue reading County Discovers $9.5 Million Health Plan Shortfall
Why would a BUCA want to change the status quo? Doing business the same old way is in their best interests?
Continue reading Growing Profits From America’s Largest Health Insurers
Based on a Cigna study, less than ½ of the oncology drugs approved from 2009-2014 have a known survival benefit…………..
Continue reading Oncology Rx Treatments – Is An Extra Two Months of Life Worth $500,000?
Prime Healthcare’s strategy is to take over struggling hospitals and cut out the least lucrative or money-losing services. Prime often cancels insurance contracts at its newly acquired hospitals, enabling it to charge the insurers higher rates for treating their members…..
See: http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-prime-feds-20160717-snap-story.html
On behalf of the Free Market Medical Association (FMMA), thank you for joining me……
Continue reading How Insurance Carriers Are Screwing Employer Sponsored Health Plans
Show the market your commitment to putting client interests first……….
Continue reading Health Rosetta Benefits Advisor Certification
Founded in 1992, Abel is a family-owned and operated Professional Employer Organization (HR Outsourcing Company) that provides small to mid-size firms with the advantages of “PEO Services”.
“I’m giving up my hospital bed on my ward for somebody who needs it…………….”
Single payer system’s projected total health care costs is an estimated $50 billion to $100 billion a year. That’s a massive sum in a state where the entire general fund budget is $125 billion…………
Continue reading Moonbeam Leads Left Coast Towards Single Payer System
This case offers insight into how promissory estoppel may play a role where a provider seeks reimbursement from an ERISA plan.
Houston Metro alleges that before it provided medical services to any patient, it sought and “received verification by telephone from Defendants that each patient was covered by a health benefit plan,” and “that the particular procedures were covered by the health benefit plans and would be paid in accordance with the health benefit plan.” Houston Metro alleges that it would not have provided the services if the defendants had not made these statements.
Continue reading Fifth Circuit Holds That ERISA Preempts Provider’s Promissory Estoppel Claims
An inner demon has been bothering me for the past 15 months….the demon screams to be released
Reference Based Pricing Rocks!
The following article is entitled “20 Things To Know About Balance Billing.”
We added one more.
There is only one market strategy that protects consumers against balance billing – Reference Based Pricing (RBP) plans. Traditional managed care plans provide absolutely no protection against balance billing – consumers are on their own when they get one. Not so under RBP plans.
“In 2015, a nationwide study from Consumers Union found nearly one third of privately insured Americans received an unanticipated bill when their health plan paid less than expected for medical services within the past two years.”
Consumer Union also reported 57 percent of patients who encountered balance billing from contracted physicians within the last two years paid in full because they didn’t know their rights to fight the bills.
“So many times, people just give up [in surprise billing disputes],” Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives with Community Service Society of New York, told NPR.
Which plan would you rather have? A traditional managed care plan with limited provider choice, ever increasing costs and balance billing liability. Or a Reference Based Pricing plan with lower cost, better benefits, unlimited choice of providers and balance billing protection? The choice has never been more clear………………..
Direct contracting isn’t for everyone. Employers who are satisfied with their insurance carrier’s excuses that blame increased health plan rates on rising medical costs may not be inter Continue reading A.J. Lester & Associates
Will Haff
The wheels of justice turn ever so slowly. Will Haff, a San Antonio insurance consultant and convicted felon now has a new August 9 date for sentencing.
Continue reading Convicted Insurance Consultant Sentencing Postponed Again
Why do Mexicans make refried beans? Because they didn’t make them right the first time. Same holds true for refried health care legislation………..
Waking up is hard to do. I’ve been trying for years. Even nightmares couldn’t wake me up until yesterday when I had a horrible one that lit me up like a Roman Candle. I shot out of my hiding place, raced to the library and found the 2017 Milliman Medical Index report. “Its true, its true, this is not another nightmarish dream, its true!” assured the sweet librarian.
“But it can’t be” I screamed. When I went to sleep in 1973 health insurance rates of $17 for individuals and $35 per month for family coverage were considered competitive! What the hell happened?”
“Government got involved, managed care contracts memorialized collaborative schemes to defraud consumers into thinking they were getting great “discounts” when in fact they were assured of paying more year after year, hospitals took lessons from used car salesman and invented something called a Charge Master, and health care supply chain managers (insurance brokers, agents and consultants) were tasked, and they accepted their role to make sure the new status quo remained forever” said the librarian with head hanging low and slumped shoulders.
“They say the only way to fix this is more government control through a single payer system. Go figure!” she continued. “I’m moving to Communist China where the free market in health care is alive and well!”
“Don’t bother doing something unless you’re radically different from the competition” – Richard Branson (Basic tenet of RiskManagers.us )
“At long last, forward-looking school and union leaders recognize they share the same goals and are proving that it’s not that difficult to slay the healthcare cost beast even in an expensive and contentious healthcare market.” – David Chase
Editor’s Note: As Texas school districts struggle to maintain affordable health care for their employees, Pittsburgh and other school districts around the country are actually achieving health care cost reductions while improving benefits at the same same time. Instead of trying the same old strategies of the past, these districts are applying common sense solutions that work. Everyone wins; the consumer, medical providers and plan sponsors…………………….
Continue reading Pittsburgh Teachers Thwart Healthcare Stealing From Education
This beats this! – BCBS To Pay $50,000 Broker Sales Incentive Each Fully Insured Group Sold
We have previously executed a similar strategy with a prescription benefit management company, Partners Rx (PRx), which we sold for $100,000,000 to Magellan Health in 2013. That sale resulted in many producers receiving $1 million to over $4 million. We anticipate that this opportunity will be even more lucrative.
Continue reading Attention Insurance Producers: Join Us And Earn Millions!
Dave Chase, who has been our most eloquent teller of health care craziness stories in recent years, sent out a request the other day for alarming stories from the broker/consultant sector. He wrote:
Benefit brokers get paid more for doing a bad job (i.e., allowing healthcare costs to go up pays them more since they make a % of costs in many compensation schemes). They can get rewards for driving up spending such as trips or other undisclosed compensation. Tell us some of the most outrageous compensation schemes that help fuel hyperinflation in healthcare.
Continue reading Tell Us Your Outrageous Health Care Stories
A stunning failure of Relationship-Based Primary Care – Value-Based Benefit Plans?
UnitedHealth Group is shutting down its health plan experiment featuring staff providers offering unlimited primary and behavioral care at no charge………….Relationship-Based Primary Care – value-based benefit designs
Continue reading UHC Pulls Plug On No-Charge Primary Care Plans
The clinic business model is straightforward and attractive: Treat as many patients with minor injuries and illnesses as quickly as possible—usually in 30 minutes or less………..A typical immediate-care center sees 294 patients each week, a number Kalorama predicts will grow for the next four years. Per-site revenue is expected to increase to nearly $1.7 million by 2021……….
Continue reading Patients Are Flocking To Urgent Care Clinics – Now Hospitals Are Too
Medical School Students
Raise your hand. Which one of you wants to treat Trooper Jones? He’s in the lounge with a cold………………..
Inserted in the nearly 900 page Senate budget bill are three paragraphs that would force the medical schools to treat members of the Employees Retirement System of Texas at a discounted rate.
Continue reading Will State Employee Health Care Fix Hurt Texas Medical Schools?
Another Excellent Article By David Chase
Employer/union provided health benefits likely represent over two-thirds of industry profits as they wildly overpay for healthcare services due to the misperception that PPOs help save them money. In reality, PPO networks cost employers/unions dearly.
Increased outside scrutiny on how ERISA-regulated health plans spend their dollars could create immense potential liability for both company directors and health insurers across the country.
Continue reading “ERISA Fiduciary Largest Undisclosed Risk I’ve Seen in My Career”
“It is my belief that any TPA or Advisor using this list of questions as a tool to evaluate options will be able to easily differentiate the pretenders, professional marketers and conscientious vendors offering a well-designed, well-supported offering. Such differentiation is critical to the continued development of the RBR approach and disruption of traditional PPO use.” Glenn McLellan
Continue reading Implementing RBR “Done Right”…Begin with Diligence
While we have been focusing on Senate Bill 789 we failed to notice the introduction of House Bill 1998 introduced back in February by the same representative who tried and failed to open the gates of freedom for school districts wanting out of TRS ActiveCare two years ago.
Continue reading Dark Horse TRS ActiveCare Bill Gains Traction?
In 2017 you CAN get paid for telehealth (non-face-to-face) services by both Medicare and Private Payers………….32 states now have laws requiring private payers to pay for telehealth services…………
By Bill Rusteberg
This is a preview of an upcoming blog posting that will address worst practices in the brokerage and TPA industry in this country. These practices are some of the best kept secrets rivaling the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.
Continue reading Spring Cleaning – Let’s Start With Supply Chain Managers
“Trusting carriers to manage your healthcare spend is like trusting American Express to manage your corporate expenses. We all know Amex gets a percentage of all charges, so if they had their way, employees would charge anything and everything on it. After all, the employer pays the bill. Wait, same with health insurance. They make a vig (the interest on a shark’s loan) on every claim and the employer pays the bill…..” – David Contorno
Continue reading David Contorno – Status Quo’s Worst Nightmare
Yesterday, as I was keynoting the final day of the Health & Benefits Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, the conference had an artist from Maestro Health drawing what she heard in real time. The fun and interesting result is below. A particularly nice touch to the conference.
Continue reading High Performance Health Care – Facts & Ideas
As patients take hospital bill issues public, hospitals take stock of their practice……
Continue reading Patients Go Public With Bills, Hospitals Respond
LevelFunded Health is a national, direct to employer distribution platform focused on level and self-insured benefit programs for small to mid-size employer groups. For businesses with employees ranging from 50 to 1,000; it can help to immediately save these businesses anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million per year on healthcare costs, while simultaneously improving benefits.
Join the Austin Chapter of the Free Market Medical Association for our May Meeting on Wednesday,May 10th at 11:30a-1:00p at Independent Bankers Assoc of Texas 1700 Rio Grande St, Third Floor Third Floor – Doyle Conference Room Austin 78701.
Continue reading Austin Chapter of the Free Market Medical Association May Meeting
He helped lead TMA’s fight for medical liability reform, which became Texas law in 2003.
“When you get shot at all the time, when 70 percent or more of your colleagues are named in a lawsuit or a party to a lawsuit and you can no longer recruit, retain or attract [physicians] to your community to do what needed to be done for the health of your community, something had to change,” Cardenas said. “That was something that drove me and others in our community to stand up and say, ‘No more.’ We came together and organized.” – Carlos J. Cardenas, M.D.
Continue reading South Texas Physician Becomes TMA President
Remember in 1966 when Medicare was passed into law? Republicans stood by their principles and were united against this move to “socialized medicine.” They fought hard to stop the measure. Now you can’t find one Republican against Medicare. One’s principles go by the wayside with the absence of term limits. The same will hold true in America’s irreversible move to a single payer system.
“The only difference between Republicans and Democrats is Republicans take just a little bit longer to get there” – Bill Rusteberg
Continue reading GOP’s Bill Is Still Government-Run Health Care
Mark Flores
Several internal United documents emphasize this point and gush about how cross-plan offsetting will allow United to take money for itself out of the pockets of the self-insured plans…”
Continue reading UHC “Overpayment” Offset Practice Dealt Deathblow
With these clarifications, it is now clear that Texas captives can play a significant role in employee benefit plans for health benefits……………
The rising cost of health insurance remains a major problem for small business owners. In 2015, 25 percent fewer small businesses offered health insurance than when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010, a significant drop in small business coverage.
Brian Klepper
Reading yet another excellent post on an important topic – PPOs in this case, see below – by South Texas broker Bill Rusteberg the other day, I was struck that there are few go-to sites dedicated to the very significant challenges faced by health benefits managers, consultants and other health benefits professionals…………………
Continue reading A New Blog for Employer and Union Benefits Managers and Their Advisors
Employers who fail to prudently manage health plan assets creates a lucrative opportunity for plaintiff’s attorneys………Significant liability for companies and plan trustees…………..
Continue reading Plan Sponsors Beware – Lawyers Preparing Lawsuits
We have more wannabe Deep Throats than we can count. We have providers calling to trash their competitors — some anonymously, some not. We have been a topic of jokes at a school fundraiser where one of the auction gifts was a … vasectomy, cheap!
Continue reading Deep Throat & Cheap Vasectomies in New Orleans
In an effort to mask her deep love and affection for President Trump, famous tabloid figure calls The Donald the “mad King George III.”
Continue reading 70 Year Old Snow Flake Masks Love For Trump
The American Health Care Act (HR 1628) passed by the House today reduces taxes on the American people by over $1 trillion. The bill abolishes the following taxes imposed by Obama and the Democrat party in 2010 as part of Obamacare:
“In less than seven years, we’ll be in a single-payer system.”
Continue reading Direct Descendant of Nostradamus Predicts Single Payer System Imminent
For the past eight years Valley Risk Management has provided valuable risk management oversight for the district. An eight year tenure with a South Texas school district has to be one for the record books …………………
House Bill 3976 passed out of the Texas House in a 143-0 vote this afternoon (May 3). The bill relates to making dramatic changes to TRS-Care, including providing $633 million towards continuing the state-run retiree health insurance program.
Continue reading HB 3976 Passes Out Of Texas House
By Bill Rusteberg
While visiting Washington DC this week I ended each day with a short visit to Off The Record, a bar located at the Hay Adams Hotel across the street from the White House. This place is always packed with interesting people and I had occasion to meet a few of them.
Sitting at the bar one evening I struck up a conversation with a fellow to my left. His name was Johnathon Moulton, son of the late R.E. Moulton, one of the nation’s leading stop loss insurance intermediaries of his time. To the right of me was Mike………………
The U.S. House of Representatives has weighed in on a high-stakes legal battle over whether the federal government owes health insurance companies billions of dollars under an Affordable Care Act program designed to encourage participation in the public exchanges. It isn’t siding with the insurers.
Continue reading What Do Indians & Insurance Companies Have In Common?
HCA has reworked its name several times over the years……………..