By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News
Nine prominent physician groups today released lists of 45 common tests and treatments they say are often unnecessary and may even harm patients.
Health Care Topic: Insurance
Topics: Costs & Economic Analysis, Health Reform, Insurance
Feb 16, 2012
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has a thousand pages of moving parts, and the relatively few that have rolled out are shedding sprockets across the landscape. This is deeply worrying, given that the stability of the nation’s health care system depends on the successful construction and launch of a vast fleet of new institutions before New Year’s Day, 2014.
Number-one selling point
Topics: Consumer Choice, Insurance, Public Health
Jan 12, 2012
Just as Walmart and other retailers shook up the prescription drug business by offering $4 generic drugs, the industry now aims to apply its negotiating and marketing clout to tackle problems that vex consumers and the health sector: unpredictable costs, a lack of primary care doctors and inefficient management of chronic illnesses, whose costs drive the majority of health care spending.
Jan 6, 2012
How interested are consumers in the price of health care services? Results from our Consumer Opinion survey indicate that most consumers have never asked about the price of a health care service before getting care. Fewer than 30 percent asked about price in the past year. Findings like these suggest that consumers are not in the habit of inquiring about cost. Some reasons for this include: not being motivated to ask about price (because someone else pays), not feeling comfortable asking about price, or not feeling certain as to where to get the information.
Topics: Health Reform, Insurance
Jun 28, 2011
Starting next March, all insurers and employers will have to make it easier for consumers faced with the ordeal of picking a health plan. Under the 2010 health law, they’ll have to provide health policy information that the average enrollee can understand and use to compare with other plans.
Topics: Health Reform, Insurance
Jun 14, 2011
The 2010 health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), hits small business with a barrage of inequities. Among the most egregious is the health insurance tax (HIT) launched by the law’s Section 9010.
Topics: Costs & Economic Analysis, Insurance
May 24, 2011
Bundling provides incentives for providers to differentiate product and price and enables purchasers and payers to compare and contrast offerings.
Topics: Health Reform, Insurance
May 17, 2011
For the first time, consumers shopping for a health policy will be able to get a good idea of how much of the costs different plans will cover for three medical conditions: maternity care, treatment for diabetes and breast cancer.
May 5, 2011
In a system that generates income by providing more and more services, the only party currently paying attention to the necessary care question is the government and employers.
Topics: Health Reform, Insurance
May 3, 2011
Beginning in 2014, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) hands the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a joystick – the Essential Health Benefits package – with the potential to rocket small-business health insurance premiums skyward.
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