I worked in the health insurance industry for a long time. I helped introduce consumer-driven/high deductible plans to help foster cost-awareness. I bought into the protection-against-big-expenses meme. I personally have never not had health insurance. So, by most standards, I should be biased in its favor. But I'm beginning to wonder if health insurance itself is the problem, or at least a big part of the problem. I've written before about some of the new entrants into health insurance; more power to them, and the more the merrier. What I continue to be disappointed by is that we're not really seeing fundamentally new approaches to what health insurance is.
Kaiser Family Foundation
See the following -
Costly Testing and Lifestyle are Increasing Health Care Costs
Shar Adams | The Epoch Times | May 29, 2012
Chronic disease and costly testing are two big contributors to health care costs in the United States, with many diseases being preventable and many medical tests being unnecessarily performed. Addressing both issues could produce much-needed savings, say health care professionals.
- Login to post comments
Could There Be a Blockchain Solution to High Prescription Drug Prices?
Michael Scott | Bitcoin Magazine | March 28, 2017
Prescription drugs are one of the biggest contributors to soaring healthcare costs in the U.S. And for both individuals and families, particularly where multiple prescriptions are needed, drug expenses can quickly escalate to thousands of dollars. According to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 8 in 10 Americans would like the government to negotiate prices for those on Medicare. Additionally, Americans want limits set on the amount drug companies can charge for high-cost drugs, such as those to treat cancer...
- Login to post comments
For Many, Obama's Promise Of Health Care Choice Does Not Ring True
Laura Koran | CNN | October 31, 2013
In her grilling on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reiterated a frequent assertion in the Obamacare sales pitch --- consumers have options when shopping for insurance plans on the health care exchanges.
- Login to post comments
Is Health Insurance Itself the Problem with the System?
By Kim Bellard | January 6, 2016
- Login to post comments
ONC Must End Opposition to Behavioral Health EHRs
By Edmund Billings, MD | January 20, 2015
Because our policy makers in Washington, DC, wield words as weapons, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT has categorized behavioral health providers as “post-acute care,” thus excluding them from MU funding that has driven EHR adoption elsewhere. While the ONC has created one reality by lobbing definitions, behavioral health advocates are promoting THE reality of mental illness as acute and costly; as debilitating as any disease or condition, if not more so; and as a major co-morbidity factor exacerbating acute illnesses and driving up health care costs. Read More »
- Login to post comments
The Storm Has Passed, But Puerto Rico’s Health Faces Prolonged Recovery
Carmen Heredia Rodriguez and Rachel Bluth | Kaiser Health News | October 16, 2017
As President Donald Trump signals impatience to wind down emergency aid to Puerto Rico, the challenges wrought by Hurricane Maria to the health of Puerto Ricans and the island’s fragile health system are in many ways just beginning. Three weeks after that direct hit, nearly four dozen deaths are associated with the storm. But the true toll on Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million residents is likely to involve sickness and loss of life that will only become apparent in the coming months and in indirect ways...
- Login to post comments
What Hospitals Waste
Marshall Allen | Pro Publica | March 9, 2017
Just outside Portland, Maine, there’s a 15,000-square-foot warehouse that’s packed with reasons the U.S. health care system costs so much: Shelves climb floor to ceiling, stacked with tubs overflowing with unopened packages of syringes, diabetes supplies and shiny surgical instruments that run hundreds of dollars apiece. There are boxes of IV fluids and bags of ostomy supplies and kits with everything you’d need to perform an obstetrics surgery...
- Login to post comments
What’s Next for Health Care? Confused Congress Should Look to Indian Country
Mark Trahant | Yes! Magazine | July 28, 2017
Senate Republicans campaigned against Obamacare for seven years. Yet there was never an alternative that had support from a majority of their own party. The problem is simple: Many (not all) Republicans see health care programs that help people—the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, etc.—as welfare. Others look at the evidence and see these programs that are effective: insuring people, creating jobs, supporting a rural economy, and actually resulting in better health outcomes. Evidence-based success stories...
- Login to post comments
WHO Global Health Observatory & Other 'Open Data' Resources
Interested in learning more about 'open data' healthcare resources around the globe? Check out the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Health Observatory. This WHO information portal provides access to 'open' data, statistical analyses, and reports for monitoring the global health situation. Read More »
Posted April 11, 2013 - 8:26am by Peter Groen
- COSI 'Open' Health
- Login to post comments
Copyright ©2011-2020 Open Health Marketplace, LLC. All Rights Reserved.