Insurers are betting some patients liked telemedicine enough to embrace new types of health coverage encouraging or requiring video visits.
Julie Appleby | Kaiser Health News
Posted inHealth
Growing concerns of coronavirus should spur plans — not panic — in the workplace
All workplaces, say corporate benefit and health experts, should have plans that focus on preparation, not fear.
Posted inHealth
Hospitals lure diabetes patients with self-care courses, but costs can weigh heavily
When a routine physical revealed mildly elevated blood-sugar levels, Michael Phillips was strongly encouraged to sign up for a diabetes self-management class. But the 64-year-old retired bank analyst was flabbergasted when he opened his bill afterward.
Posted inHealth
Despite changes undermining the ACA, marketplaces ‘stable’
After much drama leading to this year’s open enrollment for Affordable Care Act coverage — a shorter time frame, a sharply reduced federal budget for marketing and assistance, and confusion resulting from months of repeal-and-replace debate — the final nationwide tally paints a mixed picture.
Posted inHealth
Idaho ‘pushing envelope’ with health insurance plan. Can it do that?
Idaho says it will allow insurers to ignore some ACA rules on plans not sold on the marketplace, aiming to make these state-based plans less costly.
Posted inHealth
Arthritis drugs show how U.S. drug prices defy economics
Since the first drug for rheumatoid arthritis came to market a decade ago, nearly a dozen have been added. If basic economics prevailed, RA treatments and patients would have benefited from competition. But, because of industry price-setting practices, legal challenges and marketing tactics, they haven’t.
Posted inHealth
Trump order pushes GOP ideas on insurance choice, curbing costs
The president’s executive order is aimed at expanding lower-cost insurance options, allowing employers to give workers money to buy their own coverage, and slowing insurance and hospital industry consolidation. Critics said the changes, if implemented, could result in more bare-bones coverage and pulling healthier people out of struggling insurance markets, leading to higher premiums for those who remain. Top Connecticut Democrats blasted the order.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Association health plans: A GOP approach poised for comeback
Not even 24 hours after the latest “repeal and replace” proposal ran out of steam, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ignited a new round of health policy speculation by predicting, during a cable news interview, impending Trump administration action on a longtime Republican go-to idea: association health plans.
Posted inHealth
IOM: Teamwork key to reducing medical diagnostic errors
Almost every American will experience a medical diagnostic error, but the problem has taken a back seat to other patient safety concerns, an influential panel said in a report calling for widespread changes.