Health

All articles about health insurance or related to health insurance from Consumer Insurance Guide

VHA Medical Facilities In Two States Accused of Manipulating Records

By Ben Johnson, The Heartland Institute
VHA Medical Facilities In Two States Accused of Manipulating Records

Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical facilities in North Carolina and Virginia fail to provide veterans with health care within 30 days of patient requests in more than one-third of all cases, according to an audit conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG). Staff members create false records to hide the delays, the study reported. VA Secretary David Shulkin disputed the conclusions of the report. Approximately 36 percent of veterans…

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Are Unlawful ACA Payments a Costly Catch-22?

By Michael Hamilton, The Heartland Institute
Are Unlawful ACA Payments a Costly Catch-22?

Violating the U.S. Constitution could save federal taxpayers more money than stopping illegal Obamacare payments to health insurers, according to a new report illustrating the cronyism of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) report reveals a lose-lose Obamacare proposition for Americans: Continue to make unconstitutional payments to insurers, or halt the unlawful payments and make up for them by paying higher premium subsidies. Here is how this shell game works…

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Should Dentists Support the Right of Dentists to Make Hiring Decisions?

By Michael Hamilton, The Heartland Institute
Should Dentists Support the Right of Dentists to Make Hiring Decisions?

  Lawmakers in several states have considered proposals in 2017 to let dentists custom-build their ideal dental teams. Unfortunately, it is increasingly likely that most state legislatures will leave dentists’ hands tied when they adjourn, against the wisdom of dentists, dental hygienists, and free-market policy experts. One kind of dental teammate inaccessible to dentists in most states is the dental therapist. Obstruction of dentists’ freedom to hire dental therapists ensues not from political bias but from special interests. Opponents include dentists who…

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The Tangled Webs Behind PPO Insurance Networks

By Dr. Alieta Eck, The Heartland Institute
The Tangled Webs Behind PPO Insurance Networks

Nothing could be more confusing than fees charged by hospitals and doctors. There are many reasons why hospitals would like to keep it that way. I remember sitting in a hospital staff meeting and hearing about negotiations to merge two hospitals that were about a mile apart. The argument was that bigger is better, and a merger would put the hospitals in a greater “bargaining position” to get higher fees. I remember thinking that monopolies…

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Shut It Down! The Healthcare Battle That Will Shut Down the US Government

By Todd Halterman
Shut It Down! The Healthcare Battle That Will Shut Down the US Government

Congress must pass a bill this week to keep most of the government running beyond Friday when a government spending bill runs out. It won’t be easy. The debate over a new spending bill focuses on an esoteric issue affecting the Affordable Care Act. The question is whether Congress will pass — and President Donald Trump will sign — a bill that also funds subsidies for lower-income people who purchase health insurance under the law….

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Latest Republican Proposals Aimed at Capping Medicaid Spending

By Todd Halterman
Latest Republican Proposals Aimed at Capping Medicaid Spending

Transitioning Medicaid from an unlimited entitlement program to limited block grants could save U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion, or $803 per household, over the next five years, according to a study from the healthcare innovation research company Avalere. Block grants of fixed amounts to states would save $150 billion by 2022, the February analysis found. A per-capita block grant, which would increase or decrease with enrollment, would cut federal spending by $110 billion. In…

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Obamacare On the Brink of Failure in Tennessee’s Third Largest City

By Todd Halterman
Obamacare On the Brink of Failure in Tennessee’s Third Largest City

Could Knoxville, Tennessee be the first U.S. city where ObamaCare fails? Should that happen, it’s likely that more than 40,000 people there will be left without options to allow them to purchase a subsidized insurance policy. As it now stands, Humana is the only insurance provider available to consumers on the exchange there, and the company has already said they don’t plan to participate during 2018. In February, Humana issued a news release stating “based…

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Medical Pot Covered By Health Insurance? Look to Canada and See the Future

By Todd Halterman
Medical Pot Covered By Health Insurance? Look to Canada and See the Future

Patients in Canada say the high cost associated with their ‘medication’ is pushing them to seek illegal sources for their medical marijuana. They say conventional medications which fail to ease their pain from maladies ranging from back pain to PTSD to sleep disorders are often alleviated by medical marijuana, but they add that the price of the treatments can run nearly as much as conventional drugs. Canadian Jill Grindle told CBC News that her standard insurance plan…

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What A Single-payer Health Care Plan in California Would Mean to the Rest of Us

By Todd Halterman
What A Single-payer Health Care Plan in California Would Mean to the Rest of Us

“We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future.” And with that, Paul Ryan the Republican speaker of the House threw in the towel on his sweeping plan to replace the ACA (Obamacare). But political leaders in California plan to take the refinement of the state’s healthcare system into uncharted territory. During February of this year, state senators Ricardo Lara and his colleague Toni Atkins wrote proposed legislation to replace private health insurance…

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Your Lifestyle Is Killing You – And Jacking Up Your Insurance Rates

By Todd Halterman
Your Lifestyle Is Killing You – And Jacking Up Your Insurance Rates

You know it for a fact. Life is about choices, and regardless of how much pleasure those choices can provide you, some of them will leave you paying more for life insurance. But have no fear, some of the most likely causes for sky-high insurance rates can be the easiest to fix. Stop Supersizing Everything You Do! Okay, so you porked up a bit and there’s some excess weight hanging over your belt. When it…

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