Health

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

Children eating snacks but skipping meals, study finds

By Consumer Insurance Guide Staff
Children eating snacks but skipping meals, study finds

The habits people have in adulthood are often developed when they are young, which is why it’s important for parents to instill good eating behaviors in their children. According to the 2010 Family Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey by the American Dietetic Association, many children are engaging in the healthy habit of snacking, but their efforts fall flat and they end up skipping meals. The survey indicates that instead of eating meals such as dinner,…

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Value-Based Purchasing May Hurt Patients

By Sarah McIntosh, The Heartland Institute
Value-Based Purchasing May Hurt Patients

GUEST EDITORIAL By Sarah McIntosh, Esq., The Heartland Institute As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services releases details about its new reimbursement plan under President Obama’s health care law, fresh concerns are arising regarding the concept of value-based purchasing of health-care services, which may affect patients across the country. Under the CMS proposal, value-based purchasing will be used to provide bonuses to hospitals that exceed average scores on several measures. To implement this system,…

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Price Competition Can Lead to Quality Competition

By John C. Goodman, The Heartland Institute
Price Competition Can Lead to Quality Competition

GUEST EDITORIAL By John C. Goodman, The Heartland Institute In our third-party-payer health insurance system the price for care is typically set by entities outside the doctor-patient relationship. As a result, providers rarely compete for patients based on money prices. Potentially they can compete on the time price of care, on amenities, and on quality. Yet providers rarely compete on quality. In those health care markets where third-party payment is nonexistent or relatively unimportant, providers…

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Shortage of Surgeons on the Way

By Jay Lehr, Ph.D., The Heartland Institute
Shortage of Surgeons on the Way

GUEST EDITORIAL By Jay Lehr, Ph.D., The Heartland Institute It’s difficult to believe that the highest-esteemed and best-compensated of all medical doctors could be in short supply in the future. But in The Coming Shortage of Surgeons (Praeger, 2009), Drs. Williams, Satiani, and Ellison—three eminent surgeons and professors at The Ohio State University—make the case clearly, based on an exposition of warning signs not obvious to those of us outside the medical profession. The book…

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Low-Wage Employers Need Obamacare Waivers

By Kenneth Artz, The Heartland Institute
Low-Wage Employers Need Obamacare Waivers

GUEST EDITORIAL By Kenneth Artz, The Heartland Institute Beginning in 2014, ObamaCare will require employers with fifty or more full-time employees to offer affordable coverage to all of their employees or risk a hefty per-employee fine. As industries weigh the benefits of cost of coverage versus paying the fines, officials for trade groups representing nursing homes and other low-wage employers are considering asking the Department of Health and Human Services for a waiver excusing them…

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Faith-Based Cost-Sharing Runs Into Challenges in Washington State

By Benjamin Domenech, The Heartland Institute
Faith-Based Cost-Sharing Runs Into Challenges in Washington State

GUEST EDITORIAL By Benjamin Domenech, The Heartland Institute A controversial decision in Washington state pitted state health care regulators against a cooperative charitable organization, exemplifying some of the hazards of increased government regulation of the industry. Samaritan Ministries International, one of the nation’s largest faith-based health care cost-sharing ministries, was targeted by a Cease and Desist order from the Office of Insurance Commissioner (OIC), headed by Washington state insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler. In the order,…

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NY Implements Medicaid Cuts, Transparency

By Kenneth Artz, The Heartland Institute
NY Implements Medicaid Cuts, Transparency

GUEST EDITORIAL By Kenneth Artz, The Heartland Institute A new Web site will allow New Yorkers to monitor and track the progress of state goals for cuts and efficiency reforms to the state’s costly Medicaid program, which currently spends more on Medicaid than Texas and California combined. Created by Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Medicaid Redesign Team is a public/private partnership tasked with controlling costs and improving quality in the state’s $58.3…

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Utah Passes Bipartisan Medicaid Reform Bill

By Consumer Insurance Guide Staff
Utah Passes Bipartisan Medicaid Reform Bill

GUEST EDITORIAL By Marc Kilmer, The Heartland Institute With most states struggling to make even small changes to their Medicaid systems, Utah recently enacted bipartisan legislation that would completely overhaul its Medicaid program. Such a move might have provoked controversy in other states, but in Utah not a single member of the House or Senate voted against the legislation. Sen. Dan Liljenquist (R-Bountiful), the sponsor of the plan, said the need for Medicaid reform is…

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California Shifts To Managed Care for Medicaid

By Loren Heal, The Heartland Institute
California Shifts To Managed Care for Medicaid

GUEST EDITORIAL By Loren Heal, The Heartland Institute The California version of Medicaid, called Medi-Cal, will mandate the enrollment of about 400,000 of its patients in a state-sponsored managed-care plan over the next year. The plan, designed to help the state cope with rising Medicaid costs, will effect Medi-Cal patients in San Francisco and fifteen other counties. California obtained a waiver from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in November 2010 to make…

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FDA Hit for Attack on Off-Label Device Use

By Thomas Cheplick, The Heartland Institute
FDA Hit for Attack on Off-Label Device Use

GUEST EDITORIAL By Thomas Cheplick, The Heartland Institute The Food and Drug Administration has issued a guidance document detailing a possible new regulation against off-label use of a category of medical devices, a development that stunned the device industry. The new FDA regulation would extend the legal doctrine called “intended use” to cover manufacturers of medical devices and make those manufacturers legally liable for off-label uses of their products. The FDA’s decision could have profound…

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