NEWSMAKERS: Joe Swedish
When Joe Swedish was named the next CEO of WellPoint Inc., investors frowned. At first.
Health Care Costs
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For the holidays: A hopeful, health care reading list
In the Christmas spirit of hope, I’m offering a reading list of several optimistic reports about health care reform—even though many of my recent posts, and the mood of the country in general, have been decidedly downbeat.
Medicare names names on hospital quality, but don’t expect consumers to notice
The Obama administration has been releasing more price and quality information, but it is coming in a rather useless form for patients. That’s a problem for the prospects of consumer-driven health care.
Sorry, docs, but Obamacare will suffer from a shortage
There is good evidence that new technology deployed via new methods of medicine across the entire health care system can reduce the need for physicians. But there are too many barriers for such changes to occur in time to cut off the surge in demand brought on by Obamacare.
Obama team willing to ‘Republicanize’ Medicaid, but maybe not enough for Indiana
A new Medicaid expansion deal with the Republican governor of Iowa OK’d a cost-sharing requirement similar to what Indiana Gov. Mike Pence wants. But the Obama administration says it won’t extend that deal as low as Pence would like to go.
What if exchange enrollment never catches up?
Based on some very rough assumptions, I calculate that Hoosiers could see premiums 14 percent to 28 percent higher in 2015, due in part to low enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges in 2014.
Hospitals figure out their own way to game Obamacare’s tax subsidies
In response to insurers’ “zero-premium” strategy, hospitals figure out their own way to game the tax subsidies available in the new Obamacare exchanges: pay premiums for their patients.
Blurring the line between health care and health insurance
IU Health is working with a hospital-based health plan in Pittsburgh that is now directly challenging the Blue Cross health plan there. Could the same thing happen here?
Why insurers want to limit your choice of doctor
In spite of President Obama’s promises that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, the president’s health reform law is spurring health insurers to make him a liar on that point too.
TABLER: Market is driving trend toward ‘public health’
The movement toward a “public health” model may be the most important current trend in American health care. Because the trend is more a result of market forces than of the Affordable Care Act, repealing Obamacare won’t stop it.
Pence’s Obamacare stance mirrors Hoosiers’ views
A new survey shows Hoosiers don’t like the Affordable Care Act, most would like to see it repealed, and by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, they support Pence’s handling of the question of expanding Medicaid.
Health care has priced itself out of its own market
It’s no secret the growth of the U.S. economy slowed in the 2000s after the go-go decade preceding it. But the U.S. health care system—hospitals, doctors, drug companies, device makers and health insurers—apparently didn’t get that memo.
With Obamacare, insurers will still find ways to avoid risk
Obamacare put an end to health insurers’ worst methods for avoiding risk. But that doesn’t mean insurers have ended their risk-shifting ways. Not at all.
The bill for Hoosiers’ excess health care spending: About $5 billion per year
Hoosiers’ poor health, combined with an aggressive health care system and an uncompetitive health insurance sector, means Hoosiers, in spite of the fact that they earn just 86 cents for every dollar earned by the average American, are spending nearly $1.13 on health care for every dollar spent by Americans.
The frightening future that’s haunting hospitals
Why are Indiana’s hospitals cutting jobs. Because they’re spooked about cuts to Medicare payments. They should be.
Think your coverage is unaffordable? Watch out for this Obamacare pitfall
Obamacare’s exchanges are requiring working Americans to grasp minute details of their employers’ health plans in order to avoid a nasty surprise from the IRS.
Health law fuels modest rise in costs
It’s long been known that Obamacare would make health benefits more expensive for most employers. Now, it’s finally becoming clearer by how much: about 9 percent, on average, according to a series of actuarial studies.
Franciscan hospitals to eliminate 925 full-time positions
The Indiana-based system that operates three hospitals in the Indianapolis area said it is trying to cut its expenses by as much as $500 million, or 20 percent.
Is lack of competition hiking Indiana exchange premiums?
Only four health insurers are offering policies in the Obamacare exchange in Indiana, whereas 17 have withdrawn from the market since 2010.
VC headwinds continue for life sciences firms
Indiana life sciences companies trying to raise venture capital continue to do so with a national wind in their faces, according to the third-quarter venture capital data.