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When it comes to the rising cost of medical care, Dr. Linda Girgis is quick to identify one of the most problematic symptoms: Patients who keep their mouths shut.
“We think every American should understand that a decent price for a shoulder MRI is $500 versus $4,000,” Kempton said. Volume discounts obstruct and distort the free market and the understanding of the true cost of care, he said. “It should be the same cash price to any willing buyer. Price is not a product; care is.” Kempton told of how a durable medical equipment supplier quoted a $4,195 discounted price on a $6,900 oxygen concentrator, but quickly matched a $2,995 price that Kempton found in a Google search.
As Republican policymakers nationwide continue debating ways to replace Obamacare with patient-centered solutions, a Colorado group has landed a plan implementing a single-payer model of health care on November’s ballot. Coloradans are already bracing for its impact. In the general election, Colorado residents will not only head to the polls to cast their votes for president, but they’ll also weigh in on a controversial ballot measure: Amendment 69, which would create a government-run health care plan in the Centennial State.
Former Treasury secretary Larry Summers wants to get rid of the $100 bill. But I think he has it exactly backward. I think we need to restore the $500 and $1000 bills. And the reason is that people like Larry Summers have done a horrible job.
A pair of premium-stabilizing programs is expiring. Companies selling individual health plans on Obamacare’s insurance marketplaces must grapple with the impending expiration of two of the law’s key early-stage programs, likely foretelling premium increases in 2017, as PricewaterhouseCoopers points out in a new regulatory brief. The Affordable Care Act included a trio of provisions meant to counteract insurance marketplace uncertainty in its nascent years. Collectively dubbed “the 3 Rs,” risk adjustment, reinsurance, and risk corridors were intended to act as shock absorbers for a newly reformed individual health insurance market in which participating firms were, essentially, shooting in the dark when setting premium levels and gaming out how sick and costly new enrollees would be.
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