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.
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.
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.
Why are Indiana’s hospitals cutting jobs. Because they’re spooked about cuts to Medicare payments. They should be.
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.
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.
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.
Only four health insurers are offering policies in the Obamacare exchange in Indiana, whereas 17 have withdrawn from the market since 2010.
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.
Rather than railing incessantly against Obamacare, Republicans would do themselves and the country a favor if they finally agreed on a common alternative for fixing the health care system.
More than half of the $2.5 trillion consumers spend annually on health care in the United States flows to hospitals and doctors, with drug companies and health insurers trailing well behind.
With payment reform and new technology, it’s plausible that health care will shift from being a bricks and mortar business to an information business–bringing us higher quality and lower costs. That’s exciting.
Read the discussion of experts gathered by Indianapolis Business Journal.
Before this year’s cuts, Indiana hospitals had added 12,000 jobs over the past six years, even as private employers across Indiana, collectively, added no net new workers.
Cost pressures are forcing health care providers to extend the reach of limited resources.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield President Rob Hillman expects a slow start to the Obamacare exchanges, with fewer than one-third of uninsured people buying coverage there.
Meaningful health reform has proved so difficult because it requires simultaneous change across a massive system. Here’s a post-Obamacare plan to do exactly that.
The IU researchers, as have many before them, approach health care jobs as if every one of them is an unmixed blessing to the Indiana economy. Employers and workers could have easily told them that’s not the case.
I follow these blogs to keep up on health care financing. Tell me what else I should be reading.
If you’re frustrated that health care prices are both unavailable and incomprehensible, you’re not alone. Your physician is in the dark too.
