The $8.6 Million payout to the ousted Blue Cross CEO ( Cleve Killingsworth) doesn’t give me much confidence in this near-monopoly “Non-Profit” company or its Board of Directors. (Directors are paid over $50,000 per year each, for one meeting a month). That’s a lot of co-pays at $20 each ! Note that Killingsworth will …
Health
costs, coverage, gmos, mental health and substance abuse treatment, policy, public health
Are There Significant Healthcare Savings To Be Found In Reforming The Malpractice System?
Summary Massachusetts already has several levels of limits on malpractice suits and damages Pretrial tribunals Caps on non-economic damages Caps on attorney’s fees Malpractice rates set by the Insurance Commissioner Pretrial tribunals are not a significant barrier to pursuing a suit The amount of bond necessary to move forward is too low and has …
Questioning the Trend Towards Physician Tiering
Hi Will: I wanted to write to you about what I consider a disturbing trend in the medical insurance industry. A number of health plans are placing physicians into tiers based one mostly there cost to treat a particular common diagnosis. The plans are supposed to include quality of care as well but have not …
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Should healthcare coverage area mandates be repealed to control costs?
The practical potential for reducing health care costs by eliminating insurance mandates is less than commonly believed.
More conversations on health care
Stuart Altman, Connie Horgan and Michael Doonan from Brandeis came to the state house this week to hold an informal discussion about health care cost control with legislators and staff.
Next Steps in Health Care Reform
It isn’t clear that major state legislation is needed to advance experimentation with new health care cost-control models in Massachusetts. It may be primarily within the proper role of the executive branch to collaborate with federal Medicare and Medicaid administrators and move forward.