costs, coverage, gmos, mental health and substance abuse treatment, policy, public health
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 …
Continue reading “Questioning the Trend Towards Physician Tiering”
The practical potential for reducing health care costs by eliminating insurance mandates is less than commonly believed.
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.
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.
I attended an information session on health care reform ran by Representative Hogan, Jessica Constantino of AARP and Deb Thompson of the PASS Group (Public Advocacy and Support Strategies) a couple of weeks ago. The material that was handed out and the presentation given were very informative, and I thought what I learned could be useful to constituents, especially for senior citizens and those on Medicare.
In 2008, Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting gifts by drug and device companies to doctors. I voted for the ban then. After revisiting the issue, I continue to support the ban. I will listen carefully to the arguments on the floor, but I expect to vote against repeal.
