Survey that found that the new health reform law would lead one in three employers to drop worker coverage was poorly done, critics say.
The Republicans insist they want not just to repeal the Affordable Care Act but also to replace it. But replace it with what, exactly? It’s not an easy question to answer. They’ve have yet to embrace a specific proposal and, rhetorically, they have made contradictory arguments about what they want
“To be fair, the Republican argument makes perfect sense if you think like a campaign operative.”
Health reform targets wasteful spending — that is, instances where either individuals or the government is paying too much for what some part of the health care industry is providing
Republican proposals will force many people to pay higher premiums, lavish subsidies on the insurance industry and add $100 of billions to the federal debt.
Reform forces insurers to cover basic benefits, restricts their ability to mistreat consumers, and limits what they can spend on overhead: bad news for the inefficient.
Jon Cohn answers John Goodman’s column: Comparing Medicaid cutbacks to private insurer’s dropping costly patients “is grossly misleading,” Cohn writes.
Jon Cohn argues that news stories about businesses dropping insurance and insurers limiting doctor choice isn’t bad: they highlight health reform’s benefits.
Add it all up and the budget deficit actually gets a little smaller. The emphasis is on “little,” since the net reduction is actually pretty small.
“Will most people’s health insurance still change? Absolutely. But change was coming no matter what. With reform, it’s likely to be change for the better,” writes Jon Cohn.
The question isn’t so much whether the waste exists. The question, rather, is whether reform can pinpoint and excise that waste — whether it can cut out the bad medical care without removing the good.
A lot of people laughed when Sue Lowden, the Nevada Republican running for the U.S. Senate, suggested last month that people start paying for their medical care with chickens. I didn’t.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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