I often write about how the U.S. health care industry is predicated on maximizing revenue against third party payers, primarily employer plans. Health insurers negotiate prices with providers but about half of people in private health insurance are covered by self-insured employer plans. That means an insurer is often managing the plan but not taking on any risk. Some benefits brokers have told me insurers frequently profit off third-party claims due to spread pricing. That is, charging the employer plan slightly more for a procedure than what the insurer paid the provider. That is problematic because the party negotiating the prices (insurers) profits every time they spend (someone else’s) money. That is not a very strong incentive to hold prices down, or steer enrollees to the cheapest options.
Category: Health Insurance
Nearly Half of Cancer Deaths Could be Avoided
Many people worry about cancer in their lifetimes. Mutual of Omaha has even sent my wife and me applications for ‘cancer insurance’ on two separate occasions so cancer is undoubtedly something many Americans fear. A new study suggests there is something better that Americans could do to protect themselves from cancer than enroll in Obamacare or buy Mutual of Omaha’s cancer insurance. Americans who want to avoid cancer can lead healthier lifestyles: don’t smoke, limit drinking and avoid being overweight.
Globally, nearly half of deaths due to cancer can be attributable to preventable risk factors, including the three leading risks of: smoking, drinking too much alcohol or having a high body mass index, a new paper suggests.
The research, published Thursday in the journal The Lancet, finds that 44.4% of all cancer deaths and 42% of healthy years lost could be attributable to preventable risk factors in 2019.
The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation.
Tuesday Links – 16 August 2022
- Public-health communication around monkeypox has been an orgy of euphemism and wokespeak, misleading and baffling if you don’t understand what isn’t being said.
- Kids going crazy: “Between 2016 and 2020, there were significant increases in children’s diagnosed anxiety and depression.”
- Financial therapy integrates financial and emotional wellness. But is it health care?
- Birx: pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna are to blame for thousands of deaths because their refusal to pursue a “compassionate use authorization” for the COVID-19 vaccines led to a delay which directly impacted nursing home residents.
Monday Links
- Because of a “Covid Emergency,” 150 members of the house were able to vote remotely on the IRA bill.
- Are progressives trying to destroy San Francisco’s status as “the best food city in the country”?
- Is hearing loss justification enough to end your life? Canada arguably has the world’s most permissive euthanasia rules.
- Why is Bill Kristol attacking Herschel Walker because he sought mental health care?
- Does it matter what time of day you take your meds? Apparently.