Evolution Of Health Insurance Kaiser

FTC Emerges as Another Obstacle to Health Reform Law

For patients contemplating elective procedures, where they live matters. This CHCF research finds practice patterns for certain surgeries and other procedures vary dramatically from place to place.

As CHCF plans another year of the California Health Care Almanac, we continually refine these market trend reports so they are the most useful to our audience. GIve us your feedback in a brief survey, open until September 30.

Small medical practices often lack the resources to implement electronic practice management systems. A pilot project in Tulare County helped integrate EHRs.

Many assessments of the Affordable Care Act's long-term viability have focused on Congress' ability to weaken or repeal the law, especially if Democrats lose both chambers in 2012. Others are looking ahead to the Supreme Court's potential impact on the individual mandate's constitutionality.

But another Washington, D.C. player -- the Federal Trade Commission -- is already creating problems for the Obama administration.

True to its name, the Affordable Care Act tries out a number of new ideas to make health care less expensive. As one tactic, the law provides incentives for the creation of accountable care organizations to care for dedicated populations of Medicare beneficiaries.

However, the White House and FTC don't see eye to eye on ACOs' antitrust implications. The White House -- and by extension, the Department of Justice -- has viewed ACOs through the lens of consumer benefit. Meanwhile, the FTC spots a risk that ACOs could help already strong health care providers further fix prices.

The divide has fueled a highly unusual public split -- with one official complaining to the Wall Street Journal that DOJ and FTC resorted to coin flips to solve some jurisdiction issues -- and sparked grumbling that the White House has taken an inconsistent approach to antritrust.

'Healing of America' author T.R. Reid to lead discussion series in ...

2011 health insurance premiums surge

Rising rates: A Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance surged 9 percent for family coverage and 8 percent for singles this year, snapping a trend toward moderate growth.

Why: The study doesn't explore why rates increased, but Kaiser officials note that the cost of care continues to rise, and the Obama administration’s health care overhaul played a relatively small role in the increase.

Why this matters: Employer-sponsored coverage is the most common form of health insurance in the United States. Big jumps in insurance costs means workers may see flat wages or smaller increases.

The crisis in the nation ’s health care system is affecting everyone. People are losing insurance coverage. They wait months to see a provider. They seek basic care in hospital emergency rooms, forgo preventive screenings and suffer from high rates of medical errors, injuries and infections.

Most people agree there’s a significant problem, says Nancy Morris of the nonprofit Maine Health Management Coalition . They don’t agree on the solutions.

“People don’t like information coming down on them,” Morris said in a recent interview. “They want to get their hands around the problem and really understand it.”

Hoping to inform, engage and empower Mainers of all stripes, the Maine Health Management Coalition and several health care groups are starting a statewide book club to consider the ideas of T.R. Reid, author of the 2009 New York Times best-seller, “The Healing of America.”

Local groups will read and discuss the book during October. Libraries and bookstores are getting ready to provide the books and a place to meet. Reid himself will make several appearances here in November — in person in Portland , Augusta and Bangor and by interactive conferencing at more than a dozen public libraries and other sites from Presque Isle to Kittery.

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Women's Health

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Elements of Style

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