Mass Health
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Not so fast, Gov. Patrick | The Incidental Economist
In today’s Boston Globe : [Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's new health care bill] would establish standards for groups of hospitals and doctors called accountable care organizations, which are expected to become common as providers band together to treat patients and coordinate their care for a budgeted fee, splitting these so-called global payments. The bill would give the insurance commissioner the authority to regulate accountable care organizations and the attorney general the power to examine provider consolidation for potential antitrust problems.Extra! Extra! Twelve Points of Broad Agreement On Payment Reform!! | CommonHealth
It may look like torpor, but it's actually unaccustomed harmony on health care payment reform. Naturally, as a member of the media, I am what Spiro Agnew called a “nattering nabob of negativism,” and always lean toward writing about conflict rather than harmony.
Did the Massachusetts health reforms, which provided near-universal insurance coverage, also address problems of unmet need resulting from the cost of care and of inadequate preventive care for diverse patient groups?
Lack Of Access Due To Costs Remains A Problem For Some In Massachusetts Despite The State’s Health Reforms — Health Aff
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Dispatch from Massachusetts: The Individual Mandate Is Working - Kaiser Health News
In Massachusetts, the individual mandate requiring state residents to buy health insurance is working.Now, eight months into the new law there is a growing frenzy of mergers involving hospitals, clinics and doctor groups eager to share costs and savings, and cash in on the incentives.
Consumer Risks Feared as Health Law Spurs Mergers - NYTimes.com
The following is a re-post of my most recent Kaiser Health News column .
The individual mandate is working in Massachusetts | The Incidental Economist
The official in charge of monitoring insurer solvency at the state Division of Insurance sent an internal e-mail this spring warning that the rates the division imposed on health plans “have no actuarial support’’ and could lead to “a train wreck’’ in the industry.
E-mails reveal rift over insurance caps - The Boston Globe
In a blow to the Patrick administration, an insurance appeals board yesterday overturned the state’s cap on health premium increases for small business and individual customers covered by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. The three-member administrative panel — which consists of attorneys who work for the state Division of Insurance — found that rate increases Harvard Pilgrim initially sought in April are reasonable given what it must pay to hospitals and doctors. That ruling trumped the Insurance Division’s earlier finding that the requested increases were excessive, a view that reflects Governor Deval Patrick’s campaign to curb health costs.
Rate cap for insurer overturned - The Boston Globe
The state’s ambitious, first-in-the-nation plan to transform how hospitals and doctors are paid is on hold, at least for this year, largely because of disagreements among key officials, legislators, and providers over how best to control health care spending. Senate President Therese Murray, a leading advocate of payment changes, said in an interview that she will not file legislation to change the system this year, as originally planned, because of the logistical and political complexity of changing a system that has been in place for decades.
Health payment overhaul shelved - The Boston Globe
The crux of the issue: spend less on healthcare by Jul 11
The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget. Since April 1, the date many insurance contracts are renewed for small businesses, the owners of about 90 small companies terminated their insurance plans with Braintree-based broker Jeff Rich and indicated in a follow-up survey that they were relying on publicly-funded insurance for their employees. In Sandwich, business consultant Bill Fields said he has been hired by small businesses to enroll about 400 workers in state-subsidized care since April, because the company owners said they could no longer afford to provide coverage.