Posted in Healthcare on Nov 19th, 2010
I think it is admirable that California is attempting some innovative health care solutions and wish them the best of luck. If I understand their proposal correctly they will be billing the federal government the same amount but the spending will not follow standard Medicaid rules. With the waiver they will be using the savings [...]
Posted in Healthcare on Nov 19th, 2010
Since it appears that 111 waivers have already been granted including a waiver for mini-med plans, I was wondering whether everyone who has a high deductible health insurance could be exempted? High deductible health care health insurance is the cornerstone of health savings account(HSA). For some people this is a very cost effective way to [...]
Posted in Healthcare on Nov 12th, 2010
I am doubtful that Obamacare will be repealed in the next two years but I am slightly optimistic that it can undergo some significant improvements in controlling health care cost growth. Here are two key issues that I think we can get bipartisan support on. Embrace a a wider range of cost reduction strategies including [...]
Posted in Healthcare on Aug 27th, 2010
I was looking at HeathCare.gov today. It is a pretty site. I was researching information about how the recent legislation impacted HRA and HSA accounts so I decided to give this site a try. It did not have anything. Their insurance finder looked intriguing so I decided to give it a test run. Since I [...]
Posted in Healthcare, Humor on Apr 3rd, 2010
My boss and I came to same realization on Friday. We would be more in favor of the individual mandate if the Federal government required everyone to buy one of our products, too. We are hurting just like the hospitals. Hospitals have un-insured patients and we have dead beat customers. Why can’t we get a [...]
Posted in Economy, Healthcare on Mar 28th, 2010
Back in 2000 when I moved from Texas to Ohio I was given the opportunity to buy health insurance at what I thought was an exorbitant price of $350 per month. I declined. On Friday I commented on a post that about the insurance mandate that the insurance mandate is very expensive option for me for what I consider to be a hospital billing problem. Today I calculated about how much I saved by not having health insurance or having a low cost high deductable plan. Just for the health insurance premiums alone I would have spent $52,970. I used this slide from the Kaiser Family Foundation and its 131% increase to estimate my health insurance premium increases. This looks like a pretty conservative number since it assumes I can get a comparable policy today for $457 per month. From Quicken I can say that my medical and dental costs over this time period was about $37,900. Based on my ten year experience you can save a lot of money by being a savvy health care buyer.
Posted in Economy, Healthcare on Mar 22nd, 2010
Despite the drama about the health care debate the country continues down its path to austerity. The only way we can get off the path is if the economy shows a robust, vigorous recovery of permanent employment and consumer spending. The states, counties, and cities desperately need more tax revenue. It is not surprising that [...]
Posted in Healthcare on Nov 6th, 2009
Republicans are offering common-sense reforms that would lower costs. Naturally I like the plan as explained in this Wall Street Journal article, The No-Cost Path to Cheaper Health Care, by Mr. Shadegg, a Congressman from Arizona. As a person who buys his own health insurance with money from a HRA I have at work, [...]
Posted in Healthcare on Nov 3rd, 2009
Eighteen years ago when my son was born I came to the conclusion that health care was a very strange animal that appeared to be immune to the common sense practices used by businesses. Sadly the situation has gotten worse over the years and the present forms of “health care reform” look like they will [...]
Posted in Healthcare on Nov 1st, 2009
Like most people I thought the Democrats would pass a health care reform bill even if it was universally disliked. I assumed that health care bill had about 99% chance of passing. Recently I lowered the odds to 50%. I have two major reasons to lower the odds. The primary reason I am lowering the [...]
On this day, the Virginia Tech community reflects on the vibrant lives of the 32 students and faculty who were tragically taken from us a year ago. Through light, art, and music we pay tribute to each and every person we lost. We gather to honor our friends, colleagues, and family members. We will never forget.