Why Health Insurers Can, But Won’t, Break Up Medical Monopolies
If there’s one big lesson to take from this series so far—something that unites the many monopolies that make up American healthcare—it’s this: As monopolies expand their power and influence in healthcare, they grow complacent. And when that happens, innovation dies.
Ultimately, Americans pay the price with their wallets and their health. Story continues..
MEDICARE
Sponsored by AGA
Problems with Medicare Advantage Payment System Contribute to Overpayment
Medicare Advantage plans are overpaid and do not exhibit the quality of care improvements to justify their payments.
The Medicare Advantage program has serious structural problems that lead to overpayment and policymakers must take action on MedPAC’s recommendations in order to create a more cost-effective program, an issue brief from the Urban Institute found.
“MA plans have reduced health care utilization, but although MA was also supposed to generate Medicare program savings, it never has,” the brief explained. “Policy groups such as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) have long understood and explained that MA plans are overpaid relative to TM when viewed on comparable terms.” Dig Deeper …
Annuitants Will Feel the Impact of Medicare Part D Changes
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 50 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare Part D plans. With the passage of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, reforms to Medicare Part D will be enacted, so everyone – including federal annuitants – enrolled in the plan will have to pay attention to the changes.
Kevin Moss is a senior editor with Consumers’ Checkbook. Checkbook’s Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees is available now. He’s also a GovExec contributor and his latest post site is headlined “How Changes to Medicare Part D Will Impact Federal Annuitants.” He joined the podcast to discuss the changes to Medicare Part D. Listen to PODCAST here…
COMPLIANCE
Sponsored by Word&Brown
Feds promise to trim backlog of health care investigations
About two-thirds of the cases involve potential violations of health information privacy and security, a problem that has worsened in recent years because of data breaches and cybersecurity hacks, the agency said. In 2021, more than 700 large breaches of health information were reported. Health insurer Anthem, for example, was forced to pay the government a record $16 million fine in 2018 after a data breach affecting about 79 million people — including names, birthdates, Social Security numbers and medical IDs. Read here…
GROUP BENEFITS
Sponsored by United Healthcare
Employer-Based Health Insurance and Employee Compensation
Given that so much of the increase in worker compensation during the past 2 decades has been consumed by health insurance costs, it is important to ask whether the value of health insurance has increased during this period. Might the average worker benefit from an increasing share of their income going to health insurance? Unfortunately, while the costs of health insurance have increased, the value of health insurance appears to have declined. Continue reading…
EXIT PLANNING
Sponsored by Strazzeri/Mancini
Succession Planning for Your Small Business Owner Clients
Learn from independent attorneys, CPAs, bankers, financial planners, investment advisers, insurance and real estate professionals, presenting training sessions every week.
Attend and learn more about business succession planning. For additional information please contact:
Shelley Lightfoot
Executive Director
Email:sl@scinstitute.org
858-200-1900
Southern California Institute meeting (SCI.)
Weekly Thursday Insights Schedule and Registration:
www.SCInstitute.org/ThursdayInsights
Exit Planning Institute Chapter meetings.
EPI Los Angeles Chapter Meeting Schedule and Registration:
4th Wed of the month: zoom & in person
EPI Orange County Chapter Meeting Schedule and Registration:
2nd Thursday of the month in-person ONLY
EPI San Diego Chapter Meeting Schedule and Registration: Virtual Only
For additional information call: 858-200-1900
Group Benefit Brokers 101 to Help Clients With Succession Planning For business owners “failing to plan is planning to fail”
There are about 6 million privately held companies in America.
U.S. census data shows 63% of these are owned by baby boomers who range from 56 to 73 years old. Boomers are set to reach the age of 70 within 14 years which represents 4 million businesses poised for transition.
The impact of this transition will not only be on the owner and their loved ones but on employees, vendors, customers, communities and charities. The transition process, often called “business exit planning,” needs to be explained. Story continues here…
HOT PRODUCT FOR CALBROKER READERS:
March eMagazine
Please enjoy our first edition eMagazine. The new digital version is accessible on all media forms: mobile phone, laptop and desktop.
Enjoy this month’s unique, useful and entertaining information associated with health and life insurance themes to enable our readers to continue to do the work necessary to be client advocates. Read the latest issue here:
INFOTECH
Google flexes its health care AI muscle
There’s an arms race among big tech companies to infuse their products with AI — but the results, particularly in health care, can have unwanted consequences or pitfalls, like racial bias, privacy concerns and ethical problems. Continue reading here…
FEATURED EVENT:
LAAHU 2023 Annual Symposium – Pasadena Convention Center. April 25, 7am to 5pm PST
Info: 800-676-1628. Register here.
Keynote speaker: Anoop Kumar, MD, is a leading voice for health and healthcare transformation, bringing clarity to the full spectrum of clinical medicine, mind-body integration, and human potential. Link to speakers
INDUSTRY CALENDAR
- March 31, 10:30 AM PST, White Wing Insurance National Meeting to announce a new partnership with UnBlinded Co-Founder Sean Callgay
Learn more here: https://www.whitewinginsurance.com/unblinded Register here. - April 10, 9:30 am PST CAHIP Orange County 26th Annual Charity Golf Classic. Contact CAHIP-OC at (714) 441-8951, ext. 3 or at orangecountyahu@yahoo.com
CONFERENCES
- April 11-14, Virtual Fourth National Medicare Advantage Summit by Global Health Care, Virtual/Online Live Video; Media Partners: Harvard Health Policy Review, Health Affairs and Inside Health Policy. Contact: (800) 503-0078. Registration@hcconferences.com, Register
- LAAHU 2023 Annual Symposium – Pasadena Convention Center. April 25, 7am to 5pm PST
Info: 800-676-1628. Register here. - May 8-10, CAHIP Capitol Summit Sacramento. Registration is NOW OPEN. Register Here
- May 18, CAHIP-Desert Cities Health Care Summit, Palm Valley Country Club Palm Desert, CA Register Here
