Monthly Archive for November, 2009

Page 3 of 6

Health reform’s hidden land mines – POLITICO.com

November 16, 2009
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By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN & CHRIS FRATES

After all the controversy over the public option, people might think that everyone can sign up right away if Congress passes health reform.

Or that insurance premiums will go down.

Or that they’ll be able to shop around for insurance if they don’t like what their company offers.

Think again.

When it comes to the public option, for instance, only about 1 in 10 Americans will be eligible, mainly people who don’t get insurance through work. Only about 6 million are expected to enroll. The plan doesn’t even start until 2013.

Health reform’s hidden land mines – Carrie Budoff Brown and Chris Frates – POLITICO.com

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SHRM – Leaning Backwards or Forwards?

November 14, 2009
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The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)has approximately 250,000 members representing the varied disciplines and commercial interests within the  human resource profession.   As a benefits professional with expanded human resource responsibilities, I recently joined SHRM.

No one there

No one there {Photo by JLM}

So I was disappointed to learn that SHRM does not support the recently passed House health care reform bill, HR 3962, The Affordable Health Care for America Act.

My readers will know I consistently argue that relying on employment as the primary gateway to the health care system is outmoded and ultimately harmful to the American economy.   Part of that argument is because employer sponsored health care limits the flexibility of employer human resource policies and the mobility of the workforce.

Does SHRM share those views?

Apparently not.

What does SHRM say? Continue reading ‘SHRM – Leaning Backwards or Forwards?’

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COBRA, Employer health insurance, Health Care Reform, Payment Reform and Veterans' Administration-- Tags: , , , , .

2010 Health Plan Costs More Than Four Times Wage Increases

November 13, 2009
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According to The Segal Company’s just-completed survey of projected 2010 health plan costs, medical plan cost trends will continue to be more than four times greater than the annual increase in average hourly earnings and in sharp contrast to changes in the consumer price index for urban consumers.

Other key findings of the survey include:

  • High-deductible health plans are projected to increase by just over one percentage point to 11.9 percent next year.
  • In 2010, medical plan projections for most managed care plans are similar to those found in 2009, ranging from 10.2 percent to 10.8 percent.

Hot Topics | Segal

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Medical Industry Grumbles, but It Stands to Gain From Overhaul

November 12, 2009
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News Analysis – NY Times.com

By DUFF WILSON and REED ABELSON

Published: November 8, 2009

For any industry, there has to be at least some good news any time Congress votes to expand the market by tens of millions of customers.

But the business world found plenty to complain about Sunday, as it assessed the House bill that would make sweeping changes in the health care system and extend insurance coverage to millions more Americans.

Insurers do not like the provision to create a new government-run insurance program. Drug makers oppose billions of dollars in rebates they would have to give to the government over 10 years. Makers of artificial hips, heart defibrillators and other medical devices are not particularly happy about the proposed 2.5 percent tax on their products.

And employers large and small oppose rules that, for many of them, would make health care coverage — long a job benefit — become a federally mandated obligation.

News Analysis – Medical Industry Grumbles, but It Stands to Gain From Overhaul – NYTimes.com

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Catholic Bishops’ Faustian Bargain: “Burn Health Care Reform” to Advance Anti-Choice Cause « Unsilent Generation

November 12, 2009
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James Ridgeway – the Unsilent Generation

We now know that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which in the end run reports to Rome, was intimately involved in the crafting and promotion of the Stupak Amendment, which turned a tepid health care victory for the Democrats into a serious loss for women’s reproductive rights. Jessica Arons, director of the Women’s Health and Rights Program at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, writes today that the measure “potentially goes farther than any other federal law to restrict women’s access to abortion” by effectively guaranteeing that virtually all insurance plans will refuse to pay for the procedure in the future.

Catholic Bishops’ Faustian Bargain: “Burn Health Care Reform” to Advance Anti-Choice Cause « Unsilent Generation

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