A federal regulation was issued November 22nd which may require some health insurance companies to return part of their premiums to some of their insureds. At the end of this year the Health and Human Services (HHS) dept. will review the insurance companies medical loss data. Those companies that are spending less than 80% – 85% of their premium dollar on direct medical care will be required to issue refunds to consumers.

This medical loss ratio rule was developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and submitted to the HHS in response to the Affordable Care Act. Also starting in 2011 insurance companies will have to make public how they spend their premium dollars.

I wouldn’t start spending those refund checks yet. The first ones will not be issued until sometime in 2012! They could be significant though. According to the HHS, insurers in some areas are spending as little as 60% of their premium dollars on direct care. bjmdjd

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Health and Human Services · health insurance premium dollars · HHS · medical loss ratio rule · National Assoc. of Insurance Commissioners

I said that I wasn’t going to comment anymore on healthcare reform but some numbers just out are fairly telling and I thought you might want to hear them.

According to Kaiser Health News a USA Today/Gallop Poll due out tomorrow says that the President and congressional Democrats have their work cut out for them in trying to convince their constituents that the healthcare reform bill will help them and their families. The poll of a little over 1,000 adults revealed that 50% of those polled said that the bill was a bad thing and 47% said it was a good thing.

The Miami Herald reported that a Mason – Dixon Polling and Research poll concluded that only 34% of Florida voters support the bill while 54% are against it.

It will be interesting to see how the Democrats try to sell the new healthcare reform bill when they get home. I think they realize that there could be some tough times in the voting booths this coming November.  bjmdjd

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Gallop Poll · Healthcare Reform · Mason-Dixon Polling and Research · Miami Herald · USA Today

Well it appears that healthcare reform may come to a head next week. President Obama has said that he wants a vote on March 18th before he leaves for an overseas trip. Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid has sent a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell outlining the Democrats plan to use the much talked about budget reconciliation plan to pass healthcare reform. That means that they can pass it with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed for a supermajority to prevent a Republican filibuster. The Democrats no longer have the needed 60 votes due to the election of a republican to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy.

To complicate matters the day before Senator Reid sent his letter the 41 Senate Republicans signed a letter condemning the use of the reconciliation process to pass a partisan bill that represents one sixth of the economy. They say that the Senates “Byrd Rule” prevents the use of reconciliation to do anything other than revise the federal budget.

It’s heating up and we may all have our answer next week. It doesn’t seem to matter to many in Washington that it appears that the majority of Americans want healthcare reform, just not the one that they may be getting ready to vote on.  bjmdjd

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Healthcare Reform · reconciliation process · Senator Harry Reid · Senator Mitch McConnell

All the talk now is how expensive healthcare has become and the costs seem to be rising every day. The National Heart, Lung, and  Blood Institute has released some numbers that are staggering.

Below are the estimated direct and indirect 2010 costs (in billions…that’s with a “B”) in  the United States for the five most expensive diagnostic groups:

• $324.1 billion     Cardiovascular Diseases
• $225.2 billion     Digestive System
• $177.7 billion     Mental Health
• $175.4 billion     Nervous System
• $172.9 billion     Injury and Poisoning

As Healthcare Reform possibly looms in our future it’s important to remember what the real numbers are!  bjmdjd

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health · healthcare is expensive · Healthcare Reform · National Heart Lung and Blood Instutute · wellness

Well, I was correct but I’m sorry I was! The Healthcare Summit was a complete waste of time and C-Span broadcast resources. The only thing that I got from it was that the Democrats told everyone that they were going to pass the current bill no matter who opposes it!

As for me I’m sick on my stomach! You can read the details somewhere else (if you have the time to waste and the stomach for it)!  bjmdjd

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Healthcare Reform · healthcare summit

In several of my posts I have mentioned that I felt that one of the main problems that needs to be dealt with as we approach healthcare reform is the shortage of primary care physicians. There is a shortage of these doctors now. Who is going to see the approximately 46 million new patients who suddenly have health insurance?

I want to post various articles as I come across them that addresses this issue. Todays comes from the South Bend Tribune and was an opinion written by a physician.

 http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100128/Opinion/1280356/-1/googleNews      bjmdjd

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health · Healthcare Reform · shortage of primary care physicians · wellness