balancing billing of medicaid members examined

Business Week Examines Practice of Balance Billing by Medical Providers
from kaisernetwork.org: Health Policy Daily Report
Business Week on Thursday examined how “millions of confused consumers” are being asked by hospitals to pay the remaining balances of medical bills not covered by their insurers, even though the practice, called “balance billing, often is illegal.” Balance billing can [...]

ERISA examined

from kaisernetwork.org: Health Policy Daily Report
“‘MetLife V. Glenn‘: The Court Addresses a Conflict Over Conflicts in ERISA Benefit Administration,” Health Affairs: In the Web exclusive, Tim Jost of the Washington and Lee University School of Law discusses a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that recognized the conflict of interest that often faces Employee Retirement Income [...]

website to help consumers with RX

The AP/Boston Globe on Monday examined how the introduction of two online tools and an initiative led by FDA seek to reduce confusion caused by medications with names that appear or sound the same as the names of other treatments. According to the AP/Globe, confusion about “drug names because they look or sound alike … [...]

health cost on the rise

Small businesses by now are used to having their health-care costs rise much faster than large corporations. And new survey results suggest 2009 will be no different. In fact, things are so tough that an increasing number of small firms are expected to dump their health benefits altogether.
Preliminary results of the annual health-insurance survey by [...]

health insurance examined

Does Enrollment in a CDHP Stimulate Cost-Effective Utilization?” Medical Care Research and Review: The study — by Judith H. Hibbard, Jessica Greene and Martin Tusler of the University of Oregon — finds that people who enroll in consumer-driven health plans generally reduce their use of medical services. The authors write that CDHP members with high [...]

patients decreasing doctor visit in these economic times

Twenty-two percent of respondents to a survey have reduced the number of times they visit their physician because of the current economic climate in the U.S., according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The poll of 686 consumers, released on Tuesday and conducted in July, also found that 11% [...]