3.10.06

The Uninsured
60 Minutes did a feature piece on the uninsured last Sunday, highlighting how everyday working uninsured Americans have been exploited, violated, and manipulated by greedy hospitals. The report caused the AHA to hit the panic button - they sent an urgent letter to Dan Rather and attacked "community activist" K.B. Forbes. The blogosphere also responded - for example, InsureBlog's response, which attacked the uninsured person's excuse for not being able to afford insurance, generated quite a comments thread. Another uninsured couple who offered their horror story on the show was featured in their local newspaper blog. That blogger's thought process is even more odd: "I guess what this means is that big insurance companies have been successful in "keeping costs down". Except now it seems hospitals are trying to make up the difference by charging the uninsured more." Dick Clarke (CEO of HFMA) called it the "right topic, wrong focus" on the HFMA Views Blog. So, is this the start of another wave of hospital-bashing? Or just another report that will be forgotten in about 2 weeks? My bet is the former - 60 minutes is too big (~15 million viewers) - there's gotta be at least a few dozen lawsuits that will come from this.

More on HSAs
Earlier I posted on two congressmen's views on the pros and cons of HSAs. Well, whether you're pro or con, HSAs have hit $1B, with HSA Bank as the leading player (~29% market share). The AARP is against any proposal to expand HSAs, but they've decided to remain on the sidelines in this useless fight. Even CMS Head McClellan recently said that, "As HSAs have become much more popular in the under-65 market, it's time to make them available in Medicare as well."

The Physician Shortage (or is it Excess?)
Just a few weeks ago, I posted on 5 reasons why we are about to face an unprecedented physician shortage, Health Affairs had the nerve to contradict me. Based on their new study, it's not that we don't have enough M.D.s, it's that we aren't utilizing them effectively. The study notes that if we just learned from some best practitioners (e.g. Medical College of Georgia, Mayo Clinic) and paid particular attention to end-of-life care, we'd be set through at least 2020.

Finally, if you haven't already, check out the 2nd edition of the Health Wonk Review over at The Healthcare Blog. Our little healthcare blogosphere is growing up!