Today’s elections will determine the future of federal health care reform. No matter what the actual outcome in terms of numbers of seats changing party or initiatives adopted, voters will communicate at least the discomfort with and uncertainty about reforms. Whether the reforms withstand the election depends upon how well the reforms are re-calibrated to…
The United States Department of Justice announcement of a civil antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan rings another ancient health care reform bell in Washington, the state. In 1993, as part of its comprehensive health care reform, Washington adopted a series of laws intended to offset the growing market power of insurers.…
Shortly after the President signed health care reform legislation, many of us spent long hours parsing the thick bill to discern a place in a reformed market for association health plans. As I noted in prior articles (e.g., what-is-a-mewa-and-will-they-be-sent-to-the-health-care-reformatory ), for over fifteen years, the Washington small group market has been dominated by member governed…
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has just proposed new regulations designed to fulfill the amendments made to HIPAA last year when the economic stimulus act (ARRA) was passed by Congress. The separate Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was grafted onto ARRA. Recall that among the HIPAA amendments…
As we struggle to understand and adapt to federal health care reform, can we please agree on the fundamentals? Much of the debate and the more modest conversations about the future of health insurance reform occur in a twilight zone where we use the same words but mean entirely different things. Insurance has a long…
Health care reform is not just national, it’s local. The “generals” may be busy planning in the other Washington but what matters most are the “boots on the ground.” The folks that you see day to day will have a more immediate effect on your life than the folks in a distant office. As if…
