Welcome to this installment of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. We are covering several articles in this installment, so let’s get right to it. Our first article comes from EmaxHealth and is entitled, “Can The Media Derail Health Care Reform?” In this article, the author looks at past and present cases in which the media have either barely covered or ignored information and news on health care and reform policy and information. According to the article, it appears as if the media would rather cover politics and personalities rather than the actual issues and information related to policy change.
The article states that many journalists aren’t knowledgeable or educated in health care or health insurance policy, leading them to cover the actual ins and outs of health care policy very sporadically. For example, according to a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, out of over 3,500 stories on health insurance and health care in newspapers, TV and radio, less than one percent covered actual health care policy. The article also cites examples in the 1990’s during the Clinton administration. During the early 1990’s, many news outlets covered the “drama” surrounding “HillaryCare,” again looking more at the politics and personalities. However, when health care reform actually did take place in the mid 1990’s, it was almost completely ignored by the mainstream media because it was too “dry and lengthy.”
This is a problem for those of us — which apparently is most of us — who care about health care and health insurance reform and need to learn more about it as its happening. The article suggests such remedies as journalists who are experienced and knowledgeable on health care policy issues having seminars to teach those who aren’t, watchdog groups should bark louder than ever at the media in order for actual policy issues to get covered, and much more. As someone who covers health insurance and health care in the media, I can only hope that better coverage comes out of a desire to cover the facts, not just what’s hot or what will sell. We will have to see how well the media does in the coming months to cover the impending health care reform battles in Washington.
Our next article comes from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and is entitled, “Three Roadblocks on the Road to Health Reform.” This article discusses three problems health care reform will face on the road to acceptance. The first road block, according to the article, is private health insurance. The problem with private health insurance, according to the article, is that it encourages more expenditure with little or no regard for cost-effectiveness, which gives companies less incentive to embrace reform.
The second roadblock is Medicare, which the article claims is just as open-ended system that encourages submitting more claims for more money. This means government eventually clamps down on payment rates, which creates even more incentive to submit more claims, and on it goes. The third roadblock is Medicaid, which the article says has an even more open-ended policy than Medicare. This, again, encourages excessive use of medical services in order to encourage more claims and therefore more payouts to doctors and hospitals. Medicaid also inflates costs at both the state and federal levels by being possibly too flexible in many areas, like who they cover and which benefits are provided. The article then goes into ways of getting around these road blocks, such as reforming employer-based health insurance to keep costs in check, providing vouchers for individuals to get health insurance plans they can afford and so on. It’s a very interesting article that brings a lot of good points to light, but only time will tell how well they’re implemented.
Our final article comes to us from NJ.com and is entitled, “Employees Need Health Insurance, Not Cash.” In this article, the author looks at how employer health insurance — once thought of as a given for having a job — is now going “the way of the $1 cup of coffee.” Corporations are hiring people at the maximum amount of part-time hours to avoid paying for health insurance coverage. They are also doing things like give wage increases in lieu of health insurance entirely. The article warns that while this might seem great in the short run, it could hurt in the long term.
Health insurance isn’t something that should be bargained for, and should be the right of every employee or person that needs it. Trading money for health insurance is not a good idea for anyone, because eventually, everyone needs health coverage for something in their lives, especially as they get older. The article states that people without health insurance actually cost the health care system more than if they did have it due to the expensive costs of emergency room visits and so on. This is something we have covered before, but it’s worth reiterating regardless.
So in closing, we have had some very interesting articles to look through in this installment of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup, all of which I hope have given us all something to think about. Until next time, may you have a happy and healthy day.
Other Health Insurance News Options:
Return to Articles Page.
News Media Possibly Problematic for Health Care Reform, Roadblocks to Reform and Trading Cash for Coverage
Welcome to this installment of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. We are covering several articles in this installment, so let’s get right to it. Our first article comes from EmaxHealth and is entitled, “Can The Media Derail Health Care Reform?” In this article, the author looks at past and present cases in which the media have either barely covered or ignored information and news on health care and reform policy and information. According to the article, it appears as if the media would rather cover politics and personalities rather than the actual issues and information related to policy change.
The article states that many journalists aren’t knowledgeable or educated in health care or health insurance policy, leading them to cover the actual ins and outs of health care policy very sporadically. For example, according to a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, out of over 3,500 stories on health insurance and health care in newspapers, TV and radio, less than one percent covered actual health care policy. The article also cites examples in the 1990’s during the Clinton administration. During the early 1990’s, many news outlets covered the “drama” surrounding “HillaryCare,” again looking more at the politics and personalities. However, when health care reform actually did take place in the mid 1990’s, it was almost completely ignored by the mainstream media because it was too “dry and lengthy.”
This is a problem for those of us — which apparently is most of us — who care about health care and health insurance reform and need to learn more about it as its happening. The article suggests such remedies as journalists who are experienced and knowledgeable on health care policy issues having seminars to teach those who aren’t, watchdog groups should bark louder than ever at the media in order for actual policy issues to get covered, and much more. As someone who covers health insurance and health care in the media, I can only hope that better coverage comes out of a desire to cover the facts, not just what’s hot or what will sell. We will have to see how well the media does in the coming months to cover the impending health care reform battles in Washington.
Our next article comes from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and is entitled, “Three Roadblocks on the Road to Health Reform.” This article discusses three problems health care reform will face on the road to acceptance. The first road block, according to the article, is private health insurance. The problem with private health insurance, according to the article, is that it encourages more expenditure with little or no regard for cost-effectiveness, which gives companies less incentive to embrace reform.
The second roadblock is Medicare, which the article claims is just as open-ended system that encourages submitting more claims for more money. This means government eventually clamps down on payment rates, which creates even more incentive to submit more claims, and on it goes. The third roadblock is Medicaid, which the article says has an even more open-ended policy than Medicare. This, again, encourages excessive use of medical services in order to encourage more claims and therefore more payouts to doctors and hospitals. Medicaid also inflates costs at both the state and federal levels by being possibly too flexible in many areas, like who they cover and which benefits are provided. The article then goes into ways of getting around these road blocks, such as reforming employer-based health insurance to keep costs in check, providing vouchers for individuals to get health insurance plans they can afford and so on. It’s a very interesting article that brings a lot of good points to light, but only time will tell how well they’re implemented.
Our final article comes to us from NJ.com and is entitled, “Employees Need Health Insurance, Not Cash.” In this article, the author looks at how employer health insurance — once thought of as a given for having a job — is now going “the way of the $1 cup of coffee.” Corporations are hiring people at the maximum amount of part-time hours to avoid paying for health insurance coverage. They are also doing things like give wage increases in lieu of health insurance entirely. The article warns that while this might seem great in the short run, it could hurt in the long term.
Health insurance isn’t something that should be bargained for, and should be the right of every employee or person that needs it. Trading money for health insurance is not a good idea for anyone, because eventually, everyone needs health coverage for something in their lives, especially as they get older. The article states that people without health insurance actually cost the health care system more than if they did have it due to the expensive costs of emergency room visits and so on. This is something we have covered before, but it’s worth reiterating regardless.
So in closing, we have had some very interesting articles to look through in this installment of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup, all of which I hope have given us all something to think about. Until next time, may you have a happy and healthy day.
Other Health Insurance News Options:
Return to Articles Page.