Online Health Records in the News Again, Aetna Supports Health Insurance Reform and Health Care's Failures
Hello, and welcome to this week's issue of the Health Insurance News Roundup. There were a few main stories this week, mostly revolving around online health records once again. Also, Aetna is in the news as supporting health care reform, which sounds odd coming from one of the major providers of health insurance in the nation. Finally, there were a few different articles that all seemed to focus on the same topic, which are some basic failures of our current health care system.
First off, online health records in the news...again. Seems like we can't turn our head these days without online health records in the news somewhere, whether its privacy concerns or discussions about how great or bad it is. As of right now, two major online search providers, Google and Microsoft, offer online health records services. This week both companies made deals with major health insurance providers to better synchronize their data.
Google made a deal with Blue Cross and Blue Shield to offer health records on Google Health -- Google's online health records service -- starting soon. Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the first major health insurance carrier to offer records synchronization with Google Health, which is a big step in making Google Health the premiere online carrier of patients' health records. According to Blue Cross and Blue Shield, using Google Health will allow the company to process claims faster, and allow doctors and patients easier access to their health records, which should make the health care system in general more streamlined. That's the big dream of online health records providers, at least, but since it's all so new it'll take time to see that dream fulfilled.
Moving over to Microsoft, they've teamed up with another large health insurance provider, Kaiser Permanente, to launch a pilot program in which 156,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente will use Microsoft's HealthVault online health records system to manage their health care records and exchange information with Kaiser Permanente's own health records system, My Health Manager. The pilot program is a first step in what both companies hope will lead to a central repository for online health records. Microsoft is also leading pilot programs with the Mayo Clinic and New York Presbyterian Hospital, for example, to test out the extensibility and viability of their central online health records system.
In USA Today, an article entitled, "Online medical records offer convenience, may limit privacy," by author Janet Kornblum looks at both sides of the online medical records issue. In looking at issue of convenience, proponents of online records claim that with a patient's data all in one place, and easy to access that it will help speed care and streamline the system as a while. In looking at the issue of privacy, many raise concerns that there are no laws in place to protect the privacy of these records. Security is also a concern because with information available online, it could become vulnerable to hackers, which could then lead to identity theft. While several groups -- such as the Patient Privacy Rights coalition -- are working with companies to certify their online health records as safe, there's still a long way to go before everyone's privacy concerns will be put to rest.
Moving away from online medical records, an interesting article on The Wall Street Journal entitled, "Aetna CEO Supports Health Reform, Continuing Role for Employers" popped up last week. Often seen as unwilling to change or accept reform in the health care industry, it's really interesting to see the CEO of a major health insurance provider citing problems in his own industry, let alone being willing to discuss reform. However, Aetna CEO Ronald Williams told a Senate committee last week that there are "unacceptable deficiencies within our nation's health care system." He supports ideas such as universal coverage through an individual coverage requirement, as well as tax breaks for employers and employees to help encourage the former to offer health insurance coverage and the latter to take coverage up for themselves. He doesn't believe the employer-based system we currently have should be abolished, however, but built on so we don't "throw out the baby with the bathwater."
Finally, we have a few articles looking at some of the problems or failures in the health insurance and health care systems in this country. U.S. News & World Report has an article entitled, "A Big Insurance Problem: Too Little Coverage," in which author Michelle Andrews discusses the large amount of both uninsured and "underinsured" people in this country, and some similarities between them. They skip doctor visits, don't get prescriptions and miss preventative screenings. With the rising costs of copayments, prescription medicine, deductibles and so on, it's little wonder why so many of those even with insurance are forgoing basic health care needs.
On WebMD, they have an article entitled, "States Can't Stop Health Insurance Abuses," in which author Todd Zwillich looks at a study by Families USA. This study states that many states -- all but fifteen -- have no limits on which health insurance companies can raise their customers if patients get sick. Isn't this the reason people get health insurance in the first place? According to the study, nearly fifteen million Americans purchased their own health insurance plans, which leave them vulnerable to the cost-saving tactics of insurance companies. While some states offer an appeals system if premiums are raised, and some have third-party monitoring of policies, many states have no such protections. The article then looks at some reforms to the current system so that everyone would be insured, but one has to wonder if some simple reforms would be enough.
Our final article, entitled "Health Insurance Falling Short for More People," found in The Wall Street Journal, author Kristen Gerencher discusses a study by the Commonwealth Fund in which they found more than twenty-five million Americans were uninsured, up 60% from 2003. The rate of those underinsured also rose significantly, nearly triple also since 2003. The report finds that even those with insurance have serious gaps in coverage, and reflect the rising health care costs and how they have outpaced wage gains in the last several years. The report says that, as a nation, we're "losing ground" due to the gap between wages and health insurance costs, and that "new directions" are needed if we're to truly have universal health insurance coverage.
So overall, it looked like a bumpy time in terms of health insurance news. In terms of online health records, we had some positive movement towards universal acceptance even in the midst of privacy and security concerns. The CEO of a major health insurance provider such as Aetna supporting reform is also good news. However, the recent studies showing growth in both uninsured and underinsured Americans is troublesome, to say the least. Hopefully we will have some more positive news soon. Until then, may you have a happy and healthy day.
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