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Highlights of the important and interesting in the world of health care:
What the Senate health bill means for you: The Congressional Budget Office has spoken. The non-partisan budget group has projected what effect the Senate health bill, if passed, would have on Americans’ insurance premiums. The answer, as the Wall Street Journal says, is “not much.”
Unlocking Transparency in PBM Pricing
The TSX Venture Exchange has a strong history of helping early-stage health and life sciences companies raise patient capital for research and development.
The CBO breaks down its projections into three categories: people who receive their health insurance through large groups (i.e. companies with 50 or more people) would see premiums remain the same or drop a little; people who get insurance through small groups similarly would see little change and perhaps a small decrease; and finally people who buy insurance on the individual market would see premiums rise but they’d get so many subsidies that their costs would end up dropping by a whopping 60 percent. Take a look at the CBO’s report for yourself here.
The bite of the COBRA: Many media outlets are running stories about the expiration of government health insurance subsidies in a program for laid-off workers known as COBRA. As part of the stimulus act passed in January, the federal government picks up 65 percent of a laid-off worker’s insurance premiums for nine months.
The program went into effect March 1, so today is the nine-month cut off for the hundreds of thousands of workers who received the subsidy on its first day. That’s especially bad news for people who are suffering through unemployment in the worst U.S. economy since the Great Depression and could further swell the ranks of the uninsured. For conservatives who think government is always the problem and can’t make a difference in people’s lives, ask anyone who’s received the COBRA subsidy how much it’s helped them through the pain and uncertainty of unemployment.
Cosgrove says Congress needs to improve quality of care: In an interview with U.S. News and World Report, Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove says Congress has done well in improving access to care, but legislators need to do much more to improve the quality of care in the United States. “That is going to require making the healthcare delivery system more efficient and also putting increasing emphasis on wellness and keeping people healthy,” Cosgrove said.
At ViVE 2024, Panelists Share Prior Authorization Progress and Frustration in Payer Insights Program
At the Payer Insights sessions on Day 1 of ViVE 2024, a panel on prior authorization offered compelling insights from speakers who shared the positive developments in this area after years of mounting frustration. Speakers also shared challenges as they work with providers to figure out how policy developments and technology will work in practice.
Music saves: In other Cleveland Clinic news, researchers have found that music can soothe patients undergoing brain surgery, the Plain Dealer reports.
