Step Away From The Wallet

The commercial was scary.  There were children, CHILDREN, and old people, OLD PEOPLE, facing the possibility of being deprived access to needed health care!  Why?  Insurance companies and Congress are trying to solve the Surprise Medical Billing problem by denying fair payment to doctors.  The safety net could be “Shredded”.  The commercial was sponsored by Physicians for Fair Coverage.

The first time I saw this on Morning Joe I turned to Sally and said, “BS”.  Neither H.R. 3630, the No Surprises Act, moving through the US House nor the Senate Bill 1895, Lower Health Care Costs Act, address Surprise Billing for Medicaid or Medicare.  A recently released study revealed that in 2016 approximately 40% of privately insured patients received a bill from a medical provider that was not in their insurance network.  Privately insured.  That is the definition of Surprise Billing.  The commercial didn’t come close to the real problem.

This sleight of hand did not go unnoticed. Rachel Bluth, a reporter for Kaiser Health News, also had her doubts.  Here is a link to her well researched article.

It would appear that Forbes Tate Partners, the public relations firm that produced the ad, believes that we can solve this problem by forcing the consumer into arbitration.  With the deck stacked against the consumer, their clients, the free-agent E/R doctors and anesthesiologists, will then get paid whatever they’d like.  Well I have a surprise for them – that ain’t gonna happen.  

DAVE



www.cunixinsurance.com



Picture – Arbitrate This – David L Cunix

The Rest Of The Country

According to the US Census Bureau, 97% of our country’s land mass is considered rural.  80% of us occupy only 3% of our land.  Neither the national news nor the national political candidates spend a lot of time talking about rural America.  Sure, we hear about a random farm bill or how the tariffs are destroying our agriculture and the need to bail out the farmers, but that is about it.  There is one other thing that makes the national news – the horrific health and health care of rural America.

Rural America has been disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic.  Rural hospitals have suffered from underfunding.  Many Red States chose to not accept federal money and expand Medicaid.  Not enough doctors, facilities, or money.   

A possible solution has been offered by presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg.  This is surprising because rural America is seldom the focus of any of the candidates and because the health care plans from the people running for president are more often the objects of derision.  I’m sure you’ve forgotten Scott Walker’s or Donald Trump’s.  This blog recently reviewed Bernie 2.0, a plan designed for shouting and arm waving but not to be implemented.  So I didn’t expect much from Mayor Pete.  Here is the link:

Securing a Healthy Future for Rural America

The first thing you notice is that this is a real proposal. Agree or disagree with his policy prescriptions, you can see the thought and effort.  Instead of empty platitudes and generalizations, there are 54 footnotes.

His goals:

·         Guarantee that people in rural areas have affordable health insurance options

·         Ensure that people in rural areas have access to critical health services by increasing the availability of health providers

·         Expand access to preventive efforts and effective treatment for mental illness and addiction

·         End the rural maternal health care crisis by making it easier for women to access critical services before, during, and after pregnancy

·         Make it easier for patients to receive treatment at or near their home by expanding telehealth services

·         Strengthen rural health facilities to better address new models of health and community wellness

·         Support rural communities in meaningfully reducing local health inequities

·         Reduce obesity and combat food insecurity

·         Improve access to transportation services

Importantly, his solutions are built upon existing programs.  He works to alleviate the shortage of physicians in rural areas by expanding programs that encourage and/or incentivize doctors to work in rural areas. Some of these programs could even be used to address the shortage in primary care doctors.  He addresses the maternal mortality rates and the underfunding of rural facilities. And the expansion of telehealth, with the connected expansion of high-speed broadband across the country, will provide immediate access to transportation-challenges patients.

There is no budget for any of this in Mayor Pete’s whitepaper.  Also, no funding mechanism. I have requested details from the Buttigieg campaign.  I will post them once received.  The problems are real.  The solutions make a lot of sense.  The question is whether a future President Pete or the US Congress would allocate the funds.

Look for many of these issues and Mayor Pete’s recommendations to be incorporated in next year’s Democratic Party platform.  A few of them, like the expansion of high-speed broadband across the country might appear in the Republican Party platform, too.

Dave

www.cunixinsurance.com

Picture – A Quiet Place – David L Cunix