Bob and Yogi

Please take a gander here, at Health Access, this week's host for Health Wonk Review. Bob Vineyard, one of InsureBlog’s own Health Wonks, is featured at about (i.e., exactly) the 11th paragraph, ruminating on the pros and cons of insurance companies eliminating medical underwriting.

A treat indeed from top to bottom, this week’s Review is peppered with the sayings of Yogi Berra, which you’ll not want to miss.

And while you’re enjoying the read - and you will enjoy the read - remember that Yogi also said “I never said half the things I said”.

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How Many Texans Does It Take to Fill the E.R.?

No, this is not a joke. Abuse of Emergency Rooms is a growing problem that cost's everyone. For many, the E.R. is their PCP (primary care physician).

In Texas the E.R. seems more like an old friend to some.

In the past six years, eight people from Austin and one from Luling racked up 2,678 emergency room visits in Central Texas, costing hospitals, taxpayers and others $3 million

Nine people, 2,678 E.R. visits, $3,000,000.

Who are these people?

All nine speak English; three are homeless; five are women whose average age is 40, and four are men whose average age is 50. Seven have a mental health diagnosis and eight have a drug abuse diagnosis.

That last statistic is significant.

At one time, many with mental health issues were confined in state run facilities. Budget cuts and "patient rights" advocates changed all that.

According to the report, the average E.R. visit cost's taxpayers about $1,000. The total spent on these 9 people average $55,000 per year.

That's $55,000 in "free" care that is borne by taxpayers, insurance policyholders and those who are financially responsible for their own medical bills.

The group who collected this data has information on 750,000 uninsured and "underinsured" people. The database includes 900 repeat offenders . . . people who visited an ER six or more times in three months - had 2,123 preventable visits in 2007.

A preventable visit is one that could have been treated in a non-emergency care facility such as a doctors office or clinic.

The cost of preventable visits?

More than $2,000,000.

If we want to control health insurance premiums, and taxes that go to entitlement programs such as Medicaid & SCHIP, then we need to find a more effective way of controlling health care cost. Identifying repeat offenders and finding more efficient ways of dealing with their medical issues is a step in the right direction.

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Stupid Government Tricks

Life insurance proceeds are, with few exceptions, received free of any income tax. But that may change if the Oregon taxer's get their way.

"Oregonians who purchase life insurance and annuity products to assure the financial security of themselves and their loved ones would be hit with a tax that undermines their carefully-made financial protection, long-term savings and retirement income. H.B. 2854 would impose a tax on the life insurance benefits received by Oregon families suffering the death of a loved one. It would also impose a new tax on savings through life insurance and annuities.

Sorry your spouse died. Here is a check, less the state's cut. We need it more than you do.

Good public policy encourages financial security and self-reliance. This is especially so today when Oregon is facing 11 percent unemployment and struggling through a financial crisis that has drained the savings of so many of its citizens. Yet, H.B. 2854 goes in the opposite direction, taxing already beleaguered savings plans and penalizing families when they suffer a loss.

Is there no end to the money grabbing taxer's? Just one more example of stupid government tricks.

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Ballpark Diet

Buy me some peanuts and a 4 pound burger, I don't care if I never get back.



Just when you thought it was safe to have a fun time at America's sport, this happens.

It's not bad enough that you pay $10 to park, another $14 to sit in nosebleed seats, $8 for a beer and $7 for a hot dog, now you have a 4800 calorie burger to deal with.

The four-pound, $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips, all on an eight-inch sesame-seed bun.

How about I leave off the bun?

Enjoy!

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Introducing the International Institute for Health Care Policy Analysis

Longtime IB readers know that we used to be hard-nosed, unthinking, inflexible free market flunkeys. That is, we rejected the very notion that government-run health care, and government sponsored health insurance, could be highly efficient and, indeed, desirable.

One can't, however, read the daily barrage of helpful, insightful emails we get from various organizations, clearly and intelligently framing the issues, and offering viable, attractive solutions to the obvious crisis we now face without being moved. It is in that spirit, then, that we decided to pull up short, take stock, and recommit ourselves to a new system of fairness, efficacy and well-being.

To that end, we've pulled together many of the excellent and well-crafted suggestions we've gleaned from all these missives, and decided to launch our own initiative, to be administered by the newly minted International Institute for Health Care Policy Analysis.

The IIHCPA's core principles include:

■ A shared vision of the kind of health care system that will meet the needs of 21st century America.

■ Administrative inefficiencies associated with a fragmented healthcare financing and delivery system create more paperwork, redundant care, and increases medical errors.

■ Human rights principles require that we treat health care as a public good.

Our overarching goals will be:

■ Focus on controlling spiraling health care costs by implementing a rapid diffusion of Information Technology.

■ Health care should be publicly financed and administered.

■ Based on human rights principles, health care must be financed in a way that is accountable to the people and responsive to health needs, rewarding quality, appropriate care and improved health outcomes.

Won't you join us? Membership is easy, inexpensive and ultimately rewarding, as you help re-shape the shape of health care in the 21st Century.

[Thanks to Bill Halper]

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Free Health Care! Really!

Want free health care?

No, this is not a joke. Truly free for uninsured and those who have lost their job.

Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance.

The charitable side of me says this is a great thing.

The cynic says, wonder how many folks will try to game the system and spoil it for everyone?

Hal Rosenbluth, chairman of the Take Care Health Systems division, described the plan as something close to an experiment: He said Walgreens isn't sure of patient demand or how much providing the services might cost the company.

No doubt there is a cost that is being absorbed by Take Care. There is also the intangible good will from something like this.

You may recall Wal-Mart started the $4 generic thing and others have followed suit. This has been a win-win all around for consumer and the pharmacy's offering discount generics.

Patients must present proof they are unemployed, including a federal or state unemployment determination letter and an unemployment check stub. They will have to sign a form at the clinic saying they have lost their jobs and health benefits. If they find a new job or get new health insurance, they will no longer be eligible for free care.

Spouses and children are also eligible for free services if they don't have insurance of their own.

Medical lab operator Quest Diagnostics is participating in the program by offering free tests for step throat and urinary tract infections.

I think this is a good thing. I hope to see more companies take such a generous step.

Those who are uninsured in Georgia and looking for health insurance will be wise to check out our Resource page.

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