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Disconnect Between Payers and Consumers Fuels High Health Care Costs,
Group Says
EXCERPT: "A growing disconnect between those who pay for health care and
those who use it is fueling
rapidly rising health care costs in the United States, according to a
new report from the Employment Policy
Foundation (EPF), a Washington, D.C.-based research group...According to
EPF’s report, the underlying
problem with the health system is that the market for health care
services is not a true competitive market
where price serves as a restraint on demand for goods and services. The
existence of insurance in the health
care market shields consumers from the true price of services, thus
market forces cannot ensure that prices
remain at competitive rates. This has led to an over-consumption of
health care services on the part of
consumers.
'Finding a solution will not be easy,' said [EPF’s president, Janemarie]
Mulvey. 'For health care markets to
operate efficiently there must be good information on both price and
quality of care. Currently this data does
not exist. The lack of transparency in health care prices and an absence
of reliable data on quality of care for
each health care provider make it difficult for an efficient market to
develop.'"
Full Article
August 10, 2005—Employment
Policy Foundation
Health Legislation: A State-by-state Rundown
EXCERPT: "The attached chart from the HR Policy Association, a
Washington-based lobbying group,
summarizes many of the health care bills introduced in state
legislatures that would affect the business
community. The spreadsheet includes proposals for mandates, such as
those that require large employers to
provide health insurance or pay into a fund; reporting requirements,
such as stipulating that Medicaid
applicants provide the names of their companies; and conditions of state
benefits, such as requirements that
companies provide health benefits in order to be eligible for certain
government loans."
Full Article
August 2005—Workforce
Management
Do Disease Management Programs Deliver ROI? The Jury is Still Out,
Cornell-Medstat Study Finds
EXCERPT: "Disease management programs have been embraced by many
businesses and nearly all health
plans to reduce medical costs and help individuals manage their health.
Some of these programs can save
money, but evidence of their economic impact is scant, according to a
new study from Cornell University and
Thomson Medstat. In a review of 44 studies analyzing the economic impact
and return on investment (ROI) for
disease management (DM) programs, researchers found mixed results for
programs targeting depression,
diabetes, and asthma, but positive ROI for programs targeting congestive
heart failure or multiple illnesses."
Full Article
August 4, 2005—PR
Newswire
More Than 50 Employers To Announce New Purchasing Model for Pharmacy
Benefit Managers
EXCERPT: "A coalition of 52 large employers on Wednesday is expected to
endorse a new purchasing model
for pharmacy benefit managers that would require greater disclosure of
acquisition costs and rebates, the
Wall Street Journal reports. The group -- which includes Caterpillar,
IBM, Starbucks and Verizon
Communications -- said that it could collectively reduce by about 9% its
$3.7 billion in annual prescription
drug spending by contracting with PBMs that agree to the plan....A
separate group of large employers last
year adopted a similar model, but the soon-to-be announced plan is
'potentially the biggest to date, as well as
the most ambitious -- particularly because it seeks to hold PBMs to a
standard of full transparency for both
mail-order and generic prescriptions, two of PBMs' most profitable
areas,' the Journal reports.
Full Article
August 10, 2005—Kaisernetwork.org
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2005 Cost-of-Doing-Business Index
Hawaii, New York and Massachusetts are the most
expensive states in the nation in which to do business, according to the
2005 Milken Institute Cost of Doing Business Index.
The states with the lowest costs of doing business are South Dakota,
50th, with costs 28 percent below the national average, North Dakota,
49th (23 percent lower), Iowa, 48th (19 percent), Montana, 47th (19
percent) and Idaho, 46th (16 percent).
Full Article and List
August 11, 2005—Milkin
Institute
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