Some companies are charging lower insurance premiums to workers who meet benchmarks for healthy living, and the Senate's healthcare overhaul legislation would expand the trend.
But some patient advocacy and health groups are worried that it could mean higher rates for less-fit Americans, possibly pricing them out of their employers' insurance plans. Critics of the Senate proposal also say that giving special treatment to those who meet a company's fitness standards could undercut one of the promises of the Democrats' proposed overhaul: preventing employers and insurers from discriminating against people on the basis of their health status and preexisting medical conditions.
Although bad debt is up, fewer patients are paying their co-pays, and admissions of insured patients are down, there is a "silver lining on the recession cloud," according to Trevor Fetter, the CEO of Tenet: Fewer hospital workers are leaving their jobs. "Turnover has dropped dramatically," Fetter told the Wall Street Journal Health Blog. Pali Capital analyst Sheryl R. Skolnick said in a research report that Tenet employee turnover dropped 27%.
House Republicans have drafted an alternative healthcare bill that would reward states for reducing the number of uninsured, limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, and allow small businesses to band together and buy insurance exempt from most state regulation. The Republican bill promises to lower healthcare costs and expand insurance coverage "without raising taxes, cutting Medicare benefits for seniors, adding to the national deficit, intervening in the doctor-patient relationship or instituting a government takeover of healthcare."
House leaders released the final version of their nearly 2,000-page health package late Tuesday, Nov. 3, clearing the way for a vote by the full chamber as soon as the weekend. But Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) declined to say when debate would begin on the measure, issuing a statement that said Democratic leaders were still talking with their members.
As House leaders are moving toward a vote on healthcare legislation, enough Democrats are threatening to oppose the measure over the issue of abortion to create a question about its passage, the Washington Post reports. House leaders are negotiating with the bloc of Democrats concerned about abortion provisions in the legislation, saying that they could lead to public funding of the procedure. The outcome of those talks could be crucial in deciding the fate of the healthcare bill, according to the Post.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says North Dakota law limited his review of a merger of two large healthcare companies. Stenehjem says he may ask the Legislature to expand his authority. Stenehjem hired the Brady Martz accounting firm to review the proposed merger of Sanford Health of Sioux Falls, SD, and MeritCare Health System of Fargo, ND. It said MeritCare's books showed "significant operating losses" in its last two budget years.