California has ousted Blue Shield from the state's high-risk medical insurance pool because its premiums were too high. The pool, known as the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, or MRMIP, insures more than 6,700 Californians who have been shut out of the private health insurance market because of pre-existing conditions. Through MRMIP, such people are able to buy coverage from private insurers at premiums that are supposed to be 25% higher than the market rate for a comparable policy. The state reimburses the insurers for any losses they incur, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Premiums that seniors pay for Medicare Advantage plans will increase an average of 25% next year, largely because insurers, in response to new federal requirements, are canceling many plans that carry no premiums. The average premium will increase to $39 a month for all Medicare private plans from about $32 this year, said Timothy Hill, deputy director for the Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice at the federal agency that manages Medicare. Insurance companies had signaled there would be an increase in premiums, citing the government's decision to cut payments to Medicare Advantage by 4.5%, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Attacks on the leading Democratic reform plan by the insurance lobby left little doubt that the White House and the nation's insurance companies have abandoned any real hope of forging a compromise. And as the Senate Finance Committee approved a 10-year, $829 billion bill to remake the healthcare system, Obama's top advisers and the insurers moved into a more intense stage of conflict, reports the Washington Post.
While Texas employers shunned health maintenance organizations as an insurance option for workers during the last decade, a study shows a slight increase in HMO enrollment. The Texas Health Market Review, an annual publication of Minneapolis-based health economist Allan Baumgarten, found that enrollment in Texas HMOs increased 3.9% in 2008 and 7% in 2007, primarily because of Medicaid, Medicare, and the state's Children Health Insurance Plan.
Less than a month into his new job, the chief executive of Blue Island, IL-based MetroSouth Medical Center has reiterated his predecessor's commitment to no more layoffs at the hospital.
"There will be no more reductions," said Enrique Beckmann, MD, who was chief medical officer at the hospital for just over a year before being appointed to the top job on Sept. 17. "It has not been discussed and it has not been contemplated." The hospital cut 120 staff members, or about 10% of employees, Sept. 9 as a result of reductions in patients and an increase in the number of patients unable to pay their bills.
Mayo Clinic is no longer accepting some Medicare and Medicaid patients, raising new questions about whether it is too selective to serve as a model for healthcare reform. Mayo officials said that the move was a business decision that had grown out of longstanding concerns about what it sees as underpayment by Medicare and Medicaid. The White House has repeatedly held up for praise Mayo and other medical centers that perform well in Dartmouth College rankings showing wide disparities in how much hospitals spend on Medicare patients, the Washington Post reports.