About one-third of the enrollees in the six major health maintenance organizations in New Jersey gave them a high rating for overall service, and 45% said they're doing a very good job handling claims, according to a report card released by the state. The ratings for most of those HMOs were about the same or slightly better than the 2007 customer survey, according to the Department of Banking and Insurance.
North Oakland Regional Medical Centers, a 336-bed Pontiac, MI-based hospital, was sold to a large Oakland County physicians group and Flint's McLaren Health Care system, which acquires a 35% ownership of the hospital. The deal also calls for the City of Pontiac to receive 5% of any possible profits the new for-profit hospital makes, said McLaren representatives.
The Wisconsin Senate passed a sweeping healthcare reform proposal in its last session, and the legislation would have provided health insurance to nearly everyone in the state. The bill died in the Republican-controlled Assembly, but may be back on the table now that Democrats control the Senate and Assembly. The Healthy Wisconsin proposal has fervent supporters, but the unknown is whether they can persuade legislators to pass a bill of its scale when Washington is expected to move forward on healthcare reform.
General Motors is spending more than $2 billion in cash a month and lobbying for a government bailout to keep it out of bankruptcy. And for about 100,000 of its white-collar retirees, time is about to run out on GM's gold-plated medical benefits. To conserve its dwindling cash reserves, G.M. is eliminating lifetime healthcare coverage for its legions of retirees at the end of this year. After that, former employees will be left to fend for themselves in deciding how to cover their doctor's bills and prescription drug costs.
In another sign of the economy's toll on the nation's healthcare system, some hospitals say they are seeing fewer paying patients, despite greater numbers of people showing up at emergency rooms unable to pay their bills. Some patients with insurance seem to be deferring lucrative treatments like knee replacements, hernia repairs, and weight-loss surgeries. The loss of money-making procedures comes at a difficult time for hospitals because these treatments tend to subsidize the charity care and unpaid medical bills that are increasing as a result of the slow economy.
Nashville-based HCA Inc. has announced that it would pay interest coming due in spring 2009 on $1.5 billion of debt with more bonds to conserve cash as the hospital chain tries to navigate through an uncertain credit market. On May 15, holders of HCA bonds that mature in 2016 are due $72 million in cash. Now, they are slated to get bonds instead at a higher interest rate that will be worth $6 million more. "Given all of the dramatic turmoil in the capital markets over the last couple of months, it is the prudent thing to do right now," Jack O. Bovender Jr., HCA's chief executive said in a conference call with analysts after the company released third-quarter earnings. "We're not in any way signaling or anticipating any significant decrease in our business next year."