After three straight years of increasingly dismal fiscal results, Bristol (CT) Hospital has posted a stunning turnaround. After $14 million in losses during the three previous years, the hospital's day-to-day operations came close to breaking even in 2007. The hospital's operating budget ended 2007 with a loss of $259,318. In 2006, it posted a $7,913,532 loss.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced a plan that makes it possible for members to see the average prices the insurer pays for a wide range of prescription drugs and services online. Members will also be able to access the price breakdown for hundreds of services from annual physicals to heart surgery. It also provides average costs for care that can be provided on an inpatient basis or delivered at an outpatient location.
A program in Rhode Island called HealthAccessRI is helping hundreds of the state's uninsured get access to primary care. By charging a low monthly "membership" ($25 or $30), people are able to visit a primary care doctor's practice. Once at the office, the copay is only $10. The total fee for treatments and tests that are needed are covered through the membership.
Bethesda Memorial Hospital announced that the organization has exceeded the goal of raising $100 million during an eight-year capital campaign to expand and add services to the 49-year-old nonprofit hospital. Nearly 10,000 individuals and corporations have made more than 40,000 gifts since the capital campaign was launched in 2000, including more than 25 gifts or commitments of $1 million or more. Bethesda is preparing to open its capital-campaign crown, a $57 million heart institute on Feb. 4.
A rough consensus among experts is that a projected long-term explosion of healthcare costs could force sweeping changes in both Medicare and private health insurance. This trend fuels the doubts of several baby boomers that the government will deliver the full Social Security and Medicare benefits it has promised.
A federal law may block the efforts of several states and communities to provide universal health coverage for their residents. Many of the proposals require employers either to offer health coverage themselves or pay into a public fund to help cover the uninsured. Some employers say that conflicts with a federal law that bars states from requiring or regulating employer-provided benefits.