Laughter is the cheapest medicine

"The health care bill was introduced yesterday. It's 1,990 pages long and costs $894 billion dollars. Or $2.2 million per word. That makes them the most expensive words to come out of Washington since 'Mission Accomplished.'" — Jimmy Fallon

"I have been thinking about the healthcare problem and how to pay for healthcare. If you took all the money the Republicans have spent trying to stop healthcare and all the money Democrats have spent trying to get healthcare, we could afford healthcare." — Jay Leno 

"If conservatives get to call universal healthcare 'socialized medicine,' I get to call private, for-profit healthcare 'soulless, vampire bastards making money off human pain.'" — Bill Maher 

 "Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe broke ranks with her party and voted for the Democrats' healthcare bill. She's been missing ever since." — Jimmy Fallon

"Not such a great day for the health-care reform. The so-called public option died on the Senate floor today. It could have survived, but apparently, it had a pre-existing condition." — Craig Ferguson

"The big news was the Senate yesterday - the finance committee - rejected the Democrats' health-care plan, the one with the public option. Meanwhile, the Republicans are offering their own health-care plan. It's called, 'Stop Crying and Take an Advil.'" — Jimmy Fallon

"United States Healthcare system: is there a remedy?", by Marina Levkovych.

In a year 2000 The World Health Organization presented its ranking on overall efficiency of world’s healthcare systems. Out of 190 ranks United States ended up on “honorable” 37th place, right next to Costa Rica, Slovenia and Cuba. Although supervision and public finance are not alone the remedy for existing health system “disorder”, world examples show that they both significantly improve the overall efficiency of healthcare.

The above mentioned report consists of numerous pages and measures the efficiency of the system from different perspectives. For example, it recognizes the health system goal in maximizing the health of population, and suggests that it’s performance to be measured in three key factors: health, responsiveness and fairness in finance. Above the 37th “honorable” place is a list of mostly European states such as Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, Switzerland and Germany. French healthcare completes this list being considered the most competent in the World. It is necessary to note that it is not entirely publicly financed: 76.9% of it comes from public funding leaving the rest for a private sector. What makes it so advanced? The answer lays in what we call socialized medicine and Europeans call Universal coverage. In France every citizen has to have insurance. National healthcare program called Sécurité Sociale (social security) is being funded mostly out of income taxes and payroll. French citizens pay up to 21% of their income towards the health care funds. Employers also contribute to the funds, sometimes up to half of the cost. Government regulates most of the hospital fees. The coverage usually consist of the national plan, the bigger parts regulated by non-profit insurance companies, and supplemented coverage provided by small private insurance companies.  Another pleasant surprise is absence of coverage limit on heavily sick patients. In other words, the sicker you are - the more care you get. “France has made an unusual guarantee”, says Dr. Fabian Calvo, deputy director of France’s National Cancer Institute, ”that every cancer patient can get any drug, including the most expensive and even experimented ones that are still being tested(Healthcare lessons from France)”.

With all due respect to the World Health Organization, one can argue that it’s approach on measuring the efficiency might not be accurate. Victor Rodwin, professor of health policy and management at the Wagner School of Public Service at NYU, says in his interview to New York Times: “A study I would take more seriously is one published last year by Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee in the journal Health Affairs. They examined avoidable mortality — that is, deaths whose risk of occurrence would be far lower if the population had access to appropriate health care interventions. In that study, based on data for the year 2000, France was also ranked No. 1, with the lowest rate of avoidable deaths. The United States was last, in 19th place, with the highest rate of avoidable deaths”(Health Care Abroad: France). Here is another easily fixable flaw of the system, which bring us down in charts.

It is easy to see now that many issues of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act emerged from the concept of Universal coverage. If World Health Organization proved these measures to work, why can’t we try it in United States? Isn’t it better to learn from mistakes of others rather than to make your own? It all depends whether it will fit US economical and social conditions, and all we have to do now is give it some time.

Works cited.

Arnquist, Sarah, and Anne Underwood. "Health Care Abroad: France." nytimes.com. New York Time Media Group. 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.   

     Brunner, Stephanie. "The French Health Care System." medicalnewstoday.com. MediLexicon, Intl., 8 Jun. 2009. Web. 09 Nov. 2012

"Healthcare lessons from France". Health Care Overhaul: Prescriptions For Change. By Joseph Shapiro. Natl. Public Radio, 11 July 2008. npr.org. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.

WHO (2000). The World Heath Report 2000. Health Systems: improving performance. World Health Organization. who.int. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.

Healthcare Spending Rocketing Out of Control

By Aiya Anvarova

In the recent time of severe economic crisis followed by the sluggish economic recovery that the United States has been going through, it seems that the healthcare issue is not a priority for the country. Thus, many argued that President Barack Obama should have given up the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called Obamacare, and focused on the economy. However, in reality escalating healthcare spending has become a significant burden for the U.S. economy which makes it highly problematic to fix the economy without fixing the healthcare system.

In one of his June interviews, Governor Romney cited a book, “The Escape Artists: How Obama’s Team Fumbled the Recovery,” by the liberal journalist Noam Scheiber. In this book, the author put forward the idea that, early in his term, President Obama was deciding whether to focus on the national healthcare law or to devote more of his attention to the economic recovery. According to Scheiber, the President considered healthcare reform as a bigger long-term achievement and his corresponding choice of priorities postponed the U.S. economic recovery. Governor Mitt Romney proceeded with his line of presenting Obamacare as a part of the reason the economy was still sluggish by stating in the first presidential debate that he did not understand how “the President could have come in the office facing 23 million people out of work, rising unemployment and the economic crisis at the kitchen table and spend his energy and passion for two years fighting for Obamacare instead of fighting for jobs for the American people”. Accordingly, the Republican presidential challenger believes that the healthcare issue is not a sound economic issue and should not be on the President’s immediate agenda.

However, even though healthcare may not be a crucial economic issue for many countries in the world, the United States is not one of them as healthcare is one of the major expenditure items in the national budget and a sizable part of the economy. In 2010, the U.S. spent nearly $2.6 trillion on healthcare. This approximated to 17.9% of the country’s GDP, a substantially higher proportion than in any other country in the world. U.S. healthcare spending is now 55% above the average for wealthy countries. With that said, the quality of and access to care in the country is no way consistent with the enormous amount of money the federal government injects into healthcare. In 2011, the number of the uninsured Americans was 48.6 million compared to 37 million in 1980. Also the U.S. lags behind on life expectancy and the quality of preventive treatment. According to the Institute of Medicine, a third of the U.S. healthcare expenditure does not lead to improved health, that is, it is a substantial waste of the federal budget that has to be eliminated.

Healthcare spending is also creating long-term fiscal problems adding significantly to the overall federal debt. Between now and 2050, Medicare and Medicaid spending will rise from 5.5% of GDP to over 12%. In contrast, Social Security is projected to rise from 5% to only 6% of GDP over this period. Consequently, healthcare spending is the primary driver of future growth in government spending. Studies of international medical costs suggest that, compared to other high-income countries such as Canada and Great Britain, the U.S. healthcare system is inefficient, which substantially increases the medical costs both for the individuals and the government. There are a few areas in the U.S. healthcare system, such as overwhelming administrative costs and fee-for-service payment method, where changes have a tangible potential for savings and sustained cost reduction.  

Healthcare spending is nearly a fifth of the U.S. economy and is the largest driver of long-term U.S. debt. The way the healthcare issue is tackled will directly affect the economy in the long run. In general, the issue of healthcare reform is itself a major issue in terms of the economic recovery. In the context of the upcoming presidential election, it is important to understand that the ability and willingness of the next president to take hold of healthcare spending and improve the productivity of the U.S. healthcare system will have a significant impact on the country’s fiscal future and the economy in general.

List of References

Collins, S. R., Guterman, S.,  Nuzum, R.,   Zezza, M. A.,  Garber, T., and Smith, J. (2012, October 2). Health care in the 2012 presidential election: How the Obama and Romney plans stack up. Retrieved from the Commonwealth Fund website: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/

Cutler D. M., and Ly D. (2011, Spring). The (paper) work of medicine: Understanding international medical costs. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25, 3-25. doi:10.1257/jep.25.2.3

Romney’s new attack: Why did Obama focus on ObamaCare instead of on the economy? (2012, June 6) [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/06/romneys-new-attack-why-did-obama-focus-on-obamacare-instead-of-on-the-economy/

"Healthcare Fraud Runs Rampant Across the Nation" by Matthew Scarcella

For years, unethical physicians and healthcare facilities have been bilking the federal government’s healthcare programs out of billions of dollars.  According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there are at least eight different types of Health Care Fraud that are constantly committed.  The schemes range from “Billing for Services not Rendered” to “Upcoding of Services” and more.  Billing for Services not Rendered, or charging for procedures not performed, is the primary fraudulent issue. Over the years, these tactics have become more complex and therefore it is more difficult to intercept them early enough to halt them in their tracks.  However, progress is slowly being made and more swindlers are finding themselves behind bars.

Currently, there are countless physician offices that continue to process information with paper charts.  With these systems, minimal information is documented.  For example: the diagnosis may simply be referred to as “cough,” and the subsequent plan of treatment will simply say “Benadryl.”  The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, is currently implementing a new regime in which all physician or healthcare practitioners (which includes hospitals, doctor’s offices, home healthcare services, etc.) must be using electronic medical records, or EMRs.   The EMRs are formatted so that doctors must comply and target each individual item on the prepopulated text.  With this compliance, it is far easier to assess what the doctor is doing for the services he is charging for.  This is one way in which CMS is following up on healthcare fraud.  Adhering to these basic standards, chart review is performed, where both Medicare and insurance companies review a group of facilities’ notes and charts, to see exactly what was done and compare it to what was billed.  This procedure helps to eliminate Upcoding of Services. 

One such case of fraud involves an incident earlier in 2012, centered in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.  In this case, ten doctors took advantage of no-fault claims in nine different clinics across three boroughs of NY.  According to court pages looked over by The New York Times, “the ring sought reimbursement from so many excessive and unnecessary medical treatments that it had set up three separate billing processing companies just to handle the paperwork.”  Even though they were caught, that specific scheme is as elaborate as they come.  Also, this particular scheme was called “the largest single no-fault insurance fraud case in the nation’s history” by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.  Brighton Beach is unfortunately a notorious area for healthcare fraud.

A more intriguing case, and one that was actually caught on tape, is one that involves Medicare fraud from McAllen, Texas.  In this astonishing case, an 82-year old woman went undercover and was recorded having a conversation with a doctor.  In the video, the woman clearly states that she is in perfect health and has never had any problems.  However, the next day a nurse came to her house in order to treat her for diabetes and other problems that she was supposedly diagnosed with.  According to ABC News, “the overall diagnosis of the undercover grandmother’s health could have provided the justification for what could be tens of thousand dollars a year worth of unneeded treatment and medical supplies and equipment.”  This is only one incident of many and when you look at all the possible ways of committing fraud, you can see how billions of dollars come into play.

The rate at which healthcare fraud has been increasing in the nation is stunning.  No matter how diligently authorities crack down on fraudulent scams, there will always be a new one around the corner.  However, based on information from the United States Department of Health & Human Services, on April 4th, 2012, we can see that there is some hope.  On this day, the Obama administration announced that “in 2011, HHS revoked 4,850 Medicaid providers and suppliers and deactivated 56,733 Medicare providers and suppliers as it took steps to close vulnerabilities in Medicare.”  This is definitely a step in the right direction and the Obama administration is slowly making progress in these traumatic times. 

Works Cited

Chuchmach, Megan.  "Exclusive: Undercover Grandma Catches Medicare Fraud on Tape."  ABC News.  1 Mar. 2012.  Web.  30 Oct. 2012.  <http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/undercover-82-year-grandma-catches-medicare-fraud-tape/story?id=15818462#.UJCQO_7ANeC>.

Rashbaum, William K.  "A $250 Million Fraud Scheme Finds a Path to Brighton Beach."  The New York Times.  Ed. Jill Abramson.  29 Feb. 2012.  Web.  30 Oct. 2012.  <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/nyregion/dozens-said-to-be-arrested-in-health-care-fraud-scheme.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&_r=1&emc=tnt>.

United States.  Dept. of Health & Human Services.  HHS, Department of Justice highlight Obama administration efforts, Health Reform tools to combat Medicare fraud.  4 Apr. 2012.  Web.  30 Oct. 2012.  <www.hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/04/20120404a.html>.

United States.  Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Financial Crimes Report 2010-2011.  2011.  Web.  30 Oct. 2012.  <www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011/financial-crimes-report-2010-2011#Health>.

Obamacare vs. Romneycare in Massachusetts: Overview.

As an answer to an earlier comment, I decided to write a separate post on what are the differences between Obamacare and original Romney’s healthcare plan in Massachusetts. Below is a summary of a chart taken from diffen.com, that compares several aspects of these two health plans.

	Obamacare	Romneycare
Individual mandate:	Yes	Yes
Penalty for not buying insurance:	Minimum of $695 a year. This penalty will be higher for those with higher incomes, but there are exemptions for people with low incomes and the total fee cannot be more than $2,085 per family.	Minimum of $1,200 a year. Romney now opposes the individual mandate on a federal level, but has supported implementing tax breaks to encourage individuals to purchase insurance.
Employer mandate:	Yes for companies with over 50 employees	Yes for companies with 11 or more employees. However, Romney initially attempted to veto this mandate, and he opposes its use in federal healthcare policy. Romney’s current healthcare plans do not include the employer mandate.
Penalties for employers not providing insurance:	At least $750 per employee for companies with over 50 employees	$295 per employee for companies with over 11 employees
Subsidized insurance:	Yes; for anyone earning up to 400% of poverty level	Yes; for anyone earning up to 300% of poverty level. Free for anyone earning up to 150% of poverty level. Mitt Romney now aims to encourage states to offer subsidies to the poor and to experiment with high-risk pools and insurance buying exchanges to harness the purchasing power of large groups. However, no state would be required to participate.
Young adults:	Children stay on parents' plan until age 26	Children can stay on parents’ plan until age 26 or until they have not been a dependent for 2 years – whichever is sooner.
Benefit limits:	Forbidden on both annual and lifetime basis	Not forbidden, although most MA insurers do not place limits
Retroactive rescinding of coverage:	Forbidden	Forbidden
Pre-existing conditions:	Insurers required to cover	Insurers required to cover, but can limit coverage of certain conditions to 6 months. If he becomes president, Mitt Romney plans to prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions, as long as they maintain continuous coverage. However, insurers will be allowed to deny coverage to first-time customers.
Preventative care:	Free	Co-pay, but must be covered without a deductible
Contraception:	Included under free preventative care	Not mentioned
Effective date:	March 23, 2010, Specific provisions phased in through to 2020	April 12, 2006
Funding:	Obamacare is a federal program so its funding comes from new taxes. These include a tax surcharge on medical devices and a tax on "cadillac" health plans i.e. expensive, premium health plans that provide the best coverage. Supporters also cite savings in Medicare expenses to fund Obamacare.	Romneycare depends upon hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the federal government and so the plan did not raise taxes for Massachusetts residents.

An Overhaul of the Medicare Card System?

The Medicare Identification Card, which evidently presents the SSN of the person it belongs to, may be undergoing a change to help prevent identity theft.  However, according to insight from CMS over at USA Today, if the change were to be implemented, it will cost approximately $843 million.

Should we really be spending money, time and resources on such an issue?  Yes, identity theft is a huge problem, but why wasn't this thought of years ago, before the change would cost such a significant sum? 

Greece's Latest Crisis

Austerity and Health Insurance in Greece.

In general, Greece has a typically European system of health insurance: universal coverage through employer-employee contributions to a government-run insurance system.  Furthermore, the Greek unemployment benefits system also includes one year of health insurance free of charge.  Historically, once those unemployment benefits ran out, Greek hospitals would still treat unemployed patients for free.

Now, however, austerity measures agreed to by Greece in exchange for bailouts have forced hospitals to quit offering free care to the long-term unemployed.  According to the agreement, unemployed Greeks whose benefits run out are forced to pay for healthcare expenses out of their own pockets.  This is a dire problem right now in Greece, what with unemployment running at around 25% overall, and 54% for young people.