Nearly 100 million people have health coverage through self-insured employer plans. Self-insured health plans are arrangements where large employers take on the risk of their employees’ medical costs rather than purchasing coverage through an insurer. One advantage of self-insurance is that self-insured plans are regulated by the federal government, rather than states laws. In addition, some employers may have healthy workers and can assume the risk of employee health needs cheaper than insuring them.
Category: Public Insurance
Saturday Links
- More details on Biden’s plan to seize drug company patents.
- Update: 2 million, rather than previously reported 1 million, Social Security retirees got clawback letters last year.
- First-ever gene editing therapies approved to cure sickle cell disease.
- Canada’s system of socialized medicine now has the longest wait times to receive medical treatment ever recorded.
- Scholarly studies: consumer directed health plans reduce health care spending by approximately 5–15 percent relative to similar plans with lower deductibles and without spending accounts.
The U.S. System of Organ Donation is in Dire Need of Reform
Comedian and political commentator, John Oliver, dedicated a 30-minute episode of his television show to our dysfunctional system of organ donation. There were 42,887 organ transplants in the United States last year. However, the number of people waiting for a donor organ, at 103,984 is more than double the number of transplants. It is estimated that 17 people die each day while waiting for a donor organ. The total number of Americans who die each year of any causes is nearly 3.4 million, but less than 2% of deaths occur under conditions optimal for organ donation.
Medicare Advantage is Popular with Seniors, but Not Doctors and Hospitals
Hardly a week goes by but what I read something critical of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. MA plans have become somewhat politicized with Democrats preferring government-run (traditional) Medicare, while Republicans like the idea of competition among private plans. Here is the thing that critics forget: MA plans are popular with seniors. They are growing and now cover more than half of all people enrolled in Medicare, about 31 million seniors and disabled individuals.