Hits & Misses – 2008/10/02
- Lying for Coverage. If you lie on your application, should the insurer be able to deny you benefits? Aetna is submitting these decisions to an outside panel of experts. [link]
- It’s a Risky Business. Virtually every career employee with the Long Island Rail Road – as many as 97 percent in one recent year – applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement. [link]
- Waiting in Massachusetts. The wait to see a doctor is as long as 100 days. [link] Hat tip to Grace-Marie Turner at Health Policy Matters.
- Does Bereavement Cause the Surviving Spouse to Die Early? Yes, for widowers. Probably not for widows. [Study here but gated] Hat tip to Jason Shafrin at his blog.
- The Wages of Sex Changers. From female to male may have a positive effect in income. From male to female causes income to go down by one-third. [Study here but gated] Hat tip to Tyler Cowen at his blog.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM0K21EOCwk
Most frequently misheard Beatles’ line:
“Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a woman…”
Widows survive longer because,obviously, women are the stronger sex.
On fraudulent insurance applications, what happens a lot of the time is this: People lie on their application; get covered; get the needed care; file the claim; get the bills paid; and then drop the plan.
On Massachusetts, I think the newly insured are mainly people in susidized plans, and I believe these plans are paying Medicaid rates, even though they are "private."
If so, no wonder there is a lot of waiting.