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House Obamacare Repeal Bill Limits HSAs for Millions of Americans

Hand Holding Cash ca. 1998

Hand Holding Cash ca. 1998

The House Republican American Health Care Act Managers Amendment would not allow Americans to use their tax credits to fund an HSA. Instead of using their tax credit/HSA to pay for doctor visits, prescriptions and OTC drugs, Americans will only be allowed to use their credit for insurance. This is a big mistake – and a giveaway to insurers. Millions more Americans would have an HSA if the proposed $2,000 to $4,000 tax credits were automatically deposited into individuals’ HSAs for use on health insurance premiums, copays, cost-sharing and paying for direct care.

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Mar 21, 2017 | 27 comments | by

Mayo Clinic Admits it Prioritizes Privately Insured

Hand Holding Cash ca. 1998

Hand Holding Cash ca. 1998

The Mayo Clinic has admitted it places Medicaid and Medicare patients in a lower priority than patients with private insurance. This is something that many doctors and hospitals likely do. It is well known that Medicare pays physicians only about 80% of what private insurers reimburse for the same coverage. Medicare reimburses hospitals about 70% of private payers. Medicaid rates are a fraction of Medicare’s rates.

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Mar 16, 2017 | 2 comments | by

Bargain Basement vs. the Sky is the Limit Health Care

Caduceus with First-aid Kit --- Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

Caduceus with First-aid Kit — Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

How much should a healthy person’s health insurance premiums reflect the cost of another person’s poor health status? Stated another way, how much should society invest in care for the sickest individuals? Moreover, should society invest in primary care or inpatient care?

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Mar 15, 2017 | 84 comments | by

Medical Drug Tourism: An Odd Byproduct of High Drug Prices

Capture14On numerous occasions President Trump has lambasted drug companies for their high drug prices. He has suggested on more than one occasion Americans should be allowed to import medications from abroad where they are cheaper. Allowing private citizens to import their own drugs is a form of arbitrage. Arbitrage is when people are able to take advantage of discrepancies in prices in two different markets and bypass the higher prices by purchasing the lower-priced product in a cheaper market. For instance, you could argue that buying from Amazon is a form of arbitrage to avoid paying higher prices at your local brick & mortar store.

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Mar 03, 2017 | 11 comments | by

Lifetime HSAs: The ‘Antisocial’ Health Reform that’s Good for You!

DocsMeanIn an ideal world, people would save for retirement, have an emergency fund and save for future health care needs. A mandatory payroll tax dedicated to your health care would be the ideal way to fund your future medical needs. Singapore has such a system, called MediSave accounts. Liberals consider personal accounts to be antisocial, since money in one account cannot be diverted to someone else’s medical needs. However, a dose of antisocial selfishness would benefit our health care system.

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Feb 20, 2017 | 15 comments | by

Liberals Want to Repeal & Replace Obamacare too… with Free Care

InsFormSmallI recently watched Senator Ted Cruz debate Bernie Sanders on the Future of the Affordable Care Act. Cruz was in top form, while Sanders was congenial but still deluded that we can all have free health care paid for with other peoples’ money. The audience was from all around the country and presumably stacked with invitees from both sides. The moderators would call on audience members to ask pointed questions to specific candidates.

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Feb 15, 2017 | 152 comments | by

High Drug Prices? Don’t Fall for ‘Fake News’ Blaming the Middleman

The tab for Americans’ prescription drugs is rising. High drug prices have not escaped notice by politicians, from Bernie Sanders to Senator Ted Cruz — including President Trump. Not all drug prices are outrageous, it’s really just a handful of over-priced drugs that have given the rest a bad name. Most of the drugs Americans take are affordable, but prices for a few drugs exceed the average mortgage payment.

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Feb 08, 2017 | 8 comments | by

GPS Tracker for Grandma

walkawayI was perusing a health news website and ran across an advertisement for SmartSole, a GPS insole tracking device. It’s developed for Alzheimer’s patients and those with cognitive impairment who make be at risk of wondering away from their caregivers.

This is an example of the way technology can be harnessed to lower cost. Some nursing homes refuse to accept patients who are at high risk of running or wondering away. The alternative is locked-down, secure facilities that are more expensive and less convenient for family members. This type of technology could even be used in the future to help mom and dad could live independently while being monitored remotely.

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Feb 06, 2017 | 16 comments | by

Medical Errors Third Leading Cause of Death?

Apparently medical care is bad for you!

According to data from the British Medical Journal, in an article brought to us by Vox, a quarter of a million people died of medical errors in 2013. Medical errors were exceeded as a cause of death only by cancer (585,000 people) and heart disease (611,000 people).  Death from motor vehicle accidents paled in comparison (34,000) – as did death from firearms (34,000) and suicide (41,000).

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Feb 03, 2017 | 7 comments | by

Bernie Sanders’ Single-Payer Utopia

Back in October I wrote “Is Obamacare’s Failure Intentional, to Promote Medicaid-for-All?”  In it I discussed how Bernie Sanders famously advocated for single-payer socialized medicine during his campaign. In 2011, the Vermont legislature passed a bill to create a single-payer initiative known as Green Mountain Care. In 2014 it was abandoned by Vermont’s governor — a Democrat — as being too costly. Green Mountain Care was going to require an 11.5 percent payroll tax and an additional sliding-scale income tax that topped out at 9.5 percent. Despite the heavy tax burden, a single-payer system in Vermont was projected to run deficits by 2020.

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Jan 30, 2017 | 62 comments | by
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