WyBCH retweeted
Clarifying bit of reporting.
Reasonable people may disagree about solutions, but there is no escaping the choice btwn lower premiums for >100M Americans & profits for a few private equity-backed firms, whose pricing tactics undermine the viability of private insurance itself.
A dark money group has spent at least $28 million running ads to kill surprise billing legislation. Who’s behind it? Two big physician staffing companies. nytimes.com/2019/09/13/upsho… @ReedAbelson @julie_creswell
WyBCH retweeted
Publishing our work on surprise billing, getting attacked, and navigating the DC has been a learning experience.
People are getting hurt; dark money groups are opposing protections
@julie_creswell @ReedAbelson & @sangerkatz exposed them nytimes.com/2019/09/13/upsho…
How to make a sick health care system even sicker....
“Hospitals and their fellow special interests... suggest making every single billing disagreement between insurers and the physicians...subject to arbitration. Only the lawyers would win in such a situation.”
washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
That Beloved Hospital? It’s Driving Up Health Care Costs nyti.ms/2ZIn5Kv #Wyoming hospitals have the 4th highest capital costs in the country! Hello...anyone paying attention?
Well thought out, innovative - with the potential to help everyone in the State. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should approve this waiver and give this idea the wings it needs to fly. @CMSGov
Nice work State Rep. Eric Barlow and #Wyoming Department of Health!
States haven’t regulated air ambulance costs because of a federal law that prevents them from doing so. Wyoming may have found a clever way of getting around that: the federal #Medicaid program. via @MarkianHawryluk khn.org/OTg5NDkw
WyBCH retweeted
3) Seems likely that the campaign is funded by the private equity firms capturing most of the rents from out-of-network billing.
The reason to hide the funding is if the source is less sympathetic than the insurers they want to blame; that's a short list, which includes PE firms
WyBCH retweeted
2) If you think that private equity firms & providers want patients out of the middle, that would be incorrect.
The Texas Medical Association has been more honest, noting that patients' "anger is valuable in negotiating higher payment from insurers."
houstonchronicle.com/busines…
WyBCH retweeted
Three thoughts:
1) $13 million would cover the surprise out-of-network bills for roughly 20,000 patients.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam…
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This is an idea worth trying. We hope @CMSGov will be constructive and approve this waiver. Wyoming Wants To Use Medicaid To Reduce Air Ambulance Bills For All Patients n.pr/2L2od6v
CMS @CMSGov should support this waiver application! It is innovative and will truly help the people of #Wyoming. Wyoming seeks to regulate air ambulances like a public utility healthcaredive.com/news/wyom…
WyBCH retweeted
Great write up on future of price transparency. Time to stop thinking that price transparency by itself will magically lead to lower prices. Instead, price transparency might serve as a "hub" that enables other innovative programs.
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Never understood the logic of hospitals retaining their tax-exempt status when all the “unpaid” expenses are, in fact, paid - through cost shifting - by employers and individuals using self-insured and fully-insured plans. This blows an even bigger hole in that "justification."
In which California runs a 5-year experiment to test whether hospitals' private prices reflect "cost-shifting" to offset the burden of uncompensated care, and finds that....
...Yeah...that's not a thing.
Charity care↘️
Private prices ↗️ (dramatically)
h/t @HealthCostInst
As #Wyoming tries to move to a utility model for air ambulance I hope the @WYLegislature is made aware of this. @health_wyoming
How did "First Do No Harm" become "First Shred the Truth?" khn.org/OTgxODE4 via @PolitiFact @khnews #suprisemedicalbills are a big problem in #Wyoming #emergency care and #surgical suites @ntlalliancehlth @FLHealthValue @PBGH_updates @CBGHealth @MidwestBGH @MemphisBGH
#surprisemedicalbills are a major problem in #Wyoming #emergency and #surgery services. The solution isn't costly and time-consuming #arbitration, it is a transparent, market-based #benchmark.
Only 15% of hospitals have a major #surprisemedicalbill problem and it all starts with outsourcing emergency care to companies that profit on the backs of patients. The solution isn't arbitration, it's a fair, market-based benchmark price for care. nyti.ms/2KBxemM
Too true. Wish more business, civic and political leaders understood this! @lizzymitch2 @CBGHealth @Mark_Gordon_WY @CSTribune @WyoFile @wyopress
WyBCH retweeted
Really terrific, plain and clear explanation from @KaiserFamFound colleagues of how k̵i̵c̵k̵b̵a̵c̵k̵s̵ rebates paid by pharma companies to middlemen distort the market.
‘Rebate’ is a word you hear a lot these days when the subject of prescription drug costs comes up.
Watch our new animated explainer of what rebates are and why they matter when it comes to drug coverage and out-of-pocket costs.
kff.org/medicare/video/presc…
Trump's Executive Order on Health Care Transparency Has Potential to be a True Breakthrough via @forbes @LeapfrogGroup @MemphisBGH @ntlalliancehlth
.@realDonaldTrump issued an Executive Order Monday to improve price and quality transparency in American health care. We applaud this! Read our President and CEO @leahbinder's @forbeshealth post for more: bit.ly/2X3RXbP
Hospitals Overtax Wyoming Employers: Okay #Wyoming #employers - you pay the bills. Time to get engaged on this issue. trib.com/news/state-and-regi… via @cstribune @SethKlamann @RANDCorporation @ntlalliancehlth
