Employers may be wary of their health insurance partners but they share in an opposition to single-payer health insurance.

You would think that large employers would say to heck with the health insurance and health care status quo. You would think that they have had enough of the annual negotiation performances played by brokers, consultants, and health insurance representatives. You would think this, but you would be wrong. Large employers are generally opponents of a single-payer (e.g., Medicare For All) system that would replace their private group insurance plans. They may not enjoy participating in the ritual pretense of controlling health insurance costs, but they find it preferable to the alternative—losing control of a powerful financial tool.

There are several reasons why big companies and the health care industry do not support Medicare for All or single-payer health insurance.

Large organizations that are not part of the health care industry oppose single-payer because they would no longer be able to use health insurance as a recruitment/retainment tool, or as way of manipulating the total compensation their employees receive. These organizations may also benefit financially from health care industry stocks. And you've got to figure that large corporations don’t want to upset each other because the shoe could easily be on the other foot, so it is best to have each other’s backs.

Health care organizations have even more at stake in the single payer debate. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report, health care employment accounted for about 9% of all employment in the U.S., in 2017. The industry, with the exception of some groups like Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) and a few others, vehemently opposes single-payer health insurance. The Healthcare Leadership Council, a health care industry lobbying group, lists insurers, hospitals, drug makers, medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, health product distributors, and information technology companies as part of the health care industry. Add to that the thousands of companies and freelancers that support these organizations... The bottom line is that the health care industry employs millions of people, and makes tons of money for Wall Street—a gig they would like to keep.

Small Employers Will Save Us

Health care reform isn’t over. Everyone agrees that health care costs is THE problem we must resolve, and that the solutions proposed by insurers and adopted by private sector organizations large organizations are band aids. So far the reforms taken to make health care more affordable and available involve transferring costs from one group to another. Large organizations can play this shell game better and longer than smaller companies because insurers realize from time to time they have to let the big guys win (or think that they've won). Small employers on the other hand do not have this kind of clout, and usually follow the lead of larger organizations when it comes to plan design, financing, and other health insurance reforms. Continue Reading...

Tags: Medicare For All, Single-payer

Recently, Congressman Steve Chabot of Cincinnati, Ohio wrote on his blog, "I haven’t seen so much misinformation and hysterics about a piece of legislation in a long, long time—maybe ever" about the passage by the House of the American Health Care Act (AHCA). I guess he was asleep during the passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). But all kidding aside, I strongly suspect that the Senate will continue the House's work to make American health care look more like it did pre-Obamacare. They never thought health care reform was necessary in the first place.

Republicans have the numbers to pass the health care bill they want; still, I can't help but think that a return to the status quo is not in the country's future, at least not long-term. You see, Republicans may think that they are about to accomplish something that's never happened before, taking away a huge federal entitlement program, but not even health insurers are prepared to return to the bad old days. Insurers know they passed the big-changes-are-coming-moment and are in the redefining-and-refining-our-purpose-moment, and if the GOP had consulted them during the health care reform debate, they would know this also.

What Health Insurers See As Their Future

Optimizing value by providing doctors with data analysis services.
Last week Humana's CEO, Roy Beveridge, described the country's third largest health insurer as an IT company focused on data analytics to improve health care value. According to Beveridge, the future of health care may be using data to understand risk better and sharing this data with doctors to improve patient outcomes. Doctors can use this data to determine which patient populations need what care and how often to engage with them.

Focusing in on getting a bigger piece of the (new) pie.
Also, last week, health insurer Aetna, Inc., announced it would pull out of the Obamacare exchanges for next year. In addition, Aetna CEO, Mark Bertolini, reportedly said, the country needs to have a conversation about single-payer health care. However, instead of health insurers competing with the government to offer health insurance, Bertolini envisions health insurers managing the single-payer program for the government, as it does with Medicare and Medicaid.

Enhancing patient access to health care services.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is looking to help the very population the AHCA would possibly harm, the poor and isolated. Recognizing that not everyone has access to reliable transportation to get to non-emergency medical appoints BCBSA is piloting a program to partner with Lyft to provide free rides to its members. Continue Reading...

Tags: obamacare, Single-payer, American Health Care Act, Aetna, Humana, health care data analysis