According to the article “Don’t forget rural issues when revamping health care system” from PrairieStar.com, the health care debate is a big issue for our American farmers.  Rural health care is an issue that has been around for a long time and needs attention now more than ever. Many farm families have one spouse working in […]

According to the article, “Blue Cross requiring psychiatrists to get prior authorization before treating patients” by Liz Freeman on naplesnews.com, Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance of Florida implemented a new rule taking effect this fall which will require psychiatrists to get authorization before treating patients in their office or out patient locations. Blue Cross […]

J.D. Power & Associates rated Health Alliance Plan (HAP) as the top health plan in Michigan for 2009.  Michigan is one of the few “regions” in this study of well over 100 health insurance companies from coast-to-coast, where a Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plan was not recognized as being the top plan. Health […]

According to the article “Who Gets Employer-Based Health Insurance” by Catherine Rampell in the NYTimes Economix, an important issue of the health insurance debate going on in Washington DC is what to do with employer-based health insurance.  Only in the US does losing your job translate to possibly losing your health insurance coverage.  That’s why […]

For health care reform, the next few weeks will be critical. Congressional committees are poised to pass legislation (to put this in perspective, this never happened during the Clinton Administration’s reform efforts in 1993-94). President Obama and his aides will become even more engaged concerning the legislative language they would like to see Congress enact. […]

U.S. Senators Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) of the Special Committee on Aging held hearings last week looking at long-term care insurance. The hearing is available via webcast. Long-term care insurance is private insurance purchased by individuals (or by a company for an individual as part of a benefit package) that provides protection […]

Senator Edward Kennedy has completed and submitted a draft health care plan that is modeled after the plan in Massachusetts. This is in conjunction with the Obama Administration’s goal to have a plan in place by this fall. The plans under serious consideration are a mixture of a business mandate of health insurance for workers […]

My hat is off to Dr. Mark Hoofnagle who wrote an excellent article/blog for scienceblogs.com a few weeks ago. Someone (one of my intrepid readers) sent me a link to Dr. Hoofnagle’s post and it is definitely worth reading. The article addresses what drives the costs of healthcare in the United States. My advice small […]

More than 9,000 Oregonians may be eligible for payments as a result of a class-action settlement between Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and affiliated companies and homeowner policyholders who claimed they were underpaid on structural damage claims since 1996, the Oregon Departnet of Consumer and Business Services announced. Claims must be submitted by Aug. 26, 2009. […]