Does Knowing Medical Prices Save Money? CalPERS Experiment Says Yes

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org

The fact that the cost of a hip replacement can ring up as $15,000 or $100,000 — depending on the hospital — makes a lot of people uncomfortable. But that’s only if they know about the wide price tag variations. In an effort to raise awareness and rein in what can seem like the Wild West of health care, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the second largest benefits program in the country, and Anthem Blue Cross started a “reference pricing” initiative in 2011. The initiative involved a system to guide their enrollees to choose facilities where routine hip and knee replacement procedures cost less than $30,000. Here’s how it works: The CalPERS program designated certain hospitals that met this cost threshold, and enrollees who chose among these facilities pay only the plan’s typical deductible and coinsurance up to the out-of-pocket maximum. Patients who opted for other in-network hospitals were responsible for regular cost sharing and “all allowed amounts exceeding the $30,000 threshold, which are not subject to an out-of-pocket maximum,” noted the report. The results tallied savings of $2.8 million for CalPERS, and $300,000 in patients’ cost sharing, according to research released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change for the non-profit group National Institute for Health Care Reform. Researchers found that patients who received “intensive...

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Federal judge rules proof of direct causation unnecessary for BP oil spill claimants

Today's post is shared from jurist.org

[JURIST] US District Judge Carl Barbier for the US District Court Eastern District of Louisiana [official website] ruled [order, PDF] on Tuesday that BP [corporate website] could not require businesses to provide proof their economic losses were directly caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill [JURIST news archive] under the terms of their prior settlement agreement. Under the $9.2 billion settlement, BP had agreed that businesses in certain geographical regions were presumed to have economic losses from the oil spill if those losses followed a specific pattern. BP had challenged those terms [Bloomberg report], arguing that businesses could only recover if their damages directly linked to the spill, and stating that spill payments had been wrongly inflated through fake claims and poorly calculated economic losses. Barbier wrote that "the delays that would result from having to engage in a claim-by-claim analysis of whether each claim is 'fairly traceable' to the oil spill...are the very delays that the Settlement, indeed all class settlements, are intended to avoid" and that not only was the framework BP previously agreed "an efficient and 'economically appropriate' method of determining causation," but that a showing of direct causation "would bring the claims administration process to a virtual standstill." BP has indicated that it will appeal the ruling. However, Barbier did side with BP on one...

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Bloomberg Public Health Legacy Lauded In NYC

Today's post was shared by RWJF PublicHealth and comes from www.huffingtonpost.com

Michael Bloomberg steered New York City through economic recession, a catastrophic hurricane and the aftermath of 9/11, but he may always be remembered, accurately or not, as the mayor who wanted to ban the Big Gulp. After 12 years, Bloomberg leaves office Dec. 31 with a unique record as a public health crusader who attacked cigarettes, artery-clogging fats and big sugary drinks with as much zeal as most mayors go after crack dens and graffiti. And while Bloomberg's audacious initiatives weren't uniformly successful, often leading to court challenges and criticisms he was turning New York into a "nanny state," experts say they helped reshape just how far a city government can go to protect people from an unhealthy lifestyle. "He has been a transformative leader," said Dr. Linda Fried, dean of Columbia University's school of public health. "He has created a model for how to improve a city's health." Coming into office as a billionaire businessman who made his fortune selling data to Wall Street, Bloomberg was accustomed to using hard, cold research to drive decisions, and it was an approach he used effectively on matters of public health. Bloomberg pushed to ban smoking in indoor public spaces and prohibit cigarette sales to anyone under 21. He got artificial trans-fat banned from restaurant food — an action that led fast food giants like McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts to change their recipes rather than lose access to the...

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Made in America: American Workers Honored on a USPS Commemorative Stamp

American Workers - USPS Stamp

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,” social activist Helen Keller wrote in 1908, “but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” The Made in America: Building a Nation Forever® stamps honor the courageous workers who helped build our country.

This issuance features five different panes, each with the same 12 stamps, but anchored by different selvage photos. Three of the selvage images and eleven of the black and white stamp images were taken by photographer Lewis Hine, a chronicler of early 20th-century industry.

The panes are designed in three rows of four stamps. In the top row are an airplane maker, a derrick man on the Empire State Building, a millinery apprentice, and a man on a hoisting ball on the Empire State Building. In the middle row are a linotyper in a publishing house, a welder on the Empire State Building, a coal miner, and riveters on the Empire State Building. (The coal miner stamp is the only one of the 12 that does not feature a Hine photograph. The image is from the Kansas State Historical Society.) In the bottom row are a powerhouse mechanic, a railroad track walker, a textile worker, and a man guiding a beam on the Empire State Building.

On the selvage, Hine's images include two Empire State Building iron workers and a General Electric worker measuring the bearings in a casting. The fourth selvage photograph is the same image of the coal miner that appears in the stamp pane. The final selvage photograph, taken by Margaret Bourke-White, depicts a female welder.

Derry Noyes was the project's art director and designer. The Made in America: Building a Nation stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in self-adhesive panes of 12. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.

Made in the USA.

Issue Date: August 8, 2013

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High Court in Japan Holds Government Negligent for Asbestos

For the first time ever, a Court has held a government liable for the negligent use of asbestos. Today's post is shared from Koyoto News kyodonews.jp and from Laurie Kazan-Allen #Ibasecretariat

The Osaka High Court on Wednesday became Japan's first high court to hold the government responsible for failing to prevent workers from being exposed to harmful asbestos.
In a suit seeking 700 million yen in damages filed by 58 plaintiffs including former asbestos spinning mill workers in southern Osaka Prefecture, the court also awarded more in damages than the Osaka District Court had in an earlier ruling.
The Osaka High Court ordered the government to pay 340 million yen in damages, nearly twice the 180 million yen awarded by the district court in March 2012.
Read the complete article at http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/12/263418.html

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Consumers Beware: Not All Health Plans Cover A Doctor's Visit Before The Deductible Is Met

Will these types of medical plans encourage a medical deductible for workers' compensation coverage? Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

If you buy one of the less expensive insurance plans sold through the health law’s marketplaces, you may be in for a surprise. Some plans will not pay for a doctor visit before you meet your annual deductible, which could be thousands of dollars. "This could be the next shoe to drop, as people don't realize that if they're buying a bronze plan, they may have to pay $5,000 out of pocket before it contributes a penny," said Carl McDonald, senior analyst with Citi Investment Research, speaking at a Washington, D.C., conference last month. Experts worry that some enrollees will be discouraged from seeing doctors if they have to pay the full charge, rather than simply a copayment. Those who’ve bought their own insurance have always had to pay a set annual sum, called a deductible, before policies begin paying their claims.  But first-time insurance buyers may not realize they’re on the hook for additional costs before benefits kick in, and may choose a plan based solely on the monthly premiums. Bronze and silver plans -- which have lower monthly costs but typically, higher deductibles -- are the most likely to require consumers to spend that amount themselves before the insurer pays any claims. There is no nationwide data on how many do that. But in seven major cities, half of bronze plans on average require policyholders meet the deductible before insurers help with the cost of a doctor visit, according to an analysis by...

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Target Customer Information Shows Up on the Black Market

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from bits.blogs.nytimes.com

A Target customer preparing to sign a credit card receipt at a store in Miami on Thursday. The company disclosed that hackers had recently stolen credit or debit card numbers for 40 million customers who had shopped in its stores. The nightmare before Christmas continues for Target. Stolen Target customer information from a security breach involving its in-store point-of-sale systems has already begun flooding the black market, according to numerous people in the fraud industry tracking the situation. On Dec. 11, one week after hackers breached Target’s systems, Easy Solutions, a company that tracks fraud, noticed a ten- to twentyfold increase in the number of high-value stolen cards on black market web sites, from nearly every bank and credit union. The black market for credit card and debit card numbers is highly sophisticated, with numerous card-selling sites that are indistinguishable from a modern-day e-commerce site. Many sell cards in bulk to account for the possibility of cancellations. Some go for as little as a quarter. Corporate cards can sell for as much as $45. But the security blogger Brian Krebs, who first broke news of the Target security breach on his website, said some Target customers’ high-value...

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