Pediatricians In Texas Concerned About HDHPs
According to a March 5, 2007, Reuters newswire story, pediatricians throughout Texas and the U.S. are warning that new high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are compromising patient care, especially among poorer children, with the unintended consequence of increasing medical costs.
The HDHPs, called "consumer-directed" plans by supporters, encourage people to take a more active role in their medical care.
But the American Academy of Pediatrics has joined other plan critics who fear high deductibles in the plans will lead patients to skip preventive care, most importantly immunizations and annual physicals for children. And this could lead to costlier treatment down the road, for example, if a patient winds up in an emergency room.
"Faced with difficult choices, families may seek to 'load up' on a scheduled visit to save money or delay care until after the deductible is met," the group wrote in the March issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics,. The Academy represents 60,000 physicians in the United States specializing in treating children.
The report comes as the share of U.S. employers offering health insurance has been slipping, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Roughly 60 percent offered health coverage during 2005, down from 69 percent in 2000. Health insurance reform has become a national issue as the ranks of the uninsured rises steadily, now at 46.6 million, or 17 percent of the U.S. population.
In 2005, in lieu of dropping health coverage, about 30 percent of large and midsize corporations offered the high-deductible plans. These plans are typically are coupled with a pre-tax Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) used to pay for health costs. That compares with seven percent of companies polled by employee benefits consultant Watson Wyatt in 2004.
The nation's biggest health insurance companies, such as UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc., have touted high-deductible plans to employers as a way to rein in medical costs, by encouraging better health-care choices.
The plans are able to exempt preventive services from the deductible requirement, and about 30 percent of the existing plans do so, according to the pediatricians' group. It recommends changing the tax code to compel the plans to exempt preventive care, in other words to not require a deductible. Deductible would, however, still apply to minor illnesses that can balloon to major illnesses without proper treatment.
The pediatrician's group also worries that high-deductible plans will lead to a "destabilization" of employer-sponsored health insurance.
Some high-deductible plan critics also say patients with these plans are more likely than those with traditional insurance to skip prescriptions and fail to follow up with their doctors.
There are High Deductible Health Plans on the market that encourage customers to focus on preventive care.
(ArticlesBase SC #124057)
Article Tags:
precedent
,health insurance texas
,affordable health insurance texas
,health insurance dallas
The Salmonella Outbreak in Texas and New Mexico
Learn about the Salmonella outbreak in Texas and New Mexico that may stem from raw tomatoes in this report from Insider Medicine. (01:40)
Amy’s Texas Veggie Burger with Sprouts Recipe
Delicious, nutritious vegetarian health food recipe. Produced by Larry Cook. Distributed by Tubemogul. (03:21)
Walk With MS
In this medical video learn how researchers from Texas are making life easier for MS patients by helping necessary nerve messages get across nerves that are damaged. (01:29)
Wisdom Teeth
Dr.David C. Hoffman - Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery School of Dentistry: NY Univ.- College of Dentistry Residency :Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Univ. Texas Health Science Center Parkland Memorial Hospital (01:56)
The Texas Hospital Association (THA) is urging lawmakers in Dallas, Houston and throughout the rest of the state to take the right steps to make health insurance more affordable and accessible to individuals in Texas. The state ranks first in the country in the percentage of uninsured residents (24.6%).
If you own a small business in Dallas, Houston or anywhere else in Texas and are looking for a health insurance provider for your employees, here's a standard list of business data you'll need to provide.
Companies looking for ways to cut costs in a competitive marketplace are increasingly looking to health insurance as a source of savings. While that's not good news for employees, it does represent something of a trend -- employees purchasing their own health insurance or filling in the gaps left by workplace budget cuts.
For many of the 13.3 million uninsured young adults in America, it comes as no surprise that their demographic leads those going without health coverage.
If you've ever been told by your elders that food "just doesn't taste like it used to," you might want to listen. According to recent reports, of the thirteen major nutrients present in fruits and vegetables, six have declined significantly, some up to 38%. Preliminary studies on grain crops show similar results.
The results of an April 2004 Commonwealth Fund white paper* show that the economics of small business group insurance makes offering health benefits to employees is risky.
Many Americans rely on their automobiles to get to work. No automobile means no job, no rent or mortgage money, no food.
As stated by the Texas Department of Insurance, the Texas Legislature enacted three bills that allow small business employers to form cooperatives for the purchase of employer health benefit plans in Dallas, Houston and throughout Texas.
This incidents narrates how while all alone the author faced a serious situation to tackle hundreds of bisons who were ready to attack him and there was no way out to escape. At such a time how the brains worked and took him out of the situation thereby once again proving that the human brain is the mightiest amongst all
Matthew 24 does not say no one knows the day nor the hour of Jesus' return. It states no one knows the day nor the hour of heaven and earth's destruction. The Father does this in Revelation 20:11. Jesus told His followers to look for the sign of the Son of Man just before He returned. Find out what that sign is, you will be amazed. You will never look at prophecy the same. Jesus was quoting from Isaiah 13 in Matthew 24. Isaiah prophesies a nuclear war which must occur prior to Jesus' return.
Are you a wannabe writer? Then read this guide about how to prepare your first manuscript.
The Lord God said unto the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life." This story is not mentioned therein in the Quran.
The moon scrambles on the fragrance of the trees I think of humility & grace.
Many would be writers have trouble getting started. They simply can't get past the blank page that is staring at them as the sit down to write. But, writing an effective and useful essay is simple if you are willing to merely follow a few simple guidelines.
Arturo Fuente's story starts in 1912, when young Arturo first opened the A. Fuente Cigar Company in the Ybor City section of Tampa, making cigars of imported Cuban tobaccos. The factory burned down in 1924, leaving Arturo in dire straights financially. He worked for another cigar maker until 1940, when he reopened, operating first out of his home, and then moving to a factory. They continued importing Cuban tobacco until 1960, when the US embargo against Cuban imports was establishe...
These are the three humorous management lesseons... Read them they are interesting..
How do most luxury sedan services work? It's simple. You make a reservation, by going online or calling their local number. Drivers drive their vehicles to your home, office, or wherever you are, pick you up and take you to your destination.
Sometimes it pays to leave the driving to someone else, and it's worth paying for that option and expertise. Take a TOTAL Vacation.
Whether it's corporate or private travel, professional chauffeurs are friendly, discrete and knowledgeable driving companions who will make sure your journey is both safe and comfortable, arriving at your destination feeling refreshed and relaxed.
Hiring limo or luxury sedan shouldn't be a hit-or-miss affair if you ask the right questions. First, no two limousine or luxury sedan services are the same, and different organizations place varying levels of emphasis on service as well as the investment in their fleets. You can get a clue regarding the way a company operates by how responsive they are and how professional their approach is.
The job of the CEO, everyone knows, is to make decisions. And most of them do - countless times in the course of their tenures.
The top line - like the Socratic life - demands examination. Total revenues tell a story of growth, sometimes happy, sometimes less so, but they do not tell the story of how a company grows. That knowledge abides in the distinctive wellsprings from which revenues emerge.
Is strategic planning completely useless? That was the question the CEO of a global manufacturer recently asked himself. Two years earlier, he launched an ambitious overhaul of the company's planning process. The old approach, which required business-unit heads to make regular presentations to the firm's executive committee, had broken down entirely.
'Customer value proposition' has become one of the most widely used terms in business markets in recent years. Yet our management-practice research reveals that there is no agreement as to what constitutes a customer value proposition - or what makes one persuasive.
0