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Politics : A US National Health Care System?

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To: i-node who wrote (8817)8/28/2009 8:02:06 PM
From: skinowski  Read Replies (1) of 42652
 
i>about the benefits end of MA

The secret of their financial success is using same old fashioned barriers to access. All tests - and later consults with specialists - were subject to pre-approvals and pre-certifications. For many doctors I know they became - financially - the best part of the practice. Among other ways of saving money, HMO's abandoned DRG's and instead negotiated favorable daily rates with "network" hospitals.

Generally, it was a pretty good deal for everyone. Even before Bush's Medicare part D most MA HMO's started offering quite decent prescription plans (Note - the need to compete with other Medicare HMO's was able to force them to offer those plans.... way before the advent of the wasteful Part D).

At first, my favorite was Oxford Health Plans. They were very "pro-patient", and didn't say "no" to anything. Perhaps as a consequences, after a period of explosive growth at some point they almost went bankrupt. They fired the founder-CEO and restructured, became tougher - and, last I heard, still doing swell.

Over time they all became harder to work with - because of the tightening criteria for tests and consultations.
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