How to extract rent from the health biz (Do Not Resuscitate #363) Sep 27 2024

In “Do Not Resuscitate" we pore over through the mainstream and specialty healthcare news media to see how we spend trillions of dollars making intermediaries rich instead of making ourselves healthier. This week’s theme is, How to extract billions from healthcare while providing lousy services? 

Here are all the articles mentioned this week:  

Paige Minemyer, “Employers are bracing for healthcare costs to spike in 2025. Here’s why,” Fierce Healthcare, Aug 20, 2024 https://bit.ly/4dkhijS

Jenna Carlesso, “Cost to rise for health plans sold on and off Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act Exchange,” CT Mirror, Sep 9, 2024 https://bit.ly/3XVSfPR

Lynne Terry, “Individual, small company health insurance plans will cost hundreds more a year,” Oregon Capital Chronicle, Sep 6, 2024 https://bit.ly/4etSwPG

Lora Pellegrini, “Medical costs are driving insurance premiums,” Franklin (MA) Observer, Sep 14, 2024 https://bit.ly/3ZERrQQ

Tina Reed, “Insurers’ big profits stem from care delivery, not core business, Axios, Aug 8, 2024 https://bit.ly/3XXAbFc

Paige Minemyer, “ACA exchange enrollees could see steep premium increases if enhanced subsidies expire,” Fierce Healthcare, Jul 29, 2024 https://bit.ly/3XXmrdm

Julie Appleby, “New lines of attack form against the Affordable Care Act,” KFF Health News/ABC News, Aug 15, 2024 https://bit.ly/3XXVFll

Margot Sanger-Katz, “The campaign issue that isn’t: health care reform,” New York Times, Sep 13, 2024 https://nyti.ms/3XxdQNa

Berkeley Lovelace Jr., “U.S. ranks last in health care compared with nine other high-income countries, report finds,” NBC News, Sep 19, 2024 https://nbcnews.to/3MXWyDX

Tony Leys, “Patient underwent 1 surgery but was billed for 2. Even after being sued, she refused to pay,” KFF Health News, Aug 20, 2024 https://yhoo.it/3MVy7ap

Sarah Varney, “Her life was at risk. She needed an abortion. Insurance refused to pay,” KFF Health News/NPR, Aug 26, 2024 https://bit.ly/4deArnu

Ken Alltucker, “Nearly half of insured Americans get surprise expenses in medical bills, survey finds,” USA Today, Aug 1, 2024 https://bit.ly/3TE0ayI

Brianna Abbott & Peter Loftus, “Cancer is capsizing Americans’ finances: ‘I was losing everything,’” Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2024 https://on.wsj.com/45mIH2g 

Anjalee Khemlani, “Medicare Advantage could lead to lower hospital credit ratings: S&P,” Yahoo News, Aug 22, 2024 https://yhoo.it/3TKyTLc

Christopher Weaver, Tom McGinty, Anna Wilde Mathews & Mark Maremont, “Insurers pocketed $50 billion from Medicare for diseases no doctor treated,” Wall Street Journal, Jul 8, 2024 https://on.wsj.com/3ZCzRNi

Michelle Crouch, “Atrium Health cancels thousands of past medical debt judgments,” Charlotte Ledger/North Carolina Health News, Sep 20, 2024 https://bit.ly/3BrfM2c

Noam N. Levey & Ames Alexander, “How North Carolina made its hospitals do something about medical debt,” KFF Health News/Charlotte Observer, Sep 23, 2024 https://bit.ly/3Bh8U7P

Rachel Crumpler, “Copays pose a barrier for incarcerated people seeking medical care,” North Carolina Health News, Sep 17, 2024 https://bit.ly/3TJJTZ7

Patricia Kime, “VA sets up website, call center to protect vets from fraud as more companies profit from benefits claims,” Military.com, Aug 22, 2024 https://bit.ly/47CE2KZ

Paige Minemyer, “CVS’ Oak Street to pay $60M to settle kickback allegations,” Fierce Healthcare, Sep 18, 2024 https://bit.ly/3TJhNNw

Annie Waldman, Maya Miller, Max Blau & Duaa Eldeib, “Finding a therapist who takes your insurance can be nearly impossible. Here’s why,” ProPublica/NPR, Aug 25, 2024 https://n.pr/3XVtsLD

Max Blau, “‘I don’t want to die.’ He needed mental health care. He found a ghost network,” ProPublica/NPR, Sep 22, 2024 https://n.pr/3zxfLcw

Eleanor Klibanoff, “What Texas can learn from Italy’s big bet on tiny community health homes,” Texas Tribune, Sep 3, 2024 https://bit.ly/4gAK9n7

Madelyn Beck, “Should the state provide life support to Wyoming’s ailing ambulance services?” WyoFile, Aug 26, 2024 https://bit.ly/3XUqE1x

Eileen Applebaum, Emma Curchin & Rosemary Batt, “Structural determinants of health: Hospitals’ unequal capital investments drive health inequities,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, Jul 25, 2024 https://bit.ly/3XEbjAP