At Medicare is Simple, we look to educate and enable you to choose among Medicare plans to help find the policy that may best fit your needs. Get free quotes using our advanced quoting technology. HealthCare Reform is also a hot topic of interest to people of all ages, and we look to keep you updated on the issues relevant to learning more. Medicare Is Simple 800-442-4915
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Today's Datapoint
17% … of Americans now receive their health care through an ACO and two-thirds have access to one, according to an analysis from the consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
Quote of the Day
“Many pharmacies, especially independent pharmacies, think that they’re not necessarily informed on pricing changes in a timely manner and then are forced to dispense certain prescriptions at a loss because they don’t know what the maximum allowable cost price is.”
— Matt Eyles, executive vice president at Avalere Health LLC, told AIS’s Drug Benefit News.
— Matt Eyles, executive vice president at Avalere Health LLC, told AIS’s Drug Benefit News.
HSAs to quadruple in next six years?
Private exchanges will drive ‘huge opportunities’
BY KATHRYN MAYER
June 3, 2014
Driven by the emerging private health exchange sector, health savings accounts could quadruple their growth over the next six years, according to a new report.
Analysis from The Institute for HealthCare Consumerism, Consumerdriven, and HSA Consulting Services, predicts 50 million Americans will be covered by HSA-qualified health plans by Jan. 1, 2019, and that HSA adoption will grow to 37 million — up from about 11 million today.
More than half of that growth will be thanks to the exchanges, which massively accelerate growth, researchers predict.
“While health savings accounts have experienced a steady growth rate over the past decade, health exchanges, especially private exchanges, have already demonstrated a tendency to accelerate the rate of HSA adoption among health consumers — both within the employer-sponsored and individual health care markets,” the news release said.
The prediction — from consultants John Young, CEO of ConsumerDriven, and Todd Berkley, president of HSA Consulting Services — comes after interviewing, and analyzing, 33 private exchange vendors.
After examining the choices consumers made in these health care marketplaces, they “found a six- to eight-fold increase in HSA adoption in private exchanges compared to the traditional approaches used today in the commercial marketplace. In exchanges utilizing a defined contribution funding strategy, the potential for HSA adoption is even higher.”
Still, they said, there is more potential than realized. They said many private exchange operators were unaware of the HSA adoption they were driving.
“Exchanges provide the best opportunity for HSA adoption — but not all exchanges are focused on providing the best HSA customer experience,” Berkley said. “In fact, many exchanges are not aware of the HSA revolution happening inside their offering. There is room for improvement here.”
HSAs have experienced swift growth, particularly over the last few years. There were 10.7 million HSAs in the United States at the end of 2013, an increase of 30 percent over the prior year, according to consulting firm Devenir.
Last month, Fidelity Investments reported a 48 percent jump in the number HSAs opened in 2013.
BY KATHRYN MAYER
June 3, 2014
Driven by the emerging private health exchange sector, health savings accounts could quadruple their growth over the next six years, according to a new report.
Analysis from The Institute for HealthCare Consumerism, Consumerdriven, and HSA Consulting Services, predicts 50 million Americans will be covered by HSA-qualified health plans by Jan. 1, 2019, and that HSA adoption will grow to 37 million — up from about 11 million today.
More than half of that growth will be thanks to the exchanges, which massively accelerate growth, researchers predict.
“While health savings accounts have experienced a steady growth rate over the past decade, health exchanges, especially private exchanges, have already demonstrated a tendency to accelerate the rate of HSA adoption among health consumers — both within the employer-sponsored and individual health care markets,” the news release said.
The prediction — from consultants John Young, CEO of ConsumerDriven, and Todd Berkley, president of HSA Consulting Services — comes after interviewing, and analyzing, 33 private exchange vendors.
After examining the choices consumers made in these health care marketplaces, they “found a six- to eight-fold increase in HSA adoption in private exchanges compared to the traditional approaches used today in the commercial marketplace. In exchanges utilizing a defined contribution funding strategy, the potential for HSA adoption is even higher.”
Still, they said, there is more potential than realized. They said many private exchange operators were unaware of the HSA adoption they were driving.
“Exchanges provide the best opportunity for HSA adoption — but not all exchanges are focused on providing the best HSA customer experience,” Berkley said. “In fact, many exchanges are not aware of the HSA revolution happening inside their offering. There is room for improvement here.”
HSAs have experienced swift growth, particularly over the last few years. There were 10.7 million HSAs in the United States at the end of 2013, an increase of 30 percent over the prior year, according to consulting firm Devenir.
Last month, Fidelity Investments reported a 48 percent jump in the number HSAs opened in 2013.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Quote of the Day
“Health plan reaction to a provider intrusion [into health insurance] depends on the market where the battle is taking place because the stronger the provider and the more market power, the more dangerous in a sense it is. But absent market power, you can sit on the sidelines as an insurer and watch and see if [the provider] can figure out how not to lose a ton of money by being an insurance company.”
Jack Rovner, a principal for The Health Law Consultancy in Chicago, told AIS’s Health Plan Week.
Jack Rovner, a principal for The Health Law Consultancy in Chicago, told AIS’s Health Plan Week.
Today's Datapoint
12% … was the enrollment growth during last fall’s open-enrollment period for three-star Medicare Advantage plans, while five-star plans grew just 6.5%, according to a recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Monday, June 2, 2014
From 2007–2012, the percentage of physicians working...
...in practices with 11 or more physicians increased by 84%, while the percentage of physicians working in practices with 2 physicians decreased by 24%, according to a recent report.
Source: "Trends in electronic health record system use among office–based physicians: United States, 2007–2012," National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Statistics Reports Number 75, May 20, 2014, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr075.pdf
Source: "Trends in electronic health record system use among office–based physicians: United States, 2007–2012," National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Statistics Reports Number 75, May 20, 2014, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr075.pdf
Physician Visit Growth by Selected Markets, 2013-2018
Chicago 15.5%
Austin, TX 27.2%
San Antonio, TX 21.0%
Sacramento, CA 28.0%
San Francisco 17.3%
Boston 14.0%
Publication Source: HealthLeaders Media, May 2014
Data Source: Truven Health Analytics
Austin, TX 27.2%
San Antonio, TX 21.0%
Sacramento, CA 28.0%
San Francisco 17.3%
Boston 14.0%
Publication Source: HealthLeaders Media, May 2014
Data Source: Truven Health Analytics
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)