What Others Are Saying 

Click on the first line under the title to upload the article.

New on 01/31/2012 Let the Fox Watch the Sheep

01/31/2012 -

Enjoy this article. This is a perfect platform to argue that both the insurance community (finance) and the provider community (delivery) neither have the ability or motivation to control healthcare costs. Wake up America. It's your money (finance) and your health (delivery.) In many cases it is the employer that is paying the majority of the bill and should be able to make decisions that positivly impoact their employees. Without a law (not suggesting one) many Americans will not pay for healthcare regardless of the format, left to their own devices.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

New on 01/31/2012 Now Aetna Wants a Piece of the Blackout

01/31/2012 -

Does Aetna really want BCBS of Michigan to play fair? Or, do they want the same discounts but have the same blurred access by the public? Read on.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

New Has Nothing to do With It

09/14/2011 -

Utah has a problem. They cannot give away free health screenings. The buzz according to this article is that it is too new and no one knows about them. Actually, they do. The problem is more likely that there are no consequences for non participation. Since they have Medicare they will simply wait until they get sick and then have the government pay for their care. Will we ever get over calling healthcare a right? Probably not...until we start sending our healthcare premiums to China.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Well, It has Begun

09/14/2011 -

Back in May Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont signed into state law a bill that set up the first state single payer organization. This week that same governor appointed a five member board to oversee the process which will likely include taxes and rationing. Single payer was originally a favorite of President Obama but it was shelved in order to get health reform passed. Watchful eyes will be glued to this small states experiment. Unfortunately, like Massachusetts, nothing will be learned.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Did We Learn Nothing From the Bank Failures?

09/06/2011 -

After you read this article you might want to re-read an earlier article I posted a few weeks ago regarding too big to fail and it's impact on health care. Putting all of the health care of our nation into the hands of a few carriers will be much more devastating than the bank job would have ever become. Remember that at the end of the bank crisis it was an insurance company's (AIG) woes that almost pushed us over the top, not the banks. We need to be creating competition, not getting bigger so we can charge less.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

It's Not Just Smoking Any More Pilgrim

08/31/2011 -

This article hits at the core of the employers right to require certain procedures for offering benefits to employees.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Hey All You Employers

08/29/2011 -

Okay, what's next Jenny Craig? Read this article and ask why you want the government running healthcare. Or, why you want one private carrier running healthcare managed by the government. Somebody is spraying water on the slippery slope!

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Please stop asking why healthcare costs are going up

08/29/2011 -

The current healthcare reform (insurance reform) has missed the target so bad it appears they are shooting at something behind them. Read this article on your way to a fast food place.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

What is Congress drinking?

08/03/2011 -

You need to read this article from the Washington Post. In fact, read between the lines as well. It seems that it is alright for the government to pay for seniors between 65 and 67 but not for the private sector through exchanges. The message is clear, exchanges only work if you keep sick people out of them. That way we all pay it...twice. I thought the recent vote to stop the government from spending more than they had was real. Apparently not.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Shall we go forward or backward?

03/08/2011 -

Here are two excellent examples of forward and backward thinking. On the one hand Florida thinks it can save it's Medicaid program and cut budget shortfalls by actually moving to a busted, irrelevant managed care (managed pricing model.) They might save some money but the rabbit will surely show up somewhere back stage. This is not the answer.

On the other hand insurance companies, while trying to boast about their role in healthcare, will be caught sleeping when they finally realize healthcare doesn't need them. Prices are most often manipulated when the person producing the product is separated from the one receiving the product. Providers are finally starting to figure that out and without reinventing insurance.

 

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

A Tale of Two Cities

01/13/2011 -

Here is a series of articles that sites two aspects of the fight within Massachusetts to make healthcare affordable and available. First read this article (page down once you arrive at the site) about the success of a mandate to purchase insurance. Then read this article about what that success has produced. This is truly a Tale of Two States. Don't forget, this is the brilliant example upon which healthcare legislation was initiated.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Peat and Repeat

12/29/2010 -

I am just going to keep saying this until someone hears me. This ain't about insurance and financing more and more ways to pay for stuff. It is about the cost of healthcare, it is about delivery. Here is a cornucopia of articles that shout, "Hey, listen to Bob!" GOP will Repeal.    Democrats claim repeal will increase deficit.  Truth is the four or five things the left keeps pointing at as a reason for PPACA capture about 100 pages of 3,000. The GOP only need to bring the other 2,900 pages to the public and tell them what else is in the bill. High Risk Pools are not magic bullets.   Healthcare cost continue to rise.  Whose going to see all these patients with new and renewed access? 

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

You Show Me Yours and ...

12/27/2010 -

Perhaps after reading this article one might ask, "Why not show the public all of the data from both sides instead of all the finger pointing?" El Camino Hospital in Mountain View strikes deal to continue accepting Anthem Blue Cross patients.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

So what is in the other 2900 pages?

12/22/2010 -

It seems the administration and liberal progressives are developing a game plan to thwart the next congress' attempt to repeal or even modify PPACA. Those who passed this monster continue to wave the positive consumer tidbits as a description of all of the other great and wonderful things contained in this bill. So far those are elimination of lifetime maximums, coverage of children up to age 26, no preX on children under 19, no rescission, and token wellness changes. So...what is in the other 2,900 pages. The few positive good things that have been passed could have been done as an after thought and with very little paper. Read this article for a look inside the locker room.  Then read this one to see what's coming.  Then there is this.  Or this.  Okay, I could go on but you can google as well as I can. The point is, we have yet to see the sharks lurking in the muddy water of PPACA.  We learned nothing from HIPAA.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Ever wonder what the tip of an iceberg looks like?

12/20/2010 -

The referenced article is only one of several reporting on the BCBS of Michigan "Most Favored Nations Clause." Shupe Center has long held that the lack of competition through unfair discount arrangements is primary to the failure of our healthcare cost issues. Now that this problem has been brought to the attention of the consumer, what are you going to do about it? Read this one a couple of times. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on Friday asked a federal court in Michigan to dismiss a government lawsuit that alleges the health insurer violated antitrust laws by requiring that hospitals offer Blue Cross members the best rates. Also see this article. 

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Unrealistic Rate Increases?

12/17/2010 -

This article is the tip of the iceberg folks. The truth is that if there were more competition in the market place this issue would simply go away. As long as the market place consists of two or three carriers and as long as two or three carriers are allowed to dominate the PPO discount field, nothing will change. Regulation feeds on itself. Read with interest...

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

We will address the delivery side one way or the other

12/03/2010 -

ShupeCenter has stressed the need to address the delivery side of the healthcare cost issue for years. Congress just doesn't get it and never will. Read this article and follow the money. This is just the tip of the iceburg. AMA Requests "Safe Harbor" For ACOs

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

He Doesn't Get it

10/22/2010 -

Then there is Robin Hood. Take from the rich and give to the poor, I mean the almost poor, no, no the middle class, no, I'm sorry I said that wrong, take from the rich and give the folks making $90,000 a year. They don't pay tax so why should they pay healthcare premiums. Check out the video. That's not someone doing an impression. Breitbart TV, Obama in '03.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

He Gets It...

10/22/2010 -

The retiring governor of Tennessee gets it. IN fact he always has. O, and he is a Democrat. Check out his recent article in the WSJ. ObamaCare's Incentive to Drop Insurance, October 21, 2010, WSJ, Phillip Bredesen, "One of the principles of game theory is that you should view the game through your opponent's eyes, not just your own."

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

I am just amazed - not really

09/13/2010 -

Please read this article for unhinged finger pointing. High healthcare costs are the fault of Washington, no, their because of the insurance industry... Actually neither one creates a healthcare cost or makes up the cost of the encounter. It is the provider side that does this and they are no where to be found in these discussions. Why? America, without thought trusts their doctor. Remember what the doctor said when he wrote that prescription, "I'm going to try this medication on you and see if it works." You are an experiment. Have fun reading... "President Barack Obama's top health official on Thursday warned the insurance industry that the administration won't tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law. There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the insurance lobby."

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Health Outlays Still Seen Rising

09/09/2010 -

As you read this article, including the following statement, "The White House said the law will lower costs for insured consumers by removing the hidden price they pay to subsidize the uninsured." ask yourself this question. If there are two men, each living in a house, and only one is paying the house payment for both houses, who pays for the other house when the first person stops making both payments? HEALTHCARE IS NOT FREE!

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

The Federal Heath-Care Tease

09/09/2010 -

Among the many ways ObamaCare seeks to expand federal dominance over health care is with the billions of dollars it is offering to lure states into new programs, from which they'll never escape. Among the Governors who are wise to this racket is Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty. Mr. Pawlenty last week issued an executive order forbidding any Minnesota department or agency from applying for grant funding or demonstration projects offered under ObamaCare, unless clearing it with his office (or unless required by law). The Governor tells us the health legislation offers "dozens" of such "teaser" grants designed to hook a state into a "new initiative or a new commitment or new spending that is federally directed."

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Recreational Drugs FAR Less Likely to Kill You than Prescribed Drugs!

09/03/2010 -

While approximately 10,000 per year die from the effects of illegal drugs, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that an estimated 106,000 hospitalized patients die each year from drugs which, by medical standards, are properly prescribed and properly administered. More than two million suffer serious side effects.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]

Health-Insurance Market Moves Ahead in California

09/02/2010 -

California passed legislation creating a health-insurance marketplace, a move set to be echoed across the country as states take steps to implement federal law. Millions of Americans around the U.S. are expected to eventually purchase their coverage through such exchanges, which will offer health plans to individuals and some small businesses.

[Back to Top]   [Print]   [Direct Link]   [Share This]