Multimedia

AIRLINE MODEL IN HEALTH INSURER MERGER

Fueled to a large extent by the survival of the Affordable care Act in two United States Supreme Court challenges, and countless Congressional votes, the health insurance industry is set to further consolidate the major health insurance players from five to three as Anthem proposes to acquire Cigna for $48.3 billion dollars and Aetna seeks to acquire Humana for a mere $37 billion dollars. The argument is being made that consolidation in the health care insurance industry will help reduce costs and it is likely that it will.

RISK SHARING: HEALTH PLANS AND BIG PHARMA

Secret negotiations are apparently going on among two wary opponents that could have a life and death impact on many.  Iran? No. Greece? No. Cuba? No. The five million Americans suffering from heart failure? Yes.  According to a story by Andrew Pollock in the New York Times Today, primarily concerned with the F.D.A’s approval of a game changing heart failure drug, produced by Novartis, the manufacturer is in “talks” with several unidentified health plans over a potential “risk sharing” deal which would allow Novartis to adjust the reimbursement levels for the drug depending upon its impact on overall healthcare costs.

A NOTICE TOO FAR -NOTRE DAME & ACA

The University of Notre Dame carried its argument that it should be exempt from providing contraceptive insurance coverage to its employees to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals this week with an argument that seems diaphanously thin that the Accountable Care Act imposes a substantial  burden on the free exercise of religion in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.  The University rejects the governments offer of compromise which permits the University to file a two page objection to coverage and permits insurance companies to provide the coverage, announce the coverage and do everything to implement the coverage, including a payment for the coverage which will not be passed on to the University.

 

MANDELA: ARTIFACTS FROM 8115 VILAKAZI ST.

To my sorrow I never met Nelson Mandela, but in a visit to his modest home on Vilakazi Street in Soweto in the 1990s there were a number of artifacts remaining that voiced much about the man.  The one bedroom brick home was small with a brick wall between the kitchen in the rear and the living room in the front.  The living room was a dangerous place. One can still see the ridge of higher ground blocks away where state security service officers regularly fired high power rifles into their living room. (The outside bricks are still chipped from target practice.) The Mandelas were forced to sleep on the kitchen floor in the back of the house in order to assure that they would wake up in the morning.

 

HOSPITAL FAIR HEARINGS FAIR?

 

An Interview with Greg Piche (1 of 3)

An Interview with Greg Piche (2 of 3)

An Interview with greg Piche (3 of 3)

Funny United Healthcare Video

A funny commercial by the folks at United Healthcare