Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The cost of colonoscopies, MRIs, CT scans and mammograms can shift a lot from place to place.
It costs $390 less to get an MRI in Gwinnett County than Fulton County. That's according to data from New Choice Health, a private company that encourages people to become smarter healthcare consumers. In Gwinnett, patients also will spend less, on average, for three other procedures – colonoscopy, CT scan and mammogram. Has your doctor advised you to get a colonoscopy? That will cost you an average of $2,280 in Gwinnett, which is $260 less than in Fulton. But you could still spend up to $4,040 at a hospital in the county. That's less than half as much as the highest price for a colonoscopy in Fulton, or $8,490, according to New Choice Health's data. Gwinnett's prices are below the state average, also. These big regional differences have …
Monday, March 25, 2013
CVS has put its employees on notice that they will be required to pay a $50 a month fine unless they step on the scale.
One of the big health care stories last week was a new policy by CVS Caremark that will require its employees to step on a scale and reveal their weight, along with other health-related numbers, to qualify for health care. This was reported by CNBC, as well as with many other media outlets. According to CNBC, employees on the CVS company health care plan who don't do this would have to pay a $50 penalty. The employees also would be required to have a WebMD wellness review by May 1, which would require tests for blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass and body weight. The CVS policy is reported to also state that, going forward, people would be required to manage those numbers. Smokers too have reportedly been warned by CVS that…
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
A new report shows the state receives a failing grade. Most state laws fail to protect consumers, researchers contend.
- BUSINESS
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Tuesday, March 19
Georgia is one of 29 states to receive a failing grade for price transparency in health care. A study released Monday, March 18 reports "... with recent studies showing us that the price for an identical procedure within a market can vary seven-fold with no demonstrable difference in quality, price transparency is more important than ever," say Francois de Brantes, executive director for the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute, and Suzanne Delbanco, executive director for Catalyst for Payment Reform,in a letter introducing the study. "American consumers deserve to have as much information about the quality and price of their health care as they do about restaurants, cars, and household appliances." The study reviewed state-…
Friday, February 8, 2013
According to new rules released last week by the IRS, by 2016 you might have to.
- OPINION
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Friday, February 8
Some conservative news organizations have taken a close look at new rules released by the IRS recently on the new health care regulations and found them wanting … wanting much more, in fact, by 2016. According to Breitbart.com, the IRS estimates that by 2016 the cheapest Obamacare plan will cost $20,000 for a family of five. That would be for a bronze plan. Other plans offered go up from there to silver, gold and platinum. The IRS used as an example a family of five earning $120,000 a year. If no family members had insurance, they would be subject to a “shared responsibility” penalty putting them into the Bronze plan. The tax penalty for that is $2,400 a month or $20,000 a year. Read the IRS regulations here. Alert, there is a lot of …
Sunday, February 3, 2013
New guidelines in health care law reportedly would help non-profits maintain religious principles with regard to right-to-life issues, but doesn't change mandate for family-based businesses such as Hobby Lobby.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, February 3
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a statement Friday announcing some new guidelines on the health care law from the Obama administration. The guidelines attempt to resolve the contentious contraceptive mandate in the health care law that has raised strong objection from such entities as religious hospitals and universities. CNN reports that as part of the new initiative, groups that are insured, such as student health plans at religious colleges, would be required to let their insurer know that certain participants would like contraception coverage. The provider would then pay for the contraception separately. "The insurer would then notify enrollees that it is providing them with no-cost contraceptive coverage…
Monday, August 15, 2011
Strikes down requirement that almost all Americans carry health care or face penalties.
- GOVERNMENT
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Monday, August 15, 2011
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the requirement in the president's health care plan that almost all Americans carry health insurance or face penalties was struck down Friday by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. In a 2-1 decision, the three-judge appeals court agreed with the 26 states that sued to block the mandate in the health care package. The AJC reports the decision found that "the individual mandate contained in the Act exceeds Congress's enumerated commerce power." Friday’s decision reportedly wasn’t quite as far as that of the lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul, but without that mandate, it is almost fiscally impossible for the rest of the package to function. With three federal judges …
foodandart
11:05 am on Monday, March 25, 2013
Time for CVS workers to start to throw the junk food it sells onto the CEO's desk. When 75% of ALL MEDICAL EXPENSE in the United States - three quarters of cost - can be laid directly at the feet of poor diet choices, a store that sells junk while penalizing it's employees that may actually be eating the goods it sells and suffering the resultant health issues that come of it is HUGELY … more ›