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| america first choice 100 health insurance: Care Without Coverage Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Care Services, Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance, 2002-06-20 Many Americans believe that people who lack health insurance somehow get the care they really need. Care Without Coverage examines the real consequences for adults who lack health insurance. The study presents findings in the areas of prevention and screening, cancer, chronic illness, hospital-based care, and general health status. The committee looked at the consequences of being uninsured for people suffering from cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, heart and kidney disease, mental illness, traumatic injuries, and heart attacks. It focused on the roughly 30 million-one in seven-working-age Americans without health insurance. This group does not include the population over 65 that is covered by Medicare or the nearly 10 million children who are uninsured in this country. The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Affordable Care Act Tamara Thompson, 2014-12-02 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to increase health insurance quality and affordability, lower the uninsured rate by expanding insurance coverage, and reduce the costs of healthcare overall. Along with sweeping change came sweeping criticisms and issues. This book explores the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act, and explains who benefits from the ACA. Readers will learn how the economy is affected by the ACA, and the impact of the ACA rollout. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Health Insurance is a Family Matter Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Care Services, Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance, 2002-09-18 Health Insurance is a Family Matter is the third of a series of six reports on the problems of uninsurance in the United Sates and addresses the impact on the family of not having health insurance. The book demonstrates that having one or more uninsured members in a family can have adverse consequences for everyone in the household and that the financial, physical, and emotional well-being of all members of a family may be adversely affected if any family member lacks coverage. It concludes with the finding that uninsured children have worse access to and use fewer health care services than children with insurance, including important preventive services that can have beneficial long-term effects. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Health Benefits Coverage Under Federal Law--. , 2007 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Health-Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Board on Health Care Services, Committee on Health Care Utilization and Adults with Disabilities, 2018-04-02 The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two programs that provide benefits based on disability: the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. This report analyzes health care utilizations as they relate to impairment severity and SSA's definition of disability. Health Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination identifies types of utilizations that might be good proxies for listing-level severity; that is, what represents an impairment, or combination of impairments, that are severe enough to prevent a person from doing any gainful activity, regardless of age, education, or work experience. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Employment and Health Benefits Institute of Medicine, Committee on Employment-Based Health Benefits, 1993-02-01 The United States is unique among economically advanced nations in its reliance on employers to provide health benefits voluntarily for workers and their families. Although it is well known that this system fails to reach millions of these individuals as well as others who have no connection to the work place, the system has other weaknesses. It also has many advantages. Because most proposals for health care reform assume some continued role for employers, this book makes an important contribution by describing the strength and limitations of the current system of employment-based health benefits. It provides the data and analysis needed to understand the historical, social, and economic dynamics that have shaped present-day arrangements and outlines what might be done to overcome some of the access, value, and equity problems associated with current employer, insurer, and government policies and practices. Health insurance terminology is often perplexing, and this volume defines essential concepts clearly and carefully. Using an array of primary sources, it provides a store of information on who is covered for what services at what costs, on how programs vary by employer size and industry, and on what governments doâ€and do not doâ€to oversee employment-based health programs. A case study adapted from real organizations' experiences illustrates some of the practical challenges in designing, managing, and revising benefit programs. The sometimes unintended and unwanted consequences of employer practices for workers and health care providers are explored. Understanding the concepts of risk, biased risk selection, and risk segmentation is fundamental to sound health care reform. This volume thoroughly examines these key concepts and how they complicate efforts to achieve efficiency and equity in health coverage and health care. With health care reform at the forefront of public attention, this volume will be important to policymakers and regulators, employee benefit managers and other executives, trade associations, and decisionmakers in the health insurance industry, as well as analysts, researchers, and students of health policy. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Coverage Matters Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Care Services, Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance, 2001-10-27 Roughly 40 million Americans have no health insurance, private or public, and the number has grown steadily over the past 25 years. Who are these children, women, and men, and why do they lack coverage for essential health care services? How does the system of insurance coverage in the U.S. operate, and where does it fail? The first of six Institute of Medicine reports that will examine in detail the consequences of having a large uninsured population, Coverage Matters: Insurance and Health Care, explores the myths and realities of who is uninsured, identifies social, economic, and policy factors that contribute to the situation, and describes the likelihood faced by members of various population groups of being uninsured. It serves as a guide to a broad range of issues related to the lack of insurance coverage in America and provides background data of use to policy makers and health services researchers. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Guide to Buying Health Insurance, and Health Care Kevin Wacasey, 2017-04 The health insurance industry has changed. Gone are the days when you paid your premium, and your plan picked up the tab for all your health care. Nowadays the average deductible is over $2,000, which means that you will have to pay for most, if not all of your health care in any given year. Even worse are the dirty marketing tricks used to sell health insurance. You can spend thousands of dollars a year on a policy that you'll most likely never use, or you can spend even more to get a lower deductible that only gives you the illusion of better coverage. In this book physician and licensed health insurance agent Dr. Kevin Wacasey shows you how to save money on health insurance, and health care. First he cuts through the complexity of buying health insurance, by proving that upgraded plans with supposedly better coverage often end up costing more than you could ever save. Next Dr. Wacasey takes the reader along as he shops for a health insurance plan, then using a simple formula to compare ten different scenarios (pulled straight from healthcare.gov), Dr. Wacasey demonstrates that - in all ten cases - the Bronze plan will end up saving the consumer the most money. Both in sickness, and in health. Finally Dr. Wacasey reveals how much health care goods and services really cost, and offers tips on how patients can save money on everything from ambulances to operations. Individuals, business owners, and anyone else who has to pay for health insurance, or for health care, will find Dr. Wacasey's book invaluable as he shows how to save lots of money - yet receive better care than ever before - in the first consumer-driven health care system the U.S. has ever known. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Price We Pay Marty Makary, 2019-09-10 New York Times bestseller Business Book of the Year--Association of Business Journalists From the New York Times bestselling author comes an eye-opening, urgent look at America's broken health care system--and the people who are saving it--now with a new Afterword by the author. A must-read for every American. --Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief, FORBES One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr. Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research, and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of the business of medicine and its elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up. Dr. Makary shows how so much of health care spending goes to things that have nothing to do with health and what you can do about it. Dr. Makary challenges the medical establishment to remember medicine's noble heritage of caring for people when they are vulnerable. The Price We Pay offers a road map for everyday Americans and business leaders to get a better deal on their health care, and profiles the disruptors who are innovating medical care. The movement to restore medicine to its mission, Makary argues, is alive and well--a mission that can rebuild the public trust and save our country from the crushing cost of health care. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office , 2004 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Lives at Risk John C. Goodman, Gerald L. Musgrave, Devon M. Herrick, 2004 Virtually everyone agrees that our health care system needs reform. But what kind of reform? Some want a return to the system that prevailed in the 1950s. Others would like to see the adaptation of the government-run systems prevalent in other countries. The latter, national health insurance or single-payer health insurance, appears to be gaining ground in the United States. Before Americans find themselves participating in a health care system that has failed in every country it was adopted, we should be asking ourselves whether such a system is effective and efficient. In Lives at Risk, the authors examine the critical failures of national health insurance systems without focusing on minor blemishes or easily correctable problems. In doing so, the purpose is to identify the problems common to all countries with national health insurance and to explain why these problems emerge. Most national health care systems are in a state of sustained internal crisis as costs rise and the stated goals of universal access and quality care are not met. In almost all cases, the reason is the same: the politics of medicine. The problems of government-run health care systems flow inexorably from the fact that they are government-run rather than market driven. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: An American Sickness Elisabeth Rosenthal, 2017-04-11 A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast? Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries—the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Impact of Health Insurance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Maria-Luisa Escobar, Charles C. Griffin, R. Paul Shaw, 2011-01-01 Over the past twenty years, many low- and middle-income countries have experimented with health insurance options. While their plans have varied widely in scale and ambition, their goals are the same: to make health services more affordable through the use of public subsidies while also moving care providers partially or fully into competitive markets. Colombia embarked in 1993 on a fifteen-year effort to cover its entire population with insurance, in combination with greater freedom to choose among providers. A decade later Mexico followed suit with a program tailored to its federal system. Several African nations have introduced new programs in the past decade, and many are testing options for reform. For the past twenty years, Eastern Europe has been shifting from government-run care to insurance-based competitive systems, and both China and India have experimental programs to expand coverage. These nations are betting that insurance-based health care financing can increase the accessibility of services, increase providers' productivity, and change the population's health care use patterns, mirroring the development of health systems in most OECD countries. Until now, however, we have known little about the actual effects of these dramatic policy changes. Understanding the impact of health insurance–based care is key to the public policy debate of whether to extend insurance to low-income populations—and if so, how to do it—or to serve them through other means. Using recent household data, this book presents evidence of the impact of insurance programs in China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, and Peru. The contributors also discuss potential design improvements that could increase impact. They provide innovative insights on improving the evaluation of health insurance reforms and on building a robust knowledge base to guide policy as other countries tackle the health insurance challenge. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act American Dental Association, 2017-05-24 Section 1557 is the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This brief guide explains Section 1557 in more detail and what your practice needs to do to meet the requirements of this federal law. Includes sample notices of nondiscrimination, as well as taglines translated for the top 15 languages by state. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century, 2003-02-01 The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Providers who Participate (accept Assignment). , 1989 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Social Health Insurance for Developing Nations William C. Hsiao, R. Paul Shaw, Andrew Fraker, World Bank, 2007 Specialist groups have often advised health ministers and other decision makers in developing countries on the use of social health insurance (SHI) as a way of mobilizing revenue for health, reforming health sector performance, and providing universal coverage. This book reviews the specific design and implementation challenges facing SHI in low- and middle-income countries and presents case studies on Ghana, Kenya, Philippines, Colombia, and Thailand. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQI+ Populations National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Population, Committee on Understanding the Well-Being of Sexual and Gender Diverse Populations, 2021-01-23 The increase in prevalence and visibility of sexually gender diverse (SGD) populations illuminates the need for greater understanding of the ways in which current laws, systems, and programs affect their well-being. Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, non-binary, queer, or intersex, as well as those who express same-sex or -gender attractions or behaviors, will have experiences across their life course that differ from those of cisgender and heterosexual individuals. Characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, and geographic location intersect to play a distinct role in the challenges and opportunities SGD people face. Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQI+ Populations reviews the available evidence and identifies future research needs related to the well-being of SDG populations across the life course. This report focuses on eight domains of well-being; the effects of various laws and the legal system on SGD populations; the effects of various public policies and structural stigma; community and civic engagement; families and social relationships; education, including school climate and level of attainment; economic experiences (e.g., employment, compensation, and housing); physical and mental health; and health care access and gender-affirming interventions. The recommendations of Understanding the Well-Being of LGBTQI+ Populations aim to identify opportunities to advance understanding of how individuals experience sexuality and gender and how sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status affect SGD people over the life course. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act on Preparedness Resources and Programs Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Sciences Policy, Board on Health Care Services, 2014 Many of the elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect in 2014, and with the establishment of many new rules and regulations, there will continue to be significant changes to the United States health care system. It is not clear what impact these changes will have on medical and public health preparedness programs around the country. Although there has been tremendous progress since 2005 and Hurricane Katrina, there is still a long way to go to ensure the health security of the Country. There is a commonly held notion that preparedness is separate and distinct from everyday operations, and that it only affects emergency departments. But time and time again, catastrophic events challenge the entire health care system, from acute care and emergency medical services down to the public health and community clinic level, and the lack of preparedness of one part of the system places preventable stress on other components. The implementation of the ACA provides the opportunity to consider how to incorporate preparedness into all aspects of the health care system. The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act on Preparedness Resources and Programs is the summary of a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events in November 2013 to discuss how changes to the health system as a result of the ACA might impact medical and public health preparedness programs across the nation. This report discusses challenges and benefits of the Affordable Care Act to disaster preparedness and response efforts around the country and considers how changes to payment and reimbursement models will present opportunities and challenges to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacities. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Statistical Abstracts of the Federal Employee Benefit Programs United States. Office of Personnel Management. Retirement and Insurance Group, 1996 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Overcharged Charles Silver, David A. Hyman, 2018-07-03 Why is America's health care system so expensive? Why do hospitalized patients receive bills laden with inflated charges that com out of the blue from out-of-network providers or demands for services that weren't delivered? Why do we pay $600 for EpiPens that contain a dollar's worth of medicine? Why is more than $1 trillion - one out of every three dollars that passes through the system - lost to fraud, wasted on services that don't help patients, or otherwise misspent? Overcharged answers these questions. It shows that America's health care system, which replaces consumer choice with government control and third-party payment, is effectively designed to make health care as expensive as possible. Prices will fall, quality will improve, and medicine will become more patient-friendly only when consumers take charge and exert pressure from below. For this to happen, consumers must control the money. As Overcharged explains, when health care providers are subjected to the same competitive forces that shape other industries, they will either deliver better services more cheaply or risk being replaced by someone who will. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Who Killed HealthCare?: America's $2 Trillion Medical Problem - and the Consumer-Driven Cure Regina Herzlinger, 2007-04-17 A renowned authority from Harvard Business School confronts America's health care crisis-and how consumer control can fix it PRAISE FOR WHO KILLED HEALTHCARE? “A brilliant analysis... A must-read.” – Bill George, Professor, Harvard Business School and Former CEO of Medtronic “As it becomes more and more obvious to everyone that our current health care system is unsustainable, this is the book that had to be written.” – Daniel H. Johnson, Jr. MD, former president of the American Medical Association “Regina Herzlinger’s ideas to tackle the crisis of the U.S. health care system are based on keen knowledge of the system’s existing difficulties along with insights that introduce the reader to new streamlined choices that have the potential of getting both quantity and cost under control.” – Joseph Kennedy, founder, chairman, and president, Citizens Energy Corporation, CEO, Citizens Health Care, former representative (D-Mass) “Regina Herzlinger... offers a vision of the way things can be, should be, and will be sooner or later. The only question is: how long do we have to wait?” – Greg Scandlen, founder, Consumers for Health Choices“Regi Herzlinger has brilliantly articulated a better way – embracing the principles of competition and innovation that cause every other sector of our economy to thrive. Discharging American health care from the ICU can only happen by putting individual Americans – not politicians and bureaucrats – back in charge of their health care decisioins.” – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla), M.D. “Following on the heels of her landmark Market-Driven Health Care, Herzlinger lays it on the line with her expose of what many who work in the health care industry have felt in their gut. Now it is articulated in an entertaining and must-read portrayal, with you and me as the only way out.” – Dennis White, executive vice president for strategic development, National Business Coalition on Health“A wonderful Orwellian romp through issues which carry a deadly irony. The killers of health care are, of course, the third parties, each of which has an itchy palm and a commitment to profit or power which exceeds the commitment to service, with each engaging the others within a politically shaped box. Rarely has the case for the public been made with so much force, foresight, and wit, and a better way forward shown so clearly.” – James F. Fries, MD, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine “You can practically hear the war chants as Professor Herzlinger sets out her view of what’s wrong with the health care system and how to fix it. You’d best read it so you can decide which side you will be on when the battle is joined.” – Paul Levy, CEO, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA “Regina Herzlinger, the nation’s leading expert on consumer-driven health care, has given us a brilliant analysis of the flaws in our health care system and what it will take to get it back on track. Her latest book is a must-read.” – Bill George, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School, Former CEO, Medtronic, and author of Authentic Leadership“You don’t have to agree with her diagnosis and prescription for the U.S. health care system, but you do have to read her book. Once again, Professor Herzlinger has put together a well researched, well written, and very provocative blueprint for the future of health care.” Peter L. Slavin, MD, President, Massachusetts General Hospital |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: A Fire Upon The Deep Vernor Vinge, 2010-04-01 Now with a new introduction for the Tor Essentials line, A Fire Upon the Deep is sure to bring a new generation of SF fans to Vinge's award-winning works. A Hugo Award-winning Novel! “Vinge is one of the best visionary writers of SF today.”-David Brin Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures, and technology, can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these regions of thought, but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing this galactic threat, Ravna crash lands on a strange world with a ship-hold full of cryogenically frozen children, the only survivors from a destroyed space-lab. They are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. Tor books by Vernor Vinge Zones of Thought Series A Fire Upon The Deep A Deepness In The Sky The Children of The Sky Realtime/Bobble Series The Peace War Marooned in Realtime Other Novels The Witling Tatja Grimm's World Rainbows End Collections Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge True Names At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Your Money Or Your Life David M. Cutler, 2005-02-10 Publisher Description |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Social Transformation of American Medicine Paul Starr, 1982 Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History, this is a landmark history of how the entire American health care system of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs has evolved over the last two centuries. The definitive social history of the medical profession in America....A monumental achievement.—H. Jack Geiger, M.D., New York Times Book Review |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Catastrophic Care David Goldhill, 2013-01-08 A visionary investigation that will change the way we think about health care: how and why it is failing, why expanding coverage will actually make things worse, and how our health care can be transformed into a transparent, affordable, successful system. In 2007, David Goldhill’s father died from infections acquired in a hospital, one of more than two hundred thousand avoidable deaths per year caused by medical error. The bill was enormous—and Medicare paid it. These circumstances left Goldhill angry and determined to understand how world-class technology and personnel could coexist with such carelessness—and how a business that failed so miserably could be paid in full. Catastrophic Care is the eye-opening result. Blending personal anecdotes and extensive research, Goldhill presents us with cogent, biting analysis that challenges the basic preconceptions that have shaped our thinking for decades. Contrasting the Island of health care with the Mainland of our economy, he demonstrates that high costs, excess medicine, terrible service, and medical error are the inevitable consequences of our insurance-based system. He explains why policy efforts to fix these problems have invariably produced perverse results, and how the new Affordable Care Act is more likely to deepen than to solve these issues. Goldhill steps outside the incremental and wonkish debates to question the conventional wisdom blinding us to more fundamental issues. He proposes a comprehensive new way, where the customer (the patient) is first—a system focused on health and maintaining it, a system strong and vibrant enough for our future. If you think health care is interesting only to institutes and politicians, think again: Catastrophic Care is surprising, engaging, and brimming with insights born of questions nobody has thought to ask. Above all it is a book of new ideas that can transform the way we understand a subject we often take for granted. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Never Pay the First Bill Marshall Allen, 2021-06-22 From award-winning ProPublica reporter Marshall Allen, a primer for anyone who wants to fight the predatory health care system--and win. Every year, millions of Americans are overcharged and underserved while the health care industry makes record profits. We know something is wrong, but the layers of bureaucracy designed to discourage complaints make pushing back seem impossible. At least, this is what the health care power players want you to think. Never Pay the First Bill is the guerilla guide to health care the American people and employers need. Drawing on 15 years of investigating the health care industry, reporter Marshall Allen shows how companies and individuals have managed to force medical providers to play fair, and shows how you can, too. He reveals the industry's pressure points and how companies and individuals have fought overbilling, price gouging, insurance denials, and more to get the care they deserve. Laying out a practical plan for protecting yourself against the system's predatory practices, Allen offers the inspiration you need and tried-and-true strategies such as: Analyze and contest your medical bills, so you don't pay more than you should Obtain the billing codes for a procedure in advance Write in an appropriate treatment clause before signing financial documents Get your way by suing in small claims court Few politicians and CEOs have been willing to stand up to the medical industry. It is up to the American people to equip ourselves to fight back for the sake of our families--and everyone else. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Ask a Manager Alison Green, 2018-05-01 From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Healing of America T. R. Reid, 2010-08-31 A New York Times Bestseller, with an updated explanation of the 2010 Health Reform Bill Important and powerful . . . a rich tour of health care around the world. —Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times Bringing to bear his talent for explaining complex issues in a clear, engaging way, New York Times bestselling author T. R. Reid visits industrialized democracies around the world--France, Britain, Germany, Japan, and beyond--to provide a revelatory tour of successful, affordable universal health care systems. Now updated with new statistics and a plain-English explanation of the 2010 health care reform bill, The Healing of America is required reading for all those hoping to understand the state of health care in our country, and around the world. T. R. Reid's latest book, A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System, is also available from Penguin Press. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Statistical Abstracts, Federal Employee Benefit Programs United States. Office of Personnel Management. Retirement and Insurance Service, 1996 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Crossing the Global Quality Chasm National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, Board on Health Care Services, Board on Global Health, Committee on Improving the Quality of Health Care Globally, 2019-01-27 In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Health Professions Education Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Care Services, Committee on the Health Professions Education Summit, 2003-07-01 The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Moral Hazard in Health Insurance Amy Finkelstein, 2014-12-02 Addressing the challenge of covering heath care expenses—while minimizing economic risks. Moral hazard—the tendency to change behavior when the cost of that behavior will be borne by others—is a particularly tricky question when considering health care. Kenneth J. Arrow’s seminal 1963 paper on this topic (included in this volume) was one of the first to explore the implication of moral hazard for health care, and Amy Finkelstein—recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on the topic—here examines this issue in the context of contemporary American health care policy. Drawing on research from both the original RAND Health Insurance Experiment and her own research, including a 2008 Health Insurance Experiment in Oregon, Finkelstein presents compelling evidence that health insurance does indeed affect medical spending and encourages policy solutions that acknowledge and account for this. The volume also features commentaries and insights from other renowned economists, including an introduction by Joseph P. Newhouse that provides context for the discussion, a commentary from Jonathan Gruber that considers provider-side moral hazard, and reflections from Joseph E. Stiglitz and Kenneth J. Arrow. “Reads like a fireside chat among a group of distinguished, articulate health economists.” —Choice |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Who Owns Whom , 2006 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Next Shift Gabriel Winant, 2021-03-23 Men in hardhats were once the heart of America’s working class; now it is women in scrubs. What does this shift portend for our future? Pittsburgh was once synonymous with steel. But today most of its mills are gone. Like so many places across the United States, a city that was a center of blue-collar manufacturing is now dominated by the service economy—particularly health care, which employs more Americans than any other industry. Gabriel Winant takes us inside the Rust Belt to show how America’s cities have weathered new economic realities. In Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods, he finds that a new working class has emerged in the wake of deindustrialization. As steelworkers and their families grew older, they required more health care. Even as the industrial economy contracted sharply, the care economy thrived. Hospitals and nursing homes went on hiring sprees. But many care jobs bear little resemblance to the manufacturing work the city lost. Unlike their blue-collar predecessors, home health aides and hospital staff work unpredictable hours for low pay. And the new working class disproportionately comprises women and people of color. Today health care workers are on the front lines of our most pressing crises, yet we have been slow to appreciate that they are the face of our twenty-first-century workforce. The Next Shift offers unique insights into how we got here and what could happen next. If health care employees, along with other essential workers, can translate the increasing recognition of their economic value into political power, they may become a major force in the twenty-first century. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Today's Health Care Issues Robert B. Hackey, Todd M. Olszewski, 2021-08-25 This book provides a comprehensive introduction to significant U.S. health policy controversies, including Democratic and Republican responses to the coronavirus pandemic. It explores partisan divisions, major challenges, and policy preferences of key Democratic and Republican stakeholders. This volume provides readers with a broad overview of a variety of issues in contemporary health policy that span health care reform, health insurance, pharmaceuticals, public health, health care for underserved populations, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book explores the politics of each issue, drawing upon historical evidence, legislative research, public opinion polls, and the views of key decision makers from both Democratic and Republican perspectives. This coverage provides readers with a clear sense of how policymakers from each party think about the issues involved. This resource devotes special attention to the COVID-19 public health crisis, providing authoritative coverage of the actions, rhetoric, and policy choices of President Trump and his administration, governors across the nation, and leaders of Congress from both parties. This chapter, like all others in the book, is written so that it is accessible to readers from a variety of audience levels, including students and general readers. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Reducing the Tax Burden United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means, 2000 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: America's Children Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, Institute of Medicine, Committee on Children, Health Insurance, and Access to Care, 1998-11-27 America's Children is a comprehensive, easy-to-read analysis of the relationship between health insurance and access to care. The book addresses three broad questions: How is children's health care currently financed? Does insurance equal access to care? How should the nation address the health needs of this vulnerable population? America's Children explores the changing role of Medicaid under managed care; state-initiated and private sector children's insurance programs; specific effects of insurance status on the care children receive; and the impact of chronic medical conditions and special health care needs. It also examines the status of safety net health providers, including community health centers, children's hospitals, school-based health centers, and others and reviews the changing patterns of coverage and tax policy options to increase coverage of private-sector, employer-based health insurance. In response to growing public concerns about uninsured children, last year Congress voted to provide $24 billion over five years for new state insurance initiatives. This volume will serve as a primer for concerned federal policymakers and regulators, state agency officials, health plan decisionmakers, health care providers, children's health advocates, and researchers. |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: Monthly Catalogue, United States Public Documents , 1991-05 |
| america first choice 100 health insurance: The Cure Dr David Gratzer, 2010-06 We are surrounded by medical miracles: polio has been eradicated; childhood leukemia is now treatable; death by cardiovascular disease has declined by two-thirds in the last fifty years. Yet while American medicine has never been better, angst ove... |
America's Choice 100 America's Choice250 America's Choice 500
100% of allowable 100% of allowable: 100% of allowable routine colonoscopy: 100% of allowable 100% of allowable: 100% of allowable well child care/newborn care: 100% of allowable 100% of …
America First Choice 100 Health Insurance (2024)
America First Choice 100 health insurance offers a range of affordable healthcare plans, designed to meet the diverse needs of individuals and families in the United States. This plan provides …
America's Choice 100 Physician & Ancillary RBP Plan Structure …
11 Jun 2024 · America's Choice 100 Contracted Physician: Primary Care Physician Office visits (Includes all services billed and performed by the physician except surgery, anesthesia, …
AC - 1M-5M - 250, 500, 750 Plans Side by side - With DiaThrive
Subject to plan allowable The Summary of Benets and Coverage (SBC) document will help you choose a health plan. The SBC shows you how you and the plan would share the cost for covered …
America's Choice 100 America's Choice 250 America's Choice 500 ...
Precertification is required for all in-hospital admissions, imaging (CT/PET/MRI/MRA), home health, skilled nursing, hospice, DME (over $500), chemotherapy/radiation, organ transplants, sleep …
Our Vision US HealthCenter - Health Plans Of Choice
America’s Choice offers a custom-tailored mix of health plans and third-party administrative services for members like you to minimize employer financial exposure while making every effort …
FAQ America’s Choice - Altruis Benefit
27 Nov 2023 · How does a Working Owner become eligible for any of the America’s Choice plans? • The enrolling client must answer 11 health criteria questions (including the enrolling client’s …
America’s Choice – Executive Summary - Altruis Benefit
27 Nov 2023 · • America’s Choice health plans are qualified ACA-type plans intended to serve a niche market by ofering a range of benefits. o These plans are level funded employer sponsored …
High Deductible Health Plan and Fairway PPO Plan Medical, Vision …
15 Oct 2021 · First Choice Health HDHP & PPO Plans Document 2021 Important Information about the Plan This booklet describes your coverage and payment levels under the First Choice Health …
HEALTH CHOICE SELECT - New Era Health Advisors
In today’s market where health insurance is often unavailable or unaffordable, Health Choice Select can help provide you and your family with peace of mind by letting you select the health …
2023-2024 Member Guide Access America Plan - Harvard Pilgrim …
4 Apr 2023 · With Access America, you can visit United Healthcare’s participating doctors, health professionals and hospitals throughout the United States. If you happen to be traveling to New …
Provider Manual - First Choice Next
First Choice Next offers affordable health plans for eligible individuals or families who do not have coverage through their employer, and do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.
The Affordable Choice - ManhattanLife
1 Jul 2016 · Your Affordable Choice coverage comes with an identification card to streamline your doctor office visits. It also comes with access to a large network of doctors and other health …
Health Choice 500 - GuideStone
Maximum out-of-pocket (medical and prescription) — The maximum out-of-pocket limit includes the deductible, co-pays and co-insurance for eligible, in-network services. After the individual or …
The Affordable Choice Enhanced - ManhattanLife
1 Jul 2016 · First Health Network and RXedo are value added healthcare programs from other providers designed to enhance your healthcare experience without additional cost to you. How …
HISTORY OF HEALTH INSURANCE IN THE UNITED STATES H
sequent health insurance plans. Numbers (1979) and Starr (1982) describe the political dynamics. In the period leading up to and following World War I, a number of state initiatives proposed …
The Affordable Choice - ManhattanLife
1 Jul 2016 · First Health Network and RXedo are value added healthcare programs from other providers designed to enhance your healthcare experience without additional cost to you. You …
U.S. Health Care Coverage and Spending - CRS Reports
20 Mar 2024 · In 2022, the United States had an estimated population of 328 million individuals. Most of those individuals had private health insurance or were covered under a federal program …
The Uninsured and the ACA: A Primer - Key Facts about Health …
How have health insurance coverage options and availability changed under the ACA? In the past, gaps in the public insurance system and lack of access to affordable private coverage left...
The Evolution of Health Insurance in America: A Look at the Past ...
From the origins of health insurance in the form of 20th century sickness insurance to the widespread ramifications of the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act …
America's Choice 100 America's Choice250 America's Choice 500
100% of allowable 100% of allowable: 100% of allowable routine colonoscopy: 100% of allowable 100% of allowable: 100% of allowable well child care/newborn care: 100% of allowable 100% …
America First Choice 100 Health Insurance (2024)
America First Choice 100 health insurance offers a range of affordable healthcare plans, designed to meet the diverse needs of individuals and families in the United States. This plan provides …
America's Choice 100 Physician & Ancillary RBP Plan Structure …
11 Jun 2024 · America's Choice 100 Contracted Physician: Primary Care Physician Office visits (Includes all services billed and performed by the physician except surgery, anesthesia, …
AC - 1M-5M - 250, 500, 750 Plans Side by side - With DiaThrive
Subject to plan allowable The Summary of Benets and Coverage (SBC) document will help you choose a health plan. The SBC shows you how you and the plan would share the cost for …
America's Choice 100 America's Choice 250 America's Choice …
Precertification is required for all in-hospital admissions, imaging (CT/PET/MRI/MRA), home health, skilled nursing, hospice, DME (over $500), chemotherapy/radiation, organ transplants, …
Our Vision US HealthCenter - Health Plans Of Choice
America’s Choice offers a custom-tailored mix of health plans and third-party administrative services for members like you to minimize employer financial exposure while making every …
FAQ America’s Choice - Altruis Benefit
27 Nov 2023 · How does a Working Owner become eligible for any of the America’s Choice plans? • The enrolling client must answer 11 health criteria questions (including the enrolling …
America’s Choice – Executive Summary - Altruis Benefit
27 Nov 2023 · • America’s Choice health plans are qualified ACA-type plans intended to serve a niche market by ofering a range of benefits. o These plans are level funded employer …
High Deductible Health Plan and Fairway PPO Plan Medical, …
15 Oct 2021 · First Choice Health HDHP & PPO Plans Document 2021 Important Information about the Plan This booklet describes your coverage and payment levels under the First …
HEALTH CHOICE SELECT - New Era Health Advisors
In today’s market where health insurance is often unavailable or unaffordable, Health Choice Select can help provide you and your family with peace of mind by letting you select the health …
2023-2024 Member Guide Access America Plan - Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
4 Apr 2023 · With Access America, you can visit United Healthcare’s participating doctors, health professionals and hospitals throughout the United States. If you happen to be traveling to New …
Provider Manual - First Choice Next
First Choice Next offers affordable health plans for eligible individuals or families who do not have coverage through their employer, and do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.
The Affordable Choice - ManhattanLife
1 Jul 2016 · Your Affordable Choice coverage comes with an identification card to streamline your doctor office visits. It also comes with access to a large network of doctors and other health …
Health Choice 500 - GuideStone
Maximum out-of-pocket (medical and prescription) — The maximum out-of-pocket limit includes the deductible, co-pays and co-insurance for eligible, in-network services. After the individual …
The Affordable Choice Enhanced - ManhattanLife
1 Jul 2016 · First Health Network and RXedo are value added healthcare programs from other providers designed to enhance your healthcare experience without additional cost to you. How …
HISTORY OF HEALTH INSURANCE IN THE UNITED STATES H
sequent health insurance plans. Numbers (1979) and Starr (1982) describe the political dynamics. In the period leading up to and following World War I, a number of state initiatives proposed …
The Affordable Choice - ManhattanLife
1 Jul 2016 · First Health Network and RXedo are value added healthcare programs from other providers designed to enhance your healthcare experience without additional cost to you. You …
U.S. Health Care Coverage and Spending - CRS Reports
20 Mar 2024 · In 2022, the United States had an estimated population of 328 million individuals. Most of those individuals had private health insurance or were covered under a federal …
The Uninsured and the ACA: A Primer - Key Facts about Health Insurance ...
How have health insurance coverage options and availability changed under the ACA? In the past, gaps in the public insurance system and lack of access to affordable private coverage left...
The Evolution of Health Insurance in America: A Look at the Past ...
From the origins of health insurance in the form of 20th century sickness insurance to the widespread ramifications of the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care …
