Category Archives: Health Insurance
CMS – Proposed New Physician Fee Schedule
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th July 2018If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free PJ O’Rourke CMS (the federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid) is proposing a new physician fee schedule. The three page article that summarizes the proposed changes is hard for my ossified brain to decode, so I…
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Britain’s National Health Service Continues to Struggle
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th January 2018The UK’s NHS is experiencing another major problem. Patients ‘dying in hospital corridors’ is the headline of a BBC article describing “intolerable conditions” in the country’s government run hospitals. The system’s current problem is blamed on the flu and, of course, government underfunding. That the taxpayers’ funding of the NHS is at an all time…
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The Real Problem With Healthcare
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th January 2014I have nothing to add to the discussion about the merits of the ACA otherwise known as Obamacare. Everyone who wants information about it has had more than enough offered to him. It’s not the real problem with our medical system. The kernel of our dilemma is us. We are the problem and congress can’t…
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Commentary on Deuteronomy 15:4-11
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th August 2013The text of this section is below in italics. There shall be no needy among you, since the Lord your God will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion. If only you heed the Lord your God and take care to keep all this instruction…
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Section 9007 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th June 2013Community Health Needs Assessment In order to continue as a 501(c)(3) organization, each hospital must conduct a community health needs assessment every three years and adopt an implementation strategy to meet the community health needs identified through the assessment. The assessment must take into account input from persons who represent the broad interests of the…
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How Much Does the New Healthcare Tax Cost?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd July 2012Now that we’ve been informed that the Affordable Care Act’s penalty for not purchasing health insurance is a tax rather than a real penalty, I thought it informative to see how much this tax might be and what the consequences of opting to pay it rather than purchasing medical insurance are. I’ll go through the weeds below; but briefly the take away message…
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Institute of Medicine Report on Essential Health Benefits
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th October 2011The Oct 20, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine contains a summary of the report of the IOM mentioned with the above title. The sixth and final of their recommendations is very interesting: To ensure that the EHB-defined packages remain affordable and sustainable, the secretary should develop a strategy, in collaboration with others, for aligning…
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Social Welfare Programs and Drug Addiction
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th June 2011The current debate over how Medicare should be structured has seemed to me to be nothing more than each side declaring that their federally funded healthcare program is better than the other side’s. Paul Ryan’s plan to make Medicare (10 years hence) into a voucher system has been hailed by many as a serious and responsible modification…
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Massachusetts Medical Society Releases 2011 Study of Patient Access to Health Care
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th May 2011The Massachusetts Medical society released its 2011 study of the state’s medical insurance plan, often called Romneycare. It’s a pretty damning description of the plan. Wait times for a new patient to see a primary care doctor have increased. Similarly, wait times to see a specialist have also increased. The number of primary care doctors who accept…
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Unreasonable Health Insurance Premiums
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th August 2010New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winner in economics Paul Krugman is famous for his dedication to fiscal stimulus as an escape from our current economic woes. No matter how much money the government pumps into the economy he wants more if the result is not what is desired. Thus he is indulging in…
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