Review this, insurers. Maryland hospitals say needed care is being denied.
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The rise in hospital malpractice claims has greatly affected hospital liability insurance. Increasing premium costs and the shrinking availability of coverage have been some of the effects hospitals have felt. The two most promising approaches for dealing with this problem are increased risk management and changes in tort law. These solutions allow insurance companies to calculate the risk, leading to greater predictability.
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In response to changes in the health care environment and the tax-exempt bond market, many hospitals have purchased bond insurance and other forms of credit enhancement to lower the yields on their debt financings. This study of tax-exempt revenue bonds issued by hospitals from 1982-84 estimates that bond insurance lowers yields on hospital bonds by approximately 87 basis points and that bond insurance serves as a substitute measure of creditworthiness. The findings also suggest that the insured group of hospital bonds is more homogeneous than the uninsured group in terms of characteristics that affect the risks associated with hospital investments. Insured bonds seem to represent hospitals in an intermediate risk group.
Conversion of hospitals, health insurers, and health plans from nonprofit to for-profit ownership has become a focus of national debate. The author examines why nonprofit ownership has been dominant in the US health system and assesses the strength of the argument that nonprofits provide community benefits that would be threatened by for-profit conversion. The author concludes that many of the specific community benefits offered by nonprofits, such as care for the poor, could be maintained or replaced by adequate funding of public programs and that quality and fairness in treatment can be better assured through clear standards of care and adequate monitoring systems. As health care becomes increasingly commercialized, the most difficult parts of nonprofits' historic mission to preserve are the community orientation, leadership role, and innovation that nonprofit hospitals and health plans have provided out of their commitment to a community beyond those to whom they sell services.
The original and continuing promise of Medicare can be preserved only through a complex package of fiscal reforms. Central to this should be a merger of Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance into a single Medicare trust fund, financed in part through income-related beneficiary premiums. Benefits could be expanded, while improving access and equity.
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Marquette General Hospital's involvement in an initiative to insure children has brought local credibility to a nationwide program and added strength to the hospital's mission.
The private health insurance industry collected $47.1 billion in premiums in 1977 and returned $41.6 billion in benefits to their subscribers. Premiums rose 16.3 percent as a direct consequence of rapid claims growth in 1976. After operating expenses were deducted, the industry showed a small, $.4 billion underwriting loss. About 78 percent of the population were insured for hospital care, and about 76 percent for surgical services. Smaller percentages had coverage for other types of care. An estimated 61.8 percent of the aged bought private hospital insurance, and 47.1 percent bought surgical insurance, mostly to supplement Medicare benefits. About 12 percent of persons under age 65 had no protection against the cost of hospital care either through private insurance or a public program such as Medicare or Medicaid.
The private health insurance industry collected $55.9 billion in premiums in 1979 and returned $50.2 billion in benefits to its subscribers. Premiums rose 12.4 percent, slightly faster than in 1978 when premiums rose 11.4 percent, to $49.7 billion. Benefits rose 11.4 percent in 1979, down from the 12.6 rate in 1978. After operating expenses were deducted, the industry showed underwriting losses of $1.4 billion in 1979 and $1.5 billion in 1978. About 78 percent of the population was insured for hospital care, 76 percent for x-ray and laboratory examinations, and about 76 percent for surgical services in 1979. Smaller percentages had coverage for other types of care. An estimated 64 percent of the aged bought private hospital insurance, and about 43 percent bought surgical insurance, mostly to supplement Medicare benefits. An estimated 12 percent of persons under age 65 had no protection against the cost of hospital care either through private insurance or a public program such as Medicare or Medicaid.
The year 1983 brings with it expanded coverage in the directors and officers liability policies offered to hospitals. In this article, the author discusses the impact of this added protection in terms of who and what is now covered.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine whether uninsured and Medicaid patients have higher rates of avoidable hospitalizations than do insured patients. DESIGN: We used 1987 computerized hospital discharge data to select a cross-sectional sample of hospitalized patients. Population estimates from the Current Population Survey were used to estimate rates of admission, standardized for age and sex. SETTING: Nonfederal acute care hospitals in Massachusetts and Maryland. PATIENTS: All patients under 65 years of age who were uninsured, privately insured, or insured by Medicaid. Hospitalizations for obstetric and psychiatric conditions were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Relative risk of admission for 12 avoidable hospital conditions (AHCs) identified by a physician panel. RESULTS: Uninsured and Medicaid patients were more likely than insured patients to be hospitalized for AHCs. Rates for uninsured patients were significantly greater than for privately insured patients in Massachusetts for 10 of 12 individual AHCs, and in Maryland for five of 12 AHCs. After adjustment for baseline utilization, the results were statistically significant for 10 of 12 AHCs in Massachusetts and seven of 12 AHCs in Maryland. For Medicaid patients, rates were significantly greater than for privately insured patients for all AHCs in each state before adjustment, and for nine of 12 and seven of 12 AHCs in each state, respectively, after adjustment for baseline utilization. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that patients who are uninsured or who have Medicaid coverage have higher rates of hospitalization for conditions that can often be treated out of hospital or avoided altogether. Our approach is potentially useful for routine monitoring of access and quality of care for selected groups of patients.