Here\u2019s something I haven\u2019t seen discussed anywhere:\u00a0 I\u2019ve read numerous times that O\u2019care will stifle innovation in healthcare technology.\u00a0 But to bring healthcare costs down, we need innovation in heathcare delivery and innovation in insurance product design.\u00a0 My own thought is that staff-model HMOs should have become more mainstream, but Kaiser Permanente, which is a staff-model HMO,\u00a0is the\u00a0largest\u00a0insurer\u00a0in California (or at least one of the largest), and their costs aren\u2019t exceptionally lower than their competitors.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Nonetheless,\u00a0I still think that the only solutions in this area\u00a0will come from\u00a0providers and hospitals working together.\u00a0 And, pretty reliably, it\u2019s small firms that are the most innovative.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
For instance, the hospital down the road from me is building up its network of doctors.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to see them develop a prepaid healthcare offering, in conjunction with an insurer (presumably not one of the big players) providing reinsurance and out-of-network benefits.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not really feasible in the employer-based system, since we\u2019re only one small part of the metro area, and there aren\u2019t enough employers who would buy a product that only a small part of their workforce could use.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Moving to exchanges makes this worse \u2014 the reports are, at least, that only the largest insurers in a given state are finding it worthwhile to participate in an exchange.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s not the worst thing about Obamacare, but it\u2019s definitely a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s something I haven\u2019t seen discussed anywhere:\u00a0 I\u2019ve read numerous times that O\u2019care will stifle innovation in healthcare technology.\u00a0 But to bring healthcare costs down, we need innovation in heathcare delivery and innovation in insurance product design.\u00a0 My own thought is that staff-model HMOs should have become more mainstream, but Kaiser Permanente, which is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n