Employers Should Beware of Health Insurance Scams
Some
15,000 employers fell victim to health insurance scams between
2000 and 2002, according to a March 2004 report from the General
Accounting Office (GAO). Companies offering the policies
collect premiums and may even pay some claims before simply
disappearing, leaving employees who believe they have health
insurance with uncovered medical bills and employers to deal
with the wreckage in their employees’ lives.
“Tens
of thousands of employers and hundreds of thousands of individuals
have paid premiums for essentially nonexistent coverage,”
said Kathryn G. Allen, Director of Health Insurance Studies
at the GAO. The GAO investigation found at least 144 companies
that were marketing health coverage between 2000 and 2002
they were not authorized to sell. Investigators found $252
million in unpaid claims on some 200,000 phony policies.
Employers and individuals in every state have been victims.
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Web
Sites Can Provide Valuable Health Information, But Surf with
Caution
Today’s
employee is expected to be a savvy consumer of health care
services. Changes in health plan designs that shift more costs
to employees compel thoughtful consideration of how to spend
health care dollars. Furthermore, with the growth in popularity
of health reimbursement accounts (HRAs), medical savings accounts
(MSAs), and health saving accounts (HSAs), the prospect of
rolling over unused account funds for future years provides
an added motivation to be a careful consumer of health care
services.
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The Early Numbers Are In, And Consumer-Directed Health
Care Looks Like a Winner
Early
experience with consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) indicates
that the goals of cost-moderation and informed patient decision
making are being met. Cost increases for these plans are
well below those for other types of health plans and members
are utilizing preventive care services and decision-making
support tools.
These
experiences were shared by several vendors of CDHP products,
at a briefing sponsored by the Galen Institute, a research
organization that focuses on health and tax policy. The briefing,
“Reports from the Field about Consumer Choice Health Care,”
featured representatives from Aetna, Definity Health, Destiny
Health, Assurant Health (formerly Fortis Health), Lumenos,
and Vivius.
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Prescription Drug Spending on the Rise; Plans Implement
Cost Containment Measures
Prescription
drug cost increases continue to grow at a double-digit rate,
and though this trend has slowed over the past few years,
drug cost increases continue to outpace the overall growth
in health care costs. However, prescription drug plans that
implement a variety of cost containment techniques see a much
more moderate rate of growth.
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