Author Archives: ChiakiHCN-NYC

The newly adopted definition of “affordable” health insurance means that federal financial assistance will not be available for millions of Americans with modest incomes who cannot afford employer-based family coverage even if it is prohibitively expensive.

If one 5-hour ER visit costs $10,000, it is not surprising why so many people go bankrupt unexpectedly.  It is time to take action.

Sen. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chairman of the House Budget Committee and candidate for Vice President, resurrected the idea of a premium support or voucher proposal after three decades of defeat. Under this proposal, Medicare’s traditional guaranteed coverage would be eliminated. … Continue reading →

Goldman Sachs expects large managed health care companies, like WellPoint, are seeking to broaden exposure to public-sector managed care and revenue growth that it presents. WellPoint bought a Medicaid insurance company, Amerigroup, for $4.5 billion. Wall Street analysts and investors … Continue reading →

A new story from Consumer Reports highlights how extreme price variance can and do confuse many patients even if they have insurance.  And lack of transparency often means huge unanticipated bills.

“I have put my life on hold. I’ve depleted my entire savings account, pretty much,” Heather Bixler, the mother of a chronically ill child said. Her son, Sean, has seizures due to an accident. Heather estimates that between 30% to … Continue reading →

Health insurers will gain $1 trillion in new revenue over the next eight years under the 2010 health-care law, assuming it’s upheld by the Supreme Court, according to a Bloomberg Government study. The money comes from U.S. subsidies to people … Continue reading →

Doctors, Nurses, Patients Advocates (of course including members from HCN!-NYC) joined Assembly member Richard Gottfried, Senator Thomas Duane and 70 lawmakers in unveiling an updated and revised single-payer legislative proposal for New York State. A state study says that single payer … Continue reading →

Chairman Richard Gottfried of the New York State Assembly Committee on Health responds to insurers cheating on out-of-network payments.  No matter what rules are imposed, health insurance companies quickly find a way around them.  That is why he has introduced … Continue reading →

A Forbes writer promotes single payer. The Business Coalition for Single Payer Healthcare analyzes that a single-payer system would bring benefits to American businesses as it would eliminate healthcare benefit costs and make American products more competitive with foreign products.