Premiums Expected To Spike in 2017 As Insurers Settle In For Long Haul On ACA
Insurers mostly guessed wrong on how sick their new customers would be, and 2017 is being called a "market correction year" as they try to set themselves up for long-term sustainability.
The Washington Post:
Consumers Could Be Facing Sticker Shock With ACA Health Premiums Next Year
Premiums for health plans sold through the federal insurance exchange could jump substantially next year, perhaps more than at any point since the Affordable Care Act marketplaces began in 2013. An early analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that proposed rates for benchmark silver plans — the plans in that popular tier of coverage that determine enrollees’ tax subsidies — are projected to go up an average of 10 percent across 14 major metropolitan areas. The analysis, released Wednesday, is based on insurers’ initial filings in 13 states and the District of Columbia. As in previous years, it shows how differently the health-care law is playing out across the country depending on regions and insurers. (Levine and Sun, 6/15)
Meanwhile, in California retirees may get a break on premiums this year —
California Healthline:
CalPERS Proposes More Modest Health Insurance Rate Hikes Than Last Year
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, one of the biggest health insurance buyers in the country, is proposing substantially lower premium hikes for its members in 2017 than they saw this year, the agency announced Tuesday. CalPERS has recommended a 4.1 percent average hike in HMO premiums, a 3.7 percent raise in PPO premiums and a 1 percent increase in premiums for commercially administered Medicare plans. The agency’s Board of Administration is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the proposed rates. (Ibarra, 6/15)
And in other national health care news —
The New York Times:
W.H.O. Says Olympics Should Go Ahead In Brazil Despite Zika Virus
The Olympic Games should go on as planned, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, and athletes and spectators, except for pregnant women, should not hesitate to attend so long as they take precautions against infection with the Zika virus. Pregnant women were advised not to go to Brazil for the event or the Paralympics. The W.H.O. previously told them to avoid any area where Zika is circulating. Some attendees may contract the mosquito-borne infection and even bring it back home, but the risk in August — midwinter in Rio de Janeiro — is relatively low, W.H.O. officials said. (McNeil and Tavernise, 6/14)
The New York Times:
Facebook Offers Tools For Those Who Fear A Friend May Be Suicidal
With more than 1.65 billion members worldwide posting regularly about their behavior, Facebook is planning to take a more direct role in stopping suicide. On Tuesday, in the biggest step by a major technology company to incorporate suicide prevention tools into its platform, the social network introduced mechanisms and processes to make it easier for people to help friends who post messages about suicide or self-harm. With the new features, people can flag friends’ posts that they deem suicidal; the posts will be reviewed by a team at the social network that will then provide language to communicate with the person who is at risk, as well as information on suicide prevention. (Isaac, 6/14)
The Washington Post:
How Drug Companies Use Gifts And Internships To Buddy Up To Their Most Valuable Patients
When Philip Kucab was a boy at a summer camp for kids with hemophilia in 1990, a staff member casually sat down next to him on the last day and asked where Kucab's family got their medication. After the boy explained it came from the hospital pharmacy, the camp staffer, who worked for a specialty pharmacy, explained that he could save them a trip and send the drugs in the mail. "At the time, we actually liked it. This nice man came to our house, had dinner with us," Kucab said. "It was kind of a nice relationship in a way because it was very personal. So when we used to order medication, we'd call up this nice person on the phone — 'How are the boys doing?' It was like a friend, almost." Kucab, today a physician starting residency at Detroit Medical Center, remembers big baskets of cheese and crackers arriving at Christmas — a thank-you for their business. He remembers thinking it was kind of cool. (Johnson, 6/14)
The Associated Press:
Opioids Linked With Deaths Other Than Overdoses, Study Says
Accidental overdoses aren't the only deadly risk from using powerful prescription painkillers — the drugs may also contribute to heart-related deaths and other fatalities, new research suggests. Among more than 45,000 patients in the study, those using opioid painkillers had a 64 percent higher risk of dying within six months of starting treatment compared to patients taking other prescription pain medicine. Unintentional overdoses accounted for about 18 percent of the deaths among opioid users, versus 8 percent of the other patients. (6/14)
The Associated Press:
UN: Coffee No Longer Deemed Possible Carcinogen
The World Health Organization's research arm has downgraded its classification of coffee as a possible carcinogen, declaring there isn't enough proof to show a link to cancer. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, also announced in a report published on Wednesday that drinking "very hot" beverages of any kind could potentially raise the cancer risk, and it classified them as "probably carcinogenic" to humans. (6/15)