I see a number of people are having trouble accessing the First Opinion article on the STAT website. They may be requiring new visitors to register for three free articles. If you go to https://www.statnews.com/ (the home page); click on First Opinion on the toolbar; and then scroll down that page, you should find the article. If you click on that, you should get access. If not, it will appear on this website early next week (they get five days exclusivity).
I have no problem getting into STAT. I do have a problem taking it on the first day it is published. It is a good piece and I would like to post it on Angry Bear. Thank you for writing this piece.
Great article, Merrill! How does the out-of-pocket cap work with employer sponsored group health plans? Would the out-of-pocket cap be a feature that all group health plan products have to adhere to?
Thanks for proposing a solution. I’m exhausted with critiques of the system with no action attached to it.
Yes. This would be a national insurance regulation that set the cap for all plans, including government funded ones. Absent budget constraints, this would simply serve to socialize costs now borne by sicker beneficiaries. While that is better than nothing, it would not provide any brake on spending or incentivize providers to shift spending to produce better health outcomes. That’s why global budgets are just as important as the cap on OOP spending
I clicked on your opinion piece at STAT News, but it is behind their paywall. I am a new subscriber after having had only free access. I find your information very helpful. Thanks!
I write Aging in America, among other things. Please check out this post: https://philmoeller.substack.com/p/december-16-2024
Thanks.
Phil Moeller
I see a number of people are having trouble accessing the First Opinion article on the STAT website. They may be requiring new visitors to register for three free articles. If you go to https://www.statnews.com/ (the home page); click on First Opinion on the toolbar; and then scroll down that page, you should find the article. If you click on that, you should get access. If not, it will appear on this website early next week (they get five days exclusivity).
I have no problem getting into STAT. I do have a problem taking it on the first day it is published. It is a good piece and I would like to post it on Angry Bear. Thank you for writing this piece.
Great article, Merrill! How does the out-of-pocket cap work with employer sponsored group health plans? Would the out-of-pocket cap be a feature that all group health plan products have to adhere to?
Thanks for proposing a solution. I’m exhausted with critiques of the system with no action attached to it.
Yes. This would be a national insurance regulation that set the cap for all plans, including government funded ones. Absent budget constraints, this would simply serve to socialize costs now borne by sicker beneficiaries. While that is better than nothing, it would not provide any brake on spending or incentivize providers to shift spending to produce better health outcomes. That’s why global budgets are just as important as the cap on OOP spending
I clicked on your opinion piece at STAT News, but it is behind their paywall. I am a new subscriber after having had only free access. I find your information very helpful. Thanks!