Bush seeks better heath care cost info --(the coupon clipper.)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_health_transparency
Bush seeks better heath care cost info
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - Customers shop around when they buy an airline ticket or a new car, so why not when they need a hip replacement or treatment for a sore throat? An executive order being signed Tuesday by President Bush is designed to help people make more informed decisions about doctors and hospitals.

Four federal agencies will be required to compile information about the quality and price of care they pay for and share that information with their customers and each other.
"We're all about being cost-conscious," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. "It's just the American way. We clip coupons. We check for bargain flights on the Web. We carefully research major purchases. But when it comes to health care, we lack the tools to compare either quality or the costs."

Bush will sign the executive order in Minnesota, where he will talk with health care providers about "health transparency." Afterward, he will attend a campaign fundraiser.

The order directs the agencies to:

_Use, where available, health information computer systems that talk to each other. That way, the health records of a veteran living in Maine can be viewed by a doctor working in California if the veteran needs emergency care there during a vacation........

[rodeodance]

1. bad omen--AP does not know how to spell health

[chenGOD]

12. I know, i thought this was a thread about Ted Heath? NM

^^

[babylonsister]

2. We're all about being cost-conscious? How about being

concerned about the 'quality' of health care out there, as well as the price? Why bother otherwise?

[Lindacooks]

3. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of.

When my husband had cancer when he was 25 years old, we couldn't have 'researched' our way out of a paper bag. You do what the doctor tells you, and you don't go around shopping for the cheapest care.

People who are faced with serious health problems have enough on their plates without suddenly being responsible for researching the most cost effective care. Just dealing with the insurance crap is a full time job, not to mention the stress of the illness and keeping track of appointments and meds.

This is just another example of those fucking repukes putting more burden on the shoulders of Americans, rather than protecting them and regulating these industries.

[Captain Hilts]

4. This makes no sense. nt

[Donnachaidh]

5. two words -- price fixing

Just HOW are you supposed to find better prices on health care when the medical community fixes pricing?

Yet another smoke and mirrors PR campaign by the Bush administration.

[Tracer]

6. Sheesh. Even if you DO ask about the price beforehand ...

... what are you then supposed to do?

I was told by my doctor that he was giving me one shot of Neulasta. He told me it was expensive. When I asked "how much" -- he said "$3,000".

So --- what was I supposed to do? Ditch my doctor and run around to 6 other docs to try and find one who'd discount the drug?

Right.

[Nickster]

7. Call me crazy, but weren't the HMOs supposed to be the ones looking

for the best, most cost efficient means of care? When is someone going to start looking into the rampant problems with the healthcare providers? Oh wait, we really need tort reform. Grrrr.

[UpInArms]

8. can't find much past 2001 - but here's this:

New Report Shows HMO Executives Receive Huge Compensation

Washington, DC - A new report issued by a consumer health organization shows that top HMO executives are receiving huge compensation packages. The report, issued by Families USA, documents that the top HMO executive received more than $54 million in compensation in 2000 and had $358 million in unexercised stock options.

The report comes at a time when the managed care industry is fighting patient protection legislation with claims that the costs of such protections are too expensive. The report was released to coincide with the beginning of Senate debate on a patients' rights bill introduced by Senators John McCain, John Edwards, and Edward Kennedy.

The highest paid executive in the industry in 2000 was William W. McGuire, CEO of UnitedHealth Group Corporation. According to the Families USA report, top-level executives of major managed care companies - including Aetna, CIGNA, Oxford Health, and WellPoint Health Networks - received multi-million dollar compensation packages and held unexercised stock options in the dozens of millions of dollars.

"While the managed care industry decries the pennies needed for important patient protections, it is glad-handing many millions of dollars into the pockets of its top executives," said Ron Pollack, Families USA's executive director. "Clearly, the industry has a double standard about costs - a very generous standard for its executives and a miserly one for America's consumers and patients."

The report shows that the top-five managed care executives received the following compensation in 2000, exclusive of unexercised stock options:

William McGuire (CEO of UnitedHealth Group): $54.1 million
Wilson Taylor (Retired Chairman, CIGNA): $24.7 million
Ronald Williams (Executive Vice President, WellPoint): $13.2 million
William Donaldson (Chairman, Aetna): $12.7 million
Leonard Schaeffer (Chairman and CEO, WellPoint): $11.1 million

...more...

[acmejack]

9. Meanwhile, he he spends $ 220,000 traveling on our dime

to a campaign event and masking it making it look like Government business. That SOB has spent millions and millions of dollars in the most frivolous ways imaginable so he can campaign for free.

A Veteran has to pay out of pocket unless he goes to a VA emergency room or gets prior VA approval to go to a civilian ER. just fwiw.

[w4rma]

10. Doctors are underpaid for what they do as it is. Now the GOP is going

after Doctors' salaries.

[tapper]

11. Quality, yes, Cost? Yeah, right!

Information on the quality of health services provided would be a good idea, if easily accessible and understandable, and if a person had a choice. (how often does *that* happen?)

But cost? Who, given a choice, is going to choose the cheapest treatment when it's their life at stake?! If you have a choice, you're going to choose the best alternative, and hang the cost! When my sister-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer last year, they didn't go for cheap: they went for the best, even though it meant a long trip (several hours driving to Denver, then flying to Houston) every three weeks for months.

And you can just bet the Bushes never worry about cost.