http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/02/11/the-saturday-morning-news Comments On: The Saturday Morning News by Dominic Holden en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 25 May 2013 20:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by KittenKoder]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:55 -0800 The Stranger Posted by venomlash]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:50:18 -0800 The Stranger http://books.google.com/books?id=kfoMPgk…
Posted by MikeB]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:34:02 -0800 The Stranger Posted by JonnoN]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:50:59 -0800 The Stranger
Your point would be well taken if health insurance companies had an intrinsic financial incentive to reduce costs. Under PPACA (ObamaCare), they don't. (And since local oligopolies with preferred or exclusive provider networks will persist under PPACA, competitive pressures to keep costs low will remain weak.)

PPACA establishes minimum "medical loss ratios" (MLRs), meaning a minimum percentage of premium revenue that insurance companies must spend on clinical claims and "health quality" measures. For large-group policies, the minimum MLR is 85%, and for small-group policies it's 80%. Health insurance companies can use the balance of premium revenue for anything else, including administrative costs and profits.

In response to this, health insurance companies have been busy acquiring care providers (to recapture money spent on clinical claims) and lobbying state authorities to classify as many administrative costs as possible as "health quality" costs (to leave more of the balance available for profits). But quite apart from those predictable maneuvers, the MLRs establish what are in effect cost-plus contracts, with a 17.6% [(100-85)/85] markup for the large-group market and a 25% [(100-80)/80] markup for the small-group market. The more the insurance companies spend on clinical claims -- e.g., for prenatal, obstetric, postnatal, and pediatric care -- the bigger the markup, and the more money available for profits.

So no: under PPACA health insurance companies don't have a financial incentive to provide contraceptive care, or any other preventive care for that matter. The way PPACA is set up, preventive care has to be mandated and strictly policed. And (sorry for the repost to those who caught it before) here's how it's working in practice:

Preventive care: It's free, except when it's not
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-fr…
Posted by PCM]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:45:11 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Democrat1234]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:32:01 -0800 The Stranger Posted by internet_jen]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:29:40 -0800 The Stranger Posted by catballou]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:21:09 -0800 The Stranger
And I can't resist repeating that we wouldn't have had to waste time on this unnecessary complication (or on a whole host of others) if Obama hadn't kicked his progressive base to the curb the day after the election and had instead enlisted their support in fighting for single-payer. But since Lawrence O'Donnell has a higher Q score than I do, I'll let him do the talking for me:

How America got into birth control mess
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell - 8 February 2012
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755883/vp/…
Posted by PCM]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:18:25 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Dr_Awesome]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:05:03 -0800 The Stranger Posted by biju]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:56:46 -0800 The Stranger Posted by stinky]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:53:47 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Confluence]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:52:17 -0800 The Stranger
The Jam and Wham other than sharing a final consonant have nothing to do with each other.

The Jam were the New Wave mods, to the Sex Pistols rockers.

Wham were in the tradition of mid 80s Brit synth pop bands starting with Soft Cell.

And they and Michaels solo had some of the most brilliant hooks, pop melodies and car radio tunes ever created!
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:47:03 -0800 The Stranger This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group.
No such claim can be made for The Jam - how can you not like a band with origins in dance protest?
Posted by Aaron]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:45:20 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Free Lunch]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:44:37 -0800 The Stranger
more than likey the thing to be really concerned about is just how the insurance companies do end up using that windfall in cost of coverage differences.


Another thing people should remember is that thwse Catholic schools, Hospitals and charities are big, BIG Businesses that receive government grants and employ hundreds of thousands across the country, and that a substantial portion of those empoyees are non-Catholic.
Posted by pissy mcslogbot]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:40:57 -0800 The Stranger
Whereas birth control is $500/yr. Sounds like a free lunch to me.
Posted by Free Lunch]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:40:54 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Daddy Love]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:32:22 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Daddy Love]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:27:52 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Foghorn Leghorn]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:20:16 -0800 The Stranger
I'll spell it out: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Just how exactly are the insurance companies going to pay for the "free" coverage.

Posted by delbert]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:03:50 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Aaron]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:55:24 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Cato the Younger Younger]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:46:45 -0800 The Stranger
Put forward a proposal that has pretty decent support, let the other side reveal their true crazy, then put forward a reasonable compromise where you still get everything you want. He's accomplished the goal of making sure every women will have contraceptive coverage and painted his opponents as backwards nutjobs angry about something everyone uses.

That's a win.
Posted by giffy]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:41:44 -0800 The Stranger