Healthcare Financial News

Health plans’ quality of care improved in 2007--the ninth consecutive year of continued improvements--according to a study released Oct. 2 by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

NCQA found that commercial health plans showed improvement in 44 of 54 measures, including better treatment for high blood pressure and postpartum depression. Private Medicare plans showed improvement in 24 of 45 measures, including an increase of heart attack patients being treated with beta-blockers. The quality of care through Medicaid plans has remained relatively unchanged over the past two years, according to the report.

The report suggested that all health plans should be required to measure and publicly report on quality of care measures. It also called for the healthcare system to be overhauled and said that the next president should set regional targets for health improvement and grant federal money accordingly. Access the report.

Family healthcare premiums rose an estimated 17.1 times faster than earnings for Michigan’s workers from 2000 to 2007, according to a report issued Oct. 2 by the consumer health organization Families USA. In that eight-year period, family healthcare premiums rose by 78.2 percent, while median earnings rose by only 4.6 percent.

According to the report, the disproportionately high increases in insurance premiums occurred despite the provision of “thinner coverage” to workers--coverage that offers fewer benefits and/or that comes with higher deductibles, copayments, and co-insurance.

The Families USA report, Premiums versus Paychecks, is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services. State-specific reports are being released September through October 2008. Access the reports.