Family Health Insurance

International healthcare group Bupa has announced its second public private partnership (PPP) in Spain.

Bupas Spanish business Sanitas and the Madrid regional government signed an agreement whereby Sanitas will manage the 250-bed Torrejón Hospital.

The agreement lasts for a period of 30 years and covers 136,000 people living in Madrid and the surrounding area.

Medical management for the Torrejón Hospital now becomes Sanitas responsibility, with the firm acquiring a 50% stake in the PPP.

Sanitas already serves 800,000 private health insurance customers in Madrid and has two private hospitals, eight private medical centres, 42 dental clinics and 13 care homes in the region.

Bupa Chief Executive Officer Stuart Fletcher said that the firm was committed to partnering government and state healthcare providers to help the public.

Six years ago Bupa signed a 15 year agreement with the Valencian regional government for Sanitas to construct and run a 200 bed public hospital in Manises.

Joe Paduda of Managed Care Matters did an excellent job with the most recent Health Wonk Review be sure to stop by his blog and check it out.  I thought this article from Dr. Roy Poses was especially interesting.  Writing at Health Care Renewal, Dr. Poses shines the spotlight on UnitedHealth Groups CEO Stephen Hemsleys oversized compensation.  Roy notes that while the increase in CEO compensation does mirror the companys overall financial success of late, it must also be considered in light of the fact that the company has made some missteps in terms of fulfilling its stated mission to provide health care at an affordable price and expand access to quality health care.  R

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This Contingencies article about age band compression under the ACA is an interesting look at potential future premiums based on the ACAs 3:1 age band ratio rule.  [Contingencies magazine is published by the American Academy of Actuaries - it's not a special interest publication, so I tend to trust their articles more than something coming from a source that is either biased for the ACA or biased against the ACA.]

The article looked specifically at premiums for younger Americans in the 20 29 and 30 39 age groups, and the likely impact of the 3:1 premium ratio.  They found that for 20 29 year olds who are not eligible for subsidies, premiums are expected to increase by 42% over what they would have been without the ACA regulations.  A

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Exit-screening at 36 airports would have assessed all air travelers at risk of transporting H1N1 out of Mexico at start of 2009 pandemic

• Exit-screening at 36 airports would have assessed all air travelers at risk of transporting H1N1 out of Mexico at start of 2009 pandemic
• Screening at 99 per cent of the worlds international airports could have been forgone with negligible missed opportunities to prevent or delay the spread of disease
• Screening at just eight airports worldwide would have led to the assessment of 90 per cent of all at-risk air travelers

Researchers have developed a simple new tool to help governments worldwide decide whether to screen airplane passengers leaving or arriving from areas of infectious disease outbreaks.

The tool was developed by examining all international airplane traffic in the initial stages of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

Researchers led by Dr.

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Sponsored by House of Representative Ander Crenshaw of Florida and Senator Bob Casey Jr of Pennsylvania, both houses of Congress will begin to reconsider passing legislation known as the “Achieving a Better Life Experience” Act, or ABLE. This piece of legislation is supported by many national organizations including Autism Speaks, the National Disability Institute, and the National Down Syndrome Society.

Per Congressman Crenshaw, individuals with disabilities face enormous financial struggles, yet do not have the same financial planning tools as other Americans, such as a tax-deferred savings account to plan for college or retirement. Fir

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MIAMI — A few days after Gov. Rick Scott of Florida endorsed a Medicaid expansion, a U-turn so sharply executed that it flabbergasted his supporters, the head of a local Tea Party group typed up a “breakup note.”

“I’m trying to determine how the Medicaid expansion is going to pay for the surgery to remove the knife planted in my back,” Henry Kelley, the Tea Party leader and an early supporter of Mr. Scott, wrote on his blog.

“This was his issue, his singular core issue,” Mr. Kelley said later in an interview. “This is why we rallied around him.”

Mr. Scott, 60, a former Read more…