Thought I was just being a bit ...ahhhh.... 'over the top' with that language, eh?
Not really.
Humana Inc. is “closely analyzing” an announcement by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that includes preliminary 2010 Medicare Advantage payment rates, the health insurer said Monday.
The preliminary rates were announced by CMS after the close of trading on Friday, Feb. 20.
Medicare Advantage plans are government-approved plans that are run by private companies.
Humana, one of the largest health insurers in Wisconsin, is examining “all aspects of the CMS announcement because the company finds certain assumptions behind the preliminary 2010 rates to be unusual and inconsistent with decades of experience and with past CMS practice,” a Humana news release stated.
The CMS notice includes a preliminary estimate of a 0.5 percent payment rate increase in the Medicare Advantage plans. Analysts had expected the increase to be considerably more, according to a Reuters article.
According to Humana, the Feds' announcement means that premiums will rise substantially.
Or, of course, medical treatments could be cut back substantially.
Or we could adopt the Dave Obey/Herb Kohl/Russ Feingold position: have the Gummint decide whether or not you are worth the indicated treatment dollars.
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It's much better to have someone balance your health and treatment vs. their profit margin?
Yes. For openers, private entities are subject to lawsuits and actually CARE about PR.
Better check that again, Dad. I do believe it is illegal to sue HMO's and insurance carriers. If not illegal, it's been made hard enough to be the same thing.
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