Blog Entries tagged 'healthcare'

What's The Difference Between A Hippo and HIPPA?

shades — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:00:00 +0100

My son has this flattened stuffed hippo called Flatso, who has been a close family friend for many years. As an aside, I wonder if the phrase "creature comfort" is derived from these affections we had for these stuffed critters when we were kids.

When my son was three years old, we were eating dinner at Col Poole's Bar-B-Que joint up in the Georgia hills on our way home from a weekend in North Carolina. Poole's is famous for four things; Pig Hill, politician [...]

Who Is Regina Herzlinger?

shades — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

For starters, she speaks our language. And that is the language of Consumer Driven Healthcare. A brief expose' of her positions are outlined in the December 22 edition of Business Week and worth a read. If time is tight, keep reading below for a summary and maybe even a few thoughts of our own (maybe).

Regina Herzlinger is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and she advocates neither government nor employer based healthcare. [...]

Which Bank Should I Select For My HSA Deposits?

shades — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

This is a good question and varies based on your specific needs, which, by the way will change as you accumulate money into your HSA account.

If you would like to start a discussion on this topic, we invite you to start a thread on the HSAeducator Forum, you can click here to get there and start a conversation based on your own needs. You will need to register on this site to participate, but it only takes a few seconds, and you are already here.

As an alternative, if [...]

(Health Savings Account) HSA Rules 2009

shades — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Now there's a seemingly dry topic for an article on HSAs but guess what? It is one of the top keyword searches driving individuals to this site.

And since we are all about HSA education, it seems only fitting that if you blasted through cyberspace and somehow landed on this page reading this article, and this sentence specifically, it seems only fair that we get you to a place that can get your question answered. If you will click right here you will be shot through cybe [...]

So What's Going On In E-Health?

shades — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

If you have read the last two postings ("What the Heck is E-Health" and "E-Health and Health Savings Accounts") you know what e-health is. Now the question is, where is it going?

There's a good article in the December 8th edition of Business Week on E-Health. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Wal-Mart (who began offering Health Savings Accounts in 2006 as a means to provide health benefits to its 1MM+ employees) will offer its 1MM benefits eligib [...]

E-Health And Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

shades — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

If you read the last article in the Gradock Bulletin or if you're already well informed you know what the concept of "e-health" is (and if you didn't read it, it is right below this article). You might even be asking yourself what's in it for you? And more specifically, how does it relate to CDH, HSAs and HDHPs?

Good question.

Imagine if you had a secure place where you could input basic health information about yourself and your family that [...]

What The Heck Is E-Health?

shades — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

So if I lay down on top of my computer, is it somehow going to make me healthy? Or maybe if I spend 8 hours a day doing health related Google, Yahooo, MSN or some other search engine searches, will that make me more e-healthy? Perhaps if I stick my hand in the VCR and push play, that will give me a nice jolt of Electronic Health?

The answer is "D." None of the above.

E-health is one of those terms we hear all the time, but maybe aren't quite sure what it [...]

Goodbye Joe the Plumber. Hello Dan the Street Super.

shades — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Dan Crowell represents the changing face of health and healthcare in America. Dan is the street superintendent for the city of Lafayette, Indiana. Now I don't know Dan but I read about him JConline.com, the online edition of the Journal Courier Newspapers of Lafayette and West Lafayette Indiana.

Both cities, faced with ever rising healthcare costs have joined together to save money on health insurance and to promote healthier employees. One of the keys to their st [...]

Beans, Tea Parties, Witch Trials - Massachusetts Healthcare Reform 2009

shades — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

About the only things I know about Massachusetts have to do with beans (Blazing Saddles), a bunch of whiteys dressed up as Indians (wonder if they were wearing wigs?), and burning witches at the stake (now that's hot).

Being from the Deep South, my purview of the rest of the country is somewhat narrow, and I suppose for every one of us, there is enough history, news, and politics in our own states to keep up narrowly focused and narrowly minded for a lifetime. Thank God, [...]

Reading The Tea Leaves Of Obama's Healthcare Reform

shades — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

One thing everyone agreed on regarding the Obama presidential campaign was that he picked his messages and stuck to them. And one of the ones that stuck to me, in fact, with all the media coverage I felt like it was nailed to me with a hammer and sixteen penny nails, was the notion that if you liked the health plan your employer offered you could keep it, but if you didn't you could have the same insurance federal employees enjoy. And for employers if they didn't [...]

Politically Speaking, Is There A Middle Ground In Healthcare?

shades — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Ron Klar, a guy way smarter than me when it comes to healthcare, the healthcare debate and fixing the problems related to our Nation's ills, wrote a terrific article just before the election entitled, AmericarePlans: A McCain-Obama Hybrid Proposal posted on Health Affairs, The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere. Being the last guy on the grape vine, it took awhile for me to intersect with his article.

I'm not going to regurgitate the article here as it is much bett [...]

Daniel Amos, Not Only Is Your Duck Cool, But So Are You

shades — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's PÉRALTE C. PAUL reported today (11/14) that Aflac Chairman and CEO Daniel Amos announced he is giving up his $13 million "golden parachute" which represents the large dollars he would get if he were to leave the company.

I know nothing about Mr. Amos, but admire his willingness to take responsibility for his leadership actions and is representative, in my opinion, of the attitude of those individual [...]

I Heart Health Care For America Now...

shades — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

....NOT!

I saw a humorous YouTube video which led me down an interesting path of reflection and reinforced the extremes in thinking some people have on healthcare in America. Healthcare is a complicated social issue, and to the best of my knowledge there is only one only perfect solution. And that's perfect health.

I've included the video here as it is humorous, but I present it with a large caveat. Health insurance in America is in [...]

It's Open Enrollment Season Out There. Are You the Hunter Or The Hunted?

shades — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you are one of those folks who dreads the open enrollment period for your health benefits, who puts their heads inside of their shell and basically runs and hides, I'm sorry to say, you are the hunted. If you simply sign up for whatever you had last year (but likely at a higher price, and possibly with reduced benefits) without doing your homework, you are the hunted. If you haven't figured out things like HSAs, HRAs, or FSAs, then you are the hunted. If you simpl [...]

Another $17 in My Health Savings Account (HSA) or is that My Hair Savings Account?

shades — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

When I was a kid, up until the age of about eleven, my Grandmother used to conduct Doctor Jekyl-like experiments on my hair with her handy scissors. I was a total toe head and when she was done they could have slapped me on the side of a paint can and called me the Little Dutch Boy.

I revolted at eleven and began a 30 plus year quest to find the perfect barber. Recently though, in my quest to save more money into my health savings account I decided to give Betty, my barber, [...]

Why Is Healthcare So Expensive? The Unscientific Top Ten Reasons Why.

shades — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

I have an HDHP. When I go to the Doctor to have them look at the creatures crawling around in my throat, causing me to itch all over, or making my hair fall out in clumps, I am expected to pick up the full tab until I hit my deductible. I even have a little stash of money, called an HSA to pay for it. BUT, I don't pay a nickel when the Doctor is done with me. Not immediately.

The Doctor has to put in a claim to my insurance company, the insurance company tell [...]

Health Savings Account (HSA) Mindset And Chinese Fortune Cookies

shades — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

"A Thrifty Man Is A Free Man" Advice from my fortune cookie March 1982

Good advice during these strange and troubling economic times. Good advice anytime and way cheaper than a fortune teller (unless of course, the fortune teller is your crazy aunt Zelda).

The October 20th edition of Business Week offered up a timely article entitled, "The New Age of Frugality" by Steve Hamm. It discusses the tightening of spending by Americans with our contra [...]

Hatchet / Scalpel? McCain / Obama?

shades — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

From 1861-1865, during the War Between the States, a wounded soldier laying in a field hospital bleeding to death from a horrific injury to his arm or leg would have it amputated in a few of seconds (repeat seconds) with a draconian surgical saw, with little antiseptic, and sometimes even with no anesthesia. These were life or death moments and neither time nor tools existed to properly address the issues medically. Split second decisions were made and executed in attem [...]

Healthcare Ain't Rocket Science....

shades — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

.......it's actually harder.

Remember a few years ago when this outfit called the X Prize Foundation paid $10 million for the first privately funded manned space flight? Quite a contest. Quite a feat.

Well yesterday, WellPoint and the X Prize Foundation announced a new competition offering $10 million for solutions that can impact positive change in health care cost and quality.

Nice prize. Tall order. But just damned cool.

Now if you are i [...]

"Hows Yo Mamma?" Annual HDHP Enrollment & What is an HSA?

shades — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

About this time every year employers all over the nation unveil their latest, greatest insurance offerings for the coming year. They've worked over their brokers, agents, and consultants, dusted off a few old tricks and brought a couple new ones to the game. They've frosted up this package with Betty Crocker's finest, served it up on their finest china, put it on a fork and are now playing the "airplane" game with you.

Now you're probably thinking, " [...]