Simply stated health care

Consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., created quite a summer breeze with a report it released in June.

According to the report, 45 to 50 percent of employers were definitely or probably going to pursue other alternatives to sponsoring health coverage – including dropping coverage.

This is all based on healthcare reform’s Affordable Care Act, and the provision that creates state insurance exchanges in 2014.

Enter another report that says Not so fast.  Continue Reading »

Health care reform’s Community Living Assistance Services and Support program (CLASS Act) was supposed to be a national voluntary insurance program for long-term care.

It is now gone before it even started.

Government officials dismissed the CLASS Act from health care reform.

CLASS Act Curriculum

The CLASS Act was Senator Ted Kennedy’s baby and co-sponsored by New Jersey’s Representative Frank Pallone.

It was meant to act as a supplement (not a replacement) to private Long-Term Care (LTC) insurance or Medicaid.

From the start, there were problems with the provision. Continue Reading »

Merriam-Webster defines essential as: of the utmost importance. 

How would you apply that to health benefits?

That’s the request the federal government made to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) –

Help define the essential benefits package required by

health reform’s Affordable Care Act

Continue Reading »

Nicky Parry wrote a guest post for me on my personal blog on a topic near to my heart – volunteering.

That’s what so cool about social media. You meet some great people with similar interests that you may have never met without the internet. Nicky and I share a lot of interests.Besides my personal blog, I have a business writing blog, as well as this health care blog. As a medical writer, Nicky has much to offer on either blog.

I am kicking off Breast Cancer Awareness month with a guest post from Nicky. If you follow me, you know of my support of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure. I am thrilled Nicky agreed to help raise awareness about breast cancer. Please welcome her and share some comment love. Continue Reading »

Can you even fathom a price tag in the trillions?

• No, we’re not talking the U.S. debt
• It’s the estimated cost of chronic disease in 20 years

Dollar Sign + 47 + 12 zeros = $47,000,000,000,000 =

Cost of chronic disease in 2030

Continue Reading »

Do fast-paced cartoons create an overload on kids’ brains?

One study seems to think so. Researchers from the University of Virginia conducted the study by testing 4-year-olds. The Journal of Pediatrics published the results. Continue Reading »

Is the most exercise you get clicking the remote?

Hey, it’s not your fault – no, really – at least according to researchers from McMaster University in Canada.

Blame it on a missing gene. Continue Reading »

For those of us who started in the business before the gods invented computers, understanding employee benefit summaries is easy. That’s not to say we like them.

Most consumers don’t either.

• Legalese peppers the forms for fear of lawsuits
• Medical terms only a doctor could love strangle comprehension
• And if a pink elephant’s crossing the street, forget about coverage

So, when you need simplicity, who do you call? The government. Continue Reading »

Remember when you were a kid and eating out was a special occasion? Or am I dating myself?

Apparently, times have changed. Continue Reading »

They are those little pills with the magic power that are blasted into your living room from morning to night.

They are the brand drugs that make the make the pharmaceutical companies richer and cause TV networks to do the happy revenue dance.

Is that about to change? Continue Reading »