Story Archives of 'Consumer Driven Health Care'

Assurant Insurance Group, which sells health plans directly to individuals, may face $2.5 million in fines if the state insurance commission has its way.

The state agency alleges the firm violated state law by engaging in illegal claim denials, exclusion policies and other issues.

It’s atypical for the state commission to impose fines on insurers.

Yet health policy experts say the individual market is riddled with such problems due to inadequate oversight.

NHPR’s Dianne Finch has more.

According to a Boston-based health policy organization, Americans are becoming more confused about their health insurance coverage.

And that confusion is leading to an increase in personal debt as consumers try to pay off unexpected medical bills.

NHPR's Dianne Finch reports.

All this week, New Hampshire Public Radio has brought you stories and conversations about Consumer Driven Health Care -- an approach to insurance that aims to cut costs by putting more decision making in the hands of patients.

The Front Porch brings you a special 1-hour episode to wrap up the series. We'll find out how a move towards consumer driven care could affect the doctor patient relationship and how the advertising industry has changed the face of medicine over the years.

Our Guests Are:

Jon Greenberg, executive editor at NHPR. He'll explain the basics of Consumer Driven Health Care and how people around New Hampshire feel about it right now.

Nancy Toms, history professor at the State University of New York at Stonybrook. She specializes in the history of medicine, and in 2002 she oversaw a Duke University Medicine and Madison Avenue project that examines the relationships between modern medicine and modern advertising.

Dr. Maurice Ramirez, a Florida physician who works in three Orlando emergency rooms and also sees patients as a General Practitioner. He'll explain how the information age is changing the doctor-patient relationship and how Consumer Driven Health Care could affect it more.

And we'll hear a report from NHPR producer Kerry Grens that looks at what options are out there for New Hampshire patients who are looking to become more informed about their health options.

In the second half of our two hour special, we look at consumer driven health care in New Hampshire. We'll define what it is, see if geography makes a difference in where these types of plans work, get the breakdown of consumer driven health care versus the traditional HMO-type plan in our state and ask how feasible it is for these programs to make an impact here in the Granite State and on health care costs in general. Laura's guests are Charlie Arlinghaus, President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy Study and Rob Nordgren, Pediatrician, Executive Director of Child Health Services in Manchester and Co-Chair of the New Hampshire Citizen’s Health Initiative and Rob Nordgren, pediatrician and executive director of Child Health Services in Manchester and co-chair of the New Hampshire Citizens' Health Initiative. We'll also hear from Leslie Ludtke, Health Policy Analyst for the New Hampshire Insurance Department, Jennah Partington, Customer Service Supervisor for New England Employee Benefits Company to give us the perspective of New Hampshire companies who have considered consumer driven healthcare plans and have either signed up or passed on them and Michael Green, President and CEO of Concord Hospital.

This week, NHPR has focused on consumer driven health care, a new movement that gives patients a financial stake in deciding the treatments they get and the price they pay. The ultimate goal is to put the brakes on rising health care costs.

Over the past few days we've presented a variety of views and this evening, we hear from a skeptic. Dr. Elliot Fisher at the Dartmouth Medical School spoke with NHPR's Jon Greenberg. Fisher says if you want to control spending, the people to target are the doctors, not the patients.