Medical Benefits articles from June 2002

Medical Benefits archives from June 2002

Benefits, coverage and costs, 2000 new estimates: workers' compensation. (Workplace Health & Benefits).(data for workers' compensation insurance)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 30, 2002... "In 2000, [the latest year with available data,] the number of workers covered by workers' compensation rose by 2.2%, and the total wages of covered workers grew by 8.3%. While workers' compensation benefits and costs continued a...

Employers' time-off and disability programs: 2001 Survey Report.(costs of paid time off, disability plans)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 30, 2002... "The total direct cost of time-off and disability programs is substantial--on average equivalent to 14.6% of payroll (Table 2), according to [our] survey. That is, for every dollar spent on payroll, almost 15 cents is spent on paid absences....

Are HMO enrollees healthier than others? Results from the community tracking study. (Health Care Industry).(health maintenance organizations)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2002... "Contrary to the conventional view that health maintenance organizations (HMOs) receive favorable selection, we find among the privately insured that HMO enrollees are not healthier [than non-HMO enrollees,] and may be slightly less healthy....

Burden of health care costs: businesses, households and governments, 1987-2000. (Health Care Costs).(cost data for health services, insurance)(Statistical Data Included)
June 30, 2002... "Private business spending for health services and supplies equaled $334.5 billion in 2000 (Table 3). The largest [spending] component is the employer contribution to private health insurance (PHI). As a share of businesses' health care...

A new vision for health care: a leadership role for business. (Health Policy).(tips for managing health benefits)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2002... "As major purchasers of health care, large employers have a significant stake in improving the [health care] system. The current system is clearly unsustainable. Problems of high cost, low quality and limited access are interwoven and feed on...

Subject index--January through June 2002.
June 30, 2002... ABSENTEEISM Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in 2000. 2/28/02, p. 10. Staying@Work: Improving Work Force Productivity Through Integrated Absence Management--Sixth Annual Survey Report 2001/2002. 3/15/02, p. 8. Lost-Worktime...

New rules for managing health costs: Seventh Annual Survey Report--2002. (Health Care Costs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the Washington Business Group on Health, May 15, 2002 "Rising health care costs coupled with uncertain economic conditions and declining profits have collided to turn up the heat on companies and the people who...

Economic burden of obesity in youths ages 6 to 17 years: 1979-1999. (Health Care Costs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... "The increasing frequency of hospital discharges of obesity-associated diagnoses suggests a rising disease burden associated with obesity among children and adolescents. The percentage of hospital discharges of youths [ages 6 to 17...

Can a back-pain e-mail discussion group improve health status and lower health care costs? (Health Care Costs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Editor's note: Data on study participants were collected at baseline, and then at both six months and one year after joining an e-mail discussion group for back-pain sufferers. Results were compared with those from a control group. "An...

The impacts of mental health parity and managed care in one large employer group. (Workplace Health & Benefits).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Editor's note: The authors of the study abridged here calculated the impact of a state mandate for mental health parity on the health care costs and utilization of a large employer group. At the same time that parity was instituted, the...

The long-term impact of Johnson & Johnson's Health & Wellness Program on employee health risks. (Workplace Health & Benefits).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Editor's note: The study abridged below is one of a series analyzing the effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson Health & Wellness Program (HWP), one of the earliest worksite-based health promotion and disease-prevention programs. A previous...

2002 state employee benefits survey. (Workplace Health & Benefits).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Workplace Economics Inc., April 26, 2002 "Seventeen states [responding to our survey] pay the full cost of health insurance coverage for an individual employee--the employee pays nothing--and in several other states, the employee has the...

Women's health in the United States: health coverage and access to care--Kaiser women's health survey. (Health Care Industry).(Brief Article)
June 15, 2002... Kaiser Family Foundation, May 2002 "The health care system is not meeting the health needs of a sizable share of women, [according to our survey]. * 24% of women [ages 18-64] delayed or went without care in the past year because they...

Room for improvement: patients report on the quality of their health care. (Health Care Industry).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Editor's note: In March 2002, The Commonwealth Fund released preliminary findings from its 2001 Health Care Quality Survey on minorities' experiences with the health care system (see MB, 4/15/02, p. 5). The following report presents timings...

Appeals court upholds subrogation claim. (MB Legal Pulse).(medical insurance)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... A state appeals court ruled that an insurer has the right to full reimbursement of medical bills paid for the treatment of an enrollee, despite the fact that the insured wasn't made whole by his third-party settlement. When Michael...

EEOC settles genetic testing lawsuit. (MB Legal Pulse).(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. agreed to settle a case filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of Burlington employees on whom the company had performed genetic testing without their knowledge or...

Bill designed to curb prescription drug advertising introduced in the senate. (MB Legal Pulse).(Brief Article)
June 15, 2002... Legislation that would restrict the tax deductions available to pharmaceutical companies was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bill would limit tax deductions for marketing and advertising expenses to no more than the amounts deducted for...

Employee health insurance tax credit legislation introduced. (MB Legal Pulse).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... A proposal that would provide a tax credit to help the uninsured purchase health insurance was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The credit would be $1,000 for individuals with annual incomes up to $65,000 and $2,000 for...

HMO industry report 12.1. (Health Care Industry).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... InterStudy Publications, May 6, 2002 "More health maintenance organizations (HMOs) continue to rely on fee for service and fewer on capitation to reimburse some or all primary care and specialty care physicians, [according to our survey]....

Personal choices of health plans by managed care experts. (Health Care Industry).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Editor's note: The authors of the study abridged below surveyed managed care experts, both physician and nonphysician, and nonexperts (control group), at 17 academic institutions on their choice of health plan. "The most striking...

Patient-physician online communication: many patients want it, would pay for it, and it would influence their choice of doctors and health plans. (Health Care Industry).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Harris Interactive Inc., Health Care News, April 10, 2002 "Almost all (90%) of [people] online (the 66% of all adults who are online from home, office, school, library or somewhere else) would like to be able to communicate with their...

Pressure builds to offer paid family leave. (Health Policy).(Brief Article)
June 15, 2002... "Employers already dealing with the cost and burden of administering the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may face yet another complication: paid family leave. Spurred in part by a 1999 proposal by President Clinton to expand the...

State purchasing and regulation of health care services: a snapshot of strategies to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. (Health Policy).(Brief Article)
June 15, 2002... National Academy for State Health Policy, April 2002 "Increasingly, states are using their health care purchasing and regulatory authority to address cultural barriers to care. Their strategies include strategies aimed at provider network...

MB stat.(Health maintenance organizations statistics)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
June 15, 2002... Average Annual Price Increases of Common Prescription Drugs Approaching Patent Expiration [GRAPHIC OMITTED] HMO Penetration, Top 10 And 10 Most Densely Populated States "Health maintenance organization (HMO) penetration in the...