How Safeway Is Cutting Health-Care Costs

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 12, 2009 | Steven Burd

[clee1]

This is already happening where I live. One doctor’s group has already gone insurance-less. They also have incorporated the group and DO NOT carry malpractice insurance. This fact is known by all their patients that sign a statement upfront limiting their potential recovery in the case of medical mistakes.

The charge $35 cash for a routine office visit; lab tests and other diagnostics are done judiciously in-house and are billed at their cost to the group. No markup. Prescriptions are mostly written for older generics. Their smaller staff (cut by over 1/3) is well paid.

They stay packed, and their practice is expanding.

HERE is the model for effective healthcare delivery. Get the bean-counters, lawyers, bureaucrats, and professional pencil-pushers OUT of the feed trough, and prices can be manageable.

[hocndoc]

Even hospitals will work out deals with patients who pay their own bills.

We fought and won the battle against the Clinton administration to have the right to give a 10 to 20% “cash and carry” discount for cash payment or even credit card payment in full at time of service. Saves billing and wait time, so it saves money.

[hocndoc]

There’s a part of the Kennedy-Dodd Bill - the “HELP” Bill

http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf

- that actually mandates calorie and nutrition information on menus and at buffets. See page 400

‘‘(ii) INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE DIS4
CLOSED BY RESTAURANTS AND RETAIL FOOD ES5
TABLISHMENTS.—Except as provided in subclause
(vii), the restaurant or similar retail food establish7
ment shall disclose in a clear and conspicuous man8
ner—
‘‘(I)(aa) in a nutrient content disclosure
statement adjacent to the name of the standard
menu item, so as to be clearly associated with
the standard menu item, on the . . .

Etc.

[Landru]

Thanks, doc. ;^)

Honestly, nothing the two creeps of Kennedy-Dodd could possibly do would surprise me.

Only aspect I wonder about?
Just *how* they embedded their GRAFT in all the "help" laws.

The moles coming in here advocating further restrictions on our God given liberties OTOH, is another matter.
That one I replied to is a doosey, too.

Sure hope the old man's keeping an eye on It, sends the SOB back to DU where It belongs.

[Wiseghy]

I am familar with Safeway. They are based nearby and have been active advocates for Health Savings Accounts and other innovative methods of saving money on health plans. Congress members on both sides listen to them. They don’t seem to have the baggage that Walmart and other employers have and they articulate their message well.

Mostly, they DO advocate for big deductibles, but co-pays and incentives for Preventive Care and active wellness participation. It really works, expecially when a self-funded employer sees an ROI, both in terms of health costs, as well as productivity costs.

Involving lots of insurance in small expenses is like buying auto insurance for routine repairs.

Having said this, prevention and wellness is critical in human health care. Productivity costs, in short run, often exceed actual health costs, since sick employees are distracted and often physically or mentally absent. This later condition is cal

[Bruinator]

I will be happy, what tells you from my post that I am an Obama supporter. Re read and then let me know you understand the saracsm involved with the questions.

[wbill]

yep, a practice like that just makes sense.

90% (that low? maybe closer to 98%) of all care is really routine. I don't need a battery of tests to diagnose my kid's sniffles. Neither does the doctor looking at said kid, need to bill hundreds of dollars for saying "He's got a cold, take two aspirin and call me in the morning."

Now, could you run a cardiac care unit, or an Emergency Room Trauma Center on this model? Not hardly. But it would work just fine for most people.

[clee1]

No, you couldn’t run a hospital or do extensive (and expensive) surgeries on a cash basis, but you COULD provide a high-deductible (say $5000 a year) catastrophic coverage plan for a hell of a lot less than we pay for the soup-to-nuts plan mandated by the States for employer-sponsored plans.

I have the type of policy referenced above. Costs me $350 a year for my family of 4.

I don’t need maternity coverage, drug & alcohol abuse coverage, mental health coverage, etc., etc. My family is healthy with no chronic illnesses, so this works for us for now.

[wbill]

I have the HSA option at work, also the standard HMO.

I kept the standard HMO for my family because it's reasonably priced, also because of our current financial (and past medical) situation. Likely will be switching to an HSA next year, or the year after. Seems like a sensible alternative.

I'm kind of hoping that my GP will go to a straight-cash type business because (like I said) it just makes sense. It would wind up being cheaper. And, I like her, and I think that sort of a business plan will keep her around for a good bit. If she winds up having to partner even more with the gov't....I think that she'll just say "To heck with this", retire early, and spend her time playing with the grandkids.

I wouldn't blame her one bit for it, either.