Healthcare update

The consequences of a donor kidney market

Health spending, preventive care drop with high-deductible plans

High-deductible health plans are significantly decreasing healthcare spending, but they are also linked to patients cutting back on preventive healthcare services--such as childhood immunizations, cancer screenings and routine tests for diabetes, according one of the largest assessments of these plans conducted by the RAND Corporation. 

In its study of more than 800,000 families nationwide, RAND researchers found that when individuals shifted into health plans with deductibles of at least $1,000 per person, their health spending dropped by an average of 14 percent in comparison to those families with lower-deductible plans.

Food dye makers push back as U.S. panel weighs safety

A primer on health-care ‘exchanges’

HHS official: Employers may gradually move to exchanges

Blue Cross anti-trust probe expands: Do some hospitals get sweetheart deals?

The U.S. Justice Department is widening an investigation into alleged collusion and price-fixing between Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans and hospitals in several states, the Wall Street Journal reports.  

The investigation is focusing on whether certain Blues plans have struck "most-favored nations" deals with hospitals that would allow the increase of premiums while potentially locking out competition. Blues plans in six states and the District of Columbia have received civil subpoenas.

Pay of hospital CEOs comes under fire

Hospitals are continuing to pay their top executives hefty salaries as the recession lingers and state legislatures continue deep cuts to Medicaid, sparking much criticism. In California, the latest salvo came from the Los Angeles Times, which reports that hospital district CEOs are among the highest-paid public officials in the state, with at least three earning more than $1 million a year. Californians have been irate over public sector salaries for a while now, fed in part by a new salary survey and database released last week by the state controller. 

On the East Coast, public complaints have been just as loud. Just two weeks ago, the New York Times reported that top hospital execs at Bronx-Lebanon and New York Presbyterian each earned about $3 million per year in 2008. Efforts to cap or cut those salaries have been underway over the past months, but gained little traction, notes the Times.  

F.D.A. Panel to Consider Warnings for Artificial Food Colorings

Bellaire Man Found Stuck in Chair Dies at 43