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Full-Text Articles in Insurance Law
Consumer-Directed Health Care And The Chronically Ill, John V. Jacobi
Consumer-Directed Health Care And The Chronically Ill, John V. Jacobi
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Insurance plans with consumer-controlled spending accounts are advocated as tools for reducing health costs and empowering consumers. This Article describes their recent development and argues that they are likely to fail. Instead of focusing on the small number of consumers with chronic illnesses who account for the bulk of health spending they focus on the majority of relatively well consumers. This Article proposes market-based and regulatory changes focused on high-cost patients. To best serve cost and quality goals, health finance responsibility should be divided between consumers and their employers for predictable and routine costs, and government for chronic and catastrophic …
Increasing Consumer Power In The Grievance And Appeal Process For Medicare Hmo Enrollees, Kenneth J. Pippin
Increasing Consumer Power In The Grievance And Appeal Process For Medicare Hmo Enrollees, Kenneth J. Pippin
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Federal law requires that Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) provide Medicare beneficiaries with specific grievance and appeal rights for challenging adverse decisions of these organizations. The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) is charged with enforcing these regulations. Currently, however, HCFA contracts with HMOs, allowing them to enroll Medicare beneficiaries despite the fact that many of the statutory and regulatory requirements are ignored by the Medicare HMOs. This is problematic because the elderly Medicare population may not be able to independently and adequately challenge the HMO's denial of care or reimbursement. Because HCFA has been reluctant and …