Truth in Labeling
from The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 26, 2009
Read your insurance policy lately? We thought not. State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, is an attorney and couldn’t make it through his own. But the murky soup that is the common insurance policy, he realized, is more than just a nuisance. It’s keeping Texans from choosing the best insurance for their money. To fix it, Watson has proposed an elegant plan: black and white labels that bring to mind the nutrition facts on a can of soup. More

Opinion: Health Care and Balance Billing
from The Fort Worth Star Telegram, March 1, 2009
One of the most current and confusing topics in healthcare today involves the issue of "balance billing." Balance billing is the relatively uncommon situation where a doctor who does not have a contract with a health insurance plan sends the bill to the patient for payment of any balance unpaid by the health plan. This is the result of a health plan failing to provide a complete network of doctors for their patients. This is called an "inadequate network." More

Concierge Medicine Garners Popularity in Lone Star State
from The Houston Business Journal, Feb. 27, 2009
The number of primary care physicians practicing or switching to concierge medicine doesn’t nearly approach that of traditional practices. But many physicians say that with a 10 percent nationwide cut in Medicare reimbursement looming, the number could increase in the coming years. Neither the Harris County Medical Society nor the Texas Medical Association track retainer practices, although Pappa says when she researched the concept, she found evidence that there are about 1,100 physicians offering some form of the retainer model nationally. More

Blue Cross President Urges Doctors, Insurers to Work Together on Costs
from The Dallas Morning News, March 1, 2009
Texas insurers have been on the hot seat over the way they operate. In January, The Dallas Morning News reported on a study questioning whether insurance companies are as cost-efficient as they say they are. In a story last month, doctors in a statewide survey blamed insurers' paperwork for hampering patient care. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas is one such insurer. It is the state's largest, providing coverage to more than 1.3 million North Texans. The company sells its health maintenance organization plans in every major Texas market. More

Needle Exchange Program Passes Texas Senate Committee
from KFDA NewsChannel 10, March 3, 2009
Legislation to protect needle-exchange programs operated by local health departments has been approved today by a legislative panel. The Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee sent the plan to the full Senate. More

Baucus Sees Summer Delivery of Health Care Reform Bill
from MedPage Today, March 4, 2009
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) laid out an "ambitious" plan to have a bipartisan healthcare reform bill ready to go by June or July, while acknowledging the massive task ahead of him. "This is the most difficult challenge in my life," he told a group of reporters Tuesday. "It's so complicated," he said. But despite the complexity of healthcare reform and the difficulty of gaining bipartisan support for the movement, Baucus said he's been encouraged by what he characterized as growing Republican support for a major healthcare bill this year. More

Stimulus Money to Benefit Lubbock’s Health
from KCBD NewsChannel 11, March 3, 2009
$14.4 million will soon go to 12 Texas health care centers, and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center is at the top of that list. TTUHSC says they will use their portion of that money to expand services at the Larry Combest Community Health & Wellness Center. School leaders say they've been working to expand coverage at the Combest Center for years, but new funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have now made it possible. More

Texas Nursing Homes in a Tight Fix on Medicaid
from The Dallas Morning News, March 4, 2009
Lou O'Reilly thinks Texas is a hard place to grow old. "If, as they say, a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, Texas comes up short," said the co-founder of Texas Advocates for Nursing Home Residents. "It's shameful how little this state does."Life is hardest for Texans who must rely on the state for their nursing care, she says. Texas' Medicaid program reimburses nursing homes an average of $112.79 per patient per day - less than 48 other states and just 72 cents more per resident than last-place Illinois. More