The Health Shopper

This month, Vimo announced an important new partnership that will give online shoppers a greater sense of security when they purchase health insurance online.

Vimo has just entered an agreement with the Association of Health Insurance Advisors (AHIA), the health insurance division of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA). In the coming months, a number of initiatives by Vimo will help consumers quickly and easily connect with brokers that adhere to AHIA's stringent ethics and membership requirements. Vimo's new partnership will help shoppers locate the right agent as well as the right health plan.

This is just another way that Vimo is making the process of shopping for healthcare easier and more transparent than ever before.

A survey of 573 large employers by the Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health reveals that annual median increases for health care costs will remain at 8 percent in 2007. Employers expect cost increases to stay at 8 percent through 2008. Eighty-two percent of employers also said their health care costs came in at or below budget in 2006, as did 84 percent in 2005.

Little Change Expected in Health Care Cost Increases
(median percentage cost increase for active employees)

Year     Percent Increase
2003     13.0%
2004     10.6%
2005      8.5%
2006      8.0%
2007      8.0% (projected)
2008      8.0% (projected)

The survey found that many employers are implementing creative solutions to stem costs long-term. More than three out of four of the surveyed companies (78 percent) offer a nurse line, while 72 percent offer health risk appraisals. Meanwhile, 42 percent have implemented programs to reduce obesity among employees, 23 percent have opened on-site clinics at some locations, and 14 percent have opened on-site pharmacies.

It will be interesting to see how the survey measures the adoption of consumer driven health plans and their effect on the rising costs of health care. The popularity of these plans grew from 2005-2006, the same period that health inflation dropped from 10.6% to 8.5%.

Meanwhile, BusinessWeek just ran a cover story entitled "Get Healthy or Else" about one company's drive to reduce healthcare spending — by making its employees live healthier lives.

Celebrate Valentine's Day by making a $1 donation to the American Heart Association! In honor of American Heart Month this February, Vimo will donate $1 to the American Heart Association for every new doctor review posted by a patient. Patients can rate their doctor now and generate the donation by filling out a short form at http://www.vimo.com/aha/ .

Have a heart and review your doctor now!

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In the February issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic President and CEO Denis Cortese, M.D., and Chief Administrative Officer Robert Smoldt, call for a reimbursement system based on value rather than the current "pay-for-performance" system used by many insurers, including Medicare.

The authors suggest a "Pay for Value" model that would increase insurance payments to health care providers whose patient mortality and patient satisfaction — as measured by whether the patient would recommend the provider to a friend — are better than average, and whose costs over time are below average. Hospitals with worse outcomes, less-satisfied patients and higher costs would have their insurance reimbursements slightly reduced.

Click here for a PDF of the commentary.

The Idaho Statesman published this excellent opinion piece on President Bush's proposal to "equalize tax treatment of health insurance spending."

Many have criticized Bush's plan because it creates an additional tax burden on companies that offer "high end" health plans to their employees. Whether or not we can ever agree with that aspect of Bush's approach, there is one part of the plan that most of us should be able to agree upon: Americans who don't receive insurance from an employer deserve a tax credit if they purchase their own insurance. It's only fair.

As economist Edward Lotterman writes in the Statesman, Bush's proposal deserves to be seriously considered by Congress and not swept under a rug.