(Press-News.org) Spending by Canadians on private health insurance has more than doubled over the past 20 years, but insurers paid out a rapidly decreasing proportion as benefits, according to a study published today in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
The study, by University of British Columbia and University of Toronto researchers, shows that overall Canadians paid $6.8 billion more in premiums than they received in benefits in 2011.
Approximately 60 per cent of Canadians have private health insurance. Typically obtained as a benefit of employment or purchased by individuals, private health insurance usually covers prescription drugs, dental services and eye care costs not paid by public health care.
Over the past two decades, the gap between what insurers take in and what they pay out has increased threefold. While private insurers paid out 92 per cent of group plan insurance premiums as benefits in 1991, they paid only 74 per cent in 2011. Canadians who purchased individual plans fared even worse, with just 38 per cent of their premiums returned as benefits in 2011.
"Small businesses and individual entrepreneurs are the hardest hit – they end up paying far more for private health coverage," says study lead author Michael Law, an assistant professor in UBC's Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, "It's essentially an extra health tax on one of our main economic drivers.
"Our findings suggest that private insurers are likely making greater profits, paying higher wages to their executives and employees, or spending more on marketing," Law adds.
The authors call for greater transparency from private insurers and for the federal government to introduce new regulations. "Obamacare requires insurers to pay out 80 to 85 per cent of their premium income as benefits, which resulted in $1.1 billion being returned to policyholders in 2012," says Law. "Our numbers suggest that Canadians are getting a worse deal than Americans."
INFORMATION:
Canadians spend more on private health insurance for smaller payouts
2014-03-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Bundled payments come to gastroenterology
2014-03-24
Bethesda, MD (March 24, 2014) — Patients want physicians to provide high-quality care and the health system requires good value for physician work. To help gastroenterologists achieve these goals, the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has developed a colonoscopy bundled payment model, which has been published in Gastroenterology1, the official journal of the AGA.
By developing a framework and educating gastroenterologists about value-based reimbursement, the AGA hopes to inform physicians who wish to consider contracting with payors, purchasers and risk-bearing ...
Researchers issue state-of-the-state on genetic-based testing & treatment for breast cancer
2014-03-24
(Lebanon, NH, 03/24/2014)- Dartmouth researchers at its Norris Cotton Cancer Center have compiled a review of the role that information gathered through genetic testing plays in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. The paper entitled "Personalized Therapy for Breast Cancer" was accepted on March 17, 2014, for publication in Clinical Genetics. The paper discusses targeted therapies, new biomarkers, and the quality of commercially available testing methods.
Genomic testing is changing the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated. By examining a woman's genes ...
Low parking costs may encourage automobile use
2014-03-24
PHILADELPHIA (March 24, 2014)— The low cost of parking in many American cities may contribute to urban development that relies on automobile use and undercuts planners' efforts to increase public transport, according to a new baseline study of comprehensive public parking costs led by the Drexel University School of Public Health. The article, "Public parking fees and fines: a survey of US cities," is now published online ahead of print in the journal Public Works Management and Policy. It reports on downtown public parking costs after surveying public parking agencies ...
NASA spots Tropical Cyclone Gillian's eye closing
2014-03-24
Tropical Cyclone Gillian's eye was starting to "close" or become cloud-filled when NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Southern Indian Ocean on March 23.
On March 23, Gillian's maximum sustained winds peaked near 140 knots/161.1 mph/259.3 kph making it a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Fortunately, Gillian pulled away from Indonesia, so all of the regional warnings were canceled on March 23.
At 06:45 UTC on March 23, NASA's Aqua satellite flew overhead and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument captured a visible image ...
Computer models solve geologic riddle millions of years in the making
2014-03-24
An international team of scientists that included USC's Meghan Miller used computer modeling to reveal, for the first time, how giant swirls form during the collision of tectonic plates – with subduction zones stuttering and recovering after continental fragments slam into them.
The team's 3D models suggest a likely answer to a question that has long plagued geologists: why do long, curving mountain chains form along some subduction zones – where two tectonic plates collide, pushing one down into the mantle?
Based on the models, the researchers found that parts of the ...
Motor learning: Lining up our sights
2014-03-24
Neurologists at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have studied the role of the vestibular system, which controls balance, in optimizing how we direct our gaze. The results could lead to more effective rehabilitation of patients with vestibular or cerebellar dysfunction.
When we shift the direction of our gaze, head and eye movements are normally highly coordinated with each other. Indeed, from the many possible combinations of speed and duration for such movements, the brain chooses the one that minimizes the error in reaching the intended line of sight. ...
Glatt Kosher for Passover Seders At Talia's Steakhouse & Bar, A Manhattan Kosher Restaurant - Chol Hamoed and Yom Tov Meals Are Also Available at Talia's During This Popular Jewish Holiday
2014-03-24
If you are looking for a relaxing and stress-free way to celebrate Passover with your loved ones without spending the whole day in the kitchen, consider what has become a tradition for Passover at the popular New York City Glatt Kosher restaurant, Talia's Steakhouse & Bar, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC.
For over eleven years, Talia's Steakhouse & Bar has been serving the kosher community of the NY Metro area. As the premier Glatt kosher establishment in Manhattan, Talia's is proud to announce that, once again, it will conduct four prepaid ...
Leukemia caused by chromosome catastrophe
2014-03-24
Researchers have found that people born with a rare abnormality of their chromosomes have a 2,700-fold increased risk of a rare childhood leukaemia. In this abnormality, two specific chromosomes are fused together but become prone to catastrophic shattering.
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or ALL, is the most common childhood cancer. Scientists previously found that a small subset of ALL patients have repeated sections of chromosome 21 in the genomes of their leukaemia cells. This form of ALL – iAMP21 ALL – requires more intensive treatment than many other types of ALL. ...
Small number of counties leads the way in reducing smoking rates in the US
2014-03-24
SEATTLE — Nationally, smoking rates have decreased since 1996, but the declines have been driven by a relatively small share of counties across the US, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.
The study, "Cigarette smoking prevalence in US counties: 1996-2012," was published March 24 in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Population Health Metrics.
Total cigarette smoking prevalence – the percentage of the population that smokes – has not decreased significantly in all counties but, because ...
Increased awareness about skin cancer needed for minorities
2014-03-24
DETROIT – More awareness about skin cancer is needed for minorities because they believe they are at low risk of developing it, says Henry Ford Hospital dermatologist Diane Jackson-Richards, M.D.
Research has shown that minorities are diagnosed at a more advanced stage of skin cancer and have lower chances of survival than Caucasians. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer among African Americans and Asian Indians, and the second most common skin cancer in Hispanics, East Asians and Caucasians, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
"We need to intensify ...