Weekend update

The House and the Senate will be in session this week. Next week both bodies go out of session for about five weeks for the August recess and the political conventions.

Last week, AHIP issued its annual report on the growth of health savings account qualified high deductible health plans. In 2011, the enrollment in such plans grew by over 2 million covered lives, reaching a total of 13.5 million. The enrollment is largely driven by their popularity with large employers who find that such plans do control costs. HSA qualified high deductible health plans have been offered in the FEHB since Congress approved the concept in late 2003.

The National Business Group on Health released the results of a survey of employees attitudes toward the health benefits coverage offered by their large employers. Similar to OPM surveys of federal employees, this survey reports that employees are satisfied with the coverage, even though employee cost sharing has been rising.

The FEHBlog read a very sad story today in the New York Times about a young woman who died in a New York City hospital after she called 911 because she thought that she had accidentally poisoned herself. Unfortunately, she did not reach any family or friends (or leave a message for them) before the ambulance arrived. The story of her health care is a mess, but surprisingly to the FEHBlog at least, the hospital which had no malpractice insurance won a jury trial trial in a lawsuit brought by the young woman's family. Truer words have never been written than the article's concluding quote from the young woman's mother that . “No one should go to a hospital without someone with you — no one,” she said. “Don’t go unless somebody at least knows you’re there.”