Weekend Update

The Federal Benefits Open Season's last day is tomorrow.

Congress remains in session this coming week. The Wall Street Journal reports that

Congress struck a tentative bipartisan agreement that would authorize 12 weeks of paid parental leave for all federal workers, in a potentially historic deal negotiated with the White House.

Draft language for a must-pass annual defense policy bill includes a provision that would allow 2.1 million civilians who work for the U.S. government across the country to take paid leave to care for a new baby after birth, adoption or the initiation of foster care, according to multiple people familiar with the agreement.

Healthcare Dive informs us

More than half of all commercial plan payments to hospitals in 2017 were earmarked toward some form of value-oriented care or alternative payments intended to reduce waste, according to the latest scorecard from Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) — up from just 10.2% in 2012. However, a large chunk of the value-oriented payment (90%) was built off of the fee-for-service infrastructure. meaning the overwhelming majority of these payments had no downside risk. The chairman of CPR, a nonprofit that works with employers and other large purchasers, called the results "disappointing." Bundled payment adoption remained flat between 2012 and 2017, despite various studies showing their promise in holding down costs. They made up only 2% of all value-based payments in 2017.

Rome was not built in a day.

Health Payer Intelligence provides a list of the top 10 most costly chronic illnesses in the U.S.  Cariocasular disease, smoking related health issues, and alcohol related health issues rank one, two, and three.

The Econtalk podcast, the FEHBlog's favorite, offered an interesting interview on decision making in last week's epsode. Check it out. Learn about the  Learn about fast and frugal tree decision making.