Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The cost of colonoscopies, MRIs, CT scans and mammograms can shift a lot from place to place.
It costs $4,960 less to get a colonoscopy in Barnstable County than in neighboring Dukes county and $1,000 dollars less than the state average. That's according to data from New Choice Health, a private company that encourages people to become smarter healthcare consumers. A colonoscopy costs $2,500 on average in Barnstable County while islanders pay $7,460 on average for the same procedure. The state average is $3,500. These big regional differences have been in the news lately: As the Washington Post wrote on Wednesday, "One hospital charges $8,000 - another $38,000." Using the same data as the Post, The New York Times listed out the prices of a series of procedures in hospitals across the country. The Times and the Post used data …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Employees at the drugstores who don't report will face increased rates.
What would you do if you went in to work one day and your employer told you that you needed to report your weight, body fat and glucose levels or your insurance costs would jump by $600 a year? CVS employees are dealing with that very issue right now, according to the Boston Herald. "This is an incredibly coercive and invasive thing to ask employees to do,” Patient Privacy Rights founder Dr. Deborah Peel told the Herald, adding that mounting health care costs have made these policies increasingly common. According to the Herald's report, CVS Caremark employs 200,000 workers and all of them, including those at the Hyannis location, are being required to report their metrics by May 1. The company has dubbed the request “a health screening …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Union members and politicians are rallying today on the State House steps, urging Entergy to offer better health care options and ensure safe working conditions at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Union members and politicians are rallying today on the State House steps, urging Entergy to offer better health care options and ensure safe working conditions at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. According to a UWUA Local 369 spokesman, the scheduling of today's rally is ironic because of today's Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act. Krista Robinson of O'Neill and Associates, the publicity firm representing the union said: It’s ironic that on a historical day when the Supreme Court has ruled to uphold healthcare, this Louisiana based company is set to rip healthcare benefits away from workers. Entergy has set a Saturday midnight deadline for UWUA Local 369 healthcare benefits to expire. This will dramatically impact …
42.35763
-71.063499
24 Beacon St, Boston, MA
Massachusetts State House
/articles/union-protests-entergy-lockout-at-state-house
/locations/7341432
Thursday, March 1, 2012
The reform around health care negotiations has some town employees vexed and confused about how to move forward.
Tonight the debate will continue on how to move forward with Town of Barnstable's health care reform as it considers negotiation options. The council is voting on how to proceed with the negotiation process as outlined in one of three ways below. To be clear, the town is voting on "the process to use to negotiate the impact of plan design changes made to the health care offerings administered by the Cape Cod Municipal Health Group (CCMHG) and if it wants to provide the option to consider joining the Group Insurance Commission. The Town Council is not being asked to authorize plan design changes or changes to contribution rates," the town said. However, Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2011 effecting municipal health care are stirring up a …
41.653
-70.28343
Barnstable Town Manager
367 Main St, Hyannis, MA
/articles/health-care-negotiations
1018124
/locations/6481623
Hopefulforchange
3:35 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
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