Health insurance innovation in Arizona

Arizona is doing this cool thing that other states should follow. Basically some citizens are told by their doctors to lose weight or quit smoking. Arizona says, if they don’t do it they should pay more in health premiums. I agree. People should be responsible for their choices. This is smart.

$50 would be charged to those who were specifically urged by doctors to lose weight for health reasons, like diabetes, but failed to do so, she said.

As Physicians’ Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics

Doctors were once overwhelmingly male and usually owned their own practices. They generally favored lower taxes and regularly fought lawyers to restrict patient lawsuits. Ronald Reagan came to national political prominence in part by railing against “socialized medicine” on doctors’ behalf. But doctors are changing. They are abandoning their own practices and taking salaried jobs in hospitals,

 the American Medical Association supported President Obama’s legislation last year because the new law would provide health insurance to the vast majority of the nation’s uninsured, improve competition and choice in insurance, and promote prevention and wellness, the group said.

Because so many doctors are no longer in business for themselves, many of the issues that were once priorities for doctors’ groups, like insurance reimbursement, have been displaced by public health and safety concerns, including mandatory seat belt use and chemicals in baby products.

Even the issue of liability, while still important to the A.M.A. and many of its state affiliates, is losing some of its unifying power because malpractice insurance is generally provided when doctors join hospital staffs.

Great article :) Now that doctors worry less about business, they focus more on the patient experience.