It’s become a fact of life here in the United States that we’ve managed to create a healthcare system NO ONE can afford to use if they are paying out of their own pockets.
This is especially true for people living with incomes at or slightly above the federal poverty level (FPL). Read more
One of the things you learned very quickly while growing up in our household was, “Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know!” That was my dad’s way of saying that we were poor. Not grinding-into-the ground, begging-for-food poor, but we started out with much less than our neighbors had. In fact, I was born into a 35-foot travel trailer in my Maw Maw’s back yard in 1961. And within two years, I had had two sisters, too! Read more
I talk about the nuances of funding health insurance all the time. From big ideas on how to reduce spending and how the pharmacy industry works, to rebates and profit margin limitations, I’ve hit a lot of topics in Straight Talk (and most of those are just in the past few months!). Read more
As time passes and you watch your health insurance premiums creep upward, as has unfortunately happened quite a bit in the past few years, it’s good to remember that fully 26% of that premium is used to buy nothing but prescription drugs for our members. I’ve written about this before, but here’s how each dollar in premiums paid by our members broke down in 2021: Read more
*With thanks to Phil Ellis, Ph.D.!
One of the coolest things about being a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana member (as over 1.9 million Louisianians are!) is that we are part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association that covers health insurance for 119 MILLION Americans across plans! Think about that for a minute … Read more
2022 was quite a ride. As Straight Talk prepares to take a break for the last two weeks of year, I’m counting down my five top stories in health care and health care policy. Read more
