Corporate Research Group’s Weblog

Joshua Cody’s [sic]: A Memoir is a poignant account of what it’s like to be dying from cancer, where the treatment is sometimes worse than the disease.

This blog will be off until after New Year’s Day.  Thanks to all the faithful readers. 

Carl Mercurio
President, CRG

CRG is now accepting blog submissions from outside contributors.  If you would like to submit a post for consideration, please email it to me at carl.mercurio@corporateresearchgroup.com.

Yes, according to an analysis by T. Rowe Price.  But there are a couple of catches, Yahoo! Finance points out.  One is you have to work until age 70 instead of retiring at 62.  Another thing, Yahoo! Finance says: “Some 40% of retirees never make it to their intended retirement age because of illness or layoff — and their intended retirement age is usually 65, let alone 70.”

So as long as you don’t get fired, sick or tired of working you’re golden.

From the Associated Press:

Some executions in the U.S. have been put on hold because of a shortage of one of the drugs used in lethal injections from coast to coast.

Corporate Research Group is launching a new product next week called Carl Mercurio’s Health Plan Market Trends Letter.  Carl Mercurio (that’s me) will provide his take on the future direction of the health plan industry in this weekly report.  Click here to obtain a sample issue, which includes the following headlines:

* 2011 Selling Season: Few Employers Switching Plans

* PBM Selling Season Favors CVS in 2011

* 3 Health Plans Are Priced to Lose Money in Face of Regulatory Pressure

* Minimum MCRs to Eat into Health Plan Profits

* Is Horizon BCBS-NJ Still Going For-Profit?

* Emdeon Shares Fail to Break Out

I have received several angry emails related to my support of healthcare reform.  One in particular gets to the heart of Corporate Research Group’s mission and deserves comment.  A reader writes:

I thought you guys were supposed to be looking out for the best interests of the insurance and managed care markets?

I would argue that we do — by telling the industry what it needs to hear, not just want it wants to hear.  And that’s why our research reports, newsletters and consulting services have been utilized by the industry as a leading source of unbiased information, analysis and forecasts since 1993.

For the record….

We sided with WellPoint in its public relations battle with the White House over premium rate increases of up to 39% in California — noting that a for-profit plan is acting logically and predictably when it raises premiums on a money-losing product to cover rising costs.

We sided with the managed care industry in noting that industry profits aren’t the problem; in fact, health plan margins are paltry compared to other leading industries.

We slammed the liberal Healthcare for America Now! for slanting the truth in its analysis of 2009 profit growth among five leading managed care plans.

We sided with the managed care industry in noting that repeal of the antitrust exemption for health plans would do very little to address rising premiums and healthcare costs.

We sided with the managed care industry in noting that a strong coverage mandate was important to protect the risk pool and avoid adverse selection.

We sided with the managed care industry in noting that the reform legislation doesn’t do enough to control rising medical costs.

But when Scott Brown was elected to the U.S. Senate — and everyone was saying reform was dead — we took a lot of heat for predicting that reform would still happen even if the Democrats had to use reconciliation.  It was a minority view, and it wasn’t very popular with the industry.  But it was correct.

When the industry was arguing that the insurance underwriting cycle was dead, we correctly pointed out that another downcycle was around the corner.

We said years ago that the leadership of the managed care industry was failing on two fundamental industry issues.  The first was a policy issue: the failure to offer a viable solution to the problem of the uninsured immediately following the demise of the Clinton healthcare proposal; instead, the industry waited more than a decade as the ranks of the uninsured swelled to more than 45 million.  The second was a consumer issue: the failure to consistently provide plan members with the insurance protection they need — and the healthcare coverage they have paid for — when they are sick.  These failings are why we have reform today.

Finally, we have noted that the winners in this industry will be the ones who follow a prescription put forth by Aetna chief executive Ron Williams by focusing on products and services that improve quality and control costs, convenient tools and easy-to-understand information to help members make better-informed healthcare decisions, transparency, and new wellness and prevention programs.

Our research reports, consulting services, and newsletters provide solutions, forecasts and analysis you can believe in.  Said another way, if all you want to hear are opinions that agree with your worldview, then CRG isn’t for you.  If you want the type of strategic insights that tell you what’s really happening in the marketplace and how to win, then we’ve got the answers.

Respectfully,
Carl Mercurio
President and Publisher
Corporate Research Group

A few years back, Corporate Research Group hosted a series of high-level conferences on various managed care topics, and we’ve decided to revisit a few key areas of interest – the first being managed care information technology. 

We’re very happy to announce that Aetna chief information officer Meg McCarthy will be the keynote speaker at the Managed Healthcare Industry Forum on Emerging Technology, Monday, March 29, 2010 in New York City. 

She will discuss the role of technology in facilitating transactional capabilities that yield administrative savings; care management capabilities that help members achieve better outcomes, including Health 2.0 and member engagement; and the challenges still inherent in getting everyone connected.

We had a lot of success with these meetings in the past — and several requests from previous attendees to re-launch the program.   It seems like the time is right given the challenges facing the managed care industry going forward.  These include healthcare reform, the erosion of the industry’s fully funded membership base, and the shift to low-premium consumer-directed health plans – all of which mean tighter industry margins going forward. 

To survive, health plans must do a much better job of reducing administrative costs and managing care.  Health information technology will play an increasing role in both, and that’s why the first industry forum will cover managed care IT.   We are expecting 150 or so representatives from leading managed care organizations, benefit consultants, the Wall Street and investment communities, provider organizations, and the pharmaceutical industry. 

See you there.

An email sent today by the  University of Michigan Health System reads: 

Good morning,

You may have received an e-mail in the last two days that contained a press release about the U-M Health System going trans-fat free. I apologize that you received the message as it was sent in error and we are looking into why that occurred.

We may be 37th in healthcare.  We may be 25th in reading, writing and math skills.  We may be overspent and in debt.  But damn it, at least we live in the world’s biggest houses.  Not anymore.  A new report suggests that the U.S. has fallen behind Australia in average house size.  Australia, meanwhile, is 32th in healthcare.  Hmmm…

This has nothing to do with healthcare, but Charles Morris’ book The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers and the Great Credit Crash — which I’ve referenced before on this blog — is among the best I’ve read on the credit crunch.  Here’s a recent video of Morris talking about the prospects for economic recovery.  Btw, Morris is also of the opinion that the U.S. economy can easily support healthcare spending at 25% to 30% of GDP (see prior post).

The man had a lot of faults.  But I agreed with him on issues of politics far more than I disagreed.  Peace out.

I’ll be off the rest of the week, so no posts.  See you Monday.

I’ll be on the road the next few days, so posting will be light to nonexistent.

Posting will be light today and tomorrow as we deal with other deadlines and commitments.

We’ll be leaving early today for the Memorial Day weekend.  To our troops across the globe, thanks and be safe.  We’ll be thinking about you and hoping for an end to all war.

The Staff of CRG.

Note: We’ll be taking a brief holiday break and returning in the New Year.

We’ll be back tomorrow with new posts.

A battle with a 24-hour bug has us sidelined today.  We’ll be back tomorrow.  Don’t worry, we’re covered.

Apologies for the lack of posts today.  We’ve been tied up with other projects.  Back tomorrow.

…mean a slow day of posting today.  Besides, why read about healthcare when you can watch the stock market soar, a welcome relief to a week of hell.

I’ll be down at the Nasdaq Market Site today to shoot a video interview with Scott Bittle of Public Agenda, who we spoke to earlier in the week (see post).  So posting will be light today.  But we’ll be sure to include a link to the video interview next week.