Healthcare Daily Digest for 29 Jan 2013: From All According to Their Deductible, to a Few Based on Their Love of Ranch Dressing

Michael Bell, a contributor to Forbes.com’s blogging platform, asks this provocative question: “Who Causes Half of Healthcare Costs?“

‘member in, I don’t know, Social Studies or History or whatever — how we all learned that a small minority controls the world’s wealth? No, not the Bildenberg Group — let’s not be ridiculous. The point is: it’s a similar paradigm with healthcare. As Bell points out, “A very small percentage of the patients in the healthcare system use up the bulk of the available dollars.”

Who makes up this Very Small Group? Well, here are the five most expensive conditions: trauma, heart disease, cancer, mental disorders, and pulmonary disorders. Three of those — trauma, cancer, and mental disorders — are mostly beyond anyone’s control. Heart disease and pulmonary disorders, though: that’s kinda all you, buddy. By which I, and Michael Bell, mean: “[They're] very often either preventable or are manageable with care routines.” For instance, the routine of exercising. Or the routine of not proudly proclaiming that no one is the boss of you so no, you’re not going to eat those vegetables until they’ve been deep-fried and coated in ranch dressing. (Fun fact: “Obesity, a major driver of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, as well as many other nasty problems, accounts for 10% of all health care costs.”)

Are we going to fix all the problems associated with healthcare costs by jogging? Of course not. But the thing that should be abundantly clear is: we need to make systemic changes. No one isolated thing will get us there. And put down that donut.

Here are some Tuesday headlines. I thought of every one of you while picking them.

• Seriously: This HIPAA Thing is No Joke: “The new rules take effect March 26 with a compliance date of Sept. 23.” I’d hate for this to be a thing everyone ignores until the price tag starts to become a frightening reality.

• Healthcare and Social Security — Make Way for Democratic Infighting: A video from MSNBC suggests that “the fight over Medicare and Social Security may be a debate between Barack Obama and Democrats, not the usual Democrats versus Republicans.”

• Because I Don’t Know About You, But I Never Get Tired of Talking About Florida /sarcasm: “Florida’s Republican lawmakers are reluctantly acknowledging that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and are taking steps to determine exactly what that will look like.” Probably, if it’s like everything else in Florida, over-tanned and dressed 10 years too young.

• Why? More Like WHY NOT, Amiright?: Why A New Healthcare Tax Is Making Its Way To Hospitals, And Patients. “Small medical-device makers have little choice but to pass their new 2.3% excise tax— meant to pay for the health law —on to hospitals and other customers, said the chief executive of one manufacturer” who doesn’t want to see a decrease in his paycheck or bonus.