MANAGED CARE April 2004. ©MediMedia USA
The least insured of the major medical services is the pharmaceutical benefit, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. A PhRMA report says that for those under 65 who had health coverage in 2000, private insurance paid 60.2 percent of the cost of prescriptions while patients paid 37.2 percent. More than 70 percent of the cost of hospital, physician, and emergency care was covered by private plans.... Fraudulent insurance providers operate in every state and that's just further evidence of how the number of these "entities" has been growing in recent years, according to the General Accounting Office. They've left $253 million in unpaid medical claims between 2000 and 2002, only 21 percent of which have been recovered.... The newly merged American Association of Health Plans and the Health Insurance Association of America unveiled its new name March 9, which means industry officials are probably already used to addressing questions and concerns to America's Health Insurance Plans. Karen Ignagni, former head of the AAHP, is the AHIP's president and CEO.