HEALTH NEWS DIGEST, March 29, 2009 — “The economic downturn is taking its toll on employees in all industries — but health insurance companies will increasingly be a good place to look for work,” writes Scott Golden, chief financial officer of the Maryland-based health benefits brokerage firm Golden & Cohen, in this week’s issue of HealthNewsDigest.com.
AGENT’S SALES JOURNAL, April 2009 — “Stephanie Cohen has no problem networking — in fact, she’s a real pro,” writes reporter Lin Grensing-Pophal in an article in this month’s Agent Sales Journal. “As CEO of the health benefits firm Golden & Cohen, Cohen takes networking to an entirely new level. In October, she hosted the DC Health Summit, a meeting of 100 top health care insurance providers, doctors, hospitals, business owners, and politicians. Her goal: to establish a consortium of leaders that will begin a national dialogue about the connection between wellness programs and lower health care insurance rates.”
AGENT’S SALES JOURNAL, January 2009 — A new White House administration always spells change of some sort — and nowhere will that change be felt more this time around than in the financial sector, explains reporter Laura Gater in the cover story of this month’s Sales Agent Journal. “Specifically, President-elect Barack Obama has made certain proposals to reform estate taxes, health insurance, and the Medicare and Medicaid systems, along with alluding to changes within the long term care industry. But how will you see your business change as a result over the next four years?
AGENTS SALES JOURNAL, December 2008 — In an article entitled, Understanding Medicare’s Annual Election Period, published in December 2008 by Agents Sales Journal, Stephanie Cohen — the CEO of the health benefits firm Golden & Cohen — writes: Medicare’s annual election period — the time between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31, when all Medicare Advantage health plans are open and accepting new members — is an important opportunity, especially for those who have recently lost their job or retired and need Medicare benefits.
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YOUTUBE VIDEO IS LIVE, November 1, 2008 — The much-anticipated DC Health Summit drew more than 100 business leaders interested in the future of health insurance reform to a packed the ballroom at the Mandarin Hotel to hear what health insurance company executives, physicians, hospital administrators, and politicians had to say about how workplace wellness programs can lower insurance rates.
“This was a groundbreaking event,” moderator Andy Hines told the crowd. “For the first time, decision makers and players from every industry that impact the cost of health insurance gathered in one room. Fortunately, no chairs were thrown, and we had a very interesting discussion.”
That was the goal for Stephanie Cohen, CEO of the health benefits firm Golden & Cohen, who hosted the event.
INSIDE THE DC HEALTH SUMMIT, Keynote Speech, Oct. 29, 2008 — “I have to admit I’m a little bit worried about this meeting,” admits Dr. Steve Aldana, the keynote speaker at the first annual 2008 DC Health Summit. “I bet I do 100 meetings a year, maybe 150. I do a lot. I see all kinds of organizations, carriers, providers, TPAs. I see everybody in this field, and I have gained a perspective that I never had before.”
Having said that, he Aldana went on to charm the crowd as he talked about the future of health care. Following is his transcribed speech. He said:
I rarely get all the players together in one room. So that is a little bit intimidating. But more importantly is the charge that we’ve been given here today, and that is we’ve got to change this system. And what I don’t want to be is Henny Penny. I don’t want to say the sky is falling, the sky is falling. I don’t want to be a harbinger or doom.
But to be perfectly honest with you, when we look at this whole healthcare cost issue, I’ve got a solution for part of it. I don’t have the solution for the other part of it. I’m going to have that solution come from your panel over here because I have no idea how to do this. And I’ll be really impressed if they tell us how to do this too.
DC HEALTH SUMMIT, October 29, 2008 — Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin Ph.D. was one of the key speakers today at the 2008 DC Health Summit, a meeting that is bringing together 100 of the top minds in the health care industry on Oct. 29 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, DC www.dchealthsummit.com.
Dr. Buntin is a health economist and researcher who focuses on health insurance benefit design, health insurance markets, provider payment, and the care use and needs of the elderly. Her current projects include a study of the effects of consumer-directed health care on health care access, costs, and quality and a study of the effects of Medicare payment changes on post-acute care costs and outcomes. Although a representative from the McCain campaign was also invited to attend the DC Health Summit, Amber Johnson, director of scheduling for the campaign, declined due to an overwhelming number of events surrogates need to attend at this time.
Gaithersburg MD, October 15, 2008 — Futurist Andy Hines will be the moderator at the 2008 DC Health Summit, a meeting that is bringing together 100 of the top minds in the health care industry on Oct. 29 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, DC (www.dchealthsummit.com).
Hines will ask and field questions of an all-star health care panel including Kaiser Permanente’s Director of Population Care Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, Neurosurgeon Dr. James Melisi, the National Rehabilitation Hospital’s VP Dr. Paul Rao, Maryland’s former Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer, and UnitedHealthcare COO Kevin Ruth — and Virginia Senator George Barker, who prior to taking office last November worked for 30 years for the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia where he helped contain skyrocketing health care costs, promote quality of care, and ensure access to medical care for all Northern Virginians.
The Future of Health Insurance
Based on his decades of experience as a futurist, Hines has developed strategic insights of his own. As the director of custom projects at the global futurist research and consulting firm Social Technologies, he and his colleagues have worked on several projects that explore the future of health care in America.
Hines says some big issues ahead include:
• Societal views on personal responsibility — As Americans, will we lean toward accommodation or a more punitive approach such as saying obesity is either a disease beyond one’s control or “it’s their fault?”
• The implications of a deeper move to holistic wellness — To what extent will innovations like support groups be covered by health insurance?
• The buck stops where? — Ultimately, who will be responsible for a person’s health and wellbeing? The individual, employers, or the government?
• From the institution to the individual — How fast and extensive will the shift to consumer-centric health care take place?
• Incremental vs. transformational approaches — Will changes in our approach to health care happen in slow, incremental steps? Or will an event occur that causes changes to occur rapidly?
Gaithersburg MD, October 6, 2008 — Dr. Steven Aldana will be the keynote speaker at the first annual DC Health Summit, a meeting that is bringing together 100 of the top minds in the health care industry on Oct. 29 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, DC.
A former professor of lifestyle medicine in the College of Health and Human Performance at Brigham Young University, Aldana is a nationally recognized scientist and teacher on the topic of health promotion in the workplace. His keynote, “The Truth About Return on Investment and Worksite Health Promotion Programs,” will serve as an introduction to a broader discussion among Summit panelists and attendees about the future of health insurance in the United States.
“Companies are always looking for ways to reduce employee-related expenses and many corporations and organizations are using health promotion programs as a reactionary effort to curtail ever-increasing, employee-related expenses of health care and lost productivity,” Aldana explains. “Dozens of published scientific research articles have evaluated the cost-benefit of worksite health promotion programs and the majority show a clear and positive ROI. Yet, many companies are hesitant to spend any money on employee health promotion efforts, raising the question as to why most health and wellness programs still struggle to get funding and support.”
Aldana insists that health promotion in the workplace won’t just have a positive effect on your employees’ waistlines — it will have a positive impact on your organization’s bottom line.
Gaithersburg MD, September 15, 2008 — The health care benefits company Golden & Cohen is hosting the first annual DC Health Summit, a meeting of some of the top minds in the health care industry who will discuss and debate the future of health care in the United States.
“Research by the U.S. Department of Commerce shows that in 2006, more than $2.1 trillion was spent on health care in the United States,” says Stephanie Cohen, (pictured right) CEO of Golden & Cohen. “That represents 16% of the Gross Domestic Product. By 2017 the amount of money spent on health care is expected to increase to nearly $4.3 trillion, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects that by then health care will account for about 20 percent of GDP.”
These increasing costs mean policymakers, insurers, and the public are going to face some difficult decisions about the way health care is delivered and paid for, she adds.
“I have been in the trenches of the health care insurance industry for more than a decade, and what I see happening to my clients when they try to collect on their benefits not only disturbs me as a business owner — it infuriates me as a U.S. citizen and a mother,” Cohen explains. “That is why my partners and I at Golden & Cohen decided to host the DC Health Summit. Our goal is to bring the decision makers together—politicians, health insurance company executives, physicians, academics and hospital administrators—so we can start to come up with workable solutions.”
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