Word: hmos
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...trend has won the attention of a few HMOs, federal and state government officials and gym-equipment manufacturers--which are now marketing more air-pressurized weight machines with larger digital displays. Health clubs--traditional havens for beefy bodybuilders but more recently shifting to an emphasis on overall wellness--are beginning to respond. This year some 65% of health clubs offer some sort of senior-fitness program, up from 32% 10 years ago, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, the trade association for health clubs. Trainers say seniors are often their most eager, dedicated and appreciative clients...
Most compelling for advocates is the slow-growing attention senior fitness is attracting from managed care. For years, HMOs have offered 10% discounts on health-club memberships, primarily as a marketing tool. Based in Phoenix, Ariz., the company HealthCare Dimensions, which sells and administers a comprehensive senior-fitness program called Silver Sneakers, has taken the lead in getting HMOs to sign up for real intervention. By providing quality assurance and initial research summaries indicating regular exercisers have significantly reduced claims, HealthCare Dimensions has signed up 13 major HMOs from Florida to Oregon to fully cover the cost...
...compromise over a patients' bill of rights with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass). The McCain-Kennedy bill defines patients' rights for emergency care and treatment by specialists. But, most importantly, the bill also provides for a new patient's right to sue health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that do not provide adequate care...
Given the decreased control patients currently have over their own health care, the threat of litigation is a necessary means of ensuring the accountability of HMOs. Without sufficient legal recourse for improperly denied care, patients often find themselves at the mercy of insurance companies. The McCain-Kennedy bill would go a long way toward placing patients on more solid ground when dealing with their HMOs, permitting up to $5 million in punitive damages to be awarded in state courts. The threat of court intervention will promote integrity in an industry where it is most desperately needed...
...represented a happy continuation of the policies that had brought the economy and the markets astounding success over the past eight years. But when Gore went populist, and Bush started to look acceptably reliable, the naturally Republican instincts of Street types took over. Price controls for pharmaceuticals? Big Bad HMOs? Rats in the barn? As a New Democrat Gore could be counted on to be sensible about these things; as an angry populist, he was a real bummer...