Why businesses need an experienced adviser to negotiate the health insurance industry

Frank Marrone, Senior Vice President and Partner, Millennium Corporate SolutionsThe health care delivery system is broken and costs are spiraling out of control.
Federally mandated reforms have only made the system more confusing. Now, more than ever, you need someone on your side to help you make sense of the mess.
“If your health care consultant doesn’t understand how the system works, then you’re forced to become an expert in health care when you should be focusing on your core business,” says Frank L. Marrone, senior vice president and partner with Millennium Corporate Solutions. “There are qualified insurance advisers out there; investigate, interview and then engage with one that fits your needs.”
Smart Business spoke with Marrone about how a skilled consultant can help you navigate the confusing aspects of the health care system during health care reform and any other time you need a trusted adviser.
How is the health care and insurance system changing?
In our country, health care is a trillion-dollar industry that is driven by Wall Street. Wall Street and medicine are opposite forces. I’m not saying that one is good and one is evil; they just work in different directions. Wall Street exists for profitability. Executives of insurance companies keep their jobs by being profitable.
The health care system is a triangle consisting of the patient, the doctor and the insurance company. When the two most significant players are pulling in opposite directions with the patient in the middle, you have a broken system.
Employers, employees, family members — all patients — need to be able to make sound decisions with what we know to be true. Costs are not coming down, services are being stretched and the realities of health reform are only going to mean increased costs for the currently insured, while offering greater and more timely access to the uninsured or underinsured.
There is good and bad in almost everything. The good in health reform is going to cost a lot more than anyone knows.
Why are costs out of control and how can they be fixed?
The key element to health care reform and pricing is that the delivery system has not figured out a way to compensate doctors for keeping us healthy. Today, there is no incentive for a physician to have healthy patients because the physician will most likely go out of business.
Another reason costs are out of control is litigation. Everyone pays for medical malpractice claims; doctor premiums are passed on to all consumers. In fact, as medical products get priced, it’s necessary to factor in the cost of medical malpractice.