Our very own Chief Medical Officer, Stu Hochron, reporting from the American Telemedicine Association conference in Baltimore MD

United Health Group President and CEO, Steven Hemsley, was a guest speaker at the annual meeting of the American Telemedicine Association in Baltimore today. UHG is the largest healthcare company in the world, with annual revenue of 130 billion dollars and contracts with 6000 US hospitals and 650,000 healthcare personnel.

Anxiety Accompanies Change

Mr. Hemsley acknowledged the anxiety felt by many Americans, including those within the health insurance field, that “the chances of getting it all right at first are pretty low”, but believes that the healthcare system’s problems will “sort out” as the market responds to cost, convenience issues, consumer education challenges and the use of resources”. One specific concern he discussed involved possible setbacks for insurers if insurance exchange pools experience an “adverse selection process”. “Structured benefits should be able to spread the cost of a normal profile of the population. However, if the population is older, or at higher risk, then it will be more expensive to treat, and the less ill will be discouraged and not participate”.

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