Among the items discussed was how IT technology can help with saving money with health care, connecting the patient to the information resources needed. Aetna states there are misconceptions about profits from insurers, that only 6% is a profit margin, 
well compared to many other industries, that is outstanding! Next item on the agenda is the fact that the Congressional Budget Office casts doubt on how improved IT will save money, and these are folks who rely on their staff and some are very infrequent users of technology themselves, so go figure.
Yes, technology saves money, but so does education and buying in to use technology, and that has to start at the top. How many Congressional representatives use any type of Personal Health Record? Recently we saw John McCain’s 3000 page “paper” imaged file, so again, what gives? I was in a local physician’s office who had medical assistants that had no idea what a PHR was, in spite of all the recent news that has been in the press for the last 2 years, they don’t keep up either on current events as well as perhaps the rest of the staff, so good luck when the informed patient wonders in to a practice that is clueless on how to deal with any information they have to offer, one more potential dead end. BD
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Aetna Inc (AET.N: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the biggest U.S. health insurers, on Tuesday told lawmakers the escalating cost of insurance is driven by factors other than excess profits at insurers. CEO Ron Williams spoke as the Senate Finance Committee considers fixes to the market for health insurance. There are about 47 million uninsured Americans, or approximately 15 percent of the population.
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