Daily Health Care News - 4/20/09
Posted on April 20th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in News Clips
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NEWS
GOP stumbling in health care fight - Politico
Republicans look across the health reform battlefield and see the Democrats organized, energized and flush with cash — with several groups lined up to promote the president’s plan, and a message honed by years of preparation.
Health care: Deal or no deal? Senators begin work - Associated Press
This time it's really going to happen. Or so they claim.
Senators get down to work this coming week on turning ideas into legislation to cover some 50 million people without health insurance and contain costs for everyone else. Hopes are high that Democrats and Republicans can find common ground for a bill to emerge by summer.
Report: NYC health insurance costlier than rent - Fox44 New York
How high is the cost of health care in New York City?
According to a New York Post analysis of new data from the state Insurance Department, it now costs more to buy health insurance than it does to rent a two-bedroom apartment.
Health Insurers Routinely Deny Claims of Civilian Workers Seriously Injured in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars, According to Los Angeles Times - Kaiser Health Report
Civilian contractors injured while serving the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan often face delays obtaining or are denied insurance coverage for basic medical care, artificial limbs, psychological counseling and other services, according to a joint investigation by the Times and ProPublica.
Adversaries team up on health care - Politico
Two of the nation’s most influential health care adversaries are uniting to promote key portions of health care reform but leave unaddressed the debate’s most controversial element: the creation of a public insurance plan.
OPINION
What Do Private Insurers Do With Your Money? - Think Progress
Today, CNBC featured a debate between Kerry Weems, former acting director of CMS and former U.S. assistant secretary of health, and CAPAF Senior Fellow Judy Feder about the role of administrative costs in health care.
Health Reform Without a Public Plan: The German Model - Uwe Reinhardt
In the previous two posts, I sought to explain why the public health insurance plan that Barack Obama had firmly promised during the presidential campaign appears to have become a deal-breaker in President Obama’s quest to sign a genuinely bipartisan health reform bill later this year.
Health Haves and Have-Nots - Slate
But compared with what other countries are getting for their health care buck, it isn't a bargain at all. In Canada and France, for instance, health care accounts for 10 percent of all spending, as compared with the United States' 16 percent. Yet life expectancy is higher, and infant mortality is lower. The United States ranks 50th in life expectancy among the nations of the world, well behind not only Canada and France (which rank 8th and 9th) but also Israel (13th), Jordan (38th), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (43rd).
The Biggest Health Care Controversy on the Hill - The Health Care Blog
Since when was a two-tiered health insurance system a Democratic policy goal?
The Big Lie in the "Crowd Out" Argument - Change.org
Words matter. So let me once and for all tackle the argument you will heard constantly from the forces of the status quo, as it was just posted on John Goodman’s blog today by Devon Herrick: “A Lewin Group report estimates that 32 million people would lose their private coverage and enroll in the public plan if it paid Medicare-level reimbursements and eligibility were limited to the small firms, self-employed and individuals.” I know he wanted his readers to see that “would lose their private coverage” line because he made that the hyper-link, so it visually stands out. Here’s the problem: it’s bunk.
Blunt Assessment: "They look into their own camp — and get nervous" - FiredupMissouri
Remember when Roy Blunt (R-K Street) was really proud of his role as head of the Republican Health Care Solutions Working Group? "Republicans are committed to common-sense solutions that promote competition and innovation…Republicans will lead the effort to make health care work for Americans," Blunt said.
We need not search far for a model reform plan with a REAL public option - built around expansion of a state employee insurance pool.
In Connecticut, where we have more than 325,000 uninsured, HB6600, or “SustiNet,” just got a favorable report from the state legislature’s Public Health Committee and is gaining momentum.
SustiNet ensures that the state wisely uses the dollars it is already spending on state employees, HUSKY (for low-income children) and SAGA by uniting them into a large self-insured health plan.
SustiNet (which is Latin for “sustains” and is taken from our state motto) uses this critical mass of insured residents to improve the health care delivery system (with cost savings) and to phase in the enrollment of more residents of Connecticut, including: the uninsured; people with unaffordable or inadequate insurance; sole proprietors and other self-employed people; small businesses, municipalities, and non-profit employers; and, finally, businesses of any size.
By a “real” public option, I mean that EVERYONE in the state will have quality, affordable health care. If they are employed and their employer isn’t offering insurance that gets them that care, then they ALWAYS have an effective public alternative.
SustiNet was developed with extensive input from all health care stakeholders and with the expertise of Stan Dorn of the Urban Institute. It has the support of, among others: the Connecticut Realtor’s Association; the Connecticut State Medical Society; the Connecticut Public Health Association; and Small Businesses for Health Care Reform.
For more information about the bill, you can go to: http://www.healthcare4every1.org/sustinet