After faciing criticism for proposing to eliminate a state healthcare program for the indigent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration has decided to transfer most of those recipients to a subsidized insurance plan for the working poor. The General Assistance Medicare Program program for adults making less than $7,800 a year is scheduled to go away March 1, potentially leaving some 36,000 recipients without regular access to medical care. Now some 28,000 will be automatically enrolled in MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance plan. The remainder are those whose GAMC eligibility is running out or who already are applying for MinnesotaCare.
Robert H. Frank,an economist at Cornell University, examines how the healthcare reform proposals under consideration seek to reduce U.S. health costs. The spending gap stems largely from a conflict inherent in how American physicians are paid, he says. Under most American health plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, doctors are reimbursed according to how many tests and procedures they perform, Frank notes.
For people lacking health insurance in the Washington, DC, region, where they live can make all the difference in getting affordable healthcare, the Washington Post reports. Washington, DC, has taxpayer-funded health insurance for everyone within generous income restrictions. But about 10% of eligible adults remain uninsured, and the city wants to find and enroll them. But in Prince George's County, MD, recent Census Bureau statistics show that one in five working-age adults is uninsured. The census statistics also underscore wide regional differences in how many people are uninsured, the Post reports.
More than $1.5 million has been awarded to the West End Medical Centers and the Medical College of Georgia Research Institute to help uninsured children in the state. The grant, awarded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will be used to find and enroll eligible children in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, or PeachCare for Kids. The funds are part of $40 million in grants recently given to 69 organizations across the nation.
MetroWest Medical Center has told employees it may end its contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts unless the insurer narrows the gap in payments between the hospital and its competitors, the Boston Globe reports. Leaders of the hospital and its physicians organization said rates paid for their services are as much as 40% lower than what other healthcare providers receive. MetroWest, owned by Vanguard Health Systems, operates Framingham (MA) Union Hospital and Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, MA, which have a total of about 300 beds and more than 740 affiliated physicians.
The House healthcare bill would repeal an exemption from federal antitrust oversight that the health-insurance industry has enjoyed for decades, but the move alone might not make local insurance markets more competitive. The repeal is necessary to inject competition into regional insurance markets, according to Rep. Diana DeGette (D., CO), one of several members of Congress behind a push to repeal the exemption. She cited American Medical Association figures showing that 94% of those markets are highly concentrated.