Four years ago, officials in Montgomery County, MD, launched Montgomery Cares, a program to care for the uninsured. Through the program, officials pledged to cover half of the county's estimated 80,000 uninsured residents by 2010. But two years from the deadline, officials say they won't come close to meeting their goal despite the opening of three new clinics and a 58 percent increase in the number of people receiving care.
In a public-private partnership to help thousands of seniors struggling to pay for prescription drugs, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to announce today a deal with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to help cover those caught in a Medicare gap. The agreement would help seniors bridge the "doughnut hole," a much criticized cost-saving measure built into the Medicare prescription drug benefit passed by Congress in 2003. The program covers annual prescription costs up to a certain amount and costs above a higher threshold, but not those in between, leaving a hole in the middle of the coverage plan.
Pharmacy benefits manager Caremark has agreed to pay Washington nearly $1.7 million as part of a $41 million multistate settlement of claims that it encouraged doctors to switch patients' prescriptions while representing that the switch would save patients money. In some cases, the patients or their health plans ended up paying more. And sometimes patients incurred more costs when they switched, because new drug therapies required additional tests or doctor's visits, according to the state's complaint. Caremark got rebates and discounts from drug manufacturers for switching patients to different drugs and didn't clearly disclose how it would affect a patient's cost, the state alleged. Caremark denied any wrongdoing but agreed to change its business practices.
A day after New York's attorney general took aim at UnitedHealth Group's healthcare reimbursement procedures, the ultimate financial implications for the nation's largest insurer were yet to come into focus. But there is little doubt that Andrew Cuomo's probe has handed company executives a significant distraction and a bit of a black eye. Although some analysts believe UnitedHealth will continue to operate with minimal bottom-line effect during Cuomo's fledgling inquiry and expected lawsuit, the consensus is far from unanimous.
Almost two-thirds of South Florida residents believe that uninsured Americans should be able to get healthcare, but even more are concerned about rising healthcare costs, problems with prescription drug coverage and the safety and quality of care. Those were the results of a Gallup poll of 401 residents conducted in late January for the Center for Excellence in Government, which presented the results at a town hall meeting at the University of Miami.
Tennessee Titans Owner K.S. "Bud" Adams, Jr. and his wife, Nancy, have announced a $500,000 grant from the Titans Foundation to the Baptist Hospital Foundation for the hospital's obstetrics expansion project. The third floor Obstetrics Family Waiting Area and will now be known as the Bud & Nancy Adams and Tennessee Titans Family Waiting Area, said Bernie Sherry, President and CEO of Baptist Hospital.