Pontiac, MI-based North Oakland Medical Centers Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection after running out of cash. The hospital is to be sold in October to a group of senior physicians, and is now seeking a loan to stay open until the sale. The hospital listed debt of as much as $100 million and assets of less than $50 million in a Chapter 11 petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit.
It's time for poor people who are childless to be covered by Medicaid, said Gene Gessow, the director of the Iowa Medicaid program. There are low-income Iowans ages 19 to 65 who can't afford insurance and would benefit from this government health insurance, Gessow said. The federal government should lift restrictions and give states the opportunity to cover nondisabled single people or couples who have no children, he added.
Panelists at a healthcare forum agreed that Pennsylvania's healthcare system has serious gaps, but they had little consensus about how to improve it. The discussion repeatedly turned to the question of how much it will cost to expand insurance coverage, and who would pay for it. The goal of the Health for Life community forum was to look for ways to advance healthcare reform in the state.
Healthy Howard Inc. recently announced the hiring of Erin Reiney to coordinate community resources for Howard County, MD's health access plan. The nonprofit organization will manage the Healthy Howard Plan, which will provide access to comprehensive health services to 2,000 uninsured county residents. Responsible for compiling a list of businesses that are willing to offer free or reduced-cost services to plan participants, Reiney said she is excited about building the program.
A drop in the number of people who lacked health insurance in 2007 reflects a push by states to cover more lower-income adults and children, but the gains might unravel during the economic slowdown, economists and health experts say. In 2007, 26 states expanded eligibility for Medicaid, but the troubled economy, coupled with the housing crisis and high gas prices, could force states to step back, the experts say.
Massachusetts has the highest rate of residents with health insurance in the nation, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report that showed 92% of Bay Staters had health insurance when data from 2006 and 2007 were averaged. By comparison, barely three-quarters of residents had health coverage in Texas, the state that fared worst. The report emerges two years after Massachusetts became the first state to adopt a law requiring virtually all residents to have insurance.