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.
Waterbury (CT) Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital are negotiating a possible merger as they seek better financial strength and efficiency. The hospitals are working toward an agreement in principle for the merger, which would need the approval of the state Office of Health Care Access. Representatives of the hospitals say both would remain open, though there would be some consolidation of services.
Alarmed by breaches in which UCLA Medical Center employees snooped in the confidential records of celebrities, California lawmakers moved to clamp hospital files shut with new oversight and stiffer penalties. The state Senate approved a measure that would require hospitals to draft a plan to safeguard patient information and set up a new state Office of Health Information Integrity with power to review plans and violations and assess fines of up to $250,000 against people who violate patient privacy. A companion bill would allow fines of up to $250,000 against healthcare providers in case of breaches.
After climbing steadily for six years, the number of Americans without health insurance dropped by more than a million in 2007, to 45.7 million, the Census Bureau has reported. The drop was largely because more people were covered through government programs. The number of uninsured, however, are higher today than they were at the outset of the Bush administration in 2001. That year, 39.8 million people, or 14.1%, were uninsured.