For California, the question of how much medical aid states will get under the economic stimulus plan is a billion-dollar one, and it has revived a debate over whether the Golden State receives its fair share of federal dollars. The House version of the bill would give financially strapped California about $11.1 billion in Medicaid funds to help pay for healthcare for the poor, according to the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The measure the Senate will take up would provide about $9.6 billion.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has filed a formal request with the state to raise rates for 400,000 people who buy individual health coverage, citing losses in that market that could exceed $1 billion through 2011. The rate hikes, if approved by Michigan's Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, would take effect June 1. Overall, the average increases would be 56% for individual or non-group plans; 42% for group conversion plans for those who once had workplace coverage, and 31% for senior citizens with supplemental Medicare coverage.
The incidence of adult disabled patients staying with their pediatricians long after their 18th birthday is one of many issues raised in a report released by The Arc of Massachusetts, an advocacy group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The study, "Left Out in the Cold: Health Care Experiences of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Massachusetts," found that many disabled adults face longer waits than most people finding good internists, and that prevents them from getting the best care for common adult conditions.
New York's most powerful healthcare interests are mounting a multimillion-dollar media campaign that excoriates Gov. David A. Paterson and his plans to cut funding for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In television commercials that will begin broadcasting statewide, nurses and patients take a personal swipe at the governor, imploring, "Why are you doing this?" At one point, a nurse says, "I can't believe Governor Paterson is the one making this proposal." Then a man, blind and in a wheelchair, asks the governor, who is legally blind, "Why are you doing this to me?"
As Maryland lawmakers wrestle with the future of the state's emergency medical service following the fatal crash of a state helicopter taking accident victims to a hospital, a private company has come forward with a new concern about the independent agency.
The company accuses Maryland EMS leaders of dragging their feet in releasing the results of a study of a new method for triaging patients in mass casualty incidents.
Children who do not have health insurance and no regular source of healthcare are the most likely to have unmet medical needs, according to researchers at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. Researchers noted that the number of children with unmet medical needs increased from 4.5 million in 1998 to 6.2 million in 2006.