Pennsylvania is among the leaders in the percentage of employers providing healthcare coverage, but it is losing that advantage. A new report by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC, says 70.2% of Pennsylvanians had employer-provided coverage in 2006-07, down 5.7 percentage points from six years ago. That compares with a 4.7 percentage point average decline nationally.
Three former employees of Des Moines, IA-based Broadlawns Medical Center want to try their hand at overseeing the place. The three are among seven candidates vying for two seats on the public hospital's board of trustees. The hospital, which is supported by Polk County (IA) taxpayers, is run by seven elected trustees.
Iowa leaders have delayed action on a proposal endorsed by Gov. Chet Culver that would give state employees fewer health insurance plan choices in 2009. Under the plan, state employees would no longer be able to choose health insurance plans currently offered by United HealthCare. They would instead have to choose among packages offered by Wellmark. Culver's staff argues it would save millions of dollars for taxpayers and state workers. But there are concerns that eliminating United could eliminate competition and eventually drive costs higher.
A new study from the University of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota says a bonus can help entice doctors to make referrals to a hot line. As an experiment, Blue Cross offered to pay medical clinics for referring smokers to a stop-smoking hot line, with clinics receiving up to $100 per referral. In less than a year, those clinics referred nearly three times as many smokers to the hot line as those that didn't get the bonuses (11% vs. 4%), according to the study.
A jury has awarded nearly $11 million to a woman who became partially paralyzed after waiting two hours for a hospital brain scan at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens. Jurors found the medical center was negligent in caring for Candida Diego after she fractured her skull in a fall in September 2004. A spokeswoman said the hospital doesn't believe it is liable for the 71-year-old's condition and is appealing the decision.
Illinois' Medicaid program has decided to cover a genetic test for the first time. The state will now pay for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene tests and genetic counseling for low-income women considered at high risk of developing hereditary breast or ovarian cancer. The test identifies mutations on the BRCA genes that significantly increase a woman's chance of getting cancer.