Providing health insurance to the roughly 50 million people uninsured will cost approximately like $120 billion a year. President Obama has proposed $60 billion or so in new revenue for this purpose but Congress seems set to reject about half of the down payment. That makes for the $90 billion healthcare hole, and no one is quite sure how to fill it, says this analysis from the New York Times.
The Illinois-based Loyola University Health System announced it will cut more than 440 jobs, or about 8% of its work force, amid the recession and an economic downturn causing an influx of patients who cannot pay their medical bills. For example, the number of patients who cannot pay their bills has increased by 73% the medical center's expenses on charity care to $31.3 million from $18.1 million for the nine-month period that ended March 31.
The idea of taxing employee healthcare benefits to raise money for an overhaul of the health system is gaining strength in Congress, although it drew criticism from Barack Obama when he was campaigning for president. Experts before the Senate Finance Committee said it is one of the best ways to pay for a healthcare overhaul, and many top Democrats support the concept.
Federal authorities are investigating the theft of patient information, possibly by a former Johns Hopkins Hospital employee, as part of a scheme to make fraudulent driver's licenses. The employee, who worked in the patient registration area, would have had access to information such as names, addresses, parents' names, and Social Security numbers as part of her job duties, according to a letter the hospital sent to the identity theft unit of the state attorney general's office.
In response to a sagging economy, Minnesota-based Park Nicollet Health Services announced it would shut down a clinic and consolidate some mental health services. The moves will result in 240 employees losing their jobs. Park Nicollet already has eliminated more than 490 positions in the past six months, a result of its diminished investment portfolio and a decline in the number of patients because of the recession.
Several Texas lawmakers made a last-ditch effort to heat up interest in legislation to extend children's Medicaid coverage from a six-month enrollment period to 12 months. The Legislature wraps up its session June 1, and a May 14 deadline in the House for passage of certain bills will take many proposals out of the running. Supporters of the Medicaid expansion called for the House Calendars Committee to place the 12-month Medicaid bill near the front of the remaining batch of bills to be considered.
The Pennsylvania House has approved a bill that would extend health insurance coverage to dependent children up to the age of 30. The legislation, which passed the Senate unanimously in March, would allow adult children to be covered under their parents' insurance plan.
A leading healthcare advocate in the New Jersey Senate said that he would not vote to approve a budget that tightens access to the state's FamilyCare program, and suggested several possible funding sources.
Last year, New Jersey expanded FamilyCare, the state program that offers free or low-cost health insurance to children in lower-income families, to include more parents. But faced with a dire fiscal situation, Gov. Jon Corzine has proposed restricting new adult enrollment in FamilyCare in the fiscal year that begins July 1 to save $9.7 million.
Urgent-care centers have been gaining ground across the country recently as an attractive medical option for time-pressed families trying to avoid spending hours in a hospital ER or days waiting for a doctor's appointment. The centers offer walk-in medical services and extended hours to customers with non-life-threatening medical problems. Doctors provide the care, assisted by nurses, and generally X-ray and laboratory services are available. Most centers are open 365 days a year, and insurance policies cover most services. This convenience-oriented format is getting a boost as hospitals and private firms build new centers, responding in part to new competition from retail clinics.
The swine-flu outbreak has focused a spotlight on a shortage of technicians to run critical lab tests. Like the growing shortages of primary-care doctors and nurses, the shrinking ranks of skilled lab workers pose a potential threat to the safety and quality of health care, medical experts warn. Hospitals say it currently can take as much as a year to fill some job openings, and the American Society for Clinical Pathology says average job-vacancy rates currently top 50% in some states.
