Sharply different philosophies are at the core of the three major Presidential candidates' potential solutions for how Americans should get and pay for their healthcare. Each is reacting to a host of problems that are driving up costs for businesses and consumers, including a 78% jump in insurance premiums since 2002, a Medicare system heading for red ink as baby boomers age, and a shrinking percentage of employers offering coverage. Those factors, combined with the growing number of uninsured, have created a public appetite for healthcare reform.
California's largest health insurers will meet with regulators to discuss ongoing state enforcement efforts regarding possible fines and other penalties for the way insurers sometimes cancel policies after patients pile up medical bills. The Department of Managed Health Care plans to discuss the standards to which it is holding the insurers' practices, as well as remedies for problems identified in the probes of policy cancellations.
Of all the high-profile Atlantans chosen for the board of the new nonprofit corporation that runs Grady Memorial Hospital, few, have a more impressive resume than Louis Sullivan, MD. Sullivan is the former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and brings his connections to the medical world, the Washington bureaucracy, potential donors and to the black community. Credibility in the black community could be key, because many Grady patients are minorities. The hospital's restructuring has been viewed with suspicion by some black leaders who fear it is a power grab by white business leaders.
The financially troubled University of Connecticut Health Center is seeking a $22 million bailout from the state legislature to close its operating deficit. UConn officials say the 224-bed John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington is too small to make a profit. The hospital received a $20 million bailout in 2000, and got an infusion of more than $10 million in 2007 to help pay for fringe benefits that are more expensive than at similar hospitals because the Dempsey workers are state employees.
When Massachusetts launched its universal health insurance initiative, the state put off addressing rising costs. But now the state faces a recession, and pivotal funding decisions could make or break the state's landmark bid for health reform. A short-term funding problem may be solved quickly if Massachusetts approves an increase in the cigarette tax and devotes the money to healthcare reform. The plan's future rests on slowing the growth of healthcare costs in general, which analysts say is far more challenging than shaping the health reform law.
The Michigan Senate has passed a spending plan that will provide healthcare to the poor and disabled, but Republicans blocked Democrats' efforts to continue allowing 19- and 20-year-olds to qualify for Medicaid. Sen. Deb Cherry said taking away Medicaid coverage for those young adults is foolish. Some of the young adults are living on their own after leaving foster care, and others would turn to costly emergency room care if they don't have health insurance, she said.
The demand for family physicians is expected to surge by 2020, when the nation will need 140,000 family physicians, according to statistics from the American Academy of Family Physicians. If all Americans get health coverage as promised by politicians, 47 million uninsured Americans will need health coverage. Now people should be concerned about whether the supply of primary care doctors is up to the task, says Wall Street Journal columnist Benjamin Brewer, MD.
A new report issued by the Bush administration says Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund would be exhausted in 2019, while Social Security's reserves would be depleted in 2041. Trustees said Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund would pay out more in benefits than it receives in taxes and other dedicated revenues this year. The report may put pressure on the presidential candidates to say what they would do to rein in health costs and to shore up the programs.
One-third of Americans say high costs force them to skip needed medical care, and one-quarter of the respondents said they had serious problems paying for the care they needed, according to a survey sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Among those surveyed, 95 percent said U.S. healthcare needed fundamental change or a complete overhaul.
The Maryland House of Delegates has agreed to encourage more working-poor families to enroll their children in a state health insurance program, but will not mandate enrollment and withhold tax credits from parents who don't. Beginning in fall 2008, parents with incomes up to three times the federal poverty line will receive a notice with their state income tax forms telling them they are eligible for the Maryland Children's Health Program. Legislative leaders said that mandating enrollment might have unfairly punished parents who don't sign up their children.
