Health insurance plans that for years offered enhanced Medicare coverage for 11 million Americans age 65 and older are under some strain. Aetna Inc., has advised 8,500 area customers that it will terminate two of its Medicare Advantage plans at the end of this year. Independence Blue Cross has given the same notices to 44,000 individual subscribers who depend on four plans it offers. Other insurers in other markets are also making cuts.
While the H1N1 virus that causes swine flu is new, the vaccine brewed to stop it follows the same tried-and-true laboratory and production methods used to churn out millions of doses each year against the seasonal strain. And, so far, clinical trials of the vaccine have not turned up any side effects more worrisome than the mild variety associated with annual flu immunizations. But that message is not reaching everyone, as evidenced by chatter in the blogosphere and a series of recent polls exposing significant pockets of ambivalence about the vaccine.
Pandemic H1N1 influenza caused a 15-fold increase in admissions to intensive-care units for lung problems in Australia and New Zealand during the winter flu season, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, offering a taste of what might be expected in the U.S. this winter. In a separate study, U.S. researchers reported that one-quarter of Americans who were hospitalized with influenza symptoms last spring ended up in the intensive-care ward and 7% died. Both groups of researchers concluded that H1N1 flu was slightly more dangerous than seasonal flu.
It's already happened in North Carolina, where lawmakers have decreed that starting next year, state employees who smoke will pay more for health insurance. Ditto state employees who are still obese by July 2011, defined as having a body mass index of more than 40. Could the federal government be far behind?
Olympia J. Snowe may be, for the moment, the most powerful woman in Washington. As the lone congressional Republican working to support President Obama's healthcare overhaul, no one will be more closely watched when the Senate Finance Committee votes next week on a bill aimed at curbing costs, improving coverage and making insurance more attainable for those without.
House lawmakers are considering adding to their health overhaul bill a tax on insurance providers' windfall profits before the legislation comes to the House floor for a vote later this fall. The tax would be similar to a proposal in legislation pending before the Senate Finance Committee, although lawmakers said specifics of the tax haven't yet been discussed. House leaders are looking for ways to defray the costs of their plan to expand health-insurance coverage to millions.
The White House-backed drive for a healthcare bill picked up steam Thursday, propelled by a favorable report on its price tag and positive comments by some key players. But big hurdles remained, including disagreements among Democrats on how to finance the legislation. Sen. Charles Schumer revived a push for a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers, proposing a federal plan that states could opt out of. Senate and White House negotiators are looking at the Schumer idea and others as they craft a bill to bring to the Senate floor.
The industry heavyweights President Obama neutralized through the summer are saying that the healthcare bills in Congress violate agreements they made with the White House, leave 25 million Americans uninsured, and have the potential to increase medical costs. One day after Democrats celebrated the news that a bill drafted in the Senate Finance Committee would not increase the deficit, the prospects for speedy enactment of landmark reform grew murkier.
Some health insurers are using hardball tactics to pry patients from their sickbeds, which illustrates the colliding financial interests that pervade healthcare. It is a tug of war over where patients are treated, who decides how much care they receive and—fundamentally—which parts of the healthcare industry gain or lose when people become ill.
A key Senate committee will vote Tuesday on its $829 billion overhaul of the nation's healthcare system, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday—the final hurdle before the full House and Senate can begin their debate on the future of healthcare. In a speech on the Senate floor, Reid criticized Republicans for opposing the finance committee's measure, accusing GOP leaders of aiming to be "partisan protesters" rather than "productive partners."
