Posts Tagged ‘Health Care’

Most households in the US should be receiving their 2010 Census forms this week. Data from the census, which happens only every ten years, is used for a variety of things, including appropriation of health care dollars that eventually affect you and I. Census data is used in planning for hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and other health care facilities. It’s used in creating more efficient maps to facilitate the speedy arrival of emergency services to your home. It also helps to direct health care services for those in poverty. Questions on the census relating to one’s race and ethnicity also help to identify services of importance to certain racial or ethnic groups, such as screening for hypertension or diabetes in Asians and Latinos. Keep in mind that the census does not ask about your visa or residency status, that is not the point. It merely collects demographic data on individuals living currently in the US. Read more about the 2010 Census.

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The big news in U.S. health care came early Monday morning (1 am to be exact) as a 60-Senator majority  agreed upon their plan for health care reform. The Senate bill would make health insurance mandatory for almost all citizens of the union, covering nearly 30 million currently uninsured Americans. But, if there is any indication as to whether this most recent bill favors the American individual or the private, for-profit insurance companies all one needs to do is to look towards the ticker. Shares of major U.S. health insurance companies rose Monday, including Aetna, Cigna, Humana, United Health and Wellpoint – all hitting 52-week highs. According to Businessweek, “Investors have been worried for months that a public option would provide unfair competition to private insurers in part because it would receive government financial backing and could set reimbursement at artificially low levels.” But, worry no more since the lobbying efforts of these companies continue to pay off as lawmakers continue to pass bills that put our money into the pockets of insurers rather than spending the majority of it on caring for our health. [via Businessweek]

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San Francisco is the first city in the US to offer a health plan for its uninsured citizens. The plan, called “Healthy San Francisco,”  was launched two years ago and has received high marks in independent studies. Currently, three-quarters of San Francisco’s uninsured adults have enrolled in the program which guarantees access to medical services. “Healthy San Francisco is not insurance,” and doesn’t function outside of the city limits. But ”any uninsured adult who lives in San Francisco and earns up to 500% of the federal poverty level annually is eligible. … Patients must pick a medical home out of a network of more than 30 public and private clinics, physician groups and hospitals within the city limits. The idea is that patients get consistent care and the system avoids duplicating services. … Preventative services, care for illness and chronic conditions, hospital stays and prescriptions are all covered.” The funding for the program comes from public funds as well as an employer mandate. Restaurants and businesses may also contribute to the fund by way of an additional “fee” added to their patron’s bills. [Los Angeles Times via Kaiser Health News]

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If you have doubts that lack of health insurance can have deadly consequences, consider these new findings from the American Journal of Public Health: Americans without health insurance are 40% more likely to die than those with private insurance. The Harvard study reiterates a 1993 Institute of Medicine study, which found a 25% higher death risk among those without insurance compared with privately insured adults. Why does the uninsured face this greater risk? The Institute of Medicine identifies three factors that influence health outcomes: not getting care when needed, not having a regular source of care, and not getting continuity of coverage – all of these are difficult goals to accomplish for the uninsured. Approximately 45,000 Americans of working age die each year because they lack health insurance. [via Yahoo! News]

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According to an analysis released by The Commonwealth Fund this week, private insurance premiums for employer-sponsored coverage will rise by 94% by the year 2020. This is on top of the 119% increase that has already occurred between 1999-2008. These premium increases were greater than four times the rise in family incomes during the same period, even prior to the current recession. And these are only the premiums alone, not including out-of-pocket costs – deductibles, co-pays, and miscellaneous fees – which have also risen. This is why medical bills have become the number one cause in 62% of bankruptcies. Yet, instead of reining in cost and saving us money, private insurance companies will continue to increase their premiums. Regardless of how we end up dealing with our current health care situation, any genuine reform must counter the rising cost of health insurance premiums. [via The Commonwealth Fund]

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An essay published by the Stanford Prevention Research Center in the New England Journal of Medicine is arguing that current drug labeling doesn’t adequately allow consumers to effectively compare two drugs used for the same indication. For example, how would a consumer know whether a new drug is better than one that’s been on the market for years? Currently, the FDA doesn’t require pharmaceutical companies to include statements about how their new products compare with existing treatments. All they are required to do is to show that it performs better than placebo – without harmful side effects. Now, imagine picking up a drug with the following label: “Although this drug has been shown to lower blood pressure more effectively than placebo, it has not been shown to be more effective than other members of the same drug class.” After reading this would you prefer to buy this newer (and likely more expensive) brand-name drug or would you opt for the tried and true generic? The authors argue that this type of labeling can curb the appetite of consumers – and doctors – in always wanting the newest medications, which contributes tremendously to our ever-growing health care costs. [via Medical News Today]

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President Barack Obama addressed physicians this week at the 158th annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago.  His goal was to gain the support of the nation’s doctors for his healthcare plan which he said for the first time will cost an estimated $1 trillion dollars, perhaps even more. To help fund the costs obama wants to cut federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion and cut $313 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years, in addition to a new $635 billion in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system. The goal is to formulate a streamlined health care system that costs less, yet delivers more. Whatever the cost – or the plan – reforming our broken health care system will not be cheap. With more than 50 million uninsured Americans something needs to be done.

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A Congressional staff briefing on the state of health care in the US will take place on Tuesday March 24. The briefing will include the release of a new report, Primary Care Access: An Essential Building Block of Health Reform, which will reveal that nearly 60 million Americans are currently without a regular source of preventitive and primary health care. This is attributable to many factors, including economic instability, as well as the worsening shortage of primary care physicians and a growing scarcity of providers willing to treat the uninsured or publicly insured.

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A new report from the Institute of Medicine finds that more US residents will lose their health insurance as the economy continues to weaken and health care costs continue to rise. Many companies have begun to replace full-time positions with part-time, contract and temporary positions that do not include health insurance. The report also found that increased health insurance premiums have prompted more employees to seek out alternative options outside of plans offered by companies. According to the report, the average annual employee premium contribution for family health insurance coverage increased from $1,543 to $3,354 between 1999 and 2008.

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A study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reiterates what we already know – that a looming shortage of general practitioners will contribute to a possible health crisis in the coming years as the average age of Americans increase. A poll of US medical students show that only 2% plan on becoming general practitioners due to worries about having to care for elderly patients with complicated illnesses. In addition, students complained that internal medicine required more paperwork, a greater breadth of knowledge and pay less than more lucrative specialties. “The number of older adults in the United States is expected to nearly double between the years 2005 and 2030, and one planning model predicts that the United States will have 200,000 too few physicians by 2020,” they wrote. Full story.

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