Posts Tagged ‘health care’

Missouri Files Suit Against Federal Health Care Plan

July 7th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in health insurance

Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder of Missouri filed a lawsuit today to block federally mandated health insurance in his state, claiming that Congress’s health care overhaul has overstepped governmental authority, and infringed upon state sovereignty. Kinder’s suit, filed by himself and three other Missouri residents, asserted that the federal government may not force people to purchase a product nor can it require state officials to participate in enforcing a “federal scheme.”

Missouri is not the first state to challenge the federal health care plan since it was signed into law in March.

In a written statement, Kinder, a Republican said, “Many Missourians will lose the options for health insurance they currently enjoy. Missourians have less health care coverage after the federal law was passed than they did before it was passed.”

Insurance changes sparked by the new federal health care law include the expansion of health insurance coverage, so that thirty million people currently without insurance will be covered. Parents will be able to keep dependent children on their policies to the age of 26, and Medicaid coverage will be expanded. There is a period of roughly four years before insurance is required or tax penalties will be levied.

In other lawsuits, the Justice Department has maintained that the federal health care law fits within Congress’s authority over the regulation of interstate commerce and providing for the general welfare of the American people. Further, it argued, the choice to opt out of health insurance affects everyone, insured or not.

On Wednesday, U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said that it will defend the federal health care law from challenges over constitutional or other grounds.

“We are confident that this statute is constitutional and that we will prevail,” Schmaler said.

Tags: ,

Senate Approves COBRA Extension Bill

March 12th, 2010 by Iris | Comments Off | Filed in cobra insurance, health insurance

Modern Healthcare reported on Wednesday that the United States Senate voted 62-36 to approve a $138 billion bill that temporarily halts cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, and also extends COBRA premium subsidies and Medicaid assistance.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D – NV) said in a statement to the press, “This week’s bill helps those who have been hit the hardest. Among other things, we’re going to extend unemployment benefits to those looking for work, cut taxes for families and businesses, and protect Medicaid so low-income families can afford healthcare.”

Specifically this new bill will postpone a 21% cut in Medicare physician payments until October 1, 2010, though physician groups are still hoping that Congress will offer a more permanent solution to Medicare’s sustainable growth-rate (SGR) formula, which is based on the health of the economy at any given moment. Payment cuts to doctors have been looming since 2003. This SGR measure is likely to cost almost $7.5 billion between now and 2020.

In addition, the bill contains a six-month extension of additional federal financial aid to the state Medicaid programs, and extends COBRA and unemployment insurance benefits through the end of this year.

The bill is not unopposed. Naysayers argue that it isn’t fully offset, and will add more than $100 billion to the federal deficit over the next ten years. Senator George LeMieux (R – FL) said during floor debate that while some of the programs in question may be good for the states in the immediate future, “…at some point a senator has to stand up and say … no more bankrupting the country.”

With Senate approval, the bill has now been sent back to the House of Representatives, which already passed an earlier version of it. As of close of business on Wednesday, it was still uncertain whether there would be a conference between the Senate and House, or if the House would simply vote on the bill as altered by the Senate, before passing it along to the President.

Tags: , , , ,

Health Care Summit Faces a Bigger Challenge than Just Health Care

February 23rd, 2010 by admin | Comments Off | Filed in health insurance

On the eve of a “bipartisan” summit on health care legislation scheduled for Thursday, February 25, the web is alive with talk about how the current stalemate can or can’t be resolved. The New York Times weighed in Sunday with an interesting piece on, “How the G.O.P. Can Fix Health Care.”

Provocatively, the article opens by leveling blame at President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid for failing to achieve reform “because they fundamentally don’t believe in markets, incentives and the power of hundreds of millions of people to make smart choices about their health. It’s just not in the Democratic leaders’ DNA.”

The health care summit will be televised via C-SPAN and few people who plan to watch expect to see bi-partisanship at its best. The op-ed contributors for the Times piece single out the practice of “volume-based” reimbursement as a major factor in escalating health care costs.

The article goes on to discuss “value-based” reimbursement to “align the incentives of doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical makers, and other health care providers.” The authors are making a case for high performance based on measurable outcomes and proven standard of practice paired with the intelligent use of information technology.

It all sounds great, but the profit motives involved for each of these industries — and health care in this country is comprised of separate industries with clearly identifiable self-interests — are so large and so buoyed by the efforts and monies of lobbyists, even this approach seems to be so much pie in the sky.

The health care debate has highlighted the broken nature of Washington, where party alignments clearly outweigh the public good. Health care isn’t going to be an affordable option for recession-plagued Americans until the costs of drugs are brought in line with reality and insurance companies are prevented from arbitrarily raising rates and denying necessary procedures — or coverage itself — based on risk management rather than human need.

The challenge President Obama and Congressional leaders face is not just unraveling a badly flawed health care system, but of getting their political colleagues to quit thinking about their re-election campaigns long enough to get something done. Everyone can agree the problem exists, but no one is ready to walk the political plank and make big changes.

Tags: , ,