MAY 11, 2005 -- Any health care legislation with the names Kennedy, Gingrich, Clinton—and possibly Frist—listed as supporters is likely to get more than a second glance in Congress, particularly if it's a low-cost way to address a high profile policy issue: health care information technology. That's why the 21st Century Health Information Act of 2005, HR 2234, is likely to grab a lot of attention in coming weeks. Unveiled at a press conference by Reps. Patrick J. Kennedy, D-R.I., former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., the bill aims to upgrade the quality, efficiency, and safety of health care by encouraging adoption of health care information technology through regional networks. Read more »
Association health plans (AHPs) will do little to cover the uninsured and will erode state laws that require insurers to cover preventative health care services such as well-child care and mammography screening, insurance and health care groups said. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, along with an array of patient groups such as the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, released a report that concluded AHPs would destroy an array of state-mandated consumer protections that include limiting how much and how often an employer's premiums can increase when an employee gets sick and requiring independent, external review when care is denied. Read more »
MAY 9, 2005 -- Preliminary results of a study released by the Economic and Social Research Institute say if Medicaid had been capped at enrollment levels that existed in the program in 1999, the number of uninsured would stand at 50 million rather than 45 million. Capping Medicaid spending "could create a serious risk of deepening future recessions," said Stan Dorn, a researcher at the institute. Although the Bush administration denies that it aims to shift into block grants the optional part of the program, which accounts for two-thirds of its overall spending, critics say the proposal to give states flexibility in managing optional populations and optional benefits amounts to much the same thing. Read more »
Tying providers' pay to the quality of the medical care is the most effective way to cut health care costs, according to a Commonwealth Fund poll. More than half of those surveyed, or 57 percent, rated "pay for performance" as an "extremely or very effective way" to reduce health care costs. Federal officials and policy wonks are touting pay for performance as a way to improve medical care for Medicare beneficiaries and spend federal health care dollars efficiently. Read more »
MAY 13, 2005 -- The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), a nonpartisan policy research organization, reported that in 2003 more than one-fifth of all adult Medicaid enrollees reported that they couldn't afford to get at least one prescription filled. Although all states offer prescription drug coverage for most Medicaid beneficiaries, 22 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries aged 18 and older said they couldn't afford to get a prescription filled in the previous year, according to findings from HSC's Community Tracking Study Household Survey. Read more »