Tag Archives: Health Policy
Paul Ryan Makes Huge (Yet Really Obvious) Admission About Obamacare
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) hasn’t lost his grip on reality, he revealed Monday during an interview with conservative radio host Jay Weber.
Ryan admitted that a victory by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintonwould mark the end of his quixotic quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That may seem like an obvious conclusion, but it qualifies as a noteworthy statement because it’s coming from the man who oversaw dozens of hopeless votes to overturn the 6-year-old health care law.
During the discussion on WISN, Weber laid out a series of “hard truths” with respect to the stakes in the presidential and congressional elections if Republicans fail to win the White House and lose the Senate, including Democrats being able to confirm Clinton’s Supreme Court nominees.
Here’s Weber and Ryan discussing the Affordable Care Act:
http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/ryan-accepts-aca-here-to-stay-if-clinton-wins/429898/
What the 2016 presidential election could mean for the future of the ACA
http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/2016-president-election-ACA-future-healthcare/429843/
At the federal level, the nation’s two major political parties have vastly different visions for the future of healthcare. The election will help to determine which course the nation follows for the foreseeable future. What are the likely outcomes depending on who wins the presidency?
Gun violence survivors and witnesses could face lifetime of trauma and bad health
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20161105/MAGAZINE/311059989
Chicago has been pummeled with near constant gun violence this year. An estimated 3,600 shootings have taken place, on average—that’s about 10 shootings a day.
During the recent Halloween weekend alone, 17 people died and 41 were wounded.
And while politicians and policy makers struggle to find ways to create policies to address America’s violence, another related crisis is slowing growing.
Most of the shootings are concentrated in impoverished communities. The virtual war zones are home to people who suffer from poor health and lower rates of insurance coverage, leaving them at a disadvantage when they are injured, either physically or tangentially, by gun violence. And oftentimes, the most vulnerable victims are young people who have a lifetime ahead.
f you grow up in a world where you’re not feeling safe, then you feel as though you’re under attack whether or not you actually are,” said Dr. David Soglin, chief medical officer at La Rabida Children’s Hospital, an acute-care pediatric center on Chicago’s South Side that specializes in treating children who have been victims of abuse and trauma. “For some kids in our communities, they really are under attack.”
The trauma surrounding exposure to gun violence is not disputed, especially among children. In 1995, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reported that children who had four or more adverse childhood experiences, such as experiencing or witnessing a shooting, were more likely to smoke, drink, abuse drugs and engage in unsafe sex. Those behaviors often lead to chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, diabetes and sexually transmitted diseases.
The growing number of people who survive living in the country’s most violent neighborhoods is causing public health officials to respond by creating comprehensive violence prevention efforts.
As Insurers Cut Brokers’ Commissions, Consumers May Have One Less Tool For Enrollment
With open enrollment set to begin today, some health insurance brokers are already fielding questions about coverage and whether existing plans will still be available next year. For an increasing number of brokers, there’s also another question: Will they get paid?
Some insurers — including Cigna and Aetna — will not pay licensed agents and brokers a commission for helping people enroll in individual health insurance coverage for 2017 in many states, while others have reduced their commissions. They join United Healthcare, which dropped commissions on new business this year in many states.
That is already prompting some brokers to step back from the exchanges when open enrollment begins this week, which could be a hurdle for consumers who normally would seek help from brokers in navigating the complexities of insurance coverage. (Government-supported navigators are still available.)
In Nevada, where the largest carrier in the state has cut commissions for new business and another has dropped payments to $10 a month per customer, broker Vickie Mayville is weighing her options.
“It sometimes takes four hours to ensure clients have the right plan,” said Mayville, who runs her own agency in Las Vegas. “I will help my clients and anyone referred to me, but I’m not actively seeking out new clients.”
Uninsured In Coal Country: Desperate Americans Still Turn To Volunteer Clinics
http://khn.org/news/uninsured-in-coal-country-desperate-americans-still-turn-to-volunteer-clinics/
Six years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and despite 20 million more Americans gaining health insurance, considerable gaps in health care remain.
The decision by states like Virginia not to expand Medicaid and the lack of dental and vision coverage even for those with insurance have meant that the demand for RAM’s free mobile clinics has stayed strong.
Bad Hombres, Russian Hackers And … A Medical Device Tax?
http://khn.org/news/bad-hombres-russian-hackers-and-a-medical-device-tax/
In an election season in which the presidential campaign “issues” have ranged from “hot mics” to emails, some down-ballot campaign ads highlight a wonky, far less racy topic: a tax on medical devices.
Really? Why?
The tax taps into voters’ feelings about placing such levies on businesses and into opinions about the Affordable Care Act’s future. A provision of the federal health law, it was designed to tax manufacturers of some of the most expensive items on medical bills — from pacemakers to artificial joints. Revenues from the tax were meant to help finance the act, so to some it became a proxy for the act itself. Congress voted to suspend it for two years — until 2018 — after intense lobbying by the medical device industry, and, in states with a heavy industry presence, candidates are being asked to take a stand on whether they’ll push to have the tax repealed.
Where is the tax becoming campaign fodder?
California’s Drug Price Initiative: Will Voters ‘Send A Signal To Washington’?
California’s Drug Price Initiative: Will Voters ‘Send A Signal To Washington’?
This year, Mary O’Connor and her father made voting a family affair.
O’Connor’s father is a Vietnam veteran, so she was especially interested in his views on Proposition 61, a California ballot measure that would peg the state’s payments for prescription drugs to prices paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs. It’s widely believed the federal program for military personnel gets some of the deepest discounts in the country.
“We researched it a lot,” said O’Connor, a 24-year-old from Sacramento. Both decided to vote yes because drug prices are “ridiculous” and need to be reined in, she said. “We have seen that things cannot remain the way they are.”
The measure faces strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, which has poured at least $109 million into defeating it. In addition, some state policy experts and consumer advocates say the measure may not save taxpayers or patients any money, and could even do more harm than good. Many veterans’ groups have voiced opposition as well, saying the initiative will raise VA drug spending, but proponents have support from some veterans as well.
But these warnings haven’t swayed — or reached — voters who want lawmakers to just do something to lower drug prices.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has taken up their cause, suggesting passage of Proposition 61 is important to the nation as a whole.
An ACA primer: Much more than insurance
http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/an-aca-primer-much-more-than-insurance/429497/
Remember the Affordable Care Act? Enacted in 2010, it expanded healthcare insurance to millions of uninsured Americans and increased access to care. But the ACA is much more than expanded coverage; it set in motion a variety of reforms in the healthcare delivery systems aimed at lowering costs and improving quality of care.
That fact was lost on presidential candidate Donald Trump, who told Fox News recently, “I don’t use much Obamacare, I must be honest with you, because it is so bad for the people and they can’t afford it.” Trump’s comments imply Obamacare is an insurance plan people can buy, which is not the case. As we wrap up year six since the ACA was enacted, here‘s what the law is really about and how it impacts providers.
Why selling insurance across state lines is an unlikely solution
Proposals to sell insurance across state lines have been floating around for a while. In 2005, Congress considered the first proposal to sell insurance across state lines at the federal level. Many of the candidates running in the recent Republican presidential primary endorsed the idea, including Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. A proposal to sell insurance across state lines is a core component of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s healthcare agenda.
With election day approaching and attention returning to plans that would allow the sale of insurance across state lines, it is worth asking whether these proposals would be effective.
HENRY KOTULA 