http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/mike-pences-health-policy-record-mixed-bag
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is in the spotlight this week as the man Donald Trump has picked to be his running mate. Pence’s decisions about health and health care in Indiana have drawn attention from within and outside the state. His record could be important in November, because Trump doesn’t have a legislative record at all.
Here’s a quick look at the governor’s history in terms of health policy in Indiana.
Sanders convention speech cites Clinton health care concessions
In a Democratic convention speech that revisited the agenda of his surprisingly competitive campaign for the nomination, Sanders reminded the audience that while he may have lost the race, he did succeed in convincing Clinton to support three important proposals: a “public option” for Obamacare, letting people join Medicare early, and a big funding increase for community health centers.
“This campaign is about moving the United States toward universal health care and reducing the number of people who are uninsured or underinsured,” Sanders said. “Hillary Clinton wants to see that all Americans to have right to choose public option in their health care exchange.”
Hillary Clinton is quick to tout that she will defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and build on it to slow the growth of out-of-pocket healthcare costs while Donald Trump vows to repeal the ACA and have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free-market principles.
But when taking a closer look at their proposals, Clinton and Trump are keeping mum about some healthcare issues, and that’s raising some critical questions. Managed Healthcare Executive asked industry experts to comment on what topics presidential candidates are being quiet about, and why they suspect they’re not talking about them.
At least 12 babies in the United States have already been born with the heartbreaking brain damage caused by the Zika virus. And with that number expected to multiply, public health and pediatric specialists are scrambling as they have rarely done to prepare for the lifelong implications of each case.
Many of Zika’s littlest victims, diagnosed with microcephaly and other serious birth defects that might not immediately be apparent, could require care estimated at more than $10 million through adulthood. Officials who have been concentrating on measures to control and prevent transmission of the virus are now confronting a new challenge, seeking to provide guidance for doctors and others who work with young children with developmental problems.
The White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are holding regular talks with experts and nonprofits about the array of services the infants and their families will need well into the future. Advocacy groups are seeking to raise awareness among parents and day-care providers, and some high-risk states are streamlining existing programs so that they can rapidly connect Zika babies with physical, occupational and other therapies.
5 health and medicine issues to watch for at the Democratic convention
Hillary Clinton led a health care reform effort in the 1990s, promoted medical research as a senator, and has been bashing price-hiking drug companies on the campaign trail and in TV ads.
So there’s every reason to expect her to make health care a major theme when she accepts the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia on Thursday night. What she says about the future of medical research, public health, and the uninsured will give a valuable preview of what her priorities would be — and how far she’s willing to go to co-opt the ideas of her defeated rival, Bernie Sanders.
Here are the five biggest things to watch in health and medicine:
http://khn.org/news/five-health-issues-presidential-candidates-arent-talking-about-but-should-be/
References to the Affordable Care Act — sometimes called Obamacare — have been a regular feature of the current presidential campaign season.
For months, Republican candidates have pledged to repeal it, while Democrat Hillary Clinton wants to build on it and Democrat Bernie Sanders wants to replace it with a government-funded “Medicare for All” program.
But much of the policy discussion stops there. Yet the nation in the next few years faces many important decisions about health care — most of which have little to do with the controversial federal health law. Here are five issues candidates should be discussing, but largely are not:
http://khn.org/news/hospital-finance-measure-on-california-ballot-may-stump-voters/
California voters will be asked to weigh in this November on a hospital financing measure so politically and financially complicated that they might be tempted to avoid it altogether.
The initiative, Proposition 52, would make permanent the “Hospital Quality Assurance Fee,” which the state collects from private hospitals to bring in additional federal dollars for Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid health care program for the poor. The federal government matches money that California puts up to fund Medi-Cal services.
The dollars generated by the fee are used to fund hospital services and children’s health care under Medi-Cal, and the ballot measure would help ensure the money is not diverted by lawmakers for other uses.
Hospitals like the fee, which has been in place since 2009, because it gives them a big financial boost in what they say is an underfunded government health program. In the 2015-2016 fiscal year, hospitals received an additional $3.5 billion to pay for services they provided to Medi-Cal patients, according to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office.
The Republican National Convention pulled up stakes after it concluded yesterday, but a visitor to the convention floor says that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay.
In an interview with CBS This Morning, Cleveland Clinic Chief Executive Officer Toby Cosgrove, M.D., said that it was unlikely that the ACA would be uprooted, even if Republican Donald J. Drumpf is elected President and there are GOP majorities in both houses of Congress.
“I don’t think you will see something now six years into the process totally dismantled,” Cosgrove said, adding that the healthcare reform law has led to insurance coverage for 20 million more Americans. Cosgrove suggested that it was more likely that the ACA would undergo continuing improvements such as “more wellness activities.”
http://kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/the-facts-on-medicare-spending-and-financing/
Medicare, the federal health insurance program for 57 million people ages 65 and over and people with permanent disabilities, helps to pay for hospital and physician visits, prescription drugs, and other acute and post-acute care services. In 2015, spending on Medicare accounted for 15% of the federal budget (Figure 1). Medicare plays a major role in the health care system, accounting for 20% of total national health spending in 2014, 29% of spending on retail sales of prescription drugs, 26% of spending on hospital care, and 23% of spending on physician services.1 This issue brief includes the most recent historical and projected Medicare spending data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary (OACT), the 2016 annual report of the Boards of Medicare Trustees2 and the 2016 Medicare baseline and projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).3
HENRY KOTULA 