The media had lots of health care news to obsess about last week. A federal judge ruled the health care reform law unconstitutional, and Senate Republicans tried in vain to repeal the law. But most of the press paid virtually no attention to a potentially much more important development -- a multi-pronged effort by five major insurers to strip from the law key regulations and consumer protections that aren't to their liking.
The insurers do not want the bill repealed or declared unconstitutional. Congress gave them exactly what they wanted by including in the legislation a requirement that all Americans not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid buy coverage from a private insurance company. That provision alone will result in hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue and profits the insurers otherwise would never see.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont : Visitor
For immediate release: January 19, 2011
Contact: Kevin Goddard (802) 371-3244
Contact: Kevin Goddard (802) 371-3244
Berlin, Vt. – Vermont’s new governor, Legislature and Congressional delegation have embarked on an historic effort to implement transformational reform of the state’s health care system and can rely on the support of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, the state’s only local health plan said today.
“Health care reform will be difficult and it will be challenging, and to be successful it will require all of us within health care to advocate for the system as a whole, rather than for each of our separate parts of it,” said Don George, BCBSVT’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Vermont : Visitor
For the Week Ending January 21, 2011
Vermont should adopt a health care system that provides insurance to every resident with a common benefit package and channels all payments to providers through a single “pipe” with uniform payment rates and common claim processes and adjudication procedures, a legislative consultant told legislators last Wednesday at a high-profile unveiling of a report comparing three options for reform.
Harvard economics professor William Hsiao recommended adoption of a “public-private single-payer” over a government-run single payer or a public option plan because it would be most likely to be acceptable to major stakeholders, produce the most savings, rely on the existing market when possible, minimize political interference in system decisions, and be transparent and accountable.
http://www.bcbsvt.com/visitor/News/LegislativeReports/2011/2011_Week02.html
States Aim Ax at Health Cost of Retirement
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Governors and mayors facing large deficits have set their sights on a relatively new target — the soaring expense of health benefits for millions of retired state and local workers.
As they contend with growing budget deficits and higher pension costs, some mayors are complaining that their outlays for retiree health benefits are rising by 20 percent a year — a result of the wave of retirements of baby boomers and longer life expectancies on top of the double-digit rate of health care inflation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/business/14retirees.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print
Although the following clipping is a little dated, I think it is still useful - even though Governor Le Page's team seems to have erased the website for the Governor's Office of Health Care Policy and Finance - that was working on implementing many of the provisions of the federal PPACA under Governor Baldacci.
Stay tuned.
Although the following clipping is a little dated, I think it is still useful - even though Governor Le Page's team seems to have erased the website for the Governor's Office of Health Care Policy and Finance - that was working on implementing many of the provisions of the federal PPACA under Governor Baldacci.
Stay tuned.
The Affordable Care Act and Maine
Published Jul 04, 2010 12:00 am | Last updated Jul 04, 2010 12:00 am
The national health care bill, known as the Affordable Care Act, will have an enormous impact on the way health care is delivered in this country. To comply with this new federal law, and to get the most benefit from it, Maine will need to change its laws.
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