Full Wallets, but Using Health Program for Poor
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
AFTER immigrating to New York City from China in the 1970s, Z. Y. Tung and his wife worked hard — he as a bank manager, she as a public school secretary — lived frugally and saved every penny they could for the next generation.
Until five years ago, when his wife, Wen Mei Hu, racked by bone-marrow cancer, had to be put in a nursing home, where the bills ran past $100,000 a year, threatening to quickly drain the couple’s life savings of $500,000. The nursing home told him not to worry: If he signed a document essentially refusing to support his wife of several decades, Medicaid, the federal insurance program for the indigent, would pick up the bill.
Health Care and the Deficit
Here is a basic truth about the deficit: In the long run, it cannot be fixed, without reining in spending on Medicare and Medicaid.
This year, Medicare, Medicaid and a related children’s health insurance program will account for more than 20 percent of all federal spending — higher than Social Security or defense. Unless there are big changes, by 2035 federal health care spending — driven by rising medical costs and an aging population — is projected to account for almost 40 percent of the budget.
Staffs Worry About Shifts in County Health System
By KARI LYDERSEN
As Tia Speat strode through the quiet halls of Oak Forest Hospital last week passing out fliers about the nurses union’s contract negotiations with Cook County officials, angry nurses accosted her with questions and complaints about proposed cuts in service and staff.
As the county health system shifts strategy to deliver care with leaner resources, many who provide medical services say they are approaching a breaking point. An analysis by the nurses union predicted that the county health system’s 2011 budget would cut about 1,000 jobs, including 114 nurses and 19 doctors, to help close a $487 million countywide budget gap.
A New Steward In Hospitals
STEWARD HEALTH Care System’s recent move to purchase two more community hospitals — after having owned the six-hospital Caritas Christi system for only one month — reveals more of the firm’s ultimate intentions. . Led by its ambitious chief executive, Ralph de la Torre, Steward is aiming to create a statewide network that can compete with Partners Healthcare, owner of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Maine doctors advise against seeking repealIncoming officials appear ready to challenge reform, but a group of physicians hopes to dissuade them.The Maine Medical Association hopes to keep Maine out of the fight to repeal national health care reform. http://www.pressherald.com/news/maine-doctors-advise-against-seeking-repeal_2010-12-13.html Central Provision Of Health Care Law Is Ruled UnconstitutionalA federal district judge in Virginia ruled on Monday that the keystone provision in the Obama health care law is unconstitutional, becoming the first court in the country to invalidate any part of the sprawling act and ensuring that appellate courts will receive contradictory opinions from below. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/health/policy/14health.html?hp=&pagewanted=print |
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