Health Care Reform Articles - March 24, 2011

One Year Anniversary: The Incredible Shrinking Obama Health Care Law

At its one year anniversary the Obama health care law is shrinking while the health care crisis grows. Americans who lack any health coverage still exceeds 50 million, over 45,000 deaths occur annually due to lack of health insurance, and 40 million Americans, including over 10 million children, are underinsured.

Premiums are rising and coverage is shrinking a new norm is taking hold in America: 'Unaffordable underinsurance.' This month, the number of waivers granted to the Obama health law broke 1,000 protecting inadequate insurance plans. The expansion of health insurance to the uninsured is becoming a mirage. The Obama administration has told states they could reduce the number of people covered by Medicaid as well as reduce the services provided. And, the centerpiece of the law is under court challenge - the mandate is the first time ever the federal government has forced Americans to buy a corporate product, private health insurance - is heading to a close Supreme Court decision.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-zeese/one-year-anniversary-the-_b_838535.html?view=print

Rep. Weiner sinks meat hooks into health-care law’s attackers

By Dana Milbank, Wednesday, March 23, 8:25 PM

Democrats would be better off if more of them acted like Weiners.

As the first anniversary of the health-care law approached this week, many Democratic lawmakers went to ground, leaving unanswered Republican accusations that the legislation is socialist, unconstitutional, bankrupting the country, destroying the medical system and generally bringing about the apocalypse. But not Anthony Weiner.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rep-weiner-sinks-meat-hooks-into-health-care-laws-attackers/2011/03/23/ABqQrvKB_print.html

The Economist

Health care

A not very happy birthday

What will become of Barack Obama’s health reforms?

http://www.economist.com/node/18389179/print

Articles of Interest

These articles highlight many of the health care related stories in the news–ranging from single-payer op-eds by PNHP members to reports by newspapers on corporate health care.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/articles-of-interest

Universal health care bill in Vermont passes, 89-47

By Anne Galloway
Vtdigger.org, March 24, 2011

You can call it Frank. You can call it Fred. But don’t call it a single-payer health care system. That was the message Rep. Mark Larson, D-Burlington, delivered to lawmakers in the House Appropriations Committee last week and during the House floor debate on Vermont’s latest effort to reform its health care system. The euphemism single-payer was struck from the bill in an amendment to make the legislation more palatable to Republicans, sources say. The bill passed 89-47 after eight hours of debate, speeches, amendments and roll call votes. The legislation now goes to the state Senate.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2011/march/universal-health-care-bill-in-vermont-passes-89-47

I'm including the following stories to give followers of this blog a taste of the political environment we're now facing in Maine.  Governor LePage adds to his motormouth-of-the-week series of gaffs, adding to his comments that President Obama can go to hell, the NAACP can "kiss my butt", and that his opposition to regulating BPA in plastic consumer products is OK because it's no big deal if a few "women grow little beards".  Stay tuned, I'm sure there's more to come!

LePage to Department of Labor:
Lobby mural must go

Coaxed by 'A Secret Admirer,' the governor orders the removal of artwork depicting the state's labor history – and finds himself again at the center of controversy.

By Susan M. Cover scover@mainetoday.com

MaineToday Media State House Writer

AUGUSTA - Labor leaders and the state's biggest Latino group expressed outrage Wednesday at Gov. Paul LePage's decision to remove a mural depicting workers from the Department of Labor's headquarters and rename conference rooms in the building.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/lobby-mural-must-go_2011-03-24.html

Scrubbing Labor’s History

In his nightmarish, futuristic novel “1984,” George Orwell foresaw how those who would control us first control media, language and history. The novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, works at the ironically named Ministry of Truth, rewriting records and altering photos to make the past conform with the ruling party’s current views. Original documents that conflict with new political realities are sent down a “memory hole” to an incinerator.

Reading “1984” is required to understand what’s happening at the state Department of Labor headquarters in Augusta. Some of the department’s symbols — a mural, the names of conference rooms — are being sent down the memory hole by the LePage administration.

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/23/opinion/scrubbing-labor’s-history/print/

Posted: March 24 Updated: Today at 12:58 AM Bill Nemitz: Latest LePage order a piece of work Back in November, long before he decided to hide from the media behind his own weekly television show, Gov. Paul LePage sat down along with his wife, Ann, to chat with WCSH-TV's Bill Green. http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=&title=Bill+Nemitz%3A+Latest+LePage+order+a+piece+of+work&urlID=449474352&action=cpt&partnerID=561087&cid=118545419&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pressherald.com%2Fnews%2Flatest-lepage-order-a-piece-of-work_2011-03-24.html The following website should be visited frequently.  It's updated daily: http://www.pnhp.org/news/articles-of-interest

Health Care Reform Articles - March 24, 2011

Budget battle poses threat to community health centers

GOP targets funds for preventive care

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/articles/2011/03/23/budget_battle_poses_threat_to_community_health_centers/

As health-care law turns 1, supporters using occasion to shape its image

By Amy Goldstein and N.C. Aizenman, Tuesday, March 22, 8:27 PM

This week, a loose federation of left-leaning groups is convening nearly 200 gatherings to peddle the virtues of health-care reform. A women’s speak-out in Philadelphia. A small-business round-table discussion in Albuquerque. A fish fry for seniors in Columbia, S.C. From the Obama administration alone, 42 officials are fanning out to events in 22 states.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-health-care-law-turns-1-supporters-using-occasion-to-shape-its-image/2011/03/21/AB2Pk3EB_print.html


Here is a link to PNHP's excellent "Articles of Interest section:

http://www.pnhp.org/news/articles-of-interest


Posted: March 23
Updated: Today at 9:54 AM 

Anthem takes heat for proposed rate increases

Individual policyholders say the hikes, which average about 10 percent, would hurt their businesses and cause delays in care.

By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PORTLAND — The time is coming when he will no longer be able to hold onto his campground business or keep his health insurance, Mike Stella said Tuesday.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/anthem-takes-heat-for-proposed-rate-increases_2011-03-23.html

Where are the health care all-stars? By: Jennifer Haberkorn March 23, 2011 04:31 AM EDT

Democrats are under siege as they mark the first anniversary of health care reformWednesday — and they won't get much help from the star-studded, $125 million support group they were once promised. Wal-Mart Watch founder Andrew Grossman unveiled the Health Information Campaign with great fanfare last June. Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy's widow, Vicki, were expected to lead the effort. They'd have help from former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn. They'd have an office in Washington with 10 or 15 operatives backing the Affordable Care Act and those who supported it. And they'd have money to spend: Grossman hoped for $25 million a year for five years. But nine months later, the Health Information Campaign has all but disappeared. Its website hasn't been updated since the end of last year. Its executive director and communications director are gone. There's no sign that it has any money. And neither Daschle nor Dunn will return calls asking about it. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=375E8388-7C97-4D51-A2E7-75C9034929EB The" failed experiment" that has yet to begin: 'Obamacare' is a failed experiment By: Sen. John Thune March 23, 2011 04:41 AM EDT It has been one year since Obamacare was signed into law. This is the same law about which then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” It is the same law that Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues jammed through Congress. The same unpopular law that led to Democrats losing control of the House. After a year of learning what is in the law — and seeing its effect on families, small businesses and our economy — it is now clear that Obamacare is a failed experiment. Sadly, this failure was predictable and very expensive. When Sen. Barack Obama was running for president, he repeatedly promised that he was going to reduce “every family’s premiums by as much as $2,500.” We were supposed to see these savings by the end of 2012. Despite these promises, the amount individuals and families pay for health care and insurance continues to rise. Average premiums for individual plans, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, are predicted to increase by $2,100 per family over the next five years under the law. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=D6BDF6A4-24AA-477B-A8FB-A567361279F0 March 23, 2011, 6:33 AM Boehner, McConnell Push Assault on Health Care Law By MICHAEL D. SHEAR http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/boehner-mcconnell-push-assault-on-health-care-law/?smid=tw-nytimespolitics&seid=auto

Health Care Reform Articles - March 22, 2011

Health care overhaul taking root in divided nation

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated PressMon Mar 21, 6:40 am EThttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_at_one_year/print

March 21, 2011

A Panel Decides Washington State’s Health Care Costs

By ANDREW POLLACK

SEATTLE — The health care board was in session, and Deryk Lamb was pleading for them to continue paying for the spinal injections he receives to dull the pain from a workplace injury.

“My life would be a living hell without these injections,” said Mr. Lamb, a 44-year-old carpenter from Lake Stevens, Wash., who was crushed between two trucks in 1996. “I don’t deserve to be sentenced by a committee to a life of agony.”

Mr. Lamb was testifying on Friday before Washington State’s Health Technology Assessment committee. The committee has authority under state law to determine which medical devices and procedures Washington will cover for state employees, Medicaid patients and injured workers, about 750,000 people in all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/business/22care.html?tntemail1=y&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print

Who Will Be Uninsured After Health Insurance Reform?

By: Buettgens M and Hall MA

In: Quick Strike Series

Publisher: Urban Institute

Published: Mar 10, 2011

http://www.rwjf.org/coverage/product.jsp?id=71998

Health Care Reform Articles - March 20, 2011

March 18, 2011

Pre-existing Condition? Now, a Health Policy May Not Be Impossible

By WALECIA KONRAD

SIX years ago, Jerry Garner, 45, a real estate agent in Gowen, Mich., underwent a kidney transplant. He recovered nicely, and thanks to diligent adherence to his drug regimen and frequent checkups, he has been healthy ever since — “a miracle,” said his wife, Stephanie.

But last year, the Garners were starting to believe that their good fortune had run out.

Mr. Garner’s insurer asked that he fill out a survey, but somehow this piece of mail slipped through the cracks at the Garner household. As a result, he lost hishealth insurance. (Ms. Garner, 44, and three of the children — their oldest child is grown — were covered under a different policy.) But because of his pre-existing condition, Mr. Garner proved impossible to insure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/health/19patient.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

March 19, 2011

Health Law Waivers Draw Kudos, and Criticism

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials say they were expecting praise from critics of the new health care law when they offered to exempt selected employers and labor unions from a requirement to provide at least $750,000 in coverage to each person in their health insurance plans this year.

Instead, Republicans have seized on the waivers as just more evidence that the law is fundamentally flawed because, they say, it requires so many exceptions. To date, for example, the administration has relaxed the $750,000 standard for more than 1,000 health plans covering 2.6 million people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/health/policy/20health.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print

March 19, 2011

In Search of Cuts, Health Officials Question NICU Overuse

By EMILY RAMSHAW

An unlikely battlefield in Texas’ budget war is a hushed pink-and-blue hospital nursery, where 1- and 2-pound babies bleat like lambs under heating lamps and neonatal nurses use tiny rulers to measure limbs that are no bigger than fingers.

State health officials, searching for solutions to Texas’ multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, have set their sights on these neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs, which they fear are being overbuilt and overused by hospitals eager to profit from the high-cost care — and by doctors who are too quick to offer pregnant mothers elective inductions and Caesarean sections before their babies are full term.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/us/20ttnicus.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print

Amen to the following Nick Kristof column:

March 19, 2011

The Japanese Could Teach Us a Thing or Two

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

When America is under stress, as is happening right now with debates about where to pare the budget, we sometimes trample the least powerful and most vulnerable among us.

So maybe we can learn something from Japan, where the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaks haven’t caused society to come apart at the seams but to be knit together more tightly than ever. The selflessness, stoicism and discipline in Japan these days are epitomized by those workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, uncomplainingly and anonymously risking dangerous doses of radiation as they struggle to prevent a complete meltdown that would endanger their fellow citizens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/opinion/20kristof.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

Insurer battles identity crisis

Blue Cross’s status as nonprofit scrutinized amid outcry over pay

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2011/03/20/blue_cross_battles_an_identity_crisis_amid_outcry_over_pay/

Health insurers respond to overhaul law by acquiring less-regulated lines of business

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/health-insurers-respond-to-overhaul-law-by-acquiring-less-regulated-lines-of-business/2011/03/17/AB8sAkx_story.html

Wisconsin’s health-care fight illustrates challenges as states change leadership

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/wisconsins-health-care-fight-illustrates-challenges-as-states-change-leadership/2011/03/09/ABHdjhq_story.html

Health Care Reform Articles - March 18, 2011

March 16, 2011

Insurer to Forgo Rate Rise

By REED ABELSON

Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit insurer, on Wednesday withdrew its request to seek higher rates this year for individual policies amid stiff criticism from regulators and consumers.

Some people would have experienced rate increases as high as 87 percent if Blue Shield had gone ahead with all of its planned increases. Blue Shield’s retreat echoed moves last year by WellPoint, the large commercial insurer whose proposed premium increases were met with stiff resistance that spread across the country and even evoked denunciations from President Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/business/17insure.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print

UMass medical school chancellor gets pay increase of nearly 12%

By Thomas Caywood

Worcester Telegram & Gazette / March 17, 2011

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WORCESTER — While facing a $54 million budget shortfall for next fiscal year, the University of Massachusetts last month hiked the salary of medical school chancellor Michael F. Collins by more than $60,000 a year, almost a 12 percent raise.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2011/03/17/umass_medical_school_chancellor_gets_pay_increase_of_nearly_12/

Orrin Hatch: Health law can't be fixed By: David Nather March 16, 2011 10:07 PM EDT

Sen. Orrin Hatch says there are too many problems with the health care law to fix it, and he doesn’t rule out an all-out push to repeal or defund the law — as House Republicans want — even if that means defeating a long-term spending agreement to fund the government for the rest of the year. The Utah Republican, who became the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee this year, has taken the lead in the Senate on GOP efforts to repeal the law. He thinks the courts will effectively strike down the law by declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional. But until there’s a ruling from the Supreme Court, Hatch won’t argue with the strategy of Iowa Rep. Steve King and other House Republicans to push for a cutoff of all funding for the law, even if it leads to a government shutdown.  http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B574FD7B-941F-F1CD-18412DA1D7EF69F0 PERSPECTIVE State-Based, Single-Payer Health Care — A Solution for the United States? NEJM | March 16, 2011 | Topics: Insurance Coverage William C. Hsiao, Ph.D. The United States faces two major problems in the health care arena: the swelling ranks of the uninsured and soaring costs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) makes great strides in addressing the former problem but offers only modest pilot efforts to address the latter. Experience in countries such as Taiwan and Canada shows that single-payer health care systems can achieve universal coverage and control inflation of health care costs. Because of strong political opposition, however, the U.S. Congress never seriously considered a single-payer approach during the recent reform debate. Now Vermont, wishing to solve the intertwined problems of costs and access through systemic reform, is turning in that direction. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin campaigned on a platform of single-payer health care, and Democratic legislative leaders are committed to this approach. http://healthpolicyandreform.nejm.org/?p=13939

Unhealthy, Unemployed, Uninsured: 52 Million Americans Without In 2010
Sy Kraft, Medical News Today, Mar 16, 2011
The problem of the uninsured in the United States
has been getting worse. During 2010, some 52
million Americans went without health insurance,
compared to 38 million in 2001. Seventy five
million Americans skipped doctor visits all
together, along with prescriptions and
recommended tests or treatments in 2010 because
of costs. That's up from 47 million in 2001.
Among people with insurance who have had high
deductibles, 31% percent skipped care due to cost.
http://groups.google.com/group/equal-list/browse_thread/thread/0c40a0064abd15fc#

Health Care Reform Articles - March 16, 2011

Anthem customers protest proposed rate increases

By Meg Haskell, BDN Staff

Posted March 14, 2011, at 9:07 p.m

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/14/health/anthem-customers-protest-proposed-rate-increases/

Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)
Vermont's Struggle for Single-Payer Healthcare

Steve Early | March 10, 2011
After years of political frustration, Earl Mongeon had to see it to believe it. Often, when he finishes his twelve-hour night shift at IBM in Essex Junction, Mongeon heads home for breakfast and a few hours of brush clearing on his sixty-acre lot in Westford. In mid-January, the 55-year-old microprocessor assembler and workers’ rights advocate hopped into his car and drove in the opposite direction, to Montpelier. There, at the state Capitol, Mongeon and other supporters of single-payer healthcare gathered to hear Senators Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, Congressman Peter Welch and new Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin explain that last year’s national healthcare bill—a costly mix of subsidies to private medical plans, some insurance market reforms, Medicaid expansion and a mandate that people buy coverage if they don’t already have it—isn’t good enough for the Green Mountain State. The top state and federal officeholders pledged to work together for something better. “We firmly believe we can be the state that passes the first single-payer system in the country,” Shumlin declared.
http://www.thenation.com/print/article/159158/vermonts-struggle-single-payer-healthcare

March 15, 2011

Hospital Chief Facing U.S. Charges Is Fired

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

A hospital executive who has been accused of bribery in a federal corruption investigation has been ousted by his board and replaced by his second in command, the board announced on Tuesday.

The executive, David P. Rosen, 63, chief executive of MediSys Health Network, was among eight people, including two state legislators, charged last week by federal authorities in Manhattan with participating in bribery schemes. In his case, prosecutors said the scheme revolved around getting favorable treatment from state officials for his health care organization.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/nyregion/16hospital.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print

March 15, 2011

Immune to Cuts: Lofty Salaries at Hospitals

By JIM DWYER

At Bronx-Lebanon, a hospital that exists only by the grace and taxed fortunes of the people of New York State, the chief executive was paid $4.8 million in 2007 and $3.6 million in 2008, records show. At NewYork-Presbyterian, a hospital system that receives nearly half a billion dollars annually in public money, the chief executive was paid $9.8 million in 2007 and $2.8 million in 2008.

In an urgent search to cut the state’s health care costs and lift revenue, a task force came up with a plan to increase the cost of a hospital stay by $5 and to limit housekeeping services for the disabled in their homes.

One area of plump costs, however, remained undisturbed: executive suites where salaries and compensation run into the millions of dollars, even at the most financially struggling hospitals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/nyregion/16about.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print

Meanwhile, in Oregon:

States put their own spin on Obama health care law

Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 12:47 pm
Rancor over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul has largely overshadowed some states' efforts to use the law to help them move as fast as possible to insure more people and increase control over insurance companies.
Minnesota, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., have leveraged more federal dollars to expand coverage of childless adults. Vermont is exploring a single-payer health care system that would phase out most private insurance, a strategy rejected by Congress as too radical for the rest of the nation. Oregon is focusing on preventive care and providing proven treatments.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/national/article_0edd4ab4-2f58-5daa-baea-b6e934557066.html?print=1

Editorial: On health care, everyone knows the clock is ticking

Gazette-Times | Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 9:15 am
Bennett Hall's Sunday story about House Bill 3510, the legislation to establish a single-payer health care system in Oregon, explained how even the bill's backers believe it's got virtually no chance of passing this session.
Rather, its supporters say, the bill is meant to advance the discussion about health care alternatives.
That's fine, as far as it goes - we need to continue to have statewide and national discussions about health care, but you can sense an increasing urgency to those talks.
That's because more and more people believe that our current health care system is not sustainable.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_b1c20058-4eb2-11e0-a9f0-001cc4c03286.html?print=1

Conference calls keep movement alive

By BENNETT HALL, Corvallis Gazette-Times | Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011 11:45 pm
It’s 8 o’clock in the morning, and Betty Johnson and Mike Huntington are huddled around a cordless phone set up on a folding table in Johnson’s Corvallis living room. The two veteran health care activists listen intently to the voices coming over the speaker.
A caller from Portland is talking about an upcoming hearing for a single-payer health care bill in the Oregon Legislature.
Someone from Minnesota reports on the prospects for a similar measure there.
A man from Colorado discusses some of the other health care reform bills that are competing with a single-payer plan in his state.
Johnson, who’s been jotting notes on a steno pad, puts down her pen and jumps into the conversation.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/article_293b0727-8e88-5506-b375-3b863fe96841.html?print=1

‘Single payer’ still their goal

By BENNETT HALL, Corvallis Gazette-Times | Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011 11:40 pm
Shortly after noon on Friday, state Rep. Michael Dembrow stepped to the microphone and addressed a crowd of about 150 people gathered on the steps of the Oregon Capitol in Salem.
“You look so healthy,” he told his audience. “You must all have good health insurance.”
The line got a big laugh for the Portland Democrat, as he must have known it would. Dembrow is the chief sponsor of House Bill 3510, the Affordable Health Care for All Oregon Act, which would all but eliminate private health insurance in Oregon and replace it with a taxpayer-funded system covering everyone in the state: single-payer health care.

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_9cdc2bc3-10f6-5ed1-98c3-8717b3cf0390.html?print=1