Health Reform in the House | Fact of the Day Among firms offering benefits in 2009, 21 percent say they cut benefits or asked workers to pay more out of pocket. Fifteen percent report that they increased the worker’s share of the premium. (Kaiser Family Foundation) | | Follow Health Insurance Reform
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At the Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $48,913,989,849 since January 1, 2009 in Additional Premium Costs to Cover Care for the Uninsured. Under the Microscope NEW: COUNTY HEALTH RANKINGS States are now able to compare and rank the health of their counties in a more comprehensive way with today’s release of County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH). The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute, which put the data collection together, says the new measurement tool will allow policy makers to find ways to improve the health of constituents. Other studies have ranked states on health factors, but this is the first time researchers have drilled down to multiple factors at the county level for all 50 states, helping policy shapers to identify barriers to health. View countyhealthrankings.org to see the 50 state reports and use the interactive map. Database Gives Snapshot of Health In Each County
Where you live plays a role in your health, and a new report that ranks health factors in each of the nation's 3,000-plus counties promises to point local policymakers to ways they can help. [Associated Press, 2/16/2010] Read a related article.
Health Care Headlines Anthem Blue Cross Parent Cancels Investor Meeting
WellPoint says the meeting to review its 2010 outlook, set for next week, is shelved so that executives can prepare for a congressional hearing on the company's large rate hikes in California. [L.A. Times, 2/17/2010] White House Insists Healthcare Summit No Trap
The purpose of the Obama administration's upcoming summit on healthcare is to find solutions to issues like soaring insurance premiums, not score political points against the Republicans, the White House insisted on Tuesday. [Reuters, 2/16/2010] Read a related article. Party Gridlock in Washington Feeds Fear of a Debt Crisis
After decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning, economists and the nation’s foreign creditors say that moment is approaching faster than expected, hastened by a deep recession that cost trillions of dollars in lost tax revenues and higher spending for safety-net programs. [New York Times, 2/16/2010] Four Senators Urge Reid to Use Reconciliation
Four Democratic Senators on Tuesday sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) urging him to pursue reconciliation to pass their party’s health care reform bill. [Roll Call, 2/16/2010] Many U.S. Kids Have Chronic Health Problems: Study
They said the findings make clear that chronic health conditions are rising among children, and access to healthcare is essential to diagnose and treat them. [Reuters, 2/16/2010] EDITORIAL: Steep Rate Hikes Show Reform Needed
The truth is, there is no scarier place to get health-care coverage than in the individual health insurance market. [Des Moines Register, 2/17/2010] COMMENTARY: How To Beat the Blues
As President Obama has said, the rate hikes and practices of Anthem Blue Cross of California are the “coming attractions” of our health system without reform. It’s a general argument that the status quo is not sustainable--a reminder that, whatever people feel about the legislation, they should be far more worried and angry about the health care system without reform. [New Republic, 2/15/2010] | 