Mitchell tackles health care at forum

Jon Kingsdale of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority in Massachusetts told Mitchell that his state's recently implemented program, which requires every resident to have insurance and every employer to offer it or face a financial penalty, already has stimulated competition among insurance companies and driven down the cost of coverage, especially for individual, nongroup purchasers. Benefit packages have also be-come more comprehensive, he said.

Kingsdale noted that Massachusetts was motivated to deelop the Connector project in response to the threatened loss of $385 million in federal subsidies. The lesson, he said, is that “sticks are as important as car-rots" when it comes to providing incentives for health system innovation.
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In Vermont, the development of the Catamount Health Plan was largely driven by “the growing insecurity of health care consumers," said James Leddy, a former state legislator and a consultant on health care reform.

The Individual Market Is Emerging as a Key Product Line for Health

Roughly 17 million Americans bought non-group health insurance including full and limited coverage directly from insurers in 2007. That's according to a new report by Mark Farrah Associates, a Maine-based health care industry consulting firm, which asserts that the individual market is emerging as a key product line for health plans.

The company identifies WellPoint, Inc. as the leader in the market, with more than 20% of the nation's individual enrollees. Health plans, among them WellPoint and UnitedHealth Group, say they expect the individual market will expand further.

"This market will continue to grow at a slow but steady rate. Most health insurers have already introduced a range of products for the individual segment, and many marketing efforts are focusing on this target market," LuAnne Farrah, president of Mark Farrah, tells HPW.

Fort Worth cuts jobs, departments, library hours

Also, employees hired next year and beyond will not qualify for city-funded health insurance when they retire. The city eliminated that coverage to control an estimated $858 million gap between the amount it pays for retiree insurance and the amount it is expected to owe.

New employees can save money in a tax-exempt account to pay for retirement coverage.

Hicks voted against the ordinance eliminating retiree health insurance.

Library hours

The hours will be shortened at the Central Library and its branches. But the plan was changed to keep the libraries open in the afternoons and evenings, when they’re typically used by students and families.

Tree farm

A last-minute shuffling of funds — and the timely arrival of a previous donation by Chesapeake Energy — saved the city tree farm from elimination.

Health care reform must art with a plan to simplify

Their plans differ greatly, but whatever the outcome, change is surely coming, given that some 47 million Americans lack health insurance, 25 million more are considered underinsured, and even those who are adequately covered see their household incomes steadily eroded by those faster-than-inflation cost increases. Small wonder health care is consistently at or near the top of voter concerns, especially among women.

What troubles me, however, is that whenever Washington tries to overhaul something that involves a large universe of interest groups, it usually makes things not simpler, but more complex. And complexity is already one of the very worst aspects of American health care.

Has anyone been to a hospital for a procedure and not been confounded by the billing process that followed? No wonder hospitals are repeatedly asked, "Do you go out of your way to hire complete idiots for your billing office?"

In fact, just the opposite is true.

Public health sector still suffers from money not being well spent

To deal with this, officials propose promoting health insurance although health insurance budget shortcomings last year have yet to be tackled. Health insurance funding last year ran at VND5,900 billion (US$347 million), while expenditure was VND7,680 ($451 million). The target of universal health insurance by 2010 will not be reached, since to date only 41 per cent of the population have health insurance.

However, Liem said that VUSTA had suggested the Government save more of its budget for health care services in the future, and reform the healthcare sector to enable better access for the poor.