Archive for February 2011
Retired Lance Armstrong Now Pushing Uphill Against Tobacco Lobbyists
Lance Armstrong is helping push for a California ballot initiative that would raise cigarette taxes by $1 to increase cancer research funding, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
‘King’s Speech’ Makes Stuttering Popular, Award-Winning
The Los Angeles Times reports that the success of “The King’s Speech” has persuaded more people to seek the aid of speech therapists for stuttering afflictions.
Slow Your Roll, U.S. Supreme Court
Simon Lazarus and Timothy Jost discuss in Slate why the U.S. Supreme Court should decline requests to speed up its consideration of the federal health reform law.
Economics Expert Shakes Finger at Health Care Spending
Economics correspondent Chris Farrell recently discussed on NPR’s “Marketplace” the not-so-new theory that soaring health care costs are hindering state budgets. He acknowledges the federal health reform law as a (small) part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Medicaid: Who Will Pay?
Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, in Kaiser Health News examines the current “tug of war” between states and the federal government over who should put up the cash to maintain Medicaid. As most states deal with large budget deficits, many governors have taken issue with a provision in the federal health reform law that requires states to maintain current eligibility standards for the program until 2014, or face a loss of federal matching funding for the program.
AHL’s Top Story: Governors Seek Flexibility To Help Address Budget Deficits
Democratic and Republican governors at a National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C., yesterday agreed that the federal government should allow them more flexibility with Medicaid to help address budget deficits, although they displayed partisan differences on how to achieve that goal, the Washington Post reports (Goldstein/Balz, Washington Post, 2/27). As most states deal with large budget deficits, many governors have taken issue with a provision in the federal health reform law that requires states to maintain Medicaid current eligibility standards until 2014, or face a loss of federal matching funding for the program (Millman, “Healthwatch,” The Hill, 2/27). Republican governors are pushing for a Medicaid grant system, under which states would receive fixed block grants to use as they choose, instead of the current federal matching system (Kliff, Politico, 2/27). Democrat governors did not fully discount a grant system, but said grants might give states too much freedom to limit Medicaid benefits (Washington Post, 2/27).
THE FRIDAY RUNDOWN: Don’t Call It a Comeback … Because It’s Not
With yet another federal judge ruling that the federal health reform law falls within the parameters of the Constitution and federal number-crunchers declaring a repeal bad for the federal budget, it looked like a good week for proponents of the overhaul. But the public doesn’t know about the comeback for the reform law, and therein might lie the problem.
Here’s what you need to know about the week’s key health policy stories:
Low-Income Folks Bouncing Under Health Reform?
MotherJones‘ Kevin Drum examines an issue relating to low-income families who, under health care reform, might be eligible for Medicaid one month and then for the new health insurance exchanges a few weeks later. And then back again, maybe.
AHL’s Top Story: HHS Provides Nearly $200M in Grants To Help States Improve Insurance Rate Reviews, $100M for Medicaid Patients To Adopt Healthy Behaviors
HHS recently announced $199 million in federal grants to help states augment their insurance rate review processes, Modern Healthcare reports. The funding is part of $250 million allotted by the federal health reform law for reviewing rate increases. Recent HHS rules stipulate that states must either review rate increases of 10% or more beginning in July or allow HHS to assess them (Vesely, Modern Healthcare, 2/24). HHS also announced $100 million for states to offer incentives for Medicaid beneficiaries to adopt healthy behaviors, Modern Healthcare reports (Barr, Modern Healthcare, 2/24). The money would reward people who quit smoking, lose weight and take steps to control their diabetes (Pecquet, “Healthwatch,” The Hill, 2/24).
Is it the Media’s Fault That Americans Are So Confused About Health Reform?
Yesterday, we asked readers to weigh in on why, according to a recent survey, so many U.S. residents don’t know the status of the federal health reform law. The leading response thus far in our poll (hint, you can still vote) is that Americans are confused by numerous conflicting headlines presented by various media outlets. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post agrees.
