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'Hidden Health Tax' costs U.S. families $1,000 a year "As more people join the ranks of the uninsured, the hidden health tax is growing," says Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "That tax hits America's businesses and insured families hard in the pocketbook, and they therefore have a clear financial stake in expanding health coverage as part of health reform." The report says uninsured people are more likely to delay care as long as possible, which generally aggravates their illnesses. When they eventually receive care: 37 percent of that care is paid for by the uninsured out of their own pockets; third-party sources, such as government programs and charities, paid for another 26 percent; and the remaining amount, approximately $42.7 billion in 2008, is considered uncompensated care that is shifted to the insured in the form of higher premiums. Read complete story: www.healthleadersmedia.com
Chattanooga Times Free Press / The Associated Press – 5/29/09 - Laid off from her job in Massachusetts, Danielle Marks thought immediately about losing her health insurance. How could she afford the medication and physical therapy she needed to heal after shoulder surgery? Valerie Nash, laid off in Tennessee, thought about her diabetes. Could she stock up enough test strips and insulin before her coverage expired? The two women, both briefly uninsured, got covered again thanks to their home states' 3-year-old experiments in expanding health insurance coverage. And while both are mostly pleased with the coverage and low cost of their new state-backed plans, their futures hold plenty of doubt. Read complete story: www.timesfreepress.com
The New York Times – 6/2/09 - President Obama affirmed his support for the creation of a government-sponsored health insurance plan, but he acknowledged that such a plan would sharply reduce the chances for Republican support of legislation to overhaul the health care system, Democratic senators said. The senators, who met with Mr. Obama at the White House, said he also set forth a timeline, calling on Congress to send him a comprehensive health care bill by October. "He wants the bill through the Senate and the House before the August recess, so we can conference and have it done in September and signed in October," said Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. "He said we need to be unflinching and unflagging." Read complete story: www.nytimes.com
Atlanta Journal Constitution – 5/31/09 - Have you ever made an online reservation at your favorite restaurant? What if you could do the same for an emergency room visit? Tyler Kiley, a 23-year-old Powder Springs entrepreneur, has applied a practice used by the restaurant industry as a remedy to long waits at hospitals. Two years ago, Kiley launched InQuickER, an online service that lets users hold their places in line in the emergency room. It may help. Health care experts say hospital emergency rooms are facing a number of pressures, including more patients and more closings. Between 1994 and 2004, U.S. visits to the ER increased an estimated 18 percent to 26 percent, while the number of emergency departments decreased between 9 percent and 12 percent, according to a report in Health Affairs. |
