Health Care : Health insurance |
Coverage in USA and elsewhere as related to practices of employers in providing for employees’ health needs; Medicaid and Medicare, how budget changes and extensions of drug care coverage under Medicare have affected availability of insurance; monopolistic practices in health insurance system.
12/22/08 Governor Crist's "Cover Florida" plan for health care coverage won't, well...cover Florida. . Health care experts note that the plan will provide little coverage for Florida's uninsured beyond the low-cost health care plans already available at a comparable price through private insurance carriers. The one significant difference is that, unlike the private carrier plans, the state one will allow people coverage who have been rejected because of "pre-existing conditions." http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/health/orl-coverfla2208dec22,0,4499181.story
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Websites: Physicians for a National Health Insurance Program: http://www.pnhp.org/ National Center for Health Statistics: Health Insurance Coverage: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/hinsure.htm Urban Institute: Health Insurance (abstracts of published articles and papers): http://www.urban.org/health/insurance.cfm
Analysis & views: 12/12/08 Opinion: Obama and Daschle should opt for single-payer health insurance . So says Rose Ann De Moro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. As Daschle is announced as Obama's designee for Secretary for Health and Human Services, he makes the obligatory statement about the U.S. having the highest costs and some of the worst health care in the world. De Moro says only a single payer (Medicare for all) approach, not the "piece-meal" approach preferred by CNA's "parent" union, the Service Employees International Union, can solve this problem, and she urges all Americans to send Obama and Daschle this "message." http://www.progressive.org/mp/demoro121108.html DASCHLE'S STATEMENT: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/12/11/sot.obama.daschle.health.cnn 11/12/08 Maryland health care advocacy group planning to propose a "universal health care" plan for the state with a $15 billion price tag. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-md.health12nov12,0,3298714.story 10/6/08 While financial system gets an attempted $700 billion bailout, the U.S. health care system is "quietly dying.": So says columnist for The Nation, citing rising health care premiums and declining use of increasingly expensive medical services. She uses McCain's statement about the necessity of making medical costs responsive to the "free market" for medical services as in direct contrast to the acknowledgment from the bail-out that the free market could not deal with the situation in the case of the financial system. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081020/demoro 10/6/08 Many Masschusetts lower-income people, who received subsidized health insurance under state's mandate requiring coverage, still use expensive emergency room facilities because they are unable to find primary care providers, who are in short supply in the state. http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/10/06/costly_er_still_draws_many_now_insured/ 8/24/08 "Universal health care" system in Massachusetts leaves thousands without insurance:. Many are terminated from coverage because of "mistakes," either their own or those of the state's health care administrators. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/23/errors_leave_some_without_insurance/ 8/9/08 D.C. doctors say new Medicaid prescription drug guidelines are harmful to the health of their patients. 7/18/08 A U.S. health care reformer: "When did we become a nation of people who settle for the possible?" She asks this question in observing the tendency of leaders of both major parties to adopt an "incremental" approach to expanded health care policy, which she sees as simply a "pabulum" to pacify public demands from leaders who recognize the superiority of a single payer insurance system, but doubt that it is politically "possible" to obtain this ideal situation. This (of course) leaves the health care system in the hands of the corporate medical establishment which benefits so mightily from the current system or any likely "incremental" reform. (Did we mention that this "system" heavily funds the campaigns of candidates of both major parties?) http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/17/10435/ 6/18/08 Health care forums in Kansas show that the public wants and is willing to pay for more extended health insurance coverage than lawmakers had assumed to be the case. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/668583.html 5/9/08 Massachusetts trying to shore up its mandatory health insurance program by assistance to the 30 to 40 thousand who cannot afford to buy it. 5/4/08 "The kid isn't that sick. His temperature is only 102 ." Many Americans, even those "covered" by health insurance, faced with higher medical costs and increased premiums and deductibles, are avoiding all but the most "necessary" visits to the doctor. Yearly premiums have doubled in many cases, from about $2,000 to $4,000; as one man says "that's a month's pay." \http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/business/04insure.html?th&emc=th 4/30/08 John McCain's health care "plan" throws money into an "ownership" society of subsidizing premiums for those who can't afford insurabce: The "reasoning" is that moving away from employer-based insurance to individual ownership will foster competition and drive down health care prices. Where did JM takes his Economics 101? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/us/politics/30mccain.html?th&emc=th 4/19/08 War between the states and the White House over SCHIP warms up: . A report of GAO offers its opinion that President Bush's veto of congressional legislation allowing the states the right to provide supplementary coverage for children's medical care under MEDICAID and MEDICARE is a violation of "policy" that requires congressional approval. White House persists in implementation of the rule as MEDICAID and MEDICARE officials say they are still bound by the President's decision. 4/14/08 God is my co-payment:. The devil in the details of programs of "expanded health insurance coverage" without price controls on insurance costs is shown in the fact that health insurance carriers have recently begun to charge higher co-pays for more expensive drugs: a percentage of the drug's market cost rather than a flat co-pay amount. Since such drugs are not usually available in generics, patients who need these drugs are required to pay $300 a month for drugs for which they previously paid $20, and they may need to pray to God to be able to come up with their co-pays; or do without the drugs and very likely die http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/14drug.html?th&emc=th 3/7/08 It happens every four years in America: During presidential campaigns, candidate trot out their heart-rending stories of people unable to pay their medical bills because of the high cost of medical care and their lack of health insurance coverage. They routinely call for "universal health insurance," but their plans and their policies if they are elected call far short of that goal, based as they are in mandatory purchase of insurance (unaffordable to many) or to "managed care" schemes controlled by insurance companies that don't "manage" costs. While the rhetoric is inspiring, reality in 08 as always is that both parties' candidates are heavily dependent on Wall Street and insurance companies for campaign funds. Vincent Navarro, a former policy adviser to Jesse Jackson, says this will change only as major policy changes usually occur in this country: by relentless mobilization of popular movements on their behalf. The motto should be Cesar Chavez' "Yes we can!" http://www.counterpunch.org/navarro03062008.html 3/3/08 Whose health care plan is better: Obama or Clinton? Hard to tell, but what is obvious to health care analysts is that neither plan remotely deals with the escalating cost of health care, most notably of Medicare and Medicaid costs. With numbers of the poor and especially of the elderly growing rapidly, any plans to ration health care are politically unpopular in an election year. Any proposals to reduce payments to providers or restrict the prescription of medical devices runs against the interests of the lobbyists of the medical services industry who are major contributors to all presidential campaigns. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/us/politics/03qhealth.html?th&emc=th 2/7/08 Governor's task force on reform of Minnesota's health care system recommends mandatory purchase of health insurance, Governor disagrees. http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_8179366?nclick_check=1 1/4/08 Remember Ronald Regan's rhetoric about governmnet helping only the "truly needy?" It's deja vu with the Bush administration. Having denied states the right to expand income level eligibility for public provision of medical care for children (SCHIP), it is now applying the same policy to federal support of state Medicaid programs, saying such funding should be available only to the truly needy (very poor). http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/washington/04health.html?th&emc=th 1/1/08 In Massachusetts, when we say universal health insurance coverage, we mean universal: As 2008 dawns, state residents who do not purchase "compulsory" medical coverage face stiffly increased penalties for their "free loading" behavior. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2008/01/01/penalties_to_rise_for_shunning_insurance/ 12/22/07 Los Angeles teen-ager dies hours after her insurance carrier reversed itself to allow coverage for a procedure to deal with the condition from which she died. http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews/hc-liver1222.artdec22,0,5718024.story?coll=hc_tab01_layout 11/20/07 Large gap in dental coverage for children in Colorado leaves many children in a state of poor dental health. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_7510475 11/10/07 Politics is the art of the possible and single payer health insurance is just not "politically possible" say the Governors of Illinois, California and Pennsylvania in putting forth different versions on an employer-based insurance system. Though AFL-CIO leaders give lip service to single payer, they support these proposals as being politically "realistic." http://www.counterpunch.org/ccr11092007.html 10/19/07 House fails to override Bush's veto of S-CHIP:. By vote of 273-156 (2/3s vote required), House fails to overturn veto of State Children's Health Insurance Program. 2 Democrats (Marshall, Young) vote to sustain veto, 44 Republicans (including only Bill Young of Pinellas County among Florida's Republicans) vote to overturn. Reid and Pelosi denounce the vote. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/washington/19health.html?th&emc=th THE VOTE: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll982.xml 10/19/07 Hillary Clinton says her proposed "universal health care" program is for "Americans only": The proposed program would exclude illegal immigrants who, although they would get "better" treatment than they are now getting, don't "deserve" the level of coverage of Americans who are legally in the country. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071019/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_health_care 10/6/07 "No health care for us, no more photo-ops for you"... vows a child narrator in a one-minute video ad prepared by Campaign for America's Future, a response to President Bush's veto of SCHIP. The ad features numerous appearances of Bush with children in support of his political agenda, and the accompanying article includes a form letter to members of Congress urging them to over-ride the veto. http://ga3.org/campaign/SCHIPvideo/w87wdb64r7n7xem3? 10/6/07 Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid says there will be "no compromise" on SCHIP in the effort to secure an over-ride of President Bush's veto. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100507B.shtml 9/27/07 Federal law is being used to limit states in their ability to regulate employers' contributions to health care plans for their employees http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p03s01-ussc.html 9/26/07 S-CHIP passes Congress, but will it ever become law? By 265-159 vote (including 45 Republican votes) , House passes a measure which extends federal funding to states for their cash-starved programs of child health insurance, with the Senate expected to pass the bill by an even larger margin. President Bushes threatens to veto it, however, as he claims that it "federalizes" a big component of health care in the country. The margin of passage in the House is not "veto-proof" (requiring about 290 votes), and Speaker Pelosi warns that Bush will suffer severe political consequences from his veto. THE VOTE: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll906.xml 9/18/07 If Hillary Clinton's newly unveiled health care reform plan bears close resemblance to the "Massachusetts miracle", it's not good news for Americans needing health care: The Bay State's much-touted "universal health care" program is doing little to expand the number of state residents who are covered by health insurance, as employers are abandoning coverage for their employees and the "near poor" suffer the most: those who can't afford high premiums for health care policies and who are not poor enough to qualify for free ones. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/17/health_reform_failure/ 9/14/07 Healthy San Francisco. A project of that name aims to expand universal health care for all uninsured adults from a trial run in two Chinatown clinics to the whole city. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/us/14health.html?th&emc=th 8/21/07 Bush Administration has a CHIP on its shoulder about child health care. New rules issued from Washington limit the ability of states to extend benefits under Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to children in families with incomes far above federal poverty level. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/washington/21health.html?th&emc=th 7/27/07 Wisconsin state senator criticized for loaning money to herself for her campaign after she and her husband decided to forego health insurance purchase to demonstrate for importance of universal health insurance coverage. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=638813 7/8/07 Can a muckraking movie and a handful of militant nurses spark a movement for univeral health care?: Alan Maas says that might happen, as Michael Moore's "Sicko," with the aggressive support of the California Nurses Association and other labor organizations and with HR 676, co-authored by a current Democratic presidential candidate, already introduced into Congress and a substantial majority of Americans favoring such legislation. But it will be difficult, because "majorities of Americans" do not elect leaders or pass legislation in our "democracy." http://www.counterpunch.org/maass07072007.html 7/7/07 Michael Moore releases an e-mail, sent him by a whistle-blowing employee of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, in which the company official notes with alarm the effectiveness of the movie and furnishes employees with "talking points" in countering Moore's accusations against the U.S.health care system in general and BS/BC in particular. Moore challenges the executive to a face-to-face debate. An interesting thread of comments by readers accompanies this posting. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/06/2344/ 7/6/07 New York Times takes universal health care off the table for '08 election: An article by Robin Toner indicates that Democratic presidential candidates will offer a variety of proposals to "overhaul" the nation's system of health care. By limiting these proposals to "major" candidates, it manages to avoid entirely the possibility of the kind of single payer "national health service" approach advocated in Michael Moore's Sicko and apparently endorsed by most Americans. Since Dennis Kucinich, a co-author of HR 676 to implement such a system, is not deemed a "major" candidate, his views are not mentioned. Moore has congratulated Kucinich for his running for President as a way of keeping single payer on the table in the presidential debates. With the establishment media ignoring his (and most Americans') views and the Democratic Party expected in Florida at least to limit the presidential debate to the "major" candidates, there is much to suggest that the "table" will be barren of any opportunity for voters to express their views about health care. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/us/politics/06health.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 7/2/07 Commentator says most reviews of Michael Moore's SICKO "miss the point" that it's not only the profit motives among insurance carriers that afflict the country, but the unregulated motive as well in the pharmaceutical companies that rake in the profits from our expensive health care system. And that's not even to mention the assaults on public welfare of the same motives for the energy industry, for munitions manufacturers, etc. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/01/2226/ 7/1/07 Iin Massachusetts, their "universal" health care system is still a little "sicko": As the state's system which requires all citizens to maintain health coverage becomes effective today, there are still some 130,000 people who have yet to enroll in the program, as officials speak of "phasing in" the system. 7/1/07 Michael Moore's "Sicko": An "editorial-umentary" on the US health care system: A Christian Science Monitor movie reviewer so characterizes Michael Moore's SICKO, giving the film high marks for dramatic quality but notes its one-sided attack on the health insurance industry and its questionable use of foreign health care systems as models for America. Specifically, the reviewer cites the authority of a Cuban emigre doctor (!) that the Cuban regime waits for foreign visits like that of the Moore film crew to stage a "moment" of great health care that is not available to the great majority of the Cuban people. The good doctor doesn't bother to comment on the hard facts of greater longevity in the Cuban population. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0629/p15s01-almo.html?page=1 6/30/07 The Nation's review of "Sicko": It's less partisan and more ideological than Moore's other films: It doesn't demonize people or organizations as Fahrenheit did Bush or Columbine did the NRA, but it promises to be far more effective as a strike for social democracy and a collectivizing of medical services. Moore as Captain Ahab may be closing in on the white whale of his career-long search for the Reagan Democrats who followed the Great Communicator into an era of starving the beast of government, as his film portrays Reagan's pre-presidential role as a "shill" for health insurance industry. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070716/hayes 6/30/07 After the medical horror stories in "Sicko" or on Oprah anbd YouTube,the real challenge for "universal" care is for the "little" medical problems: It's one thing to hear of the "horror" of a man who can get medical coverage only for the re-attachment of pnly one of two severed hands; another to think of a truly universal system that, by removing medical care from the cash market place, levels the playing field and allows the security of people knowing that can get help when the baby won't stop spitting up. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/29/2182/ 6/23/07 At a preview showing ahead of nationwide June 29 opening of Michael Moore's film advocating a single payer health insurance program, some liberal Democratic legislators (Barbara Lee, John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich) endorse the movement, but all the "leading" Democratic candidates are conflicted between the strong appeal of the idea to their "liberal" base, and the fear of unpopularity of same in the wider electorate. All these "leaders" advocate for health care reform that represents more of a "mix" of private and public sources of support. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/22/2022 6/17/07 Bureaucratic snarls in medical insurance system illustrated by a Maryland woman who had to have a valid ID to obtain a birth certificate but had to have a birth certificate to get a valid ID. 5/26/07 Colorado woman who submitted to Michael Moore a "horror story" about her family's struggle to get needed medical treatment in the U.S. is aboard a ship at Biscayne Bay, Miami, on its way to Havana with Michael Moore and several sick 9/11 first responders. Their mission to Cuba was in connection with filming of Moore's new documentary, Sicko, on U.S. health care system to open the end of June. The woman manages a brief conversation with Moore that demonstrates her pain and the bravery of both herself and Moore in dramatizing the tragedy of a health care system gone astray. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-smith/the-moon-and-the-sun-over_b_49248.html 5/10/07 In Massachusetts, the plan under the state's new health care system to charge fees to employers who fail to provide employees with medical coverage isn't working, as the state has failed to collect any of these fees. 4/10/07 Proposal for universal health coverage in Connecticut is set back when legislators experience "sticker shock" when its cost is revealed. 4/6/07 Maine's Governor proposes a "universal" health care system much like the controversial one in Massachusetts: the requirement of health insurance for all residents of a certain income level, a "play or pay" system requiring employers either to provide health insurance for employees or pay into a state insurance fund for the uninsured. http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=148323&zoneid=500 3/25/07 Good things are happening in movement for single-payer health care system in U.S. Marilyn Clement catalogs a number of these "good things," congratulates health care activists for these successes, and offers many suggestions for additional activism. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=108&ItemID=12406 2/13/07 U.S. businesses, led by Wal-Mart, are advocating for a reform in the health care insurance system in which they will shoulder increased responsibility for employees' insurance, accompanied by an increased contribution of both governments and individuals. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0213/p01s01-usec.html 1/31/07 Maryland Governor pushes for large expansion of medical insurance in his state, using a variety of strategies including tax breaks for employers offering insurance to workers, penalties for those who can afford coverage for not buying it, and a heavy cigarette tax to help finance. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/30/AR2007013001862.html?referrer=email 1/28/07 Ridiculous and unworkable? Marilyn Clement, head of Health Care-NOW, so characterizes President Bush's "health care reform" proposals in the State of the Union address, suggesting in a "conspiracy theorist" way that the projects suggested were designed to fail to help destroy Medicare and transfer all medical financing into the hands of his Wall Street friends. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/24/bushs_health_care_conspiracy.php 1/27/07 Unaffordable premiums and barebone coverage for middle-income residents of Massachusetts are described as the result of the state's year-old "universal" health insurance program. http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4198 1/24/07 Health insurance that won't help those who need help: This is Paul Krugman's verdict on Bush' proposal to provide "incentives" (tax breaks) to people to purchase insurance and taxation on those who choose "gold plated" insurance plans. If you're poor and uninsured, you don't need incentives to buy but insurance that you can afford to buy. If you can afford it (don't need the tax break) then you'll get the tax break...another tax break for the wealthy. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012207F.shtml 1/20/07 Massachusetts' "universal health care" plan will cost average of $380 per month and have high deductibles. http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2007/01/20/sticker_shock_for_state_care_plan/ 1/19/07 250 million Americans in need of health care: With the plight of 47 million Americans lacking health care insurance well publicized, how about the quarter-million others who have insurance coverage but who pay a major part of their earnings for that coverage and find that the carriers use every conceivable excuse to avoid paying their claims? No wonder so many Americans go to countries with "socialized medicine" to mooch off the drastically lower medical costs in those countries. http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0117-32.htm 1/17/07 Opinion: mandatory health insurance coverage, as instituted in Massachusetts, is just as "bad" an idea when California's governor proposes it for that state; it just produces a bonanza of profit for the very private medical and insurance agencies that created the "mess" in the first place. http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/16/arnoldcare_is_a_bad_deal.php 1/10/07 Where did I put the baby's damned birth certificate? Major dropoff being noted in numbers of children with Medicaid coverage since a new law was implemented requiring presentation of proof of citizenship and identity for qualification. Although this legislation was designed to curb "abuse" of the health insurance system by undocumeted immigrants, a Kaiser Foundation report suggests otherwise, that many children lack coverage simply because their parents are unable to produce the relevant documentation. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/ap_on_he_me/medicaid_citizenship 11/30/06 Pennsylvania Supreme Court revives a languishing case of a suit against a Philadelphia Blue Cross agency sued to return some of its more than $1 billion surplus to provide premium reductions for health insurance policies. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/16126954.htm 8/17/06 "Universal" health care in Massachusetts as far from "free," as plan being considered for lower income workers to contribute 6.6% of income to the program, a higher rate than for higher income people. 8/17/06 Many Democrats are "running against" Wal Mart in a "strategy" of using the corporate giant as a stand-in for general dissatisfaction in the country about low wages and inadequate health insurance. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/17/washington/17dems.html?th&emc=th 8/10/06 Comparison of child health care coverage in two states. In blue state Washington, 1 in every 51 people is an uninsured child (115,000 children); in red state Florida 1 in every 27 people in an ininsured child (600,000 children). Washington: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/280729_uninsured10.html Florida: 8/3/06 Low cost health insurance, promised to all Massachusetts citizens by October 1, will probably be available by that time only for those people living at or below the poverty level. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/03/thousands_face_delay_in_healthcare_enrollment/ 7/27/06 Opinion: a Maryland court having invalidated the state law requiring big box operations like Wal-Mart to pay a "fair share" of their employees' medical insurance costs on the ground that it violates federal laws, Congress should move forewith to enact national legislation requiring this of employers of many workers. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-25.htm 7/1/06 New requirement of identification for Medcaid recipients, to take effect today (July 1) , threatens to deprive millions of coverage; not just illegal aliens (who may produce counterfeit identification), but those in nursing homes, mentally handicapped, etc. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/063006F.shtml 6/14/06 The American Medical Association is urging the government to make buying health insurance mandatory for all Americans: http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/06/14/insurance_for_all/ 5/31/06 Americans in their 20's are the fastest grwoing group of uninsured in the country: 5/13/06 Target Corp. may scrap its traditional health care insurance plan for its employees in favor cheaper ones charging higher deductibles: 5/11/06 Double standard on deadlines? Bush rejects extension of deadline for Medicare drug prescription enrollment: "Deadlines help people understand there's finality and people need to get after it." For the same reason, why wouldn't a deadline for Iraqi withdrawal help all concerned to "get after it?" http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/09/bush.ap/index.html 5/8/06 Opinion: America's health insurance system is broken, and is literally killing the working poor: http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=605080317/1050&template=currents 5/8/06 Small business owners and full-time workers are swelling the numbers of Americnas without health insurance: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12684149/ 4/26/06 A rising proportion of American middle income people, now over 40%, lack health insurance coverage, putting great pressure on emergency room facilities and hospital profits: http://www.latimes.com/business/careers/work/la-na-uninsured26apr26,1,6010104.story?coll=la-headlines-business-careers 4/19/06 Michigan autoworkers, faced with loss of employer health coverage, line up for elective procedures before their coverage expires: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/business/19health.html?th&emc=th 4/13/06 Federal "clamp down" on illegal immigrants leads to new requirement for the presentation of a passport, birth certificate or other identification as condition of eligibility for Medicaid: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041206E.shtml 4/12/06 Critics of Massachusetts' "universal" health care plan are now calling it a "universal facade." http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3050/continued/301#continued 4/7/06 Massachusetts Health Care Reform bill called a "false promise" of universal health coverage, relying on a tried-and-already-failed market-driven system of "affordable" insurance, when a single payer system is needed: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0406-35.htm 4/7/06 Devil in the details: Massachusetts must now develop a plan that will implement its program of nearly universal health insurance coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/business/07health.html?th&emc=th 4/6/06 Massachusetts set to become first state to provide nearly universal health care system for its residents: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040506N.shtml 3/22/06 Observing how confused are U.S. seniors with new medicare drug prescription plan, Pentagon decides to confuse Iraqi insurgents with mass drop of Arabic language version of the plan (satire): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11945021/site/newsweek/from/RSS/ 3/13/06 Pharmacists complaining to White House about loss of income under new Medicare prescription drug program: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/politics/13medicare.html?th&emc=th 3/1/06 Some Medicare recipients caught in a maze of complexities when two different drug plans are involved: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/national/01medicare.html?th&emc=th 2/26/06 Bush defends troubled Medicare drug program 2/26/06 Medicare proposes limiting choices in drug plans after problems http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/5532.html 2/26/06 Wal-Mart moves to liberalize health insurance coverage for employees in response to state legislation dealing with the issue: http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13319 2/23/06 Medicare Numbers at Odds with US Claims: Fewer volunteers for new drug plan http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0223-01.htm 2/23/06 Wal-Mart to offer improved health benefits after criticism http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1654164 2/21/06 Less than 1/4 of seniors eligible for Medicare prescription drug coverage have enrolled for the program: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022000977.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email 2/13/06 Opinion: tax breaks for health savings account represent extremely regressive tax policy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021201151.html 2/10/06 Medicare Part D a windfall for HMOs and drug industry, a burden to sick patients: http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0209-12.htm 2/7/06 Health care savings accounts are tax shelters for the wealthy disguised at health care reform, will increase number of uninsured: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_gene_c___060206_tax_shelters_disguis.htm 1/15/06 Wal-Mart to fight healthcare ruling http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1373158.cms 1/14/06 Maryland law requires large employers (e.g. Walmart) pay larger part of employees' health care coverage: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002736974_walmart13.html 1/10/06 New Medicare drug coverage won't help seniors: http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10792
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Analysis & views: 12/22/08 Governor Crist's "Cover Florida" plan for health care coverage won't, well...cover Florida. . Health care experts note that the plan will provide little coverage for Florida's uninsured beyond the low-cost health care plans already available at a comparable price through private insurance carriers. The one significant difference is that, unlike the private carrier plans, the state one will allow people coverage who have been rejected because of "pre-existing conditions." http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/health/orl-coverfla2208dec22,0,4499181.story 12/11/08 After January 5, poor Floridians can get their bare bones covered with health insurance:. 3.8 million, including those without coverage for the last 6 months, can obtain coverage at a low premium rate but with minimal coverage and will be helpful primarily for those with chronic illnesses. The Cover Florida plan is described by Governor Crist as bringing Florida "a step closer" to universal coverage. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/custom/consumer/sfl-flrxinsure1211sbdec11,0,2414874.story 10/10/08 24% of Floridians under 65 have no health insurance coverage, compared with 17.2% nationwide (and of course it's worse for blacks and Hispanics). http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlEAST01A101008.htm 5/22/08 Florida's new health insurance law "doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime." Governor Crist so touts the state's extension of coverage, joining the national trend of providing "stripped down" benefits for which some critics would extend the monetary analogy and say it isn't worth a "plugged nickel." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/22crist.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin 12/31/07 If you're fat, it's your own fault:. Insurance industry in south Florida and elsewhere is reluctant to pay for gastric surgery procedures, supposedly on grounds of lack of evidence of safety and ability to eliminate obesity, but apparently reflecting as well the attitude that people made "choices" that were responsible for their condition. Some surgeons note that the industry does not similarly limit their assistance to HIV-AIDS patients or lung cancer victims who are smokers 7/28/07 Florida legislators and governor admit that changes need to be made in the state's KidCare program for child medical expenses, but say that to address changes to increase access to the program would be expensive and, lacking a legislative "consensus," is unlikely to be taken up in the legislature's special September session. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-flfkids0728nbjul28,0,5566970.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout 6/29/07 The Miami Herald runs a pre-emptive review piece on Michael Moore's "Sicko" doc in which it quotes mostly conservative critics of the movie's premise of a failed health care system, complaining with these critics that the film is "anecdotal" in its presentations of the situation and not as dependent as it should be on interviews with "health experts." It even manages to mention that Moore is fat and somehow he failed to include the health prescription of "eat your vegetables and take a walk." The links to the article contain show places and times for south Florida. http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/154881.html 9/30/06 Elder abuse? Florida seniors, already confused with a Medicare drug program offering a choice of services from 41 stand-alone carriers, will see this number increase to 58 in 2007. 4/12/06 State legislature has big surplus, but can't find money to fully fund KidCare: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14320960.htm 2/14/06 Modeled on Maryland's "Wal-Mart law," union-backed bill would require 9% employer payroll contributions to employee health care: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060213/APN/602130977&cachetime=5 2/14/06 Seniors protest Medicaid changes at state capitol: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060214/NEWS02/602140320/1011 2/11/06 Florida Medicaid restores drug subsidies for cancer and transplant patients: http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBE3LFGJJE.html
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FLORIDA LOCALITIES
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Analysis and views: Tampa: 12/20/08 Tampa area residents have chance to attend "health care reform forum" of type urged by Obama's HHS-designate, Tom Daschle. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/20/na-health-reform-on-tap-today/news-metro/ Broward Co.: 4/20/08 Post-retirement health benefits coverage for former city employees is becoming an issue in Broward County as costs escalate http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbbenefits0420sbapr20,0,2656293.story Hollywood: 10/1/06 Seniors in south Florida, faced with the "doughnut hole" of Medicare prescription drug coverage, are taking it out on Republican Clay Shaw and making his seemingly inevitable re-election to the House a little less certain. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000963.html?referrer=email Tampa: 5/10/06 President Bush stumps Sun Center City on behalf of his Medicare prescription drug program. As usual, the ticketed event drew a "largely supportive crowd" but more than a few "dissidents" did slip into the proceedings. http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBCYG821NE.html Ft. Lauderdale: 3/25/06 Parents in South Florida say developmentally disabled children in Medicare plan being denied medical services by HMOs: Gainesville: 2/26/06 Alachua County's CHOICES program of public assistance for health care of uninsured workers flounders: only 66 or orginally-projected 14,000 eligible workers have been certified: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/LOCAL/202260362/1078 Participants want others to know about the program: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/LOCAL/202260343/1078
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