Articles
For Candidates, No Easy Fixes on Health Care
Gubernatorial candidates agree health care is a top priority, but they differ on how to provide care while facing a $6 billion budget deficit.
By Warren Wolfe
Star Tribune
August 8, 2010
Six leading candidates for governor say a top priority next year will be wrestling with the cost and shape of health care in Minnesota. No wonder: Medical spending accounts for roughly one-fifth of the state budget -- a share that is growing and is sure to be battered by a $6 billion projected deficit, just as state and federal laws start shifting health care into uncharted waters. Read More
U.S. Scores Dead last Again in Healthcare
Reuters
June 23, 2010
Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system...
..."We rank last on safety and do poorly on several dimensions of quality," [the researcher] told reporters. "We do particularly poorly on going without care because of cost. And we also do surprisingly poorly on access to primary care and after-hours care."
...When a country fails to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, it also fails to meet the needs of the average citizen," the report reads.
Single-Payer Takes Center Stage in Race for Governor
Kelliher weighs in on single-payer health care pledge
by Tom Scheck,
Minnesota Public Radio
June 21, 2010
The new national health care law is expected to be a big issue this year's election, but the DFL's endorsed candidate for governor has been promising to go one step further.
Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher pledged to DFL delegates this spring that she would enact a single-payer health plan in Minnesota, but now she says she wants to study the cost first...
The article addresses each Gubernatorial candidate's position- read it in full
U.S. Health & Human Services Funding Increase in Primary Care Providers
In an attempt to address a national shortage of health-care workers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that the federal government will spend $250 million in programs to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other care providers... Without action, HHS said, the nation would face a shortage of 21,000 primary-care clinicians...
Read in Full
League of Women Voters Passes Resolution Renewing Support for Single-Payer
Presented and Adopted at the League of Women Voters 2010 Convention
Atlanta, Georgia, June 11-15, 2010
Whereas the League of Women Voters of the United States believes quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all U.S. residents; and
Whereas the current and proposed systems do not achieve the League goals of affordability and access to everyone; and
Whereas an improved Medicare for all, a publicly funded and privately delivered national health care plan, is consistent with this goal;
Therefore, be it resolved that we, the representatives of local and state Leagues assembled at the 2010 LWVUS Convention, call upon the LWVUS Board to advocate strongly for bills that legislate for improved Medicare for all.
Motion #549-473,
The League's action is believed to be the first national endorsement of its type since Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March.
Vermont Passes Health Care Bill- Could Lead to Single-Payer
Vermont Health Care BIll, S88, Becomes Law Without Governor's Signature
May 28,2010
by, Art Edelstein
Vermont Business Magazine
A multi-part health care bill (Senate 88) became law yesterday when Governor Douglas declined to either sign it or veto it, thus letting it become law without his signature. The health care bill, S88, passed both houses of the Vermont Legislature on May 11, the last day of the 2010 session.
The legislation would support aspects of the state's ongoing attempt to keep health care costs in check and lead to universal access for all Vermonters...
...Under the new legislation the (Vermont Health Care Reform) Commission is charged with hiring a consultant who would be charged with designing three options for implementing a system of care that provides universal access. As stated in the bill, one design needs to be a single payer system, one a public option, and the third design is not yet known. Read full article
Download the Vermont legislation (new language starts on page 47)
Employers Brace for Health Care Reform-Related Cost Increases
Press Release- Towers Watson
May 25 2010
Although U.S. employers view controlling health care costs as their highest health care reform priority, few believe that the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will stem the tide of rising costs, according to a May 2010 survey by Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW), a global professional services company...
In order to cope with anticipated cost increases, many employers plan on:
- Passing on increases to employees (88%)
- Reducing health benefits and programs (74% )
- Absorbing costs in the business (33%)
- Passing on increases to customers (20%)
(Many employers anticipate switching to "consumer directed high deductible plans". These plans put the risk and the costs on the employees and off the employer or the insurer.)
Marty Looks to Future With Single-Payer Bill
StarTribune February 26, 2010
Lori Sturdevant
The possibility that Americans would join hands and buy health care all together has found no traction in Washington. But at the DFL-controlled Minnesota Legislature, the idea has been quietly marching through committees, three in the Senate, one in the House.
The Minnesota Health Plan is propelled in the Senate by former and current DFL gubernatorial candidate John Marty, a seven-term legislator from Roseville... Read More
Top Five Health Insurers Posted 56% Gain in Profits in 2009
Published 2-12-10 AlterNet
by, John Byrne