Retail Medical Clinics

A study published in the September/October issue of Health Affairs and conducted by researchers at the RAND Corporation examines retail medical clinics. The research focused on the types of patients seeking care at these clinics, how patients pay for the services delivered, and the types of ailments treated.

From the press release:

"Retail medical clinics located in pharmacies and other stores typically attract insured and uninsured patients who are seeking help for a small group of easy-to-treat illnesses or preventive care and do not otherwise have a regular health care provider..."

The RAND press release can be found http://www.rand.org/news/press/2008/09/10/

The Health Affairs article abstract is at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/5/1272

Minnesota Patients Shop Around for Health Care

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced this week the nation's first web-tool that allows consumers to shop around for health care (consumers see insurers' negotiated rates). The site, mnhealthscores.org was developed by MN Community Measurement, which is a "collaborative of state health providers that collected the data from insurance companies", says a Star Tribune article. The article continues, noting that the site provides the average cost for 103 common medical procedures from 110 providers in the state, about 85 percent of primary care in Minnesota. The payment information supplements the quality data that was already on the site, which provides scores on diabetes, vascular disease, depression, and patient experience.

CBO - Effect of Health Insurance on Labor Markets

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released an issue brief on the effect of changes to the health insurance system on labor markets. The brief reports that:

"Changes to the health insurance system could affect labor markets by changing the cost of insurance offered through the workplace and by providing new options for obtaining coverage outside the workplace. For example:

• Requiring employers to offer health insurance—or pay a fee if they do not—is likely to reduce employment, although the effect would probably be small.
  

• Providing new subsidies for health insurance that decline in value as a person’s income rises could discourage some people from working more hours.
  

• Increasing the availability of health insurance that is not related to employment could lead more people to retire before age 65 or choose not to work at younger ages. But it might also encourage other workers to take jobs that better match their skills, because they would not have to stay in less desirable jobs solely to maintain their health insurance."

The brief can be found at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10435/07-13-HealthCareAndLaborMarkets.pdf

Co-Op Only Option For Bi-Partisan Support

Appearing on Sunday morning's Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer on CBS, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) - both members of the Finance Committee - agree that creating a health insurance co-op (as the proxy public option) is the only way to pass bi-partisan reform legislation. They also agree that passing legislation via the budgetary reconciliation process (so as to avoid the pay-as-you-go rules that mandate that legislation can only be passed if it is budget neutral) should not be invoked.

See the video at http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5260341n&tag=related;photovideo

The related article is at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/23/ftn/main5260259.shtml?tag=contentBody;featuredPost-PE

Senator Schumer on Meet the Press

On Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) - a member of the Senate Finance Committee - appeared on NBC's Meet the Press to discuss with host David Gregory the prospects of a public plan option in health reform legislation. Rebutting him was Sen. Orin Hatch (R-UT), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee.

The video can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32528251#32528251

Health Care Reform - Splitting the Bill

Rumor has it that Democrats in Congress are beginning to ruminate on the idea of splitting health reform legislation into two parts. One part would include aspects related to budgetary issues and would be the most expensive provisions (e.g. subsidies for low-income individuals to purchase health insurance and an expansion of Medicaid) of the proposed legislation. This would likely pass solely with Democratic votes through a parliamentary budgetary maneuver called reconciliation. This requires only 51 votes - in contrast to the 60 votes usually required to pass legislation in the Senate. The second part of the reform legislation would involve insurance regulation and includes aspects such as mandates and caps on out-of-pocket expenses and would likely require heavy negotiating with Republicans and conservative Democrats.

A Wall Street Journal article about this can be found at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125072573848144647.html

Health Reform - EBRI Facts on Benefit Issues

Employee Benefit Research Institute has, on its website, a brief on "Facts on Benefits Issues" to help educate the public about many of the statistics used in the health reform debate.

The topics covered:

• the uninsured,
  
• coverage trends,
  
• factors affecting coverage,
• public opinion: health care costs,
• Medicare, and
  
• tax treatment of health care benefits

Also included is a section on various retirement issues that may be affected by reform legislation.

All answers are derived from studies conducted by EBRI, a nonpartisan research organization that does not lobby and does not take positions on policy issues.

The brief can be found at http://www.ebri.org/campaign/.

WSJ - The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare

Today's Wall Street Journal features an article by John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods who has been known as an outspoken champion of health savings accounts (HSA) and an advocate of maintaining a functional and free private health insurance market.

The article can be found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html#mod=loomia?loomia_si=t0:a16:g4:r1:c0:b0.

Health Care Reform - Public Option in Danger

Appearing on Sunday morning's political talk shows, two of the Obama Administration's leading figures on health care reform have given signals that the "public plan option" will be dropped from the health reform proposals. Facing increased criticism, the Administration has signaled that it is open to compromise and will consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate Finance Committee.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the public option was “not the essential element” for reform and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, appearing on CBS's Face the Nation, said that Mr. Obama, in wanting choice and competition in the insurance market "has, thus far, sided with the notion that can best be done through a public option". However, Mr. Gibbs continued saying that the bottom line is that, "what we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market", but that it doesn't necessarily have to come from a public option. Many right-leaning health policy experts and pundits believe that the public option will disintegrate the private health insurance market, thus leading to a government-run single payer system.

Articles on the public option's floundering can be found in the following links:
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
Washington Times

Driving Participation in Health Improvement Programs

Recently released by the WellPoint Institute for Health Care Knowledge is a report from Health Management Corporation (HMC), a wholly owned subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc., showing research into what drives health plan members to enroll and engage in programs to improve their health.

An excerpt from the report's abstract:

The 2008 HMC study found that members who face barriers to care are more likely to enroll in health improvement and disease management programs. It also identified monetary incentives and support from health plans and employers as key to participation. After enrollment, successful engagement is tied more to demographic and operational factors than to member characteristics. While members must first express interest in the program, the crux of responsibility falls to the health management program to build on that interest after enrollment.

The full report can be found here: http://www.wellpoint.com/pdf/Helping_People_Help_Themselves.pdf

NYBGH To Host Members of Congress

NYBGH will be hosting two health care reform events in the coming weeks. The August Congressional Recess provides us with a great opportunity to meet with our New York Metro area representatives to discuss health reform. To that end, NYBGH is hosting two forums where NYBGH members can hear about the reform activities set for Congress's fall session as well as pose their own queries.

Our two events are open only to NYBGH members and are as follows:

U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
Friday, August 14th, 2009
8:30-11:00am
Bar Association of New York City (42 West 44th Street, NY, NY 10036)

&

U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
8:30-10:00am
University Club of New York City (1 West 54th Street at Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10019)

WSJ - U.S. Psyche Bedevils Health Effort

Today's Wall Street Journal features an article about how the American mind so desperately yearns health reform, but at the same time grasps onto the status quo so tightly.

"This seems counterintuitive. People know the system is creaking, frustrating and way too expensive. They complain about it all the time. Yet they can't quite let it go.

Why? Like health care itself, the answer is complicated. But there are five big reasons:"

Read the article here.