NEJM Article Examines Health Care in the Mid-Term Election

A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) examines various public polls assessing the public's mood on health reform and how it might affect the results of Tuesday's mid-term Congressional election.  Robert Blendon and John Benson of the Harvard School of Public Health argue that not only will health reform affect how individuals vote, but also that Tuesday's outcome could have a significant impact on the rest of health reform implementation. 

The authors show that Americans' view of health reform remained relatively stable before and after reform's passage.  Additionally, they put forth the following six assertions:

• Americans today generally have very negative views about the general direction of the country, which can be seen in their inclination to not vote for incumbent candidates
• Health care is an important but secondary issue in the election, with jobs and the federal budget deficit being at the forefront
• More than seven months since reform's passage, a majority of Americans neither support or oppose the package; however, 38% of registered votes believe that the US economy will be worse off than better off (21%) because of the health reform law
• 41% of registered votes think that most provisions of the law should be repealed and replaced with a completely different set of proposals
• Most registered voters (73%) who intend to vote for a Democrat support the reform law, while 80% of registered votes who intend to vote for a Republican oppose the law
• Polling results indicate that there is considerable political uncertainty about the future of the health reform law

The complete article can be found by clicking here.

Health Information Exchange Decoded

A recent post by Margalit Gur-Arie on The Health Care Blog provides a beginner's guide to the concept of health information exchange.  Following its introduction, the post describes both the centralized and federated models in addition to explaining how the HITECH Act has and will continue to impact the field.

Click here to access the full post.

Health Reform Lawsuit to Move Forward

Yesterday a federal judge in Florida ruled that multi-state challenges against the individual mandate and Medicaid expansion under the new health reform law can move forward.  Florida Northern District Judge Roger Vinson did not rule that he agrees with the assertion that the law is unconstitutional, but only that it won't be dismissed outright, as the Obama administration had requested.  However, four other counts related to taxation and requirements that states enforce the law were thrown out by Vinson.

The challengers argue that the individual mandates seeks to regulate "inactivity" because it would penalize people for not buying health insurance.  In his ruling, Vinson appears open to this line of reasoning, quoting a 16 year old Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report concluding that "A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action.  The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States."  Though, Vinson added a disclaimer in which he adds, "Of course, to say that something is 'novel' and 'unprecedented' does not necessarily mean that it is 'unconstitutional' and 'improper.'  There may be a first time for anything.  But, at this stage of the case, the plaintiffs have most definitely states a plausible claim with respect to this cause of action."

The White House, though, remains optimistic that the law will hold.  The administration's response, via The White House blog, can be found by clicking here.

Vinson's ruling can be found by clicking here.
The story, as reported by The Hill, can be found here.

Health Plan Trend Expected to Hold Steady in 2011

Segal Company's recently released 2011 Health Plan Cost Trend Survey estimates that medical and prescription drug cost trend will remain relatively unchanged from 2010.

The survey indicates that 2008 was the bottom of a downward pattern and that trend began elevating again beginning in 2009.  Also noted is that one of the short-term drivers of health plan cost trend is compliance with the new health reform law - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  

As reported by Business Wire, Key findings of the survey include:

• Compared to 2010, trend rates for indemnity plans and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are expected to decrease in 2011.

• Trend rate for preferred provider organizations (PPO) and point of service (POS) plans are slightly higher than in 2010.

• All 2010 medical plans types are projected to experience cost trends that are more than eight times higher than the consumer price index for all urban consumers.

• Prescription drug trend projections have remained below 10% for the last three years.

• Price inflation for inpatient hospital stays is the largest component of overall plan cost trend.

The complete findings of the 2011 Health Plan Cost Trend Survey can be found by clicking here.