HealthPass Celebrates 10th Anniversary

HealthPass, an NYC-based health insurance exchange and a subsidiary of NYBGH, this week celebrates its tenth year in operation. Offering small businesses quality, affordable group health coverage, HealthPass was created 10 years ago through a partnership between NYBGH, the City of New York, and the health insurance industry.

The press release can be found at: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Healthpass-1046432.html

Health Care Reform - NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Last week's health care stories from NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:

One-shot Solution Explored for H1N1 Vaccine

Obama Seizes on Momentum from Wednesday's Health Care Speech

Congress Reacts to President Obama's Speech

Axelrod Optimistic About Health Care Reform Push

Ahead of Obama Speech, Health Reform Debates Renewed in Congress

Kaiser Employee Health Benefits Survey - 2009

Today the Kaiser Family Foundation, along with the Health Research Educational Trust (HRET), released their 2009 Employee Health Benefits Survey that examines insurance premium costs as well as other items within a health benefits package including drug benefits, office visits, wellness benefits, health risk assessments, retiree benefits, and on-site clinics.

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose to $13,375 annually for family coverage this year, with employees on average paying $3,515 and employers paying $9,860. A number of the study's findings will be published today in a Health Affairs web exclusive.

To access the report, visit the KFF site at: http://ehbs.kff.org/?page=abstract&id=2
For the news release, visit: http://www.kff.org/insurance/ehbs091509nr.cfm

Health Care Reform - Adverse Selection

A new report released by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York (SUNY), examines the difficulties states encounter with "adverse selection" in their efforts to broaden coverage. Courtney Burke of the Rockefeller Institute and Katherine Swartz of the Harvard School of Public Health discuss a number of possible strategies, including an individual mandate, creation of an insurance exchange, and a merger of the small group and individual markets.

The report can be found at: http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/health_care/2009-09-HPRC_Managing_Risk.pdf

Health Care Reform - New Coalition Advocates Health Reform Faithful to Free Market

A recent press release from Employee Benefit News tells of a newly formed grassroots coalition made-up of 20 statewide business chambers and employer organizations from across the country. As a group, they oppose an employer mandate.

From Employee Benefit News:

Employers for Quality Health Care is an independent bevy that includes family-owned businesses and Fortune 500 companies, standing alongside national groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers as members. The participants, representing thousands of predominately small to mid-size employers who voluntarily offer coverage to millions of employees and families, delineated their needs and suggestions for health care reform in a letter to President Obama and members of Congress.

As a group they oppose an employer mandate, claiming that most employers who can afford to provide health care coverage already do so in an effort to attract and retain talent. New government-run coverage would shift millions of Americans off their existing private plans, they protest.

The article can be found at: http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/new-coalition-advocates-health-reform-faithful-to-free-market-2681812-1.html?ET=ebnbenefitnews:e308:2126416a:&st=email

Health Care Reform - NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Last week's featured stories on health care from PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:

Seattle Health Cooperative May Offer National Model

Surgeon Gawande Seeks More 'Rational Care' in Medicine

The Case Against the Public Insurance Option

Examining the Public Option in Health Care Reform

Health Care Coverage Tests Perceptions of the Media

Health Care Reform - Congressional Documents Reveal Health Costs

Kaiser Health News has obtained documents prepared by the House Ways and Means Committee that illustrate how the House Tri-Committee Health Reform Bill (America's Affordable Health Choices Act) will affect premium and cost-sharing maximums for low- and moderate-income families and individuals. Under this plan, premiums will be drastically reduced and out-of-pocket limits will decline. The documents only list families whose incomes are up to four times the federal poverty level: $88,200. These are the people who would be eligible for government subsidies.

The documents can be seen at: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/September/04/House-Bill-Premiums.aspx#Families