| CONSUMER
CHOICE MATTERS, #4
DATE: February
18, 2003
TO: Consumer
Choice Matters Readers
FROM: Greg
Scandlen
IN THIS ISSUE:
FamiliesUSA
Hears From Clinton, Reinhardt
You will no
doubt be pleased to know that Bill
Clinton is alive and well and still
thinking about health care. He and Uwe
Reinhardt were among the high-powered
speakers at a recent Families USA
conference last month in Washington
trying to inspire the Left to get back
in gear on health reform.
Most of Uwe's
talk was throwing red meat to the lions.
He went on at length about how
contemptible the United States is,
including this observation: "So you
are more class conscious than any
country in the OECD. Class is
everything. Family dynasties is
everything in this country. So don't
tell me. This country is run by an
elite. They run and own it all. And they
run it." During the Q&A he
recovered from his hysteria, and
actually had some worthwhile things to
say. When asked about reimporting drugs
from Canada, he said it wasn't a very
good idea: "If the Canadians pay
less, I think Canadian GDP per capita is
about 60 percent or 70 percent of ours.
The Canadians are poorer on average.
Therefore you would expect them actually
to pay less for drugs than we do. And
the idea is to sell the drugs to South
Africa at cost, at marginal cost, at no
profit at all. So you will have ideally
staggered prices by the - staggered by
the ability of nations to pay for
it." And, when asked about Senate
majority leader Bill Frist, he said,
"I've seen a lot of people snipe at
Billy Frist, saying he became a senator
to bail out HCA. I happen to know that's
absolutely not true. That is just dumb.
He - this man has power. I think he has
good will. I think you should work with
that, rather than bat him down because
he isn't totally like Paul
Wellstone."
Mr. Clinton's
presentation was mostly a defense of his
administration and a blast at the idea
of tax cuts, including refundable tax
credits to help people buy their own
coverage. Much of his time was spent
explaining how a tax cut in America is
stealing from people in Africa and Latin
America (don't ask me, I just report
it), after which he says he wants to
"propose a political truce
here," because, "we've got to
try to find a bipartisan solution."
He's like that kid you knew in the
seventh grade who would whack people in
the back of the head and then
"propose a truce" when they
turned around to hit him back. Of
course, like that kid, the only reason
Mr. Clinton wants a truce is because
he's afraid of being hit back. He says,
"I think it's quite interesting
that the worst congressional losses the
Democrats suffered in the last 60 years
were the midterms of Harry Truman and my
first midterm, and both happened after
we tried to fix health care." He
thinks it is interesting because,
"the experts said we had made a
very moderate proposal," until it
was "demonized" by the
"health insurance industry."
But, as you
might expect, Mr. Clinton also has what
he fancies are Deep Thoughts. This
year's Deep Thought is that, "the
number one task of the world is to move
from interdependence to an integrated
community." Integration, in his
mind, means making "a world with
more partners and fewer
terrorists," and doing "more
work in organized ways through
international institutions," like
the United Nations. (He adds,
predictably, "it's important to let
these inspectors do their work.")
We also need to set an example, he says,
which is why, "we will continue the
process of the integration of America
into a community of shared benefits,
responsibilities and values." I
guess he has already revised the
Declaration of Independence to a
"Declaration of
Interdependence," and soon a
"Declaration of Integrated
Communities."
SOURCE: The whole conference is
available as a webcast from Kaiser
Family Foundation. These presentations
may be found at:
Clinton -- www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=746
Reinhardt -- www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=745
Overview
of State Legislative Challenges
Before Mr.
Clinton "integrates" them out
of existence, lets look at what the
states are up to these days. We'll start
with an overview by Martha King of the
National Conference of State
Legislatures, who writes a summary of
health issues facing the states in the
January issue of State Legislatures.
She lists some of the problems facing
states and says, "The bad news can
overwhelm would-be reformers…"
She adds that state legislators often
don't have the time to look at systemic
reform and tend to work on the most
immediate problems. Some of the most
immediate problems include,
"Shoring up the private
market," which may include allowing
mandate-free coverage, establishing MSAs
and other forms of consumer-driven care,
and creating high-risk pools. Other
topics she addresses include prevention
and disease management, helping the
uninsured, and reinventing Medicaid. She
also mentions a couple of states that
are trying to do longer-range thinking,
including Kansas, Mississippi, and
Kentucky.
SOURCE: Contact Martha King at: NCSL,
7700 East First Place, Denver, CO 80230,
Tel: 303-364-7700, Fax: 303-364-7800.
The article does not appear to be
available on-line.
Universal
Health Proposals Not Dead Yet
Business
Insurance has an article by Judy
Greenwald that shows some ideas will
never die. Despite losing by four to one
in the recent elections in Oregon, the
Single Payer folks have a zombie-like
ability to rise from the dead. The
article repeats some of the tired old
slogans -- "the United States is
the only industrialized nation in the
world that does not guarantee health
care to all its citizens." (Yeah,
and the Soviets "guaranteed"
everyone bread - they just didn't say
when.) The article looks at some of the
activities going on in Oregon,
California, Maryland, Illinois, and
Maine.
SOURCE: www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?articleId=12323&a=a&bt=universal
health care
Maine's
Governor Baldacci Seeks Universal
Coverage
Speaking of
Maine, there are a couple of articles
describing the new governor's efforts to
create a universal health care system in
the state. Governor John Baldacci has
"made health care his top
priority," according to one
advocate, and the Democrat-controlled
state legislature is chomping at the
bit. The governor's health policy
person, Trish Riley, says,
"(Lawmakers) are ready to move now
and we're asking them if they can wait
and work with us for a broader, more
comprehensive bill." She may have
her hands full. Some legislators are
fervent about a single-payer
government-run program, and don't want
to wait. Meanwhile, Ms. Riley is heading
up a governor's Health Action Team that
hopes to present legislation in April to
be enacted by June. The Bangor Daily
News article reports that recent
federal legislation will influence the
governor's approach. Some 5,000 former
employees of Great Northern Paper are
eligible for the tax credit under the
Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, which
subsidizes 65% of health insurance
costs, and the governor will want to
take advantage of that, along with the
potential $1 million to create a
high-risk pool.
SOURCE: There are two articles, one by
Josie Huang in the February 9 edition of
the Maine Sunday Telegram. There
is a fee for accessing the archives at: www.portland.com/
The other is by Meg Haskell of the Bangor
Daily News on February 12, 2003.
Access to the archives is free but you
have to log in. The article is at: www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=267387&byline=&cname=Health%20Issues§ion=Elsewhere&tt=12PM
New
Hampshire's Governor Benson Wants MSAs
for State Workers
Next door, New
Hampshire also has a new governor, Craig
Benson, who is proposing a medical
savings account option for state
employees. He described it as, "a
modern way to deal with benefits."
The bill is being sponsored by state
representative Fran Wendelboe, who
sponsored similar legislation before
that passed the House but died in the
Senate. A State Employees Union
spokesman said "The union would be
very interested in listening to a
proposal," according to the
article.
SOURCE: www.cmonitor.com/stories/market/bizstori2003/0211_benson_med_options_2003.shtml
Former
Governor Dean Wants to Ride Health Care
to White House
And a former
New England governor, Howard Dean of
Vermont, is making health care a
cornerstone of his campaign. The Boston
Globe reports that Dean "hopes
that health care can do for him what it
did for Bill Clinton a decade
ago…" (uh, you mean lose control
of Congress?) The article describes Dr.
Dean's approach as "a political
hybrid of tax credits and expanded
Medicaid coverage" similar to
Vermont's Dr. Dynasaur program. Most of
the article was skeptical, noting that
translating a program that works in
tiny, rural, and homogenous Vermont into
a program for Texas and California is a
reach. Plus, the program is largely
subsidized by physicians, who accept
very low fees to see a handful of
children. That dynamic will change once
you get into states with 25% uninsured.
SOURCE: The article ran in the Boston
Globe on February 10, 2003, by Susan
Milligan and Liz Kowalczyk. There is a
fee for accessing the Globe's
archives.
Squeezed
Between COBRA and Pre-Ex in Florida
Now let's go
all the way down to Florida where the Tampa
Bay Business Journal has run a
number of articles on that state's
health woes. We'll start with an opinion
piece by Steven Kibort, who was a
successful consultant in Colorado until
his firm was sold and he was laid off.
He says his COBRA premium was
$750/month, up from the $130/month he
had been paying while employed. He, his
wife and daughter bought a 16-unit motel
in St. Petersburg, moved to Florida and
started looking for coverage. The
daughter had a pre-existing sphincter
condition, and they could only get
coverage that excluded colon or rectal
disorders for her. Mr. Kibort says she
is fine now, but he worries about what
might happen in the future. Curiously,
he does not report what he is paying for
this coverage or whether he is putting
aside the savings to pay for the girl's
future needs.
SOURCE: tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/02/10/editorial3.html
Florida
Businesses Make Health Care Top Priority
In the same
issue, Stacey Snow reports that,
"health care is top of the mind for
small business owners…" For the
past three years a state chamber survey
found that "finding qualified
employees" was the number one
concern of Florida's employers. This
year, affordable health insurance is
number one. The article reports on a
meeting of local business leaders with
the state's Speaker of the House during
which they called for, "easing the
state's insurance mandates, allowing
small businesses to purchase basic
coverage, and securing caps on
non-economic damages in medical
malpractice cases." They also
supported enabling Association Health
Plans.
SOURCE: tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/02/10/story4.html
Association
Health Plans Get Senate Help
Kent Hoover
reports "Momentum Grows for
Association Health Plans" in
several of the local business journals.
The hook is a hearing chaired by Sen.
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in her new role as
head of the Senate Small Business and
Entrepreneurship Committee. The hearing
heard from hard-pressed business owners
and led Sen. Snowe to conclude,
"Let there be no doubt, there will
be cost savings (if AHPs are
enacted)." Also testifying in favor
of AHPs were Secretary of Labor Elaine
Chao and SBA Administrator Hector
Barreto. The article says that Sen.
Snowe has the moderate credentials to
appeal to Democrats, and the AHP drive
is also helped by the election to the
Senate of Jim Talent (R-MO), an ardent
proponent when he was in the House.
Opposing are the Blue Cross Blue Shield
Association and the state insurance
commissioners.
SOURCE: tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/02/17/story8.html
Greg
Scandlen
Director
Center for Consumer Driven Health Care
The Galen
Institute
P.O. Box 19080
Alexandria, VA 22320
703-299-9206 (office)
301-606-7364 (cell)
Please send all
comments/questions directly to me at gmscan@aol.com.
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