Last week a proposal was sent to Governor Charlie Crist by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The proposal recommended and expansion of the Medicare Managed Care Pilot Program to 20 more counties. This pilot program is currently operational in 5 counties. It requires that beneficiaries sign up for managed care plans. The plans are mostly HMO’s that offer some additional benefits but can also be limited by choice.
Part of the request is an increase in Medicaid payment to specialist. This is likely to increase access to beneficiaries. At the same time as the proposal, there is also a request from Governor Crist that staff be reduced by ten percent. The agency has agreed to comply with this proposal.
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The Utah Health System Reform Task Force is in preparation to make it’s recommendations. The aim is to overhaul the state’s health care system. This, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. According to Mark Bair, Chair of the work group of health care providers, all uninsured people would need to obtain coverage to work. This will need affordable and portable health plans which will be issued on a modified community rating. Residents who already have health issues will have to be provided coverage.
According to Bair, shopping for health insurance needs to be made easy via a website that gives information on all the available choices. Also tax advantages and choices would need to be maximized. The medical malpractice system needs an overhaul. There have to be incentives for people to live healthy.
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Health insurance coverage has not expanded in Pennysylvania or other states due to the weakening economy. California, Illinois and New Mexico are with Pennysylvania on this, lawmakers could not agree on how the plans were to be funded. According to Diane Rowland, Executive VP, Kaiser Foundation, it is not easy to reform health laws at the state level.
This job is easier when the economy is good and difficult when the economy is not healthy. Massachusetts is the state with the greatest degree of success in health care reform and reducing the ranks of the uninsured.
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The SeniorTrax Survey of the people over 65 was released by DSS Research. DSS is the largest firm that deals with market information needs of health/insurance companies. In the recent survey which happened in early September 580 seniors were surveyed. They felt that health care under Barack Obama would be better than under John McCain.
Only 8.9 percent of respondents felt that health care in the Us would improve under McCain. Higher income seniors tended to prefer McCain more while lower income ones liked Obama. Among the seniors health care is naturally an important issue.
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Except Wisconsin, all states that are a part of Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit plans will be able to choose from a smaller variety of plans than before. Free standing plans of this type are set to decrease from 500 to 308. Part D premiums have to be below a certain standard for insurers to qualify to offer insurance to lower income beneficiaries. In a report featured on USA Today, the insurance premium has been raised by many companies so that they have become ineligible to offer services to lower income people.
The amount of low income beneficiaries who are under part D and who will have to change to new coverage is set to rise by 100,000 from 1.2 mn to 1.3 mn. The actual number of low income beneficiaries was just 250,000 in 2007. In Nevada, low income residents will have only one stand alone plan. People from Arizona will have two.
Humana operates in 43 states but in 2009 it will not offer low income plans to any of these states. Only 14 states will feature Cigna offering low income plans. United Health Group will however increase the number of states it offers low income plans in this year to 42 in 2009. This year that figure was just 30.
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Max Baucus (D-Mont) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter, recently to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt voicing their concern about problems in the Medicare Hearings and Appeals office according to a report by CQ Healthbeat. A July report by the HHS office of Inspector General was cited. A number of problems were found at OMHA.
OMHA was established by the 2003 Medicare law for conducting administrative appeals heard by the Social Security Administration. The report says that 35 percent of appellants who were interviewed by HHS OIG had stated that hearings through video teleconference were not allowed to them.