Related: Supreme Court Justices Delay Check-Up Until June
Here are some Boston Globe supplied articles to read while you wait:
Undoing health law could have messy ripple effects
States collaborate on foundation for health care reform
17 state put creating health care exchanges on hold
"Health spending expected to keep outpacing economy; Forecast signals more Medicare, Medicaid changes" by Ricardo Alonso-ZalDivar | Associated Press, June 13, 2012
WASHINGTON - If health care spending isn’t brought in line with overall economic growth, Americans will eventually face agonizing choices between paying medical bills and funding other priorities such as education and infrastructure....
But the wars, tyranny, bailouts of banks, and aid to Israel will be fully funded.
The annual spending projections usually attract little attention. But with health care a central theme both of the nation’s polarized political debate and the federal budget, the report is now getting close scrutiny....
--more--"
Related: Sunday Globe Special: A High-Deductible a Day....
Conflicting Globe diagnoses are making me sick. Good thing I got good health care.
"Health cost issue divides ex-allies; For business groups, stakes are higher as focus is on revenues" by Chelsea Conaboy Globe Staff / May 29, 2012
The state’s largest business groups, which came together to play a key role in passage of the 2006 law that expanded health insurance coverage, are now divided over how aggressively to slow the growth of health costs.
Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a business trade group, has called for tighter controls on spending than the House or Senate has proposed. Its regular allies - including the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a research organization for employers - warn against over-regulation.
The fracture highlights how the health care debate has changed in five years. There are no clearly defined camps. Controlling costs is a more nuanced issue than expanding coverage, some advocates said. And the stakes are higher.
“We’re talking about revenues in the health care system,’’ said Richard C. Lord, president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which represents about 6,000 businesses. “Every dollar in the system is somebody’s income stream. So, every dollar has an interest group that represents it.’’
Allegiances between consumer groups have shifted, too.
In 2006, Health Care for All and the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization led a diverse group lobbying for universal coverage. They also pushed an initiative to put the issue on the ballot. It was a public display that, along with threats from the federal government to withhold millions in Medicaid dollars, pressured lawmakers to act.
This time, though, there has been no similar effort.
Health Care for All has been quieter on the issues of controlling costs, focusing more on aspects of the bills that would put money toward public health initiatives, better integrate mental and physical health care, and monitor quality of care.
The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, however, has been vocal in its calls for aggressive cost controls. It had joined Associated Industries of Massachusetts - not a traditional ally - in pushing for holding the growth in health care costs to two percentage points below the rate of growth in the overall state economy. The group now supports the House bill, which has a more moderate target but calls for stronger action than the Senate’s bill.
Asked why Health Care for All did not advocate a particular spending target, executive director Amy Whitcomb Slemmer said she did not know what the best target would be and did not want to be distracted by a number....
John McDonough, who led Health Care for All during debate over the 2006 law and is now a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, said, “the alliances are somewhat scrambled’’ this time around....
Globe will sort them out for you.
--more--"
Also see: Mass. Health Check
Four Massachusetts health insurers to rebate $46 million
Mass. hospitals urged to apologize, settle
Yeah, we heard them the first time.
For sick, cost can impede care
I don't go for that reason, and because they ask me personal questions that are none of their business and they told me I'm fat.
You still waiting?
"US aims to cut use of drugs on dementia patients"May 31, 2012| Kay Lazar
Federal regulators announced a multiyear initiative on Wednesday to slash the inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs on nursing home residents, saying that nearly 40 percent of residents with dementia were receiving the powerful sedatives though they did not have a condition that would warrant it.
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it was aiming to reduce the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing home residents by 15 percent by the end of this year, through training of nursing home staff and of state inspectors on alternatives to using antipsychotics to quell aggressive and agitated behavior among people with dementia....
The Globe reported last month....
See: Sunday Globe Special: Nursing Home Nightmares
Don't fall asleep.
--more--"
Related: Nursing homes miss out on aid targeting antipsychotic drugs
Next Day Update:
"A Supreme Court ruling is expected within the next two weeks.... on a measure that has failed to generate significant public support."
That's going to be one hell of a long wait.
Good thing I'm covered: Insurers to stay with key benefits of US health law
Why not? They wrote the damn thing, and that is why I predict the corporate court will uphold it. If it were single-payer they would overturn.
