News Headline

washingtonpost.com — House Democrats have charged that hospitals in seven major U.S. cities would be overwhelmed if any of the cities were struck by a terrorist attack, and shortages of emergency room capacity and intensive care beds will grow worse if Bush administration Medicaid changes are implemented. In a survey by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, more than half of 34 hospitals in cities deemed at greatest risk of attack said they had no emergency room treatment space available to accept severely injured patients.

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time.com — As the economy spirals downward, a series of recent reports forecasts that the country's health-care crisis is about to get worse, particularly for children. A study conducted at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found that kids who did not have continuous health insurance were 14 times less likely to have regular visits with a pediatrician than those who did. They were also three times less likely to fill prescriptions for necessary medication. A second study concluded that children who were covered by private insurance were over three times more likely than government-insured children to lose their coverage if a parent lost or quit a job.

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nytimes.com — Many of the 158 million people covered by employer health insurance are struggling to meet medical expenses that are much higher than they used to be — often because of some combination of higher premiums, less extensive coverage, and bigger out-of-pocket deductibles and co-payments. For many people, their coverage may not adequately protect them from the financial shock of an emergency room visit or a major surgery. For some, even routine doctor visits now take a back seat to basic expenses like food and gasoline.

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businessweek.com — Employer-based health insurance premiums have skyrocketed at a pace that far exceeds the rate of American wage increases since 2000, a new study reveals. According to an analysis of government statistics being released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation the average dollar amount employees must pay per year for family health coverage went up by 30 percent from 2001 to 2005. During that time, incomes increased by just 3 percent.

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latimes.com — In a newly released poll, 7 percent of Americans said they or someone in their household decided to marry in the last year so they could get health care benefits via their spouse. The survey found that health care costs outranked housing costs, rising food prices and credit card bills as a source of concern. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed said they had experienced serious problems because of the cost of health care, compared with 29 percent who had problems getting a good job or a raise.

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online.wsj.com — Pointing to burgeoning bad-debt and charity-care costs, hospitals are asking patients for upfront payments before they get treated. The bad debt is driven by a larger number of Americans who are uninsured or who don't have enough insurance to cover medical costs if catastrophe strikes. Even among those with adequate insurance, deductibles and co-payments are growing so big that insured patients also have trouble paying hospitals.

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news.bbc.co.uk — The United States Senate has unanimously passed legislation banning discrimination on the basis of people's genetic details. The proposal, still needs approval from the House of Representatives, would allow only patients and their doctors to access data obtained through genetic testing. The bill would forbid health insurers from refusing coverage, or raising premiums, for healthy people based on genetic information.

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nytimes.com — The House voted to block the Bush administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid health care for the poor by $13 billion over the next five years. President Bush has threatened a veto, but supporters have more than enough votes to override him in the House, and maybe in the Senate, too. Two-thirds of House Republicans joined every voting Democrat in the 349-to-62 vote to impose a one-year moratorium, through next March, on seven rules changes that the administration said were needed to curb waste and abuse in Medicaid.

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msnbc.msn.com — The U.S. military's health insurance program has been swindled out of more than $100 million over the past decade in the Philippines, where doctors, hospitals and clinics have conspired with American veterans to submit bogus claims, according to prosecutors and court records. News of the scope of the fraud comes as the Pentagon seeks to raise fees for Tricare's beneficiaries — fourfold, in some cases.

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time.com — The Bush administration overreached last year when it limited states' ability to extend health coverage to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), according to a letter released by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO advised Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., that the administration's policy changes amounted to a rule that should have been submitted to Congress and the comptroller general before going into effect. Instead, the administration sent a letter to state health officials informing them of the changes they were making to the program, which it described as a clarification of existing law.

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