Morning CheckUp: August 30, 2011
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 30th, 2011 4:36 am by HL
Morning CheckUp: August 30, 2011
Regulators to shame insurers in rate review process starting Thursday: The Obama administration and states “will automatically scrutinize any proposed health-premium increase of 10% or more as part of the 2010 health-overhaul law” but won’t have the authority to block insurers from charging the higher rates. [WSJ] HHS official compares health law to civil rights […]
Regulators to shame insurers in rate review process starting Thursday: The Obama administration and states “will automatically scrutinize any proposed health-premium increase of 10% or more as part of the 2010 health-overhaul law” but won’t have the authority to block insurers from charging the higher rates. [WSJ]
HHS official compares health law to civil rights movement: “Jay Angoff, special adviser to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, drew parallels between the two contentious efforts during a panel presentation in Baltimore. He said pushback from state governors over implementation of the law mirrors the acrimony held by many state lawmakers decades earlier when they had to adopt the civil rights package.” “I don’t want to say that the health care law is as important as the civil rights law,” Angoff said. “But there really are some analogies.” [Politico]
Obama administration steps up anti-fraud efforts: “New government statistics show federal health care fraud prosecutions in the first eight months of 2011 are on pace to rise 85% over last year due in large part to ramped-up enforcement efforts under the Obama administration.” [USA Today]
Employees are not willing to sacrifice to pay less for health insurance: Only 27 percent of people with insurance provided through their employer said they would accept a more restricted list of doctors and hospitals in their networks, according to the latest monthly poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Less than a third of those polled were willing to pay more for brand name drugs or pay higher deductibles in return for lower premiums. [Kaiser Health News]
Huckabee to headline ‘personhood’ event: Huckabee will be the keynote speaker kickoff a campaign in support of a “personhood” initiative that is slated to appear on the November ballot in Mississippi. The initiative seeks to define a “person” as a being at the point of fertilization. [Clarion Ledger]
VA abortion clinics see licensing regulations as an “attack”: “Officials at abortion clinics around Virginia said Monday that their offices do not meet building standards in draft state regulations, with one arguing that the move is “an attack on reproductive rights” intended to force clinics to close, not enhance safety as some proponents suggest.” [Pilot Online]
Docs urge research center not to consider cost effectiveness: The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a new medical research body created by the health care law, should not consider the cost of treatments when evaluating them, the nation’s largest physician lobby argues. [Julian Pecquet]
America?s Worst Federal Spending Is Generally Its Least Controversial
Suzy Khimm asks, sensibly, “Why are we subsidizing the building of homes in flood-prone areas?” As she explains, the National Flood Insurance Program offers sub-market insurance rates to people who want to build houses in very flood prone areas. It’d be as if we had a special program to offer subsidized health insurance to people […]
Suzy Khimm asks, sensibly, “Why are we subsidizing the building of homes in flood-prone areas?”
As she explains, the National Flood Insurance Program offers sub-market insurance rates to people who want to build houses in very flood prone areas. It’d be as if we had a special program to offer subsidized health insurance to people who refuse to wear seatbelts. Sounds nuts? And yet there it is. But I do think it’s important to note that this kind of program, generally the worst kind of thing the federal government does, tends to be totally uncontroversial politically. The National Flood Insurance Program Reextension Act of 2010 was sponsored by a bipartisan group, it passed the filibuster-ridden Senate by unanimous consent on September 21, it passed the House of Representatives on a voice vote on September 23, and was signed into law by President Obama a week later. The lead sponsor of the current Flood Insurance Reauthorization is Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi. Amidst fierce ideological debate about the size and scope of the federal government, in other words, there’s no serious budget-cutting move to stop subsidizing people from living in dangerous flood zones.
