Protecting Health Care and Retirement Security for Working Americans

Skyrocketing health care costs are stifling the economy and financially devastating hardworking Americans.

A healthy workforce is the backbone of a strong economy, but spiraling health care costs curb the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and constrain tight family budgets. Unless we deal with this problem, more companies and families will be forced to drop coverage. Both small business and large business employers alike understand that for your business to be profitable, you have to have healthy employees.

A government-run or single-payer health care system with government mandates is the wrong answer to our health care problems. Why not let employers drive innovation in health benefits, thereby making market-driven health reforms the best approach to reducing costs, while promoting efficiency, wellness, and quality of care.

To reignite and sustain economic growth, we must increase access to affordable health care coverage, improve efficiency, and realign the system to focus on keeping people healthy. These are some top solutions for really creating meaningful health care reform:

• Increased Access: Strengthen employer-sponsored health insurance and make it more available-and affordable-to every worker. It is vital to support leveling the playing field for individual consumers, families, and small businesses to purchase coverage while protecting the benefits of a uniform federal regulatory system (ERISA).
• Health Information Technology (IT): Promoting and ensuring widespread adoption of interoperable Health IT-including electronic prescriptions and use of computerized systems to store medical records-will improve quality, lower costs, reduce medical errors, and help patients and doctors make better medical decisions.
• Prevention and Wellness: Incentivizing individuals and businesses to live healthier lifestyles could avert 40 million cases of chronic diseases and reduce health care costs by more than $1 trillion (Milken Institute).
• Consumer-Focused Health Care: Congress should make account-based plans more attractive to small businesses by increasing flexibility and improving the transparency of cost and quality data so that Americans can shop smart for the best care.
• Medical Liability Reform: Frivolous lawsuits drive up healthcare costs.  The U.S. should create health courts and other medical liability reforms that would ensure fair damage awards, which would lower the costs of health care in the United States.

Sep 4, 2010 Patients' choices may narrow as insurers adjust standards for doctors, hospitals (Chicago Tribune) While insurance companies say quality is what gets the name of a doctor or hospital on its preferred choices list, cost is also a major factor. Illinois Blue Cross has two HMOs, HMO Illinois and BlueAdvantage, and is considering a third health plan with a smaller network. Kenneth Anderson is...    more...  

Aug 31, 2010 Urgent care centers fill gap between family doctors and hospitals (The Palm Beach Post) Visits typically cost $95 to $130, urgent care centers say. The hours are shorter than for urgent care clinics. Solantic's West Palm Beach urgent care center, which opened in November, is a joint venture with hospital company Tenet Florida.    more...  

Aug 31, 2010 Jacksonville clinic cuts raise fears of backslide in prenatal care (The Florida Times-Union) The University of Florida's dental clinic next to Shands Jacksonville closed in June.    more...  

Aug 30, 2010 Health reform group aids campaigns (Politico) Sarah Kliff The progressive coalition Health Care for America Now fought hard to pass health care reform. Dave Ninehouser is one of 14 HCAN summer hires, brought on to organize in the lead up to midterms. Stationed in PA-08, he has helped Kathy Dahlkemper defend her pro-reform vote in the face of...    more...  

Aug 30, 2010 Urgent care centers fill gap between family doctors and hospitals (The Palm Beach Post) Visits typically cost $95 to $130, urgent care centers say. The hours are shorter than for urgent care clinics. Solantic's West Palm Beach urgent care center, which opened in November, is a joint venture with hospital company Tenet Florida.    more...  

Aug 29, 2010 OPINION (Tulsa World) Los Angeles has the largest underserved urban population without an organized health care delivery system in the country. Health information technology could provide many cost-saving benefits and improve patient care. The question is how will it be dealt with -- through health reform legislation,...    more...  

Aug 29, 2010 CEO says UA health giant has big future (The Arizona Daily Star) You now have more employees, for example, than the city of Tucson. As far as volume (of Medicaid patients), we tend to run second or third highest in the state. He was named interim CEO in 2008 and permanent CEO in 2009. "Larry has left the organization.    more...  

Aug 29, 2010 Health care, job engine for state, is pulling back (The Boston Globe) Not anymore.The stalwart of the state economy is struggling these days as expenses rise, patient visits decline, reimbursements shrink, and pressure to control health care costs intensifies. Insurers have boosted copayments and deductibles to hold down premium increases at the same time incomes...    more...  

Aug 27, 2010 Pima seen as key to Prop. 106 campaign (The Arizona Daily Star) Eve Shapiro, a longtime advocate of health-care reform. "I'm not sure how the language changed specifically to make AHCCCS not as concerned. He's hoping Novack will return to Pima County for a debate on the measure. Novack said he'd consider it. Tucsonan Jim Hannley, 58, and self-employed, said...    more...  

Aug 24, 2010 Harvard Pilgrim's pragmatic warrior (The Boston Globe) But the good thing with Eric is it will be a professional dialogue. Neighborhood Health Plan, a Boston insurer, previously struck a deal for its commercial lines.That left Schultz's former company, Worcester-based Fallon, as the sole holdout. Fallon also prevailed on Aug. 6 in its appeal of the...    more...  

Aug 24, 2010 As budget woes whittle their numbers, school nurses' roles expand (The Miami Herald) The health department has a $2.8 million budget for school health. Not all Miami-Dade schools have health teams because of funding issues, Toomer said. That includes 80 schools with health aides supervised by registered nurses. Sixty schools will have nurses on call. Marcia Bynoe, director of...    more...  

Aug 23, 2010 Budget and staff cuts, leadership questions nag outmoded facility (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Some of those were maintenance and food service jobs. The complex now cares for about 200 acute-care patients a day, and about 2,000 annually. Modern psychiatric hospitals feature tighter groupings, where staff can more easily view patient rooms.    more...  

Aug 22, 2010 State insurers ready for new rule (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) They include: --Security Health Plan, part of Marshfield Clinic. It has about 190,000 people in its different plans. --Dean Health Plan, owned by Dean Health System, with SSM Health Care, the parent of St. For example, health plans for small employers will no longer be tied to their claims...    more...