Sen. Feingold proposes legislation for pilot projects

Here is an article that outlines a new proposal from Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold. It basically is meant to encourage state governments to experiment with Universal Healthcare models. The positive aspect to it is that if a state wanted to implement a single payer system, there would be funding available to pursue that.

Feingold unveils health-care plan
BY FREDERIC J. FROMMER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - Sen. Russ Feingold said Monday he will push legislation that would set up pilot projects to help states provide universal health coverage, delving into an area that could help broaden his appeal as he contemplates a presidential run.

"The time has come to see if we can get across our ideological differences -- which are serious -- and to see if we can at least get off the dime with the idea of pilot projects," Feingold, D-Wis., said. "I thought it was time basically to break a logjam."

An estimated 46 million Americans lack health insurance.

Feingold plans to introduce the legislation in Congress later this week or early next week. He acknowledged it has no chance of passing this year but said he wants to have something ready for when a new Congress takes over next year.

Under Feingold's bill, the federal government would set up a program that would allow selected states to design their own health coverage plans. Feingold estimates the legislation would cost $32 billion over 10 years, and two or three states could participate, or groups of states could apply together.

Ann Marie Hauser, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, suggested Feingold instead join Republican leaders and "mainstream Democrats" on expanding health-care savings accounts.

Under Feingold's bill, a federal task force would select which state proposals to fund and oversee their implementation.

To pay for the program, Feingold calls for savings in other areas of government, including:

• Increasing the rebate that drug manufacturers pay to Medicaid, which would yield an estimated $8.3 billion over 10 years.

• Increasing the passenger security fee collected by airlines from $2.50 for nonstop travelers to $5, which President Bush has proposed for next year's budget. The plan estimates this would bring in $15.5 billion over 10 years.

• Extending customs and border fees, set to expire in 2014, for two years, which would bring in an estimated $6.25 billion.

Corporate hospitals: looking to profit from illness

This is a very interesting article that deals with corporate run hospitals and how they benefit from the current system dominated by private insurers. One interesting point it makes is that investors could be taking encouragement from the Massachusetts "universal healhcare" bill that funnels more people into private health plans. It also details a twisted system where profit is made by closing facilities and decreasing hospital stays -- regardless of the patients actual health needs. Of course, a single-payer system would be very bad for this system, and the prospect of the Massachusetts model of universal healthcare spreading in its place was very good news for those who invest in it.

Betting on a sick boom
By David Lazarus
San Franciso Chronicle

... "The Wall Street guys are betting that hospital utilization is going to go through the roof," said Sue Houck, a Boulder, Colo., health care consultant. "But their accountability will be less because they've gone private."

HCA operates 176 hospitals and almost 100 surgical centers in 21 states. In the Bay Area, it owns San Jose's Good Samaritan Hospital, Regional Medical Center of San Jose and Los Gatos Surgical Center.

"This deal augurs continued increases in health care prices, continued problems with access and continued frustration," Houck said. "It doesn't bode well for the consumer at all." ...

But health care experts say the only reason investors would funnel serious cash into hospitals is if they expect significant returns on their investment -- and that can only mean higher profits resulting from more medical spending, increased patient volume or both.

"Everyone in the industry is waiting for the Baby Boomers," said Paul Szklarski, chairman of the Health Industry Research Group, a New York consulting firm. "The presumption is that we're all going to be in the hospital soon.

"Probably not a bad bet," he added. ...

"If health insurance expands, this would be very positive for hospitals," Ginsburg observed.

It wouldn't address the underlying problems that cause health care costs to post double-digit increases year after year. But it would potentially allow millions of people now lacking coverage to seek medical treatment they might not otherwise pursue. ...

Transition to a single-payer system would almost certainly usher in a period of intense uncertainty for hospitals and other medical facilities as funding switches from private insurers to government coffers.

James Kahn, a professor of health policy at UCSF, said the buyout of HCA suggests that the money men behind the deal don't foresee a single-payer system being created in the United States anytime soon.

"I would assume that they're more comfortable with a future that's more like the present," he said.

That's what they're buying.

Still more details on SF universal healthcare plan

The San Francisco universal healthcare plan recently passed, catching the attention of local and state governments around the country who may try to model their own proposals on it. Here are some of the details of the plan written about in the Contra Costa Times:

All eyes on S.F.'s ambitious universal health care plan
By Sandy Kleffman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

If it succeeds, other cities and counties may attempt a similar move toward universal health care. But it will not be easy to follow suit.

San Francisco has unique qualities that make it the perfect place to launch such an experiment, many say. ...

San Francisco is both a city and a county, which means it has just one set of leaders to grant approval for such a plan.

It also has a well-established primary care system, a sizable amount of health-care dollars it can redirect, and disproportionately fewer uninsured than many other areas. ...

The goal is to offer health care services to the 82,000 uninsured adults who earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal, which serves the state's poorest residents.

The program would be open to everyone, regardless of immigration status, income or a pre-existing medical condition.

It differs from typical universal health care proposals in one key aspect: It would provide access to services, rather than insurance. ...

Under the new program, participants would receive preventive care and screening to help ward off chronic conditions or at least identify them early enough so they can be kept from getting worse.

Not only does this result in healthier people, but it also helps lower costs ...

Firms with 20 or more workers have to kick in $1.06 for each hour worked by an employee. Those with more than 100 workers will pay $1.60 per hour.

Companies that already provide health insurance to their employees will be exempt, as long as they spend at least as much as the mandatory contributions. ...

Participation would be optional for the uninsured. Those who do join will have a co-pay based on their income.

The co-pays would range from $3 per month for those at the lowest income levels to $200 per month for those at the highest. ...

Unions, corporations & the fight for universal healthcare

The following article appears at TomPaine.com. It references a Wall Street Journal piece written by Andy Stern from SEIU calling for corporate support for single payer. The article is short, but it makes a good point that not enough of the unions themselves are supporting single-payer as the answer to the healthcare crisis. And it's going to have to be Labor, not corporate execs, who lead on this issue.

Push For Universal Care
By Alexandra Walker

While the rest of the world was distracted by the powder keg in the Middle East, the Service Employees International Union's Andy Stern quietly fired an opening shot yesterday in the battle for universal health care.

The movement for universal health care is decades old, of course. But the battle to get corporate America to join it is just beginning. Writing yesterday in the Wall Street Journal , Stern declared the era of employee-based health care over, and made a direct appeal to U.S. business leaders to "make health care their national priority."

With balance sheet after balance sheet showing companies spending more on health care than any other expense, it's hard to believe corporate America isn't already bankrolling an advocacy group in Washington to push a government health insurance program. And yet just last week, the CEO of the company that is arguably most affected by health care costs—GM—arguing against government-run health care, in favor of cost-efficiency and consumer education. ...

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

That might be Hillary Clinton's motto regarding healthcare reform. The NY Times reports (see link below) that the very groups that attacked Clinton's attempt at universal healthcare back in th '90s are now filling her campaign coffers with donations. Or maybe her motto could be, "whatever it takes to get elected." She's got a pretty good track record for not sticking by her principles when there's an office to be won, that is if she even has any principles at this point. Let's hope that someone with a legitimate interest in universal healthcare and without the bias that health insurance and pharmaceutical dollars buy will be the Democratic nominee in 2008.

Clinton wins over health care industry
Contributions roll in as senator mends rocky start from '90s initiative
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and ROBERT PEAR
New York Times

... As she runs for re-election to the Senate from New York this year and lays the groundwork for a possible presidential bid in 2008, Clinton is receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers and insurers.

Nationwide, she is the No. 2 recipient of donations from the industry, trailing only Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

Some of the same interests that tried to derail Clinton's health care overhaul are providing support for her Senate re-election bid. ...

Update on SF universal healthcare plan

Here is a link to a San Francisco Sentinel article that updates the status of the universal healthcare plan being proposed there and gives some more details as to how it would work:

Newsom and Ammiano unite on San Francisco universal health care

It doesn't state who will administer the healthcare coverages provided by the plan(s), but it's a pretty easy guess that it will be private insurance companies. The range of possible worker copays is huge ($3 to $201 monthly), which seems pretty steep on the high end. Maybe we should start emphasizing the point with these public officials that we need "affordable comprehensive" universal healthcare. They seem to be more concerned about arranging it so that everyone has health insurance, no matter how expensive or how bad the actual coverage is.

San Fran Universal Healthcare proposal

San Francisco's mayor proposed a universal healthcare system for the city. I haven't seen many details yet, but it's said to include a mixture of public and private coverages. One sticking point, as the article below discusses, is how to fund the proposal. One funding proposal involves getting businesses to cover some of the costs. I guess the business community isn't too fond of that. God forbid they have to contribute anything to the communities they get so much from.

Newsom-Ammiano Health Care Proposals Merged

The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee voted unanimously yesterday to merge two proposals aimed at provided universal health care to San Franciscans. Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal, which he co-wrote with a panel of experts and some Supervisors, contained the framework for the plan, but according to testimony from both the Budget Analyst and Public Health Director Mitch Katz, it lacked sufficient funding to work. Supervisor Tom Ammiano's proposal solves that problem by requiring businesses with more than 20 employees to cover part of the cost of their employee's health care. All eyes now turn to Newsom, who must choose between passing universal healthcare to win national acclaim or opposing the measure to satisfy the city's business community. ...