Health Care for All

Overview

Jul 15 2008

The need for health care reform is well-known and, to most Americans, indisputable. Numerous statistics and an endless trove of real-life stories document the need for bold health care reform. This section provides four sets of policies to help state legislators and advocates build proposals and political strategies to challenge the self-interests of the health care industry and successfully move health care reform:

The cost of health care is the primary reason at least 47 million Americans lack coverage and at least 25 million more are under-insured, meaning their insurance does not shield them from high health care costs. From 2002 to 2007, family insurance premiums rose 78% while inflation rose 17% and wages a mere 19%. Both employers and employees are feeling the squeeze.

Failure to create a coordinated and user-friendly health care system that provides necessary coverage for all Americans has left us with the endemic health care costs and wasteful spending that define our disjointed health care system. For instance, a staggering 78% of all health care costs are for people with chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and depression - costs which could be reduced with effective management and disease prevention.

From the Dispatch

Despite Missouri Vote, Nullification Continues to Fail Across the Country

Aug 05 2010

Health care nullification forces scored a symbolic victory in Missouri Tuesday as voters supported a ballot initiative to block the individual mandate portion of the federal health care law. But it was a primary electorate dominated by GOP primary voters -- and the real story is how isolated this victory has been for the repeal forces. 26 states and counting have rejected health care nullification, while even the most right-wing state governments are moving forward on implementing the new law for the benefit of their citizens, as documented at ALECFail.com.

New Health Insurance Plans Required to Provide Free Preventive Health Care

Jul 22 2010

New federal regulations were issued that will guarantee affordable preventive care services for millions of Americans. The new interim final regulations specify that new health insurance policies beginning on or after September 23, 2010, must include preventive services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, as well as preventive services recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in their coverage plans. In addition, health plans will be prohibited from charging co-payments, co-insurance or deductibles for these services when they are delivered by network providers.

Project to Get Veterans VA Benefits Expands Access, Saves Millions of State Medicaid Dollars

Jul 08 2010

Based on an innovative model from Washington state, states have the opportunity to help veterans improve their benefits and save millions of dollars for their own budgets.

Bills on Single-Payer and Health Reform Implementation Move Forward in California

Jul 08 2010

California lawmakers worked feverishly at the end of June to move forward significant health reform legislation, including implementing new Medicaid rules for the next five years, setting a framework for establishing health insurance exchanges, and moving the state towards a single-payer health care system.

Preventing Loss of Medicaid Drug Rebate Funds for States

Jul 01 2010

While the new Affordable Health Care law provides a variety of funding opportunities for states, one provision in the health law that could shift billions of dollars from cash-strapped states to the federal government. Under the National Medicaid Drug Rebate Program created by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, drug manufacturers are required to enter into agreements that provide rebates for Medicaid purchased drugs, establishing a 15% minimum level of rebates. Up until now, the rebates were divided between the states and the federal government. But under the new health reform law, a significant portion of the rebates will go solely to Washington beginning this year.

New Health Insurance Rules Hailed as Patient's Bill of Rights

Jun 24 2010

Marking the 90 day anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama used the occasion to announce the implementation of a Patient’s Bill of Rights. After meeting privately with health insurance CEOs and state insurance commissioners, the White House sent a signal to insurers and to the public that the President intends to monitor how the insurance industry responds to the law’s implementation. In warning industry executives to refrain from using the law as an opportunity to boost unjustifiable rate increases, the Administration unveiled new regulations that will govern how new consumer protection provisions are implemented.

Up and Running: States Implementing Federal Health Reforms

Jun 17 2010

The federal health reform law is only the starting point for achieving health care access for all Americans. Many states are already moving forward, not only on implementing the basic provisions of the Affordable Care Act in their states, but are also planning how to build on its framework to further expand coverage and rein in costs for their residents. The following are a few models of implementation and comprehensive reform underway.

Federal Health Reform Benefits for Early Retirees Begins on June 1st

May 27 2010

One of the immediate benefits of the Affordable Care Act is the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. Beginning June 1, 2010, this new reinsurance reimbursement program is available to group health plan sponsors who provide medical coverage to early retirees and their spouses, surviving spouses and dependents.

States Decide on High Risk Pools

May 06 2010

The choice of whether or not to establish high-risk insurance pools represents the first major decision that states are facing with the March 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). While twenty-nine governors -- 22 Democrats and 7 Republicans -- decided to create the pools themselves, most conservative governors failed to take advantage of the option to shape health care for their constituents and instead just kicked the issue back to the federal government, which will establish its own high-risk insurance pool in states that fail to take action.

Health Care Lawsuits Politicized by Right-Wing, Losing Steam in the States

May 06 2010

In the weeks following the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of health care reform were joined by multiple, conservative Attorneys General from states across the nation, despite widespread condemnation that such challenges were frivolous, wasteful, and almost certain to fail in the courts. In early April, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius commented that she believed the lawsuits had "more to do with politics than policy."

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