Economic Crisis Will Cause Health Crisis

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist, published a thought-provoking piece about the economic crisis and its effect on urgency of universal health care. I'll quote the first and last paragraphs, but you really should read the whole article to understand the excellent analysis:

The whole world is in recession. But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care.
. . .
The bottom line, then, is that this is no time to let campaign promises of guaranteed health care be quietly forgotten. It is, instead, a time to put the push for universal care front and center. Health care now!

It has always baffled me that those who claim to support economic freedom are satisfied with the reality that most people are tied to their employers if they want health care for their families. Now that middle-class families are losing health care benefits, perhaps the wisdom of breaking that link will become more apparent to more people.

Blunt Still Kicked 100,000 folks off Medicaid

Last night in the State of the State address, Governor Blunt talked about restoring health care to "some of" the 100,000 folks he kicked off Medicaid.

Blunt introduced a new government program called Insure Missouri, that does not get those 100,000 people out of extremely expensive emergency rooms. Pro Vote has set up a web site to give real Missourians a chance protest this politically opportunistic health care plan by Blunt. Go check it out.

Families USA, a non-profit from DC, has reviewed the plan and issued a report. The well reasoned report says that too many Missourians are left out, the cost shifting to consumers is too high and the coverage is too low. Sounds like much of the rest of the Blunt administration!

Don't be fooled. If you kick 100,000 people off and then let 10,000 half way back on, there is still a bunch of sick Missourians going to emergency rooms. Jay Nixon has a specific plan to restore health care to the sickest and poorest of Missourians. Go, Jay, Go.

Missouri House Democrats on Healthcare

By Paul LeVota

As a gubernatorial candidate Matt Blunt repeatedly promised not to cut Medicaid eligibility. One of his first acts as governor was to champion eligibility changes that resulted in 180,000 fewer Missourians, including 70,000 children, receiving health care coverage than when he took office. Ever since, Gov. Blunt has been trying to undo the damage to his re-election prospects through impressive sounding but superficial proposals that fail to undo the damage to those kicked off the health care system.

The governor’s first attempt was this year’s so-called MO HealthNet bill. Although trumpeted by the governor as a sweeping reform, its most significant changes simply renamed Missouri’s Medicaid program and the state agency that runs it. Rather than restoring health care to Missourians who need it, the bill actually imposed new bureaucratic barriers to coverage.

Heading into a gubernatorial election year, the governor now has announced his Insure Missouri proposal, which he claims would extend private health insurance coverage to 200,000 Missourians by 2010. Given the administration’s record on health care to date, the plan should be viewed with substantial skepticism.

The plan would pay for private insurance subsidies by using money currently paid to hospitals for providing emergency room care to the uninsured. Ironically, the governor added to the flood of uninsured Missourians seeking emergency room care by cutting Medicaid. Even if Insure Missouri’s optimistic coverage estimate is achieved, more than 500,000 Missourians would remain uninsured, with many continuing to rely on emergency rooms for their only access to care. Therefore it is questionable if Missouri hospitals can absorb the reduction in indigent care reimbursement over the long haul.

The shift in taxpayer-funded health care from Medicaid to private insurers also would result in a dramatic and wasteful increase in overhead. Whereas a mere 4 percent of the money spent on Medicaid goes for administrative costs, such costs account for a whopping 25 to 30 percent of premiums in the private market. Missouri could more efficiently use taxpayer money by restoring Medicaid eligibility to at least 100 percent of the federal poverty level.

The major deficiency is the proposal wouldn’t cover the sickest and most vulnerable Missourians -- children, the elderly and the disabled. And since the governor’s plan relies on providing coverage through health management organizations, it also ignores rural Missouri, where there is little HMO penetration.

House Democrats know that the best, most affordable to taxpayers and most efficient way to improve health care access in Missouri is to undo the governor’s damaging 2005 health care cuts. Shaky schemes built on uncontrollable factors and overly optimistic claims that fail to benefit the most vulnerable Missourians simply won’t hold up.

Last week House Democrats announced part of health care agenda for the 2008 legislative session. Key proposals include reversing the state’s Medicaid cuts and establishing a new Missouri Health Policy Authority. We made these announcements at a series of press conferences through out Missouri at medical facilities in Kirksville, St. Joseph, Springfield, and Scott City.

Although the state a $320 million general revenue surplus in the current budget, the governor says Missouri can’t afford to undo his damage. Yet restoring Medicaid eligibility would cost $155.8 million in general revenue – less than half of the surplus – and allow Missouri to leverage an additional $265.3 million in federal Medicaid funds that instead is going to pay for health care expansion in other states.

Ironically, the very reason we have a surplus is because the governor cut health care. You don’t leave money sitting in the bank when you have bills to pay, and right now Missouri isn’t paying its health care bills.

Streamlining a disconnected bureaucracy is another element of the health proposals in House Democrats’ Moving Missouri Forward legislative agenda for 2008. Based on similar efforts successfully implemented in Kansas, we propose establishing a Missouri Health Policy Authority to oversee and coordinate the state’s role in health care. By establishing this authority Missouri for the first time would have a team of health care professionals directing policy and ensuring efficient use of taxpayer resources.

While streamlining government’s role in health care is important, even the most efficient system is of little use if it isn’t accessible to the people who need it. Today, 180,000 fewer Missourians have access to health care than did nearly three years ago when Gov. Matt Blunt took office and enacted his devastating Medicaid cuts. The restoration of those cuts remains Priority No. 1 for House Democrats.

By reversing the governor’s health care cuts and streamlining government health care bureaucracy, House Democrats have a plan to put the state on the pathway to health coverage for all.

Paul LeVota, an Independence Democrat, is the Missouri House Democratic.

In America, Healthcare for Kids should be No-Brainer

Forty-five million. That’s a pretty large number, especially when it refers to human lives. It’s more than seven-times the number of people in our state. And sadly, it’s the number of Americans in this country without any kind of health insurance. There is, without a single doubt, a major healthcare crisis in this country.

Recent reports show that there are an estimated 9 million children without health coverage living in the United States of America. This embarrassing statistic makes it hard to believe that we live in the richest, most powerful country in the world. In Missouri alone some 117,000 children are uninsured – enough children to fill 2,200 yellow school busses. Fortunately, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is up for renewal in the Senate this week, and we have the chance to make real progress for kids. Additional funding included in the proposal would allow Missouri (through MC+ for Kids) to continue covering those enrolled, while also expanding the program to cover many more still in need.

CHIP has proven to be an excellent investment of public resources. Health insurance leads to healthier kids, of course, but it pays dividends in other ways as well. One study found that children from low-income families did better in school after they'd received CHIP coverage. Covering children also saves money in the long-term by providing regular health care and prompt treatment that can prevent serious, chronic health problems.

While I’m optimistic about the possibility of expanding coverage to the millions of American children in need, I’m also extremely concerned that my Republican colleagues in the Senate will try to stop this bill in its tracks. Americans have witnessed the Republican tactics over the last several months as they tried to block almost every piece of legislation Democrats have introduced. They believe that their success is our failure, and, quite frankly, I’m getting tired of this partisan attitude. When this bill hits the floor of the Senate this week I sincerely hope that we can put politics aside and take a necessary step toward ending the healthcare crisis in this country.