Tag: healthcare

Even as the Economy Grew, More Children Lost Health Insurance

New York Times logo

A new analysis shows that coverage levels fell for a third straight year. And that was before the pandemic struck.

The share of children with health coverage in the United States fell for the third consecutive year in 2019, according to census data, after decades of increases.

The decline occurred during a period of economic growth — before the coronavirus pandemic caused broad job losses that might have cost many more Americans their health insurance.

A report Friday by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families found that the ranks of uninsured children grew the most in Texas and Florida, and that Latino children were disproportionately affected. Nationally, the number of children without health insurance rose by 320,000 last year alone, to a total of nearly 4.4 million children, the report found. Continue reading.

Court Ruling Against ACA Hurts Patients and Destabilizes Health Insurance Markets

Center for American Progress logoYesterday, despite the faulty legal reasoning of the Republican attorneys general and governors who initiated the Texas v. United States health care repeal lawsuit, as well as the clear partisan nature of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruledthat the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate was unconstitutional following enactment of the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which zeroed out the individual mandate penalty. The 5th Circuit also remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to determine what other parts of the ACA can stay in place given its decision that the individual mandate is now unconstitutional. Not only does this ruling increase uncertainty and threaten health care coverage for millions, but it also places power over the U.S. health care system back into the hands of Judge Reed O’Connor—a man who legal scholars say was handpicked “for his partisan loyalties” and who previously ruled that the entire law must be struck down.

After several failed attempts by congressional Republicans to repeal the ACA, President Donald Trump’s allies—with the support of his Department of Justice—are taking a circuitous route through the judiciary to advance their assault against the ACA. Continue reading “Court Ruling Against ACA Hurts Patients and Destabilizes Health Insurance Markets”

More Americans go without health coverage despite strong economy, Census Bureau finds

Washington Post logoIncomes are rising and poverty is falling, but the gap between the rich and poor has grown

The proportion of Americans without health insurance grew significantly last year for the first time this decade, even as the economy’s strength pushed down the poverty level to its lowest point since 2001, according to federal data released Tuesday.

The finding that 27.5 million U.S. residents lacked coverage in 2018, based on a large U.S. Census Bureau survey, reverses the trend that began when the Affordable Care Act expanded opportunities for poor and some middle-income people to get insurance.

Taken together, the census numbers paint a portrait of an economy pulled in different directions, with the falling poverty rate coinciding with high inequality and the growing cadre of people at financial risk because they do not have health coverage.

View the complete September 10 article by Amy Goldstein and Heather Long on The Washington Post website here.

Politicians’ Efforts to Undermine Providers Are Imperiling Women’s Health

Center for American Progress logoJeni R., at 21 weeks of pregnancy, visited her OB/GYN for a prenatal checkup and was devastated to learn that her pregnancy was not viable.1 Her options were to either terminate the pregnancy or wait for the inevitable miscarriage. She and her partner chose the former. However, because Jeni lived in Texas—a state with some of the most restrictive and intrusive abortion bans in the country—she was forced to overcome a number of medically unnecessary and intentionally cruel hurdles to get the care she needed. This included being forced to listen to a provider recite a medically inaccurate script about the harms of abortion; waiting for two days after getting counseling before returning for the procedure; and receiving approval from two different doctors before getting the procedure.

Sadly, Jeni’s story is not unique: Women across the United States face increasingly difficult, even insurmountable, barriers to receiving comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care.2 In addition to erecting cost and other logistical barriers to accessing care, these restrictions purposefully interfere with the patient-provider relationship, dictating when, where, and how providers can interact with their patients.

The patient-provider relationship is a cornerstone of clinical care. In order for providers to administer personalized and quality care, they must establish effective communication with their patients, create an environment of trust, collaboratively engage their patients in decision-making, and safeguard their patients’ confidentiality and privacy.3In fact, when patients trust that providers are acting in their best interest, they are more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations and continue care with the same provider. Patients must also trust that providers are protecting their health information, as this allows them to more openly share sensitive information that providers can use to determine the best diagnosis and provide appropriate counseling.4 Any actions that undermine a provider’s ability to create a safe, private, and trusting environment will ultimately lead to poorer patient health outcomes.

View the complete July 17 article by Osub Ahmed on the Center for American Progress website here.

The Simple Solution To Lower Drug Prices for All Americans

Center for American Progress logoLast month, 43 states and Puerto Rico sued drug companies for inflating prices by up to 1,000 percent from 2013 to 2015. The lawsuit alleges the unlawful practice of price fixing. But even without collusion, drug companies gouge patients and taxpayers for one simple reason: They legally can.

The price hikes affected the cost of more than 100 generic drugs that treat cancer, diabetes, HIV, arthritis, and other conditions. Far from unusual, they are part of a pattern. Insulin, for example—a drug that treats diabetes—has existed since the 1920s. Between 2012 and 2016, the average price of insulin nearly doubled. This price gouging has led some patients to ration insulin doses, a matter of life and death.

A few years ago, it was EpiPen—the injection for life-threatening allergic reactions—in the headlines. Mylan, its manufacturer, had raised the price from $100 to more than $600 since 2007, before the first generic version was approved. These examples illustrate the dire need for bold legislation that addresses these egregious price hikes, the burden of which falls on consumers.

View the complete June 21 article by Topher Spiro on the Center for American Progress website here.

Trump officials take bold steps on Medicaid

The Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to encourage red states to make conservative changes to Medicaid without congressional input.

Administration officials are pushing ahead and granting approvals to states seeking to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, even in the face of legal challenges and large-scale losses in the number of people covered.

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted Ohio’s request for work requirements, the ninth such approval since President Trump took office.

View the complete March 20 article by Nathaniel Weixel on The Hill website here.

Americans are dying because they can’t afford their insulin. That’s now a 2020 campaign issue.

Candidates are shunning donations from Big Pharma. Are they finally ready to take on drug prices that are climbing through the roof?

Once a month, Sarah Stark makes the trip to her local pharmacy to pick up the insulin she needs to keep her diabetes in check.

She has health insurance through her job and uses a $100 manufacturer’s coupon to help defray the cost. Even so, she ends up paying a whopping $728.40.

Stark, 28, is not the only one to experience sticker shock when making the purchase. Invariably, the pharmacist who rings her up is taken aback by the price of the medication, and asks if she’s certain she wants to complete the purchase.

View the complete March 17 post by Addy Baird on the ThinkProgress website here.

Klobuchar, Smith Announce More Than $46 Million for Minnesota’s Basic Health Program, MinnesotaCare

The Basic Health Program (BHP), known as MinnesotaCare in Minnesota, is a health benefits program for low-income citizens who would otherwise be ineligible to purchase coverage through the health insurance marketplace

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith (both D-MN) announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded $46,276,090 in additional payments to Minnesota for their Basic Health Program (BHP). Established by the Affordable Care Act, states have the option to create a BHP for low-income citizens, providing healthcare coverage to those who do not qualify for programs like Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CMS estimates that qualified health plan premiums in Minnesota would have been 18.8 percent higher if it was not operating their BHP, MinnesotaCare.

“Minnesota has a long, bipartisan history of innovation and efficiency in health care. MinnesotaCare has helped to bring down healthcare costs for the most vulnerable in our state who need affordable, comprehensive coverage,” Klobuchar said. “This funding helps in that effort and I will continue to fight for lower healthcare costs.”

“MinnesotaCare is a critical program that furthers our goal of making sure everyone has access to affordable, high-quality health care,” Smith said. “By investing in MinnesotaCare, we’re investing in people across the state and in the shared belief that we can all work collectively to lower the cost of health care.”

Continue reading “Klobuchar, Smith Announce More Than $46 Million for Minnesota’s Basic Health Program, MinnesotaCare”

Health Care Top Issue & Those Voters Trust Democrats Over Republicans By 24 Points

There are 19 days until the midterm elections, and according to a new poll, voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on health care by a 24-point margin. It’s clear why: Republicans are trying to take away protections for people with pre-existing conditions and want to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act again.

Health care is the top issue, and voters prefer Democrats to handle it.

  • 58 percent of voters say health care is their top voting issue, and those voters prefer the Democratic candidate by a 24-point margin.

  • A majority of voters disapprove of how Trump is handling health care.

Continue reading “Health Care Top Issue & Those Voters Trust Democrats Over Republicans By 24 Points”

DNC on Trump’s Open Enrollment Sabotage

In response to the Trump administration again scheduling downtime for the healthcare.gov website weekly throughout the open enrollment period, DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement:

“Trump continues his relentless health care sabotage. First, the Trump administration drastically cut the length of the ACA open enrollment period. And now, they plan to cut the enrollment period even more by frequently shutting down the ACA website for hours at a time. It is clear that Trump is determined to make it as difficult as possible for people to obtain the care they need.”