Health care employment nationwide is expected to grow 14 percent between 2010 and 2020 with more than a half million new jobs each for registered nurses, medical retail sales, home health aides and personal care assistants.
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Category Archives: Health Care
Philips revenue, profit rise on health care gains
AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Improved sales of health care products and LED lighting at Royal Philips Electronics NV combined with cost-cutting measures to help the electronics giant post rises in revenue and net profit in the second quarter, the company announced Monday.
Philips said sales rose to 5.9 billion ($7.2 billion) in the second quarter from 5.2 billion in the same period a year ago.
Net profit was 167 million ($203.7 million), rebounding from a 1.3 billion loss in last year's second quarter that was hit by a writedown on the value of assets.
The company said that, excluding impairment, profit was 127 million ($154.94 million) higher than the same period a year ago.
The company said its cost-cutting program has saved 176 million ($214.7 million) so far this year.
Philips shares shot up more than 8 percent to 17.56 ($21.42) on the news shortly after trading began in Amsterdam.
Philips made its name selling light bulbs and is now looking to new, more energy efficient, lights to boost sales and profits. LED light sales grew 37 percent compared to the second quarter in 2011 and now account for 20 percent of the company's 2Q lighting sales of just over 2 billion ($2.44 billion).
Second-quarter sales at the company's health care division rose from 2.1 billion last year to 2.4 billion ($2.9 billion).
Philips sounded a note of caution about the effects of the financial crisis, particularly in its European markets.
"There is no denying that the global economy is weaker now than it was just three months ago, especially in Europe which accounts for approximately 25 percent of our revenue," CEO Frans van Houten said.
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Cuccinelli's do-nothing tactic against 'Obamacare' easier than court challenge
By: LAURA VOZELLA | THE WASHINGTON POST Published: July 23, 2012 Updated: July 23, 2012 - 12:00 AM
Ken Cuccinelli, the first state attorney general in the nation to sue over the federal health care law, has hit upon a new strategy that is much easier than going to court: do nothing.
Virginia and other states can shield businesses from hefty fines for not providing adequate health insurance for employees, he contends, simply by refusing to set up their own state-based insurance exchanges.
Cuccinelli bases that legal theory on a quirk in the law, one variously attributed to sloppy drafting, political miscalculation or both: It includes a provision to impose those fines under state-based exchanges, but not under a federal one.
"In the law, it says those penalties don't apply if the federal government sets up the exchange," he told a tea party gathering in Henrico County last week. "Whoops!"
Supporters of the law acknowledge the wording glitch but say the matter has been clarified through regulations subsequently issued by the Internal Revenue Service. They dismiss Cuccinelli's line of attack as wishful thinking or willful distortion.
"That argument is effectively null and void, but it's not stopping people from making it," said Chad Shearer, deputy director of Princeton University's State Health Reform Assistance Network.
Crafted by a Cato Institute scholar about a year ago, the theory started quietly making the rounds among conservative think-tank scholars, attorneys general, lawyers and bloggers while the matter was before the Supreme Court. It has picked up steam since the court upheld the law in June.
For Affordable Care Act foes who first tried to kill the law in the courts and now aim to do so by electing Republican Mitt Romney president, the do-nothing approach is a long-range Plan C.
"This could bring down the entire law," said Michael F. Cannon, the Cato Institute's director of health policy studies who crafted the argument and urged Cuccinelli, a longtime friend, to pick up on it. "If Virginia just sits on its hands and does not implement 'Obamacare,' then state officials will protect Virginia employers from a $2,000-per-worker tax."
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Cuccinelli's do-nothing tactic against 'Obamacare' easier than court challenge
Health coaches lead the way for new delivery of health care
ELDRIDGE Chronically ill patients have a new partner in the health care system here, and her goal is to try to provide them with a higher quality of care.
Carolyn Bjustrom, a registered nurse, is newly certified as a health coach at the Genesis Health Group offices in Eldridge. Health coaches are to be used by both Genesis Health System and Trinity Regional Health System in the Quad-City area to help individuals navigate their medical care path. The plan is to stress disease prevention and effective case management.
Health coaches are among the many changes that have occurred since the federal Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010. And its one of several changes identified by health professionals from Genesis, Trinity and the Good Samaritan Free Clinic in the Quad-Cities.
The changes are designed to lead to better, more affordable care, and the numbers appear to support that aim at least in the short term. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projected this month that health spending in the United States will grow at very low rates through 2013.
The agency, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, estimates the rate at 4 percent on average, slightly above the historically low growth rate of 3.8 percent in 2009. The rate should accelerate to 7.4 percent in 2014 as major parts of the Affordable Care Act kick in, the centers reported.
While the recession has played a role in that trend, it also can be attributed to changes in how care actually gets to patients. That covers a wide range of the areas health care scene, but it is basically preventative, coordinated care with a focus that tries to keep people healthy in the first place.
Health coaches
Much of Bjustroms time as a health coach is focused on patients who have chronic conditions including diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic heart disease and hypertension. Before a patient arrives for an appointment, Bjustrom prepares a chart for the doctor, showing recommended care goals according to the persons condition.
After the office visit and at the doctors request, Bjustrom works with the patient on goals. If a person is ready to, say, make a change in their diet, she helps facilitate that desire. They write the goal down and then I either call them or they call me, she said.
She connects with patients by telephone, at the medical clinic, in the patients home or wherever the person chooses. Shes the one they talk to about a variety of concerns. Diabetic patients, for example, often have questions about the blood sugar readings they take daily, and Bjustrom will help them track various tests that are needed to stay well.
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Home, community health care services should top premiers’ list
Provincial premiers will be meeting as the Council of the Federation at the end of July in Halifax and health care is almost certain to be on the agenda.
The first report from the first ministers health care innovation working group will be presented at the meeting, and was promised to address health human resource and service delivery issues with a national lens.
The meeting will also present the opportunity to identify the next set of priorities for the working group.
The front-runner on the priority list should be home and community care. Heres why.
Home and community care is the collection of services that people receive outside of hospitals and doctors offices. This includes nursing homes, as well as home health care, personal support services (like help with bathing or housekeeping), other community care services and, of course, care from family and friends.
Ideally, all care providers will work together to create a comprehensive approach to home and community care. When they do not, it is costly, both to the health of individual Canadians, and to the public health system at large.
When home and community care fails, patients end up in hospital emergency rooms, often long past the point at which preventive care measures may have provided a solution. Many then get admitted as in-patients the most expensive form of health provision. They may then stay far too long in the hospital, awaiting a spot in a nursing home or for other appropriate community-based services to be arranged. One in every nine hospital beds is occupied by a person over age 65 who could receive appropriate care elsewhere.
When emergency rooms and hospital beds are full, patients receive care in hallways. Care and work conditions are jeopardized, which increases the likelihood of infections, medical errors and readmissions.
The interconnectedness of different parts of the health care system is not lost on Mike de Jong, British Columbias Minister of Health. De Jong recently told the Fraser Health Authority that they have 150 days to improve hospital care in several key areas including less hallway care; quicker movement from the emergency room to an actual bed if in-patient care is needed; and a lower average length of stay.
Fraser Health is not unique in B.C., and B.C. is not unique in the country. Health ministries across Canada are all trying to address overcrowding in acute care. In many cases, they are employing similar initiatives to improve care and reduce the need for emergency rooms, acute in-patient care and nursing homes.
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Home, community health care services should top premiers’ list
At Work: Health-care act could allow people the freedom to change jobs
You probably know someone who stays at a job he or she dislikes just for the health care. I even know of a guy who worked for free to get health insurance that he couldn't otherwise obtain. His company was laying off workers, and he begged his employer to keep him on -- to work for nothing -- if he could keep his health care.
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At Work: Health-care act could allow people the freedom to change jobs
Take Feds’ Medicaid Funds
When the recent Supreme Court ruling upheld the constitutionality of the health care reform law, it also opened up new questions about Medicaid that were explored at length by Winthrop Quigleys UpFront piece Medicaid Expansion the Next N.M. Debate.
Although Gov. Susana Martinez has publicly questioned whether its in New Mexicos best interest to comply with expanding Medicaid starting in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act, opting out wouldnt just be a burden to my hospital and the patients I treat it would be turning down the deal of the decade.
The law expands health care coverage in two ways.
The first is by creating health insurance exchanges for individuals and small businesses to shop for comprehensive insurance plans at a subsidized rate. To her credit, the governor has moved New Mexico forward, and our state exchange is finally in the works.
The second is by extending eligibility for Medicaid. Medicaid, which currently only covers low-income citizens who meet certain conditions, will be expanded to cover all single adults making a little less than $15,000 per year and a family of four making about $30,000 a year. Expanding Medicaid alone would give coverage to an additional 170,000 New Mexico children and adults. But the Supreme Courts ruling gives states the option of rejecting this expansion and the federal dollars that come with it, as Quigley pointed out.
Rejecting this funding would be a disaster for New Mexico.
I saw the patients who would benefit from this expansion while I was training as a resident physician at University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque. Most of them come from hardworking families. They play by the rules, pay their taxes and want whats best for their children.
But the astronomical cost of health insurance places it out of reach for their family budgets. As a result, too many of them cut back on the care I prescribe for their conditions and far too many of them skimp on preventative care that keeps them healthy in the first place all because they cant afford it. But even if I were unmoved by the precariousness of my patients financial stability, I would find the effect of the Medicaid expansion on my state and my countys fiscal well-being to be equally compelling.
Right now, hospitals and providers are treating the 24.7 percent of New Mexicans who are uninsured, and too often that treatment remains uncompensated care because the patient is simply unable to pay. In fiscal 2011, UNM alone reported providing $198 million in charity care and care for the uninsured.
Who pays for this uncompensated care? We all do.
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Employers work on health mandate
Now that the Supreme Court has upheld most of President Obamas health care law, U.S. businesses by and large appear skeptical about Republican attempts to repeal the law and are rushing to comply with it, surveys show.
While the political drama over the law is far from over, businesses face significant penalties if they fail to comply with its mandates, including providing health care coverage to all full-time employees starting in 2014.
A survey by Mercer, a human resources consulting agency, immediately after the Supreme Courts June 28 ruling found that the majority of businesses had been waiting until the court acted before complying with the law.
After the high courts affirmation, the majority of businesses surveyed said they would start setting up systems for carrying out the mandate and other health reforms, with only 16 percent saying they will wait until after the November elections to see whether Republicans make any headway with their drive to repeal the law, Mercer said.
Mercer and other health care groups are advising businesses not to wait.
"Although the law still faces a contentious political outlook, employers should stay on track in their efforts to comply with the law as enacted or else they may face penalties," said David Rahill, head of Mercers health benefits division.
Many economists hoped the high courts decision would remove one of the major uncertainties that they believe have caused businesses to hesitate about hiring people this year. Providing health insurance to a typical employee costs an average of more than $10,000 a year, so it is a significant expense, especially for companies that employ mostly low-wage workers.
"The ruling eliminates one source of uncertainty," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight. But, he said, Republican attempts to repeal the law and obstruct its implementation are inserting a new element of uncertainty into business planning.
The House passed a repeal bill by a mostly party-line vote last week, but the bill is not expected to advance in the Senate this year. For Congress to enact a repeal bill next year, Republicans would not only have to maintain control of the House, they would have to gain control of the Senate and the White House -- a scenario that is not given high odds by most political analysts.
Mercer said businesses will have to act quickly to implement new requirements that go into effect this year and next to provide benefit summaries to their employees, limit the size of flexible health-care accounts and increase withholding of Medicare taxes from high-income earners.
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Assemblyman Bill Monning: Affordable Care Act monumental step forward in health promotion
Assemblyman Bill Monning
What does the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding federal health care reform, the Affordable Care Act, portend for California and Californians?
Since being signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, portions of federal health care reform have been enacted and more than 350,000 young adult Californians under the age of 26 have qualified for health care coverage under a parent's existing plan. Almost 11,000 individuals who were denied coverage by established plans because of a pre-existing medical condition have been enrolled in the Preexisting Condition Insurance Program. And, since 2010, young people under the age of 18 cannot be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition; more than 350,000 Medicare enrollees have received up to $600 a year in assistance to buy prescription drugs [the doughnut hole]; more than 30,000 small business owners have used tax credits to help offset the costs of employer-sponsored health care coverage; and there are no lifetime caps or maximum limits on what health insurance will cover during the entire time you are enrolled in the plan. All of these benefits are already in effect in California.
It is interesting to note that when polled, many opponents of federal health care reform overwhelmingly approve of the rights and protections embodied in the law. Strident opponents do not believe the government should offer any support to individuals seeking health care services. Yet,
With the Supreme Court's decision, the ACA will extend health care access and eligibility to millions of Californians. The court held that Congress can mandate the implementation of a more comprehensive and cost effective health care delivery system.
While there is more work to do for California to fully implement the ACA by 2014, the California Legislature has been a pioneer in laying the groundwork and has already established the Health Benefit Exchange. The exchange will make it easier for people to buy health insurance products in an open and transparent marketplace.
In addition, I am working with my colleagues to develop policies that will assist consumers and advance health promotion and wellness in our state. I believe one of the strongest features of federal health care reform is its commitment to community-based medicine, including the promotion of health and wellness through the funding of prevention, wellness, immunization, and community-based health promotion. While there is no quick fix to control preventable diseases and illnesses, the ACA offers some of the critical tools and resources necessary to expand access to health care services and to direct more resources to disease prevention and health promotion.
There are those who will argue that federal health care reform falls short of a comprehensive and universal national health plan. Yet, amid the current polarized political dynamic in our nation, the Obama administration's achievement, affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, represents a monumental step forward in the promotion of health and health care access for all. For those families who have already received treatment for a loved one who would have otherwise been denied health treatment coverage, the ACA has indeed been transformative and for some, life-saving.
Assemblyman Bill Monning is chair of the Assembly Health Committee and represents the 27th Assembly District, which includes portions of Monterey, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. Prior to his election to the Assembly, he was a professor at the Monterey College of Law and a professor of International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
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Assemblyman Bill Monning: Affordable Care Act monumental step forward in health promotion
Value over volume: Health care changes on horizon
Photo
Craig Samitt
Javon R. Bea
JANESVILLE One of Rock Countys two largest health care providers already has been selected to participate in a national program designed to provide Medicare recipients with better care at a lower cost.
The otherMercy Health Systemplans to apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to become an accountable care organization in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
Officials from both said the basis of the voluntary program is a delivery model theyve been advocating and using for years.
Accountable care organizations are groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that work together to coordinate and provide high quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal is to ensure that patients get the right care at the right time without unnecessary duplication of services and medical errors.
When an ACO meets benchmarks for care quality and efficiency, it will share in the savings it generates for the Medicare program.
I think the model provided by ACOs is the way of the future, said Craig Samitt, president and chief executive officer of Dean Health System.
Earlier this month, Dean Clinic & St. Marys Hospital ACO was one of 89 systems from around the country selected to participate in the program as an ACO.
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Monning predicts states to reverse course on Medicaid rejection
Click photo to enlarge
Bill Monning
SANTA CRUZ - A key state lawmaker on health care policy said Friday he believed many states now forcefully rejecting an expansion of government-funded health care for the poor would reverse course after the upcoming presidential election.
"My guess is that after November, you're going to see some states that are hollering now - no Obamacare, no Medicaid expansion - I don't see how they can afford not to, unless they're just going to say, 'We don't care about poor people in our state, we're going to let them fend for themselves," said Bill Monning, a Carmel Democrat who chairs the Assembly Committee on Health.
California was the first state to agree to a vast expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which was upheld last month by the U.S. Supreme Court. But the court held that states could not be forced to adopt the expansion, which requires states to pick up 10 percent of the tab after three years.
Conservative governors in several Southern states, including Texas and Florida, have rejected the expansion, saying it would cost too much. States rejecting the expanded coverage typically have higher numbers of uninsured residents.
Monning said all 50 states have opted into a federal program called the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Despite the state's persistent budget woes, Monning, who is heavily favored to win an open Central Coast Senate seat, said the state would follow through with the expansion.
"We'd better figure out a way to come up with the 10 percent, because a 9 to 1 match is pretty much unprecedented," Monning said.
In a visit with the Sentinel's editorial board that touched on several topics, Monning spoke about the aftermath of the ruling. Among the Legislature's task in preparing for the bill is a pending Monning bill that outlines what services public and private heath insurance is required to cover.
The Affordable Care Act outlines several areas of required coverage for health plans. But the details are left up to each state, and Monning patterned his bill after the Kaiser small group plan, which goes beyond common coverage areas to include acupuncture and costly therapeutic autism treatments.
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Monning predicts states to reverse course on Medicaid rejection
Project improves dental care for veterans
Two providers from the Department of Veterans Affairs health care facility in Grand Island completed a national geriatrics scholars program and project that directly improved the access to health care for 81 area veterans.
Janelle Brock, a licensed independent clinical social worker, and Dr. Majrie Heier completed a quality-improvement project that improved access to dental care for veterans in Central Nebraska.
The project was the capstone requirement completion of the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health Geriatrics Scholar Program. The project was also published in the spring edition of the VHA Office of Rural Health Rural Connection publication.
Brock and Heier created a geriatric team at the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System Grand Island community-based outpatient clinic.
The team developed a collaborative relationship with local community agencies that provided dental care to low-income people. Information about local dental care resources was shared with area veterans, and a referral system was established within the VAs electronic medical records.
They also coordinated the sharing of relevant medical records such as medical imaging and medication lists so dental care could be provided efficiently within community dental clinics.
Six months after the project was implemented, 151 veterans were referred to community resources for dental care. Eighty-one, or 56 percent, of those referred to a specific clinic were confirmed to have been treated at that clinic.
The project is being expanded to other rural VA clinics within Nebraska.
The scholars program is an intensive course in geriatric care. The program culminates with each scholar implementing a quality improvement project to improve health care for older veterans in a rural VA clinic setting.
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A Formula for Cutting Health Costs
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Refugee claimant cuts cost system
Federal cuts that have left refugee claimants with little to no health coverage are expected to come at a high cost to Hamilton's health system.
Many area health care providers continue to care for refugee claimants at the expense of their bottom line since the cuts to the interim federal health program took effect June 30.
My background is to treat patients that need you regardless of whether they have funding or not, said Dr. Allen Greenspoon, a family doctor at the Hamilton Community Health Centre on Victoria Avenue North. My first and foremost commitment is to patients. We just see patients if they need our help.
Health Minister Deb Matthews estimates caring for refugees cost $1.3 million at one Toronto hospital alone. Hamilton is also bracing to be hit hard as one of Ontario's top destinations for newcomers.
It's not sustainable to continue to see patients without funding, said Greenspoon. There has to be a proper plan in place to treat patients as necessary.
Hamilton's hospitals and the Maternity Centre of Hamilton have all said they won't turn refugee claimants away. They'll try to work out payment plans with them but are aware they'll likely end up absorbing a lot of bad debts. About 10 per cent of the maternity centre's 800 patients a year are funded by the interim federal health program.
It's not going to unhinge us, said Claudia Steffler, the centre's unit director. But it is something that factors into the big scheme of keeping things afloat.
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said during her first trip to Hamilton this week that the health care system simply can't afford to care for refugee claimants.
We plan for our health-care system with our population, she said. What we don't do is plan for a health-care system of non Canadians. I think this is about fairness to Canadians and Canadians would expect that.
Ontario's health minister counters that the move only saves the federal government money while putting a tremendous burden on the provincial health care systems.
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Health care reform law will lead to rational care, not rationing
In this file photo taken May 14, 2012, Kathy Watson sits outside Shands Lake Shore Hospital, where she receives her cancer treatment and also picks up patients for her medical transport company, in Lake City, Fla. Watson voted Republican in 2008 and believes the government has no right telling Americans to get health insurance. Nonetheless, she says she'd be dead if it weren't for President Barack Obama's health care law.
Associated Press
Enlarge photo
The Affordable Care Act remains in Republican crosshairs and very much in the news. In recent days, several patients have asked me what the law will mean for them. Many of the people I care for are incurably ill and need expensive medical care to stay alive. They've heard politicians say "Obamacare" will take away their choices, rob them of hope for living longer and cast their fate to "death panels" of faceless bureaucrats. Fortunately, none of this is true.
As a palliative care physician, I was relieved by the Supreme Court's ruling and hope Congress allows the law to stand. This is not a partisan reaction. Diseases know no politics. I'm relieved because this law may well unravel patterns of payment and practice that promote irrational care and make dying much harder than it has to be.
Today, most doctors are salaried employees and health care is a complex industry. Yet we still pay physicians for the quantity of procedures they perform rather than the quality of care and results they provide. Our system is specialist-centered rather than patient-centered. And anyone who has watched a loved one die badly will tell you that sometimes specialists do too much.
Our current structure for financing and delivering medical treatment developed in the decades after World War II, when doctors' offices were the engines of the health care system. Doctors were paid for services: an office visit, house call, setting a broken bone, performing an appendectomy or tonsillectomy. The busier doctors were, because of demand or reputation, the more money they made.
The state of end-of-life care in America is marked by too many treatments and too little attention to alleviating pain, clear communication between doctors and patients (or their families) and coordination among multiple specialists or treatment centers. In the quest to save lives, our health care system has become exclusively a disease-treatment system.
Medical miracles abound: antibiotics, sophisticated surgery, organ transplantation, artificial kidneys, mechanical ventilators, implantable defibrillators and pumps to assist failing hearts. But medical science has yet to make one person immortal although from the way the health care is paid for and delivered, you would think we had.
In the prevailing fee-for-service financing system, insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, routinely reimburse hospitals and doctors for treatments regardless of whether they have been proved to be effective. All of this makes money for doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical and medical device companies. But it makes no sense for dying people, only adding to their and their families' miseries.
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Health care reform law will lead to rational care, not rationing
Wapello clinic will shut down
WAPELLO - The University of Iowa Health Care clinic in Wapello is closing its doors after 14 years of service, UI Health Care officials announced Thursday.
Russell Quinton, a physicians assistant at the clinic, said the staff was notified Wednesday. The last day of services will be Aug. 31.
"Economic reality and other factors indicate that our direct involvement in providing primary care services in this community cannot continue," Rami Boutros, executive medical director for off-site clinics, said in a release. "At this point, we need to consolidate our medical resources in locations where they will be able to serve more people."
The clinic is located at 218 N. Second St. in Wapello.
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"Their dollars are getting short, and they had to consolidate. It makes business sense," Quinton said. "They want to focus more on the clinics closer to Iowa City."
Patient care at the site is provided by Quinton and additional staff.
Quinton, a receptionist and two nurses now are left looking for another job.
"(The University) is closing the clinic, but they are helping us find work," Quinton said. "They are trying to support the staff through all of this."
Finding work, Quinton said, is not his main concern.
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Narrow Change
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He can afford it, she can't: Couple's health care dilemma
Janet and Richard Copeland say one of their few disagreements as a couple is over the Affordable Care Act.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Embed America is a partnership between CNN Radio and CNN iReport. This series tells the story of the 2012 U.S. presidential election through the people most critical to the campaigns: the voters. CNN Radio is traveling across the country to interview iReporters on election issues close to their hearts. These issues were named important by iReporters during phase 1 of the iReport Debate.
Mayflower, Arkansas (CNN) -- Janet Copeland and her husband, Richard, both say they agree almost all the time, with one exception: The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's health care legislation.
"We're kind of split on that one," Janet says. "It's one of the few heated discussions we have. Right now, I'm at the point where I've already told (Richard) that 'OK, if the person you want gets elected, sit back and watch.' We're in a little standoff about that one. There's never blood drawn, but it gets interesting."
Richard Copeland, a 62-year-old retired Army veteran, just rolls his eyes.
"I did not like the way it was shoved down our throats," Richard responds. "What about the people that can't afford health insurance? What part of not being able to afford it doesn't our president understand? There are people out there working just to put bread on the table, and now he's saying 'I don't care if your family eats or not.' "
Richard's wife is having a hard time paying her health insurance.
According to Families USA, a liberal-leaning health insurance advocacy group, Janet Copeland's situation is common. Families USA reported that before the passage of the ACA, some 2.3 million American families lost their health care each year because of price. The group believes the ACA will help families from being priced out of health insurance coverage.
He says it's unfair to penalize his wife if she decides not to pay for coverage. He supports GOP candidate Mitt Romney. And Richard has health insurance through the Veterans Administration. But Janet, who is quickly using up her life savings to pay her monthly health premium, is fully supportive of Obamacare, and supports Democratic President Barack Obama in his re-election bid.
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A Christian Alternative to Health Insurance
Exempt from regulation, taxation, and the individual mandate, Christian collectives called health care sharing ministries are paying for the care of their neediest members -- if they approve of the morality of their needs.
In 2006, Ray Carman's health insurance jumped from $600 to $1,000 a month. The reason? His first daughter was born five weeks premature. Though there were no complications during her birth, his daughter was dubbed "high risk" by his insurance company.
Carman, who is a real estate agent and auctioneer in Lafayette, TN, said the costs were simply too high. He began looking for alternatives.
A friend recommended he join a Christian health care sharing plan, a nonprofit in which members pay for each other's medical costs by agreeing to contribute a donation every month. After some research, he joined an organization called Medi-Share.
Since then, $50,000 of his family's medical costs have been taken care of. The care has ranged from an appendectomy, to health coverage for gall bladder complications and maternity costs associated with his wife's subsequent pregnancies and one miscarriage.
But to Carman and 140,000 others who have signed up for these ministries across the country, managing health costs is only part of the benefit. Patients receive notes in the mail or online from other members they have never met, but who share their beliefs, offering encouragement and prayer.
"A single mom diagnosed with breast cancer will not only be concerned about her medical bills, but also about her children and being confronted with mortality," said Tony Meggs, President and CEO of Medi-Share.
The ministries have been around for more than two decades as a creative approach to handling the growing costs of medical care. The largest players include Medi-Share, Samaritan Ministries International and Christian Healthcare Ministries. They market themselves as alternatives to health insurance, though they themselves are not insurance but nonprofits.
Christian Healthcare Ministries does not turn people away, cancel their membership or raise their monthly financial gift because of expensive illnesses, a spokeswoman said.
Medical costs are "shared," not pooled the way they are with insurance companies. Also, people can choose to leave the plan whenever they want. Members themselves vote on what medical procedures should be shared.
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Cuts to refugee claimant care costing Hamilton’s health system
Federal cuts that have left refugee claimants with little to no health coverage are expected to come at a high cost to Hamiltons health system.
Many area health care providers continue to care for refugee claimants at the expense of their bottom line since the cuts to the interim federal health program took effect June 30.
My background is to treat patients that need you regardless of whether they have funding or not, said Dr. Allen Greenspoon, a family doctor at the Hamilton Community Health Centre on Victoria Avenue North. My first and foremost commitment is to patients. We just see patients if they need our help.
Health Minister Deb Matthews estimates caring for refugees cost $1.3 million at one Toronto hospital alone. Hamilton is also bracing to be hit hard as one of Ontarios top destinations for newcomers.
Its not sustainable to continue to see patients without funding, said Greenspoon. There has to be a proper plan in place to treat patients as necessary.
Hamiltons hospitals and the Maternity Centre of Hamilton have all said they wont turn refugee claimants away. Theyll try to work out payment plans with them but are aware theyll likely end up absorbing a lot of bad debts. About 10 per cent of the maternity centres 800 patients a year are funded by the interim federal health program.
Its not going to unhinge us, said Claudia Steffler, the centres unit director. But it is something that factors into the big schemeof keeping things afloat.
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said during her first trip to Hamilton this week that the health care system simply cant afford to care for refugee claimants.
We plan for our health-care system with our population, she said. What we dont do is plan for a health-care system of non Canadians. I think this is about fairness to Canadians and Canadians would expect that.
Ontarios health minister counters that the move only saves the federal government money while putting a tremendous burden on the provincial health care systems.
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Cuts to refugee claimant care costing Hamilton’s health system