As Jeff Immelt (above), GEs outgoing chief executive, prepares to leave, he hands over a company with a health care division that is partnering with area hospitals.

General Electric Co. has been ramping up its activity in the states health care and life sciences sectors for several years. The rise of two health care-focused executives on GEs new leadership team could turbocharge its business in the booming fields.

Mondays announcement that the companys health care chief John Flannery was promoted to chief executive of GE, and the promotion of life sciences boss Kieran Murphy to head its health care operation, was cheered by those involved in Massachusetts medical, life sciences, and technology businesses.

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Industry leaders said it would likely hasten GEs move to integrate health data with its medical devices and more important to local entrepreneurs boost the companys support of medical technology and health data startups.

This is a signal that theyre very serious about enhancing their medical technology business, said Tom Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, known as MassMEDIC, a business group representing more than 300 companies. GE will now have a front-row seat in scouting the next generation of medical technology companies.

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Even before Mondays announcement, MassMEDIC had scheduled a networking reception next week to showcase efforts by GE Ventures, the companys venture-capital arm, to finance startups. The event is expected to draw hardware and software entrepreneurs involved in the digitization of medical gear, where GE and other companies add features to traditional medical imaging and diagnostic equipment to store, analyze, and transport patient data.

The market is changing so much, said Maria Shepherd, president of Medi-Vantage LLC, a medical technology consulting and strategy firm in Lincoln. Its all about improving clinical outcomes and reducing costs. Having [GE] here in Boston makes them local, so theyll get to know the local entrepreneurs.

But industry veteran Jonathan Fleming, chief executive of Cambridge drug developer Q-State Biosciences Inc., sounded a note of caution. GEs health care business faces many obstacles, he said, including moves by health insurers to reduce payments for overused imaging tests.

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GE is going to be continually challenged in growing its health care business, Fleming warned.

Flannery, who is set to assume the top job at GE in August, has led GE Healthcare since 2014. Its a sprawling business with about 55,000 employees and $18 billion in annual revenue. The division sells critical equipment and technology used by hospitals around the world including MRI and ultrasound machines, ventilators, patient monitors, blood pressure cuffs, and incubators for newborns. It also makes equipment for research labs.

Christopher Anderson, president of the Mass High Technology Council, said Flannery has all of the global experience and is totally focused on innovative tech.

Hell be able to fit right into a number of other successful tech [companies] who have their headquarters in Massachusetts and fit into the global market, he said.

GE has prioritized recruiting in the region, targeting software developers and other digital talent as it seeks to modernize its traditional heavy-machinery businesses with new software and technology, a transformation to what it calls the Industrial Internet.

The corporation has also become an investor in the Boston areas startup scene. GE Ventures owns parts of companies including Catalant, Desktop Metal, Tamr, and Rethink Robotics.

Jeff Bussgang, a general partner at Boston-based venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners, said Flannerys background could be a particular asset given Boston is a center of medical and biotech research.

I assume he is equally committed to Boston and the fact that hes a health care executive, which is in our regions wheelhouse, strikes me as a very good thing, Bussgang said.

The company has been pushing to expand in health care technology, in part by teaming up with Boston-based hospitals to develop new software programs. Last month, GE and Partners HealthCare the parent company of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Womens hospitals launched a 10-year initiative on artificial intelligence.

GE and Partners plan to build software targeting several aspects of medical care, starting with programs that can help doctors read medical images more accurately. They want to develop an open platform that can house hundreds of different applications. Flannery told reporters in May that he considers data and analytics and machine learning the future of health care.

The company is also developing software with experts at Boston Childrens Hospital.

Though GEs health care business is headquartered in Chicago, Flannery is a familiar name in Bostons medical and tech industries.

John has been highly engaged in getting to know the Boston health care community and the opportunities and challenges that exist within the industry, Brigham and Womens president Dr. Betsy Nabel said in a statement.

Childrens Hospital chief executive Sandra Fenwick said Flannerys background in digital health and life sciences will serve him well.

Our collaboration with GE Healthcare, established under John Flannerys leadership, continues to make progress, Fenwick said in a statement. His elevation to CEO should keep our work moving forward.

GEs decision last year to move its headquarters to Boston, plus the promotion of its top health care executive, means the company likely wants to stay focused on health care, said Jonathan P. Gertler, a life sciences industry consultant.

I cant imagine theyve appointed the person who ran GE Healthcare to the top position in order to take their eye off health care, said Gertler, chief executive of Back Bay Life Science Advisors.

Massachusetts has welcomed the growth of GEs presence in health care here. A year ago, Governor Charlie Baker and other state officials joined Murphy, then president of the GE Healthcare Life Sciences business unit, for the opening of a new $27 million, 210,000-square-foot site in Marlborough as North American headquarters for the life sciences business.

That part of the company markets products such as bioreactors used for drug manufacturing and contrast agents for medical imaging, and is the fastest-growing part of the GE Healthcare division, which Murphy will now head. It is leading the companys push into precision medicine, enabling the small-scale production of personalized treatments for genetic diseases.

Like Flannery, Murphy is already well known to many locally. Some say the pair, with Flannerys background in finance and Murphys in science, has complementary skill sets.

These are people with vision, said Lexington health care consultant Harry Glorikian, a former entrepreneur in residence at GE Ventures who knows both executives. Both of them have a positive disposition toward looking at new ideas and supporting them. This bodes well for the health care and life sciences side of the business. And I think theyre going to take a major role in Massachusetts.

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Promotion of health care execs could lift GE's efforts in life sciences and health data - The Boston Globe

Senator Dan Sullivan speaks to public in Afognak building on Near Island, Kodiak. Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Republican Senator Dan Sullivan held a town hall in the city of Kodiak Saturday and attracted a sizable crowd. He dedicated the bulk of the meeting to the publics questions, and most focused on healthcare.

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One commenter, Mike Milligan, said the United States has a health care system based on money.

He connected his statement to Sullivans support of putting outside funds into political campaigns.

Other people have a healthcare system based on health and you have been a consistent supporter of [the] Citizens United [Supreme Court] decision, which keeps money in politics, Milligan said. How can you address this money associated with healthcare delivery when youre such an ardent supporter of Citizens United?

In response, Sullivan told a story about a woman who approached him and his family at dinner. The person said she and her husband were paying $3,000 dollars a month under the affordable care act with a $10,000 dollar deductible.

Come on, thats $33,000 dollars before you get any coverage, Sullivan said. Thats completely unaffordable. So, its complex, its very personal, as you mention Mike. I get it. And thats why weve been trying to meet with everybody.

Sullivan said theyre working towards reform for the state.

Scattered among the many comments on health care were several about protecting fisheries resources.

Gina Friccero referred to an incident in 2014 where a massive flow of mining waste in Canada escaped into lakes that served as spawning grounds for sockeye salmon.

The residents of the great state of Alaska have made it clear across party lines that we do not want to put the salmon habitat at risk, Friccero said. After the failure of Mount Polley mine, it is obvious that there is no viable way to protect our watershed from the pollution caused by mining. We ask that you make us a priority and stand against mining in any area that threatens the ecology of salmon habitat.

Sullivan said he believes in responsible resource development and transparency. He discussed the ongoing issue of Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay watershed. The Environmental Protection Agency recently settled a lawsuit with the Pebble Limited Partnership that allows the company to apply for a federal permit for a mine in the area.

If that mine ever goes to permitting, which its not at permitting at all yet state, federal permitting it has to meet the highest standards, Sullivan said. And we shouldnt trade one resource for another. We already know we have great resources, as you mentioned, in Bristol Bay.

He said the permitting process should be fair.

At the town hall, Sullivan also spoke about some of the bills hes started or contributed to, including one to bolster missile defense and another to encourage new entrants into the fishing industry and provide training for young fishermen.

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Healthcare questions dominate Sen. Dan Sullivan town hall - Alaska Public Radio Network

Continuing a dropout trend seen in the Obama years, about 16 percent of consumers who signed up for coverage this year through public health insurance markets had canceled their plans by early spring, the government said Monday.

Figures released from the Health and Human Services department show that 10.3 million people were signed up and paying their premiums as of March 15. That's 1.9 million fewer than the 12.2 million who initially signed up during open enrollment season, which ended Jan. 31.

Created by Obama's Affordable Care Act, HealthCare.gov and its state counterparts offer subsidized private health insurance to people who don't have coverage through their jobs. The latest numbers seem to reflect the usual ups and downs of the program, more than the heated political debate over its future.

The Trump administration said the numbers are a sign of continuing problems with "Obamacare," such as sharp premium increases and the departure of some major insurers that suffered financial losses. President Donald Trump has declared the program "dead," and he's trying to replace it with a Republican plan that's currently even less popular in public opinion polls.

Meanwhile, Democrats are accusing Trump of trying to "sabotage" Obama's main domestic achievement, which has been credited with reducing the U.S. uninsured rate to a historic low of about 9 percent. With Republicans in full control of government, this year could bring the unwinding of Obama's law.

But independent analysts say the new numbers are no big surprise.

"The dropout rate is very similar to last year, with some people failing to pay their premiums or finding alternative coverage after signing up during open enrollment," said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. "What's new here is a new administration spinning numbers in a very different way from the last one."

In previous years many people who initially signed up also wound up dropping out, for a variety of reasons.

In the first part of last year, the dropout rate was similar, about 13 percent. It increased as the year went on. Monthly enrollment averaged about 10 million people in 2016.

Some of the main reasons for dropping out include finding job-based insurance, problems paying premiums, and becoming eligible for Medicare.

A new analysis from HHS also found higher dropout rates in areas where insurers have left the program. About one-third of U.S. counties only had one participating insurer this year, and next year there may be areas with no available carrier.

The dropout rate was a sore spot for the Obama administration, which updated the numbers only a few times a year. The Trump administration says it will provide more frequent updates.

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HealthCare.gov dropout trend continues under Trump - ABC News

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What does the U.S. and the U.K. have in common when it comes to healthcare? Their healthcare sector continues to be under siege, and renewed efforts need to be made to lift the level of focus on protecting patient information. It is as if a Sword of Damocles hangs over this sector.

As asinine as it sounds, we may have finally reached the tipping point where patients are now accepting, by default, their information will be at risk when they accept medical care?

Government entities, one in the U.S. and another in the U.K. recently issued reports on the state of affairs within the healthcare sector. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force issued itsfirst report to Congress, and the HHS Office of Inspector General (IG) submitted its semi-annual report to Congress. In the U.K., the Information Commissioners office (ICO) released its data protections and concerns report. The content demonstrates how the issues being faced on the IT side of the healthcare equation know no borders.

The HHS Task Force recognized how vulnerable the sector is with its observation: "Over the next few years, most machinery and technology involved in patient care will connect to the internet; however, a majority of this equipment was not originally intended to be internet accessible nor designed to resist cyber attacks."

The HHS Task Force recognizes that a cultural change is required if cybersecurity and patient privacy are to be kept from "digitally sourced harm"a fancy way of saying being affected by a breach.

Interestingly, the HHS IG report highlights as areas of concern enhancing safety and quality care, efficiency of operations, reducing fraud and improper payments, and improving "data integrity and information security." The HHS IG recognizes the bang that can be acquired via implementing big data analytics to the fraud equation as a means to detect and prevent improper payments. Similarly, the HHS IG identifies "penetration testing" as its area of focus.

While across the pond in the U.K., the ICO notes the 31.5 percent increase in the number of self-reported incidents of data mishandling in the healthcare sector. The report also identifies with specificity that care homes (known in the U.S. as assisted living or nursing homes) continually avoid responding to IOC's requests. The Register notes how data breaches within the health sector accounted for 43 percent of all data breaches in the UK.

What is not surprising is the amount of breaches across both the U.S. and U.K. that are caused by human error. Sharing patient information in press releases or presentations is a self-inflicted wound. Copying data in a clear-text state to a storage medium, again a self-inflicted wound. Throwingpatient files awayvia normal garbage disposal methods instead of destroying patient data, again a self-inflicted wound. The recent WannaCry crisis brought the U.K.'s health service to its knees was also a self-inflicted wound because they continued to use Window XP machines (an operating system that was end-of-life in April 2014). And of course, the "clicking" of links within emails that serve as the hook-setting event for some of the larger breaches, a lack of awareness by the insider.

Patients need to be asking, "How is my data being protected?" The U.K., interestingly enough, has provided via the ICO a means for an individual to check if their information is being handled correctly.

It's up to you. Are you prepared to trade your privacy for treatment? Hold your healthcare providers accountable for how they handle your information.

Christopher Burgess is an advocate for effective security strategies, be they at the office or home for you and your family. Christopher, served 30+ years within the Central Intelligence Agency. He co-authored the book Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost, Preventing Intellectual Property Theft and Economic Espionage in the 21st Century.

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Healthcare: Are you prepared to trade privacy for treatment? - CSO Online

AARP is targeting 11 GOP senators, including key centrists, to oppose the House-passed healthcare bill that would raise premiums for seniors.

The ad campaign expands a May effort that ran ads targeting five senators, calling for the House-passed American Health Care Act to be scrapped. The expansion comes at a pivotal time as Senate leadership hopes to vote on a healthcare bill by the end of July.

AARP is targeting Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Joni Ernest and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Dean Heller of Nevada, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee, and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.

The list includes some key centrists who will be critical to the GOP leadership's hopes of passing its own version of the American Health Care Act before Congress' August recess.

Heller and Flake are up for re-election in 2018. Heller, Portman and Capito are pushing leadership for a seven-year phaseout of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.

AARP, the nation's biggest seniors lobby, has been opposed to the American Health Care Act for some time, angry over a proposed change to premiums for senior citizens in insurance plans on the individual market.

Obamacare allowed insurers to charge seniors three times the amount they charge a younger person. The American Health Care Act would increase that to five times.

"Our members and other Americans over age 50 are very worried about legislation that would raise their premiums through what is, in effect, an age tax," said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond.

It is not clear what pieces of the legislation the Senate will keep, including the age-rating ratio.

AARP also derided problems with Medicaid and hurting "protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

A controversial last-minute amendment to the legislation, which passed the House last month by a 217-213 vote, let states opt out of community rating mandate. States could get a waiver that would let insurers charge sicker people more money.

House Republicans say that $23 billion included in the legislation for high-risk pools could help offset any increases. A recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office said that money wasn't enough to offset major increases for people with pre-existing conditions such as cancer or diabetes.

Continue reading here:

AARP targets more Republicans in new healthcare ad buy - Washington Examiner

This Might Be The Best Time To Break Into The Healthcare Business Forbes Last year I wrote about what entrepreneurship looks like in healthcare. It's an interesting topic because the two seem to have contradictory goals. How can you take the risks of an entrepreneur to an industry where the stakes are so high? But business ...

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This Might Be The Best Time To Break Into The Healthcare Business - Forbes

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Morning News Brief: Russia Protests, GOP Health Care Bill NPR Rachel Martin 2016 square · Rachel Martin · Facebook Twitter. For the second time this year, a leading Russian dissident is calling for mass demonstrations against President Putin's government. And, the U.S. Senate continues work on health care overhaul.

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Morning News Brief: Russia Protests, GOP Health Care Bill - NPR

Despite the daily drip about Russia and the Trump administration, national Democrats who hope to exploit Republicans vulnerabilities in 2018 are focusing theirmessaging squarely on health care before theJuly 4 recess.

Just minutes after former FBIDirector James B. Comey concluded his testimony Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee in which he said the president lied to the America people the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee blasted out a release.

The subject? Nevada Sen. Dean Hellers reported support for phasing out Medicaid expansion.

The Senate Democrats campaign arm issued no public statements about the Comey hearing.

Democrats are careful to say that just because Russia isnt a major campaign issue todaydoesnt mean it couldnt be a year from now. The 2018 cycle is still young, as is the unraveling of detailsabout Russias involvement in last years election.

But for now, many Democratic strategists and lawmakers say, the ins and outs of Russias meddling in U.S. politics is not the most pressing issue for voters.

Literally, I have gotten zero questions about Russia. Zero, Rep. Cheri Bustos said Thursday as she was leaving the Capitol after the last votes of the week.

The Illinois Democrat was describingthe interactions she has had so far this year at her Supermarket Saturday events, where she swings through grocery stores to chat with constituents in the aisles.

One of three co-chairs of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, Bustos is the only Midwestern member in House Democratic leadership.Trump narrowly carriedher district last fall.

Things that Washington, D.C., is obsessed about, in some cases, are barely even a blip in a rural area like mine, shesaid.

Health care is the issue her constituents have raised the most, Bustossaid. People with pre-existing conditions are freaking out, she said.

The Democratic super PAC Priorities USA released a messaging guidance memolate last month with a similar conclusion. Nearly half of the presidential-year voters surveyed expressed concern about Republicans supporting the GOP health care bill; only 35 percent had concerns about Republicans opposing an independent investigation into the Kremlin and Trump.

Its not to say Russia is not relevant, its just not as pertinent to peoples lives, a longtime Democratic strategist said.

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who conducted an internal review of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees 2016 election efforts, said he doesnt like to veer too far from the bread-and-butter issues that worry families in his district.

Its hard to compete with somebodys mortgage, or their retirement or the cost of their kids college, Maloney said as he exited the Capitol ahead of the weekend break.

We should not assume that ordinary Americans understand this and care about this as much as people in Washington, he said of Russia. Maloney said that while his constituents take the Russian election interference seriously, theyre also wary of Washington.

They are understandably suspicious about how politics can get played in this town. And they see that as being at odds with whats important at their own families kitchen tables, Maloney said.

A distraction is how Bustos characterizes the Washington frenzy over Russia.Part of her job as DPCC co-chairwoman is helping the party craft its message, especially in rural and swing areas of the country like hers.

I just say, This is distracting members of Congress from what we need to be focusing on, Bustos said, rattling off a list of other priorities such asa farm and infrastructure bill that she wants Congress to get done.

Maloney cautioned that its too soon to tell whether Russia will emerge as a more salient campaign issue. The facts may be so serious that they cannot be ignored, he said.

That uncertainty over whats going on with Russia is one reason some Democrats are finding it more helpful to talk abouthealth care.

Right now, the story is that something very troubling is happening in Washington, D.C. The middle and end of this story we just dont know yet, said a Democratic strategist who works on Senate campaigns.

The troubling aspects of the GOP health care plan, at least from the Democrats perspective, are much more clear-cut. And for a party largely ondefense in Senate races next year in states that Trump won (and where he remains popular), Democrats see health care as a strong offensive message, especially against their top two targets, Heller and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake.

Earlier this year, the DSCC released non-skippable YouTube ads attacking the GOP health care plan for hurting older Americans and those with pre-existing conditions. Majority Forward, a nonprofit allied with Senate Majority PAC, also made health care the subject of its ads in Arizona and Nevada released earlier this year.

But Russia continues to dominate the news cycle.

At some level this is all a gift to Republicans because it takes focus off of this disastrous health care bill, Connecticut Sen. Christopher S. Murphy said Thursday.

So itll be up to Democratic groups to find ways to communicate their health care message to voters this summer.

Its important to let people know that as these investigations are going on, Trump and the Republicans are trying to pull the health care rug out from under the Americans, said Maryland Sen.Chris Van Hollen, the DSCC chairman.We need at least bifocals here.

The party can and should keep its eye on both things, said Jesse Ferguson, a veteran of the DCCC and Hillary Clintons campaign.

Its a false choice between talking about health care and talking about Russia, Ferguson said. In fact, he said, the two messages even amplify each other.

Democratic campaigns arent ignoring Russia completely, and with the liberal base motivated on the issue Indivisible and MoveOn.org both called for impeachment proceedings immediately after the Comey hearing they cant afford to.

The DCCC called on Republicans to support a bipartisan, independent committee to investigate Russias interference in our democracy after the Comey testimony. A smattering of Democratic House challengers released similar statements.

Russia is more salient in some districts than others. In its Thursday statement, the DCCCtook a shot at California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, whose conduct in the Russian investigation has earned him a spot on the committees target list in 2018. Increased attention on Russia has also helped put the district of another California Republican, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,on the map.

American Bridge, a liberal super PAC, is the rare Democratic outside group that has invested in paid communications on Russiathis year.

But its also beenvocal about health care. Its partnering with House Majority PAC on its Congressional Accountability Projectthis summer.

Make no mistake, pocketbook issues like health care ought to be front and center in Democratic messaging, American Bridge President Jessica Mackler said in an emailed statement. But Democrats can also walk and chew gum at the same time.

The Trump administrations Russia scandal must be investigated and Republicans who refuse to do their job and demand an independent investigation should be held accountable. We can do both, Mackler added.

Democrats see the Russia developments taking a toll on the presidents popularity and boosting their party inthe generic congressional ballot (with a longtime Democratic strategist pointing to the nearly 8-point edge his party has in FiveThirtyEights generic ballot tracker as a good sign for 2018).

In the end, the Trump administration, and their contortions and their lying about what happened, is feeding the perception they cant be trusted, Ferguson said. That perception makes it impossible for them to sell their health care agenda to the American people, he added.

Bridget Bowman contributed to this report.

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Democrats Stick to Health Care Message Amid Russian Intrigue - Roll Call

Crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe and YouCaring have turned sympathy for Americans drowning inmedical expenses into a cottageindustry. NowRepublican efforts in Congress torepeal and replace Obamacarecould swellthe ranks of the uninsured and spurthe business ofhelping peopleraise donations online to pay for health care.

But medical crowdfunding doesn't have to wait for Congress to act. Business is already booming,and its leadersexpect therapid growth to continue no matter what happens on the Hill.

"Whether it's Obamacare or Trumpcare, the weight of health-care costs on consumers will only increase," said Dan Saper, chief executive officer of YouCaring. "It will drive more people to try and figure out how to pay health-care needs, and crowdfunding is in its early days as a way to help those people."

The GOPplan could hurt older and sicker Americans and those with preexisting conditions.Above, Speaker of the House Paul Ryanand House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Photographer: Tom Williams

At industry leaderGoFundMe, medical isone of the biggest fundraising categories.CEO Rob Solomon hassaid it'swhat "helped define andput GoFundMe on the mapand has called the company, founded in 2010,"a digital safety net."

Thatnetgrew wider this year withGoFundMe'sacquisition ofCrowdRise, which wasco-founded by the actor Edward Norton. Itadds to the company's business helping people fundraisefor charitiesandsends those who needfundsfor "medical bills, a friends tuition, a group volunteer trip, or any personal cause"to GoFundMe.

Growth hasbeen rapid.In a September2015LinkedIn post, Solomon wrote that the onemillion campaigns set up over the previous yearhad raised $1 billion from nearly 12 million donors. By February2016, the total was $2 billion. In October2016, it was$3 billion, from 25 million donors. A NerdWallet study of medical crowdfunding said GoFundMehad indicated that $930 million of the $2 billion raised intheperiod the study analyzed was from medical campaigns.

YouCaring,meanwhile, acquired GiveForwardthis year; medicalfundraisersmadeup 70 percent of GiveForward'scampaigns. The combined companies have8million donors who have contributed $800 million to a wide range of campaigns. A big part of that totalwas donatedto medical campaigns, according to the company.It wasapproaching 50 percent of all fundraisers at YouCaringbefore the acquisition,and thegrowth rate is setto triple this year,Sapersaid.

With enough volume, the business of helpingpeople raise moneyfor medical carehas a lot of profit potential. GoFundMetakes 5 percent of each donation, 2.9 percentgoes to payment processing, and there'sa 30transaction fee. Smaller sites, such asFundlyand FundRazr,chargemuch the same.YouCaringdonors pay just a 2.9 percent processing feeplus the 30.

"We rely on voluntary contributions from donors [to run the business], so our big thrust now ishow do we get the word out about it," said Saper. The company is scaling up its team and operationsandhiredthe former global head of engagement and growth of EventBrite, Maly Ly,asits chief marketing officer in March.

Indiegogo, which started outfunding filmmakers, createda separate platform in 2015 called Generosity. Medical is a top category, and users pay a 3 percent paymentprocessing fee and the 30.NowFacebook has jumped into thefray.On May 24, it began allowingusers to launch fundraisers for personal causes or nonprofits on their pages. Medical is one of eight available categories.For personal cause campaigns, Facebook takes6.9 percent of each donation plus 30.

For more and more Americans, vying in a popularity contest for a limited supply of funds and sympathy may be the only way to pay the doctors and stay afloat. House Republicans passed a bill last month to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. As is, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, it would leave 23 million more Americans uninsured in 2026 than under the ACA. Even a law just resembling the bill is likely to raise the cost of health care for older and sicker Americans and for those with preexisting conditions, bolstering the medical crowdfunding business.

The industry still represents just a fraction of the hundreds ofbillions of dollarsAmericans pay annuallyout of pocket for health care, said Saper. Medical crowdfundingis "highly, highly scalableand has a ton of runway," he said. "The growth rate of the industry is showing that this can absolutely be an impactful safety net for a lot of individuals and communitiesto help each other."

Siblings Luke and Dana Nowakowski(above in Milwaukee in2015)started a campaign on GoFundMe to raise $25,000 to help their father pay for the care of their mother, who has dementia and mobility challenges.

Photographer: Darren Hauck/New York Times via Redux

The remarkably named Producing a Worthy Illness: Personal CrowdfundingAmidst Financial Crisis, astudy published this yearbythe University of Washington/Bothell,offers a striking perspective on some of those communities. Personal medical campaigns on GoFundMewere likelierto come from people living in states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the ACA, preliminary results of the study showed.Fifty-four percent of 200 randomly sampled campaigns last year came from those states, though theyare home to just 39 percent of the U.S. population.Trumpcarewould sharply curtail Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid.

"We had a huge number of campaigns from Texas, which is often recognized as thestate where it's most difficult to qualify for Medicaid and other public insurance," Professor Nora Kenworthy, co-author of the study, said. "A lot of the campaigns are really using GoFundMe as a safety net,"asking for "help with lost wages, help getting basic health-care services and support."

Mostmedical crowdfunding campaigns are a far cry from Taylor Swift's $50,000 gifton GoFundMe to a young girl with aggressive leukemia,or $1 million in donations for a mother whose cancer returned whenshe was pregnant with quadruplets."Often,funds people are raising are for a huge range of costs that go along with care, like travel to the place where you will get care, because insurance doesn't really cover that,"said Indiegogo'ssenior director of social innovation, BreannaDiGiammarino. In the future, more fundraisers will likely seektocover premiums and deductibles rather than the cost of care itself, she said.

"Crowdfunding is being treated a little like crowd-insurance now," said Daryl Hatton, CEO of Canada-based crowdfunding platformFundRazr.

Yet crowdfunding's business model is a poorfit for the gargantuan, mundane, never-endinghealth-care costs of many online campaigners. Some get just 10 to 20 percent of whattheyaskfor, said Jeremy Snyder, a health sciences professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada, where the need remains even with a national health-care system.Snyder'sresearch, whichincludesanalysis of ethicalissues raised by medical crowdfunding,has focusedon people seeking funding for cancer treatments on Canadian crowdfunding sites.

And, of course, in the U.S. as in Canada, somecampaigners get less than that, or nothing at all.Slightly more than onein 10 health-related online campaigns reached their goal in the NerdWalletreport. The Bothell studyfound that 90 percent of the 200 GoFundMe campaigns didn't reach their goal, and that, on average, fundraisers got 40 percent of what they asked for. That doesn't sound like much of a fixtoSnyder.

"Is this something that is going to be a solution to a lack of health insurance?" he said."Absolutely not."

One reason for the discouraging statistics is that while most of the campaigns are ordinaryand no less urgent for itit is often the extraordinary ones that do best.

The more dramatic the need, the more successful" the fundraiser,said Adrienne Gonzalez, who follows the industry asthe creator ofGoFraudMe.com, a site that exposes fraudulent campaignson GoFundMe.

Among the "most active" campaigns featured on generosity.com on May 30 were one to help pay for treatments for a man diagnosed with acute promyelocyticleukemiaand one fora womanstruggling to cover"co-pays, travel expenses, food, lodging, essentials" as she tends to her 19-year-old daughter, who is scheduled for akidney transplant.A third solicited fundsfor a woman without insurance who had been struck by lightning.

Those appeals are very different from that of anice hockey player who had broken her collarbone in a game and started a campaignongenerosity.com. Sheasked for $1,500 to help cover her $1,000 deductible and other costs, includingbeing sidelined from her landscaping job for at least six weeks. Over a month, she raised $252 from seven people, or 17 percent of her goal. It was something.

I need help with my deductiblethey are not going to be very successful, said Gonzalez, who believes crowdfunding has done a lot of good but presents"this whole socioeconomic problem"because "you almost have to be a marketing guru" to create a successful campaign.

The Bothellresearchers noticed a bias among donors toward funding solvable problems. "Injections that cost $10,000 every six months are a more solvable problem thana campaign for a family citing a litany of challenges, like utility bills that aren't being paid because the family is paying for health care," said Professor Lauren Berliner, Kenworthy's co-author on the study.Media and digital savvy play a big part in attracting donations.The campaigns withhashtags, images, and flashyelements got the most financial support, the study found.

"Most campaigns are paid for by friends, and friends of friends," said Hatton of FundRazr."A lot of it has to do with the strength of your social network," as people you helped now dip into a "karma bank" and help you. People with fewer financial resources may not have been able to build up that goodwilland may not have that wide and deep a social network to call on, he said.

Then there was thewoman in her 30swhowalked into afree clinic where Dr. Edward Weisbart, who chairs the Missouri chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program,volunteers. She was with her mother, appearedunable to speak,and hada "peculiar affect, like a crazed wild animal," he said. It turned out she had lived for years with seizures every two to three days until she founda medication that hadcut the frequency toonce every two months. When she visited Weisbart, she had lost her insuranceand had 10 days of medication left.

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"Her inarticulate state was not a consequenceof the seizures," Weisbart said. "It was terror over what her life would be like if she couldn't get the medication."Once he explainedthat the clinic could mail her the drugand that it would cost $40 instead of $1,500, "she transformed into this normal, lucid, almost friendly person," he said. "But she could never have usedcrowdfunding, because she was literally beside herself."

Hatton isseeing more"fatigue" around crowdfunding efforts. Weisbart observed that"when you get your first request, you probably give a high amount. But as you get besieged and realize how common these requests are, donations will go down. We can't keep on giving to everyone who asks."

Onesite keeping its distanceis Kickstarter, where donors fund creative projects.

"If we had personal health-care campaigns, it could create a strange moral equivalency," saidJustin Kazmark, the company's vice president of communications. "If you see documentary filmmakers trying to get $10,000 for a film alongside a project for someone whose dog needs dental surgery, or for disaster relief,it changes the mindsetand frames the whole thing differently."

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America's Health-Care Crisis Is a Gold Mine for Crowdfunding - Bloomberg

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Health care is high on the minds of voters in Georgias 6th congressional district, but most disapprove of the House GOPs current proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare.

More than 80 percent of the 745 likely voters surveyed last week in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll listed health care as an extremely important or very important issue for them as theyve determined whether to vote for Republican Karen Handel or Democrat Jon Ossoff in the upcoming special election.

The issue ranked high in the eyes of more voters than any other surveyed, including taxes, abortion and transportation. Government spending was second.

Specifically, the cost of health care was seen a top issue across every political party, race and age group polled: 94 percent of likely voters surveyed said they were extremely concerned or very concerned about the issue.

Sixth District voters held particularly negative opinions about theGOP proposal to overhaul Obamacare that narrowly passed the House last month. Only one in four of the likely voters surveyed, and one-half of Republicans, said they approved of the American Health Care Act. The disapproval rating is 7 percentage points higher than the national Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released late last month.

I find it to be way too invasive, said Charles Neal, a 65-year-old Handel supporter from Cobb County of the House health care bill. It puts peoples privacy in the hands of bureaucrats.

The totals show the challenges in store for Senate Republicans as they continue to hash out their own Obamacare replacement proposal behind closed doors. Not only must they sell such a plan to each other, but a skeptical public.

Obamacare makes sense for a lot of reasons, according to James Vaughn, a 52-year-old from DeKalb County who is backing Ossoff. I realize its not perfect, but repealing it and replacing it with this atrocity the GOP came up with is not right.

Somewhat surprisingly, the House GOP proposal polled highest among likely Georgia voters of retirement age: 29 percent of the folks surveyed who were 65 and older supported the bill. While that voting bloc tends to lean toward the right, the American Health Care Act has been slammed by senior advocacy groups such as the AARP since it would allow insurers to charge older people higher monthly premiums.

As for Handel and Ossoff, the two are split on the House GOP proposal along predictably partisan lines. Handel said shes committed to working toward a full repeal and replacement of Obamacare that works for all Americans, while Ossoff said the House plan puts Georgians lives at risk.

Marlene Weingart is a 62-year-old Handel supporter from Fulton County. She said she hopes Senate Republican leaders will be able to find enough support to pass the proposal.

Healthcare is not a right or the job of the government, she said. Obamacare should be repealed and they need to simplify the healthcare system.

The survey was conducted June 5-8 by ABT Associates and involved 1,000 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points.

Check out the crosstabs here,and checkout the MyAJC politics sitefor more coverage.

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Ossoff has the edge over Handel in AJC poll of 6th District race

Trump still unpopular in Ga. 6th, but many say he wont impact theirvote

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AJC Poll: Georgia 6th voters reject House GOP's health care overhaul - Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

American families, businesses, and the economy will all be negatively impacted should the Trump Administration succeed in weakening the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate that requires companies to provide free contraception to employees. Our perspective as investors leads us to strongly urge companies to continue to provide no-cost contraception in addition to comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare benefits to all employees.

As institutional investors, we see compelling evidence that widespread access to sexual and reproductive healthcare benefits, such as maternity care, paid parental leave, contraception, and family planning services promotes two positive and interrelated outcomes (1) it provides women greater control over their own lives and (2) it facilitates economic growth.

The economic argument is equally compelling. The additional productive power of women entering the workforce from 1970 (when birth control became more widely available) until today accounts for roughly one quarter of current GDP. Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, recently cited a PwC study that found increasing womens participation in the workforce to the same level as mens would increase the nations GDP by five percent. And women are projected to account for 51 percent of the growth in total labor force from 2008 to 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

This should not be a partisan debate. Our government should continue its tradition of establishing policies that will unlock these social and economic benefits. The Title X Family Planning Program, signed into law by President Nixon in 1970, has a long record of helping low-income and underserved individuals obtain high-quality family planning and related preventive healthcare while also providing economic benefit. In fact, the Title X Program has been shown to save taxpayers seven dollars for every dollar invested. The Guttmacher Institute, a sexual health research and policy organization, reports: In 2014, the contraceptive care delivered by Title Xfunded providers helped women avoid 904,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 439,000 unplanned births and 326,000 abortions. Without the contraceptive care provided by these health centers, the U.S. rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion would have been 33 percent higher, and the teen pregnancy rate would have been 30 percent higher.

Roughly 49 percent of Americans receive health insurance through their employer. Fortunately, many companies see sexual and reproductive healthcare benefits as a no-brainer. Notably, Bank of America, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young now provide 16 weeks of paid parental leave, despite the U.S. being the only one of the OECDs 35 member nations not to require paid maternity leave. Proactive companies stand to attract and retain talent and have a healthier and more productive workforce.

The ACA includes contraceptive coverage, pregnancy, maternity, and newborn care among its 10 Essential Health Benefits. Before the ACA however, these benefits were rare. For example, 88 percent of private plans did not provide for maternity care.

Yellen succinctly summarized the imperative to eliminate obstacles to womens full participation in the economy in a speech given at Brown University: Further advancement [of women] has been hampered by barriers to equal opportunity and workplace rules and norms that fail to support a reasonable work life balance. If these obstacles persist, we will squander the potential of many of our citizens and incur a substantial loss to the productive capacity of our economy

Institutional investors have a vested interest in seeing our economy achieve its full potential. We believe it is essential that legislators and business leaders work to ensure common sense sexual and reproductive health care benefits and family planning services remain firmly embedded in public and corporate policy as it will unlock numerous benefits to companies and society.

Allan Pearce is a Shareholder Advocate at Trillium Asset Management, an employee-owned investment advisor devoted exclusively to sustainable and responsible investing.

Original post:

Keep ObamaCare's commonsense sexual health care benefits, investors say - The Hill (blog)

Too often, real policy improvements get drowned out by political talking points. That is the case right now as nearly all of the health care discussion in Montana is about one flawed health care bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the 2017 legislative session, we saw unprecedented bipartisan action to improve health care. Representative Rob Cook (R-Conrad) carried an important bill to allow my team at the State Auditors office to pursue a waiver from the federal government and create a reinsurance system that would have stabilized our insurance market and lowered costs. It passed the Montana House unanimously before politics got involved.

Representative Amanda Curtis (D-Butte) sponsored a great bill to require transparency in health care prices and let patients share in the savings by finding procedures for lower costs from different hospitals. Senator Ed Buttrey (R-Great Falls) carried another bill that would have empowered Montanans with the ability to know the cost of health care procedures.

Another bill, by Senator Cary Smith (R-Billings), would have allowed Montanans to contract directly with their doctors for services. Representative Nancy Balance (R-Hamilton) carried a bill to include Montana in a compact with other states to protect citizens control over health care decisions. Two more bills would have helped small businesses provide health insurance to their employees and allowed Montanans to shop out-of-state for affordable health insurance.

Tragically, Governor Bullock vetoed all six bills that landed on his desk. These bills would have made health care more accessible and affordable, but Bullock chose to obstruct the Legislature and hurt Montanans struggling to make ends meet.

Governor Bullocks refusal to allow Montana to improve its own system makes it all the more important that Congress repeal Obamacare, and do so responsibly. Ive told key congressional leaders that they need to fully fund cost-sharing reduction payments to stabilize the 2018 insurance market and that Obamacare repeal needs to lower costs, give states more flexibility, and give consumers more options to meet their individual health care needs.

Health insurance costs in the United States are on an unsustainable path. Ive heard from hundreds of Montanans who are paying thousands of dollars every year for their health insurance coverage, and thousands more for deductibles before their insurance provides any benefit. Ive spoken at length with Senator Steve Daines about these issues, and hes working hard to address these problems. Even Senator Jon Tester is now admitting that things are wrong with Obamacare and that we didnt make the modifications to fix the problem.

Im glad to see Senator Tester admits that when he cast the deciding vote to pass Obamacare, the law that no one had read was critically flawed from the outset. Im also glad to see hes admitting that he and the rest of the national Democrats did nothing to address these problems and that reforms are way overdue. But Senator Tester needs to do more than just speak, he needs to take action, especially after Governor Bullock thwarted bipartisan health care improvements here in Montana. We can work together to solve these problems and make health care better for all Montanans, but for that to happen, the political obstruction must end.

-- Matt Rosendale of Glendive is Montanas State Auditor, also known as Commissioner of Securities and Insurance.

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Health care improvements thwarted by politics - Montana Standard

Californias Democratic legislators want to extend health benefits to undocumented young adults, the continuation of an effort that ushered children without legal status into the states publicly funded health care system last year.

It is unclear when the program would start or how much the state would spend if the proposal, which could cost up to $85 million a year, is approved by Gov. Jerry Brown. Lawmakers are working out details ahead of their June 15 deadline for passing a new budget.

The plan would provide full-scope coverage for 19-to-26-year-olds who qualify for Medi-Cal, the states name for Medicaid. Currently, the federally funded program covers only emergency visits and prenatal care for undocumented residents. Under the proposal, revenue from taxes on tobacco products would absorb expenses for all other coverage.

Democratic Sen. Ricardo Lara of Bell Gardens has been one of the strongest voices for expanded care. In 2015, he pushed for coverage for all adults. That proposal was changed to admit only undocumented children; it took effect last year. This year, he said in a recent video message to supporters, We are going to make the final push to ensure we capture our young adults.

Supporters ultimate goal is to include all undocumented adults, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a health care consumer group backing the proposal.

We believe without coverage people are sicker, die younger and are one emergency away from financial ruin. It has consequences for their families and their communitiesboth health and financial consequences, he said.

The plan would mean that undocumented children currently in the program would not age out at 19, putting low-income undocumented immigrants on a par with those allowed to stay on their parents insurance under Obamacare until they are 26.

Republican Sen. John Moorlach of Costa Mesa opposes an extension of benefits. One reason is financial. California doesnt have a balance sheet we can brag about, he said, citing the states debt load, among other reasons.

Secondly, he disapproves of illegal immigration. Moorlach migrated to the U.S. legally as a child with his family from the Netherlands.

Im kind of offended that we feel an obligation to pay for expenses for those who did not come through the front door, he said. I certainly have compassion and want to help people in need, but Im having difficulty, as a legal immigrant, because we are already in such bad fiscal shape.

Advocates argue that undocumented immigrants help propel Californias economy with their labor and the taxes they pay, and that they cost the state money when they dont work because of illness or when they end up in the emergency room.

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Health care is a right, said Ronald Coleman, director of government affairs for the California Immigrant Policy Center, an advocacy organization and supporter of the proposal. These are folks we are investing in through the California Dream Act and through other programs our state offers, and it makes sense to invest in our future, which our young adults will be.

Estimates vary for how many people this expansion of Medi-Cal would serve and what the costs would be. Each house of the Legislature has passed its own version of the proposal, with differing figures attached.

The Assembly allocated $54 million a year to cover an unspecified number of additional enrollees, with a July 2017 start date. The Senate proposed $63.1 million in the first year, beginning in 2018, and $85 million annually thereafter, also without specific population numbers.

Colemans center, which is working closely with lawmakers on the issue, estimates about 80,000 new people would be eligible, and the cost would be around $54 million a year. That assumes the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program continues, because it provides access to Medi-Cal. If DACA were eliminated, the figures would increase to about 100,000 eligible people and about $84 million in annual costs, Coleman said.

The governors proposed budget does not include the proposed expansion or any money for it.

Kevin, a 19-year-old Angeleno who asked that only his first name be used because he lives in California illegally, wants the proposal to succeed. He has been working for more than a year to distribute information about Medi-Cal childrens coverage to immigrant families.

He meets all but one of the requirements for DACA: He was not in the country before June 15, 2007. He arrived in the U.S. in 2011 at age 14 from Guatemala, on a visa that later expired. He graduated high school, has no criminal record and is now majoring in business administration at California State University, Los Angeles.

Theres this misunderstanding that young people are healthy, said Kevin, who suffers from eczema. He worries about the chronic condition flaring up. When it gets worse, it doesnt let me do anything with my hands.

He is enrolled in a county health insurance program for low-income residents, but he cant afford a dermatologist. He can barely pay for the prescription lotion he uses for the eczema and sometimes goes without it.

We are trying to have a better economic standard, and we are like the building blocks of this society, he said. Having health insurance will allow us to focus more on school and do our regular day-to-day activities. A healthier society works better for everyone.

If lawmakers can now agree on details, a consensus proposal will go to the full Legislature for approval. The deadline for that is June 12.

CALmatters.org is a non-profit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies and politics.

Excerpt from:

Democrats seek more health care for California's undocumented - LA Daily News

The discussions are still ongoing and a vote isn't likely for several weeks, but several details emerging from the consequential negotiations last week have the party's right flank on edge.

A month ago, there was a lot of optimism that the Senate process would go better for conservatives than the House process initially had. They were given a seat at the negotiating table, with leadership inviting both Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas to participate in the Senate's health care "working group." But with leaders seeking to assuage concerns from all sides of the GOP, conservatives are facing potential policy blows.

Republican leaders Tuesday indicated that they preferred not to repeal as many of the Obamacare-era regulations as the House bill did, including a key protection for people with pre-existing conditions that blocks insurers from charging people more for insurance based on their health history.

That could make it tougher for Republican Sens. Lee, Cruz and Kentucky's Rand Paul to vote for the bill after they've warned for months that Obamacare regulations have to go if premiums are going to come down.

Michael Cannon, the director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said from what he can tell, senators are moving little more than "Obamacare with window dressing."

Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler said of the status of negotiations, "It's a very complex issue, but certainly the way conversations played out publicly this week, there's concern among a lot of conservatives. If you look at Senate conservatives, they are still very involved in the process. That needs to continue."

Also on the table: keeping some of the Obamacare-era taxes in place for at least awhile to reach the $133 billion savings goal that is required under Senate rules.

"That set off alarm bells here," Club for Growth President David McIntosh said Friday. "The Club for Growth would vigorously campaign against that as fake Obamacare repeal. ... If the Senate was trying to send out a trial balloon, consider it shot down."

McIntosh said his group put out calls to Senate offices making it clear they wouldn't support a bill that kept key Obamacare taxes in place. The Club for Growth is working on designing a campaign to promote the Senate's repeal bill right now, but McIntosh warned it will turn the campaign against the bill if they don't feel it's conservative enough.

Also under discussion is a proposed seven-year "glide path" that would phase out Medicaid expansion more slowly than the House bill would and would be a major win for moderates from expansion states.

One conservative GOP aide said they are feeling squeezed out of the process.

"It's is very frustrating because things are happening behind closed door and we are unable to provide input," the aide said. "(House Speaker) Paul Ryan tried that strategy and ended up with a conservative revolt on his hands, we hope next week Senate leadership will shed more light on the details and process."

Leadership can't ignore conservatives. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can only afford to lose two members and still pass a health care bill. But leadership aides argue that the process is far from a done deal and there are still a lot of details to negotiate. And some conservative members, including Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, vehemently push back on the idea they're losing steam.

"I'm not convinced it's an accurate characterization at this point," Toomey said.

Republican aides emphasize it's go time. Decisions are going to have to be made soon. Majority Whip John Cornyn told reporters last week that the Senate is likely to vote shortly after the July 4 recess. That would require lawmakers to hammer out the details and then in the next few days give something to the independent Congressional Budget Office to score before the vote.

Republican senators have said they want to wait for the CBO score before their legislation comes to the floor, unlike their House counterparts, who passed their bill last month.

On Tuesday, Republicans will huddle once again at their conference lunch to try and find consensus. Last week's meeting included a menu of options. This week's will give members a more fully fleshed out plan based on feedback. A GOP aide familiar with the negotiations characterized the meeting as likely a red light, green light, yellow light situation.

While outside groups are applying pressure, some conservative members within the GOP conference are slowly coming to terms with the fact that the Obamacare repeal bill may not be as robust as they had once hoped. In the end, they argue, it's about getting a repeal bill passed.

"There are parts we're going to keep no matter what. Twenty-six-year-olds stay on their families' policies, no cap on the amount of coverage you can have. Those are things we're already keeping," said Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina.

Pressed on whether he would be comfortable keeping some of the Obamacare taxes in place, Scott said, "I'm not sure that I'm comfortable. I'm comfortable being a part of 51 senators that improves the outcome of America's health insurance conversation, which requires us to act."

"I think there's gotta be some transition period," said Sen. David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia. "It's gonna take some time to transition out of here."

Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, said his own vision for Obamacare repeal has shifted as the process has gone on.

"It is for everybody because we are dealing with the restrictions of reconciliation rules. All of us are dealing with those clear boundaries," Lankford said. "If you have reconciliation rules and you are dealing with 51 votes, how do you get this done?"

CNN's Ted Barrett and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

Continued here:

Conservatives say they're losing health care bill fight - CNN

The national debate about health care has revealed that the vast majority of Americans feel that care shouldnt be denied to any citizen. The devils in the details.

Folks on both sides of the health care issue celebrate their 65th birthday with the gift of Medicare coverage. Lacking a viable Senate plan, Obamacare needs (bipartisan) repair in the short term. But in the long run, gradually lowering the age of Medicare eligibility over the next generation is the simplest, least painful way to transition to the national health care that most Americans desire.

Maybe it really isnt that complicated.

Terry Boyles, Riverside

Having witnessed a housing explosion in price escalation in 1974, then again in 1988, then again in 2003 and now again in 2016 history has repeated itself, and the civic planners have once again missed an opportunity to get housing under control.

Unrelenting house appreciation is not a good thing. It was not in 74, 88, 03 or now.

And civic leaders control the new housing market and have again blown an opportunity to increase the tax base and housing stock while keeping affordable and entry-level homes available for average, working people.

There are solutions, but it is obvious that our civic planners, leaders and special interests do not care about the majority of Riverside residents. Not everyone can afford a $600,000 home.

Jerry Cook, Riverside

The Press-Enterprise writes about hopeful traffic improvements in Temecula with the new 215/79 project (June 7), but what about Corona? Wasnt traffic supposed to improve in Corona and surrounding cities and counties, i.e., Southern California? Its worse than ever.

The city of Corona approved new dense housing at Dos Lagos which has added hundreds of new cars to the on-ramps and 15 and 91 freeways. Dos Lagos looks like military housing surrounded by multi-dwelling units.

The city approved 1,500-plus new single-family dwellings at Cajalco and Bedford Canyon, which makes buying a loaf of bread and a quart of milk at Stater Bros. next to impossible. The city approved a multi-unit Terrasa development at Foothill parkway near the 15 and theyre grading over 10 acres to build practically on top of the 15 South. Thousands of apartments have been built at North Main. Corona has been destroyed.

At work I hear people complaining who commute from as close as Yorba Linda and Lake Elsinore. Since I live in south Corona and have to use Weirick, Im really stuck. Traffic feeds into the Weirick on-ramp from Temescal Canyon Drive and all those ant colonies and from commuters from San Diego County and Temecula, plus a stream from my area which rides north on Weirick to the on-ramp; then theres traffic coming down from The Retreat, and from northern Weirick. Drivers dive into gaps, doing U-turns and act like idiots because they have been turned into rats. There are accidents weekly.

Who is in charge in California? This is ridiculous and now we are at over 40 million people? God save us. Leadership sure wont. We are drowning in people. Soon well mimic the famous rat population experiment where as the population increased and resources were limited, rats turned on themselves, then grew apathetic and then just died in their corner.

Philip Palermo, Corona

Re: Is single-payer the health care answer? [Question of the week, June 6]:

I am a health insurance agent and firmly believe that every person should have access to health care. However, I also believe that the single-payer system is not the answer.

First of all, by eliminating employer-paid health insurance, single-payer shifts health care costs to the employee. It has been estimated that single-payer will increase your personal tax bill by almost $9,200 per person in the first year and will increase each year after that. In addition to hiking taxes it will destroy millions of jobs.

While single-payer plans offer citizens some kind of health care coverage, they dont guarantee access to medical care. Single-payer inevitably controls costs by rationing health care. I for one want to be in control of my health care decisions, not a bureaucrat in California.

This is a disastrous bill for Californians and could be the final nail in the coffin for the California economy and unfortunately for many Californians facing future medical crises.

Patricia Stiffler, Eastvale Past President, Orange County Association of Health Underwriters

Single-payer is one variant on universal health care systems. As someone who has experienced them in New Zealand and the United Kingdom as a patient and a taxpayer, I can definitely say they are better than private insurance-based systems from both perspectives.

California has a population 10 times that of New Zealand and can make single-payer work effectively. The advantages of single payer for patients are full coverage, better health and less stress; for big employers, less cost; for small employers, a fairer playing field; for everyone including providers, less paperwork.

A healthy California provides the peace of mind that we are less likely to get sick from a fellow workmate, student or neighbor when everyone has access to quality health care.

Nat Lerner, Hemet

I realize my thoughts are meaningless to our legislators. But I find it necessary to record my opinions, which are:

1. There is no plan in the bill as to where the revenue would come from, meaning we the citizens can plan on another huge tax increase.

2. The state recently hit the citizens with a tax increase of $52 billion (over 10 years). So why not add $400 billion for SB562, according to the Legislative Analyst?

3. Illegal immigrants should not receive citizens tax funds for their support.

4. The only way for businesses to meet the future demands is to raise their prices. Which is a hidden tax on the buyers.

5. Big winners are the union bosses who are supporting the passage of the bill not the workers.

6. Once the bureaucratic machine is in place, it will continue to grow with a life of its own.

Our state legislators have made it clear they only care about the unions and undocumented immigrants. Again where is all the revenue to come from? Us.

Don Darwin, Norco

Last week, U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar joined 183 of his colleagues from both political parties in signing a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Tom Price. The letter asks HHS to close a loophole that allows health insurers to deny coverage to patients who get charitable help to pay their premiums.

Many patients who depend on dialysis to keep them alive also depend on charities for financial assistance. Some insurance companies are refusing to accept these premium payments, and others are saying patients who take charitable assistance to pay their premiums can be dropped. While dialysis patients have the option of Medicare, it only covers 80 percent and not all are eligible for Medi-Cal. California does not allow dialysis patients the option of a supplement or marketplace (ACA) insurance.

For anyone with a chronic disease, losing your insurance is a catastrophe. I am grateful to Rep. Aguilar and colleagues for taking action.

Lori Noyes, Upland

When our legislators want to repeal a law that makes it a crime to use false documents to conceal citizenship status, are they thinking of the citizens of California? Of course not. It is encouraging the commitment of one crime on top on another. Illegal entry into this country, obtaining illegal documents and possibly not even a slap on the hand.

All of this without transparency. We voted for Proposition 54, and as usual politicians do what they want.

Edith Reed, Hemet

As a veteran I was disappointed because there was very little mention of D-Day in the June 6 Press-Enterprise. There was one paragraph on Page 2, and two comic strips (Mallard Fillmore and Peanuts).

Its a shame that the Greatest Generation has become just a fading memory.

Wally Ingram, Hemet

More:

Letters: Health care isn't that complicated - Press-Enterprise

Yogi Berra said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it!" America has come to a "fork in the road." This serious matter is our healthcare system.

We can either choose to travel the road of a "single-payer system" (Medicare for all) or continue traveling the road of insurance and pharmaceuticals controlling our health care while supporting their financial bottom lines.

My take on where both Barack Obama and Donald Trump really come from is having a system where every person has the right to affordable health care. That is, it is a right, not a privilege, and is to be accepted as much a part of our American life as well-maintained roads, national security, outstanding educational opportunities and effective law enforcement. These are things we take for granted.

The Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," was a step in this direction but doomed to problems because, for one reason, it maintained the financial burdens of profit goals by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

To get from where we are to a single-payer system is going to take many adjustments and changes all aiming at the ultimate goal.

It can be done, but is going to take picking up Yogi Berra's fork and making serious decisions.

Originally posted here:

Health care and Yogi Berra's fork - The Missoulian

Too often, real policy improvements get drowned out by political talking points. That is the case right now as nearly all of the health care discussion in Montana is about one flawed health care bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the 2017 legislative session, we saw unprecedented bipartisan action to improve health care. Rep. Rob Cook (R-Conrad) carried an important bill to allow my team at the state auditors office to pursue a waiver from the federal government and create a reinsurance system that would have stabilized our insurance market and lowered costs. It passed the Montana House unanimously before politics got involved.

Rep. Amanda Curtis (D-Butte) sponsored a great bill to require transparency in health care prices and let patients share in the savings by finding procedures for lower costs from different hospitals. Sen. Ed Buttrey (R-Great Falls) carried another bill that would have empowered Montanans with the ability to know the cost of health care procedures.

Another bill, by Sen. Cary Smith (R-Billings), would have allowed Montanans to contract directly with their doctors for services. Rep. Nancy Balance (R-Hamilton) carried a bill to include Montana in a compact with other states to protect citizens control over health care decisions. Two more bills would have helped small businesses provide health insurance to their employees and allowed Montanans to shop out-of-state for affordable health insurance.

Tragically, Gov. Bullock vetoed all six bills that landed on his desk. These bills would have made health care more accessible and affordable, but Bullock chose to obstruct the Legislature and hurt Montanans struggling to make ends meet.

Gov. Bullocks refusal to allow Montana to improve its own system makes it all the more important that Congress repeal Obamacare, and do so responsibly. Ive told key congressional leaders that they need to fully fund cost-sharing reduction payments to stabilize the 2018 insurance market and that Obamacare repeal needs to lower costs, give states more flexibility, and give consumers more options to meet their individual health care needs.

Health insurance costs in the United States are on an unsustainable path. Ive heard from hundreds of Montanans who are paying thousands of dollars every year for their health insurance coverage, and thousands more for deductibles before their insurance provides any benefit. Ive spoken at length with Sen. Steve Daines about these issues, and hes working hard to address these problems. Even Sen. Jon Tester is now admitting that things are wrong with Obamacare and that we didnt make the modifications to fix the problem.

Im glad to see Sen. Tester admits that when he cast the deciding vote to pass Obamacare, the law that no one had read was critically flawed from the outset. Im also glad to see hes admitting that he and the rest of the national Democrats did nothing to address these problems and that reforms are way overdue. But Sen. Tester needs to do more than just speak, he needs to take action, especially after Gov. Bullock thwarted bipartisan health care improvements here in Montana. We can work together to solve these problems and make health care better for all Montanans, but for that to happen, the political obstruction must end.

Matt Rosendale, of Glendive, is the Montana state auditor, also known as commissioner of securities and insurance.

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Health care improvements thwarted by politics - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

President Trump made a promise to the American people that he would repeal and replace ObamaCare. He fulfilled his end of the bargain,but Congress has yet to follow suit.

Republicans and Democrats can agree that ObamaCare has been a complete disaster since its 2010 inception, but it seems that congressional Democrats are more interested in rejecting anything that comes out of the White House rather than helping the American people. They know that premiums, taxes and costs have skyrocketed, but they would rather play politics that pass a solution.

Americans dont need politics as usual. They need a united Congress to support the president, the White House and a better plan for American families, businesses and seniors.

Families and individuals aren't the only ones suffering. Businesses are getting hit hard as well. A small business that employs around 20 or so people, the company and its employees are paying twice what they paid for health insurance less than two years ago, and on top of that, they are receiving less for it.

This is not limited to New York. Everywhere across our nation, people are facing the negative effects of ObamaCare. On top of the problems consumers face, health insurers participating in the ObamaCare exchanges havedeclinedby 24 percent since last year. The number has dropped from 287 insurers to 218, and it seems to be declining even more every single week. So not only is ObamaCare putting the states themselves in a difficult position, it is leaving the American people with little to no choice.

Within Congress, it seems that only Republicans are interested in moving forward with legislation to eliminate ObamaCare, while Democrats are refusing to participate. Yet even a former advisor to President Obama and one of the original ObamaCare architects, Ezekiel Emanuel,statedthis month that the law absolutely needs to be fixed. "Any corporation that would do a massive change like this would make constant adjustments," Emanuel noted. "Because of the paralysis in Congress, we haven't been able to make the adjustments."

Unfortunately, it's beginning to look likecongressional Democrats dont care about helping the American people as much as they care about fighting the White House.If President Trump said dogs barked and cats meowed, congressional Democrats could be counted on to say the opposite. If they want to persuade voters that they're motivated by anything other than anti-Trump vitriol, they would be well-advised to get on board with passing solutions to the mess wrought by ObamaCare.

JuanPablo Andrade is an advisor on President Trump'sHispanicAdvisory Council and National Diversity Coalition and a spokesman forAmerica First Policies, a pro-Trump nonprofit organization.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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Democratic obstructions to healthcare reform must end - The Hill (blog)

The Olympian

Aging population, retiring professionals stress health care The Olympian Dr. Matthew D'Onofrio has seen his patient pool get a lot grayer since he opened his practice more than 20 years ago. Those he first treated in their 50s and 60s are now in their 70s and 80s. They require more medical resources, and many don't have ... and more »

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Aging population, retiring professionals stress health care - The Olympian

Miami Herald

Latin American leaders look to technology for accessible, high-quality healthcare Miami Herald Augmented reality programs, apps to track cardiovascular health and mobile workplace wellness programs could be the answer to improving the quality and accessibility of healthcare to consumers, particularly in Latin America. To bring state-of-the-art ...

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Latin American leaders look to technology for accessible, high-quality healthcare - Miami Herald