Health care presents one of the biggest opportunities for startups--as well as some of the biggest frustrations. The market size and the potential to make an impact in people's lives are nearly unrivaled, as is the level of regulation. Still, in 2016, venture investors poured $12.2 billion into health care, backing companies that promise to change everything from cancer care to the process of finding a new doctor. Here are some of the standouts.

Flatiron founders Zach Weinberg (left) and Nat Turner.

CREDIT: Saskia Uppenkamp

Google Ventures-backed Flatiron Health has developed a cloud-based technology platform that's currently used by about 260 cancer clinics. The New York City startup takes the patient data it collects from those centers--without identifying details, of course--and shares it with pharmaceutical companies and researchers. The company raised an $8 million series A round in 2013. A little more than a year later, it raised $130 million, and a year after that, an additional $175 million, bringing its valuation to about $1.2 billion. Flatiron is one of fewer than a dozen billion-dollar-valuation "unicorn" companies in the health care space.

Major Investors: Google Ventures, First Round Capital, Roche, Allen & Co.

CREDIT: Courtesy Company

Freenome, headquartered in South San Francisco, is one of a slew of so-called liquid biopsy (i.e., blood test) companies to break out over the past few years. The goal is to use a patient's DNA, rather than a tissue sample, to diagnose cancer. Freenome says its tests do better than the current options for diagnosing prostate, breast, colorectal, and lung cancers. The company is using a $65 million round of funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz, to head into clinical trials.

Major investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Charles River Associates

CREDIT: Courtesy Company

Another health care unicorn, Clover Health is an insurance start-up aiming to use data science to improve preventive medicine. The San Francisco-based company tracks dozens of clinical and social data points to help elderly and low-income patients avoid hospital visits. It currently handles claims for about 25,000 Medicare Advantage patients in New Jersey. With a recent $130 million funding round from Google Ventures and other backers, Clover plans to expand, and begin operations in three more states by this fall.

Major investors: First Round Capital, Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital

CREDIT: Courtesy Company

New York City-based ZocDoc allows users to find in-network health care providers, book appointments online, and read reviews from other patients. About 6 million patients in the U.S. use the service each month. Providers pay a subscription fee to be listed, and then ZocDoc integrates with their practice management software. ZocDoc recently added a feature that lets patients type in their symptoms using natural language and then matches them with an appropriate provider, such as a doctor, dentist, nurse practitioner, or physical therapist. The company has raised a total of $223 million.

Major investors: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Khosla Ventures, Goldman Sachs

CREDIT: Courtesy Company

In 2013, the FDA ruled that genetic-testing company 23andMe, which has raised a total of $233 million, could no longer sell one of its signature services: test results that indicate a person's propensity to develop inherited diseases. Since then, Mountain View, California's 23andMe has mainly been using its genetic testing services to provide information about ancestry and origin. But in April of this year, the company finally won FDA approval to sell direct-to-consumer tests that provide genetic health risk information for conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and hereditary thrombophilia.

Major investors: Google Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, WuXi Healthcare Ventures

CREDIT: Courtesy Company

London-based Babylon Health, which has raised a total of $85 million, started as a telemedicine company, enabling doctors to make diagnoses via video and allowing patients to rate the quality of each interaction. But it's received more notice lately for another program it's piloting in the U.K.: an AI-powered chatbot that analyzes a patient's condition against a database of symptoms, while incorporating the patient's own medical history and responses to the chatbot's questions.

Major investors: Vostok New Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, Mustafa Suleyman

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The 6 Hottest Startups in Health Care - Inc.com

Forbes

Why UnitedHealth Rules Among Health Care Stocks Forbes Never mind that the Republican-controlled Congress can't seem to get its act together to repeal, much less replace, the Affordable Care Act, more popularly known as Obamacare. But health care stocks are doing just fine, in spite of the continued ...

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Why UnitedHealth Rules Among Health Care Stocks - Forbes

In the beginning, there was Obamacare. Since January, weve seen repeal and replace, repeal and repair, a draft American Health Care Act, a near-vote in the house, two new amendments, an actual vote in the house, and now whispers about the Senates rewrite, which should become public any day now.

Its just one of 2017s little surprises that when were feeling overwhelmed and confused, Twitter can be the cure. (Im still trying to process that, but it seems to be true.) If you follow a few knowledgeable folks, youll be able to keep track of whats actually happeningnot just with attempts to pass Trumpcare, but also the ways our current administration is sabotaging the Obamacare markets to manufacture a crisis. Here are my top picks:

Andy Slavitt knows more than probably anyone else about how Obamacare workshe was in charge of it for most of two years, as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Since Trump took office, Slavitt has dedicated his time to demystifying health care policy for the public. Hell speak at a town hall if your Republican congressperson wont hold one. And, most usefully for us, hes a great source of insider information on what lawmakers are talking about right now. Hes also on top of picking out obscure details of health care policy and explaining what their real-world effects will be.

Dan Diamond is a reporter for Politico, writing their daily Pulse newsletter about health policy and hosting the Pulse Check podcast. His feed is a good way to keep on top of health-related political newsincluding plenty of links from Politico, of course. A specialty of Diamonds is the brief, pithy statistic, like so:

Topher Spiro was part of the team that drafted the Affordable Care Act. Hes now the vice president for health policy at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank that publishes lots of analysis on whats going on with Obamacare and what could happen with Trumpcare. For example, theyre the folks who estimated people with cancer could end up paying $140,000 extra per year in premiums. Spiro keeps us up to date on analysis like this, and is another great source of threads that explain policy details in terms of what will happen in real life.

Kliff writes about health policy for Vox. On Twitter, she gives a big-picture view of health care laws across the country: not just Obamacare and Trumpcare, but also whats going on in state legislatures. She also shares a ton of explainers and maps from Vox and elsewhere.

Cox is the associate director of the Kaiser Family Foundation, where her job is figuring out how the ACA affects private insurance and their enrollees. If youve got insurance through your job and think the ACA didnt affect you because youre not on Obamacare, you need to read the kind of stuff Cox is talking about. Right now, thats the stability of insurance markets: Anthem may pull out of a lot of markets, leaving people in many areas with no insurer, because the Trump administration has threatened to cut off some of the ACAs mandated funding.

Following these people may not reduce your total intake of health care doom and gloom (and thats a bipartisan statement; everybody hates something about health policy these days), but theyll help you keep up on the important details that tend to get buried in news stories.

PS. Im sure I missed some great follows; please share your favorites in the comments so we can all learn together.

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Follow These People on Twitter to Understand What's Happening With Health Care - Lifehacker

President Trump meets Tuesday at the White House with congressional Republican leaders -- anattempt to jumpstart efforts on overhauling ObamaCare, tax reform and other parts of his domestic agenda slowed by the Russia investigations and Capitol Hills notoriously long legislative process.

"Big meeting today with Republican leadership concerning Tax Cuts and Healthcare, Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. We are all pushing hard - must get it right!"

Under pressure to get at least one legislative victory in his first term, Trump is in fact meeting with the lawmakers twice Tuesday.

He will meet in the afternoon with GOP leaders of the House and Senate, then host a working White House dinner for a handful of Republicans members, White House legislativedirector Marc Shortsaid Monday.

However, Senate Republicans have already quickened the pace on ObamaCare, after being urged last week by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to vote this summer to increase the federal debt ceiling.

Sources told Fox News on Monday that the GOP-led Senate now wants to vote on ObamaCare as soon as possible so members can devote July to the debt-ceiling debate and September to tax reform, with the intent of providing tax breaks to voters.

Senate Republican leaders emerged Monday from their regular weekly meeting with the surprise announcement that they have a draft bill on overhauling ObamaCare and that a vote could happen as early as July 4.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the chambers No. 2 Republican, was among the more cautious about the timeline, saying a vote would come sometime in July.

The ObamaCare push in the Senate follows the House last month passing its version, which congressional analysts say would end health-care coverage for an estimated 23 million Americans.

Senate Republicans have met privately for weeks on the issue and say they will have their own legislation. However, they realize that any plan that cuts the deficit by billions will also likely mean less coverage, particularly for those with pre-existing medical conditions.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., in fact said last week that a vote on ObamaCare by the end of the year was unlikely.

Short also acknowledged Monday that congressional investigations -- like the two on Capitol Hill on whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 elections -- detracts from the presidents agenda.

But theres been lots of progress we're pleased about this spring, he added.

Trump, a former real estate magnate, complained last month about the slow pace of the Senate.

It's an archaic system, he told Fox News. It's really a bad thing for the country."

Short also said Monday that he doesnt expect legislation on tax reform until after Labor Day and that an infrastructure deal would come by the end of the year but the administration has no firm timeline.

Excerpt from:

Trump tries to fire up tax reform, health care agenda amid turmoil - Fox News

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Senate Republican leaders are aiming to conclude their perilous and divisive effort to rewrite the nations health-care laws as soon as late this month, giving themselves only weeks to resolve substantial disagreements and raising the possibility that their push will collapse.

The leadership team is eyeing a vote by the end of July on a bill to be completed by early that month, with some aspiring to wrap up even sooner, as they cast ahead to the other legislative priorities on the horizon. One said he expected to hold a vote on a bill even if it lacked the support to pass, underscoring a growing desire to bring a difficult debate to a close one way or the other.

Some Senate Republican aides and associates are already privately discussing how the GOP would craft its midterm campaign message if it fails to pass a health-care bill, suggesting they could tell voters they need to build a bigger majority to finally undo the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, as they have long promised.

[The Health 202: Democrats arent winning the expectations game on health care]

There is also rising pessimism among rank-and-file Republican senators about the prospect of reaching consensus on legislation to make good on a signature campaign promise, highlighting the steep climb they face to securing the 50 votes they need to pass a it.

I still think in the end theres a huge reason why we have to get to 50 on this, said Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday. He added: Obviously, were going to have a vote one way or the other, but if we dont pass something and we go into 18, you know, its on us to try and get this fixed.

Thune said he hoped a vote could be taken during this work period, but stressed that it would be up to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to decide when a vote would happen. The Senates next week-long recess begins at the start of July.

Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said, We have to get this done by the end of the July because then we need to get on to taxes in the fall. He was referring to tax-code revisions, another legislative priority Republicans have established for themselves.

Cornyn and Thune made their comments as they walked in and out of a late-afternoon meeting in McConnells office that included other key GOP senators. The Kentucky Republican and his team are expected to present rank-and-file GOP senators with several potential policy options throughout the coming week, including at a weekly luncheon on Tuesday afternoon.

A little bird told me that something like that might be rolled out, Cornyn said. But, you know, weve been talking about this for seven years. And so now is the time to start coming up with some tangible alternatives and building consensus. So, suits me.

But agreement has been very difficult for Senate Republicans to achieve amid dissent over significant policies. The biggest issues they are trying to sort out: how Medicaid should be structured and funded, whether to allow states to avoid certain Obamacare regulations and how to craft tax credits to replace existing insurance subsides.

Senate GOP leaders could present options on these fronts this week as well as on repealing taxes in the ACA, according to several senior GOP aides. Its unclear when a physical draft of the bill will be produced.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who represents a state that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, said as she walked into McConnells office that she would support a slower phaseout of Medicaid expansion than was established under the health-care bill that passed the House early last month. But she added: Im not saying I support phasing it out.

Thune has been looking at ways to adjust the tax credits in the House bill to offer more assistance to elderly and lower-income Americans.

It remains unclear, however, whether hard-line conservative senators will support such proposals in a final vote.

The differing ideas reflect not only contrasts in policy but sensitivities to opposite ends of the political spectrum, with some concerned about an electoral backlash from centrist or left-leaning voters who oppose major changes to Obamacare and others worried a less aggressive assault on the ACA will leave right-leaning opponents of the law dispirited.

All the behind-the-scenes work and discussion with those parameters in mind, however, has not generated confidence in some Republican senators. Some have openly doubted that the talks are leading anywhere positive.

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that he doesnt think Republicans will pass a health-care bill in 2017, Bloomberg News reported. Over the Memorial Day recess, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) came to the same conclusion and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he doubted a bill could pass before the August recess.

There is a growing sense among Senate Republicans that they need to either pass a health care overhaul or move on to other ways of fixing the health-care system, possibly through a tax reform bill or in smaller bipartisan legislation later this year.

Some want to move on so that Congress can focus on pressing deadlines in the late summer and early autumn, including a vote to increase the federal borrowing limit that could come as early as mid-July. Republicans have also suggested that they want to begin negotiations with Democrats on a long-term spending bill before Sept. 30 when the fiscal year ends.

The small window for action and policy disagreements has upped the chatter among Senate GOP aides and associates that making good on their often-repeated promise to undo parts of Obamacare may not be possible. Many Republicans, including top aides working on the GOP health plan, said they need to vote on health care and move on by early July, even if that means voting on a bill that fails.

Quietly, people are preparing for a lot of possible outcomes and how to deal with them, said one Republican in frequent communication with Republican senators and staff, who like other aides and allies interviewed for this story were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Much of the serious policy work has been conducted behind the scenes by a small group of health policy staffers, with members of McConnells inner circle leading the political strategy, according to top GOP aides familiar with the negotiations. Experts have been working to craft a number of policy options that lawmakers can mix-and-match to create a final policy outline.

Senate Budget rules allow GOP leaders to scrap nearly every element of the health legislation that passed the House. The only requirement is that the Senate save $133billion, the same amount saved in the House bill.

Republicans are trying to pass a health-care bill through a procedural maneuver known as reconciliation that only requires a simple majority rather than a supermajority. But for McConnell, getting to 50 votes (Vice President Pence could break a 50-50 tie) means losing no more than two Republican senators.

Complicating matters further, leaders must also jump through a series of other procedural hoops, like waiting for an official cost estimate before the health-care bill can come up for a vote. That process typically takes around two weeks, meaning leaders would need to have a final bill in hand soon to get it scored and hold a vote by the end of next month.

Some Republican leaders sound much more like they are wishing that will happen than are counting on it.

I dont think this gets better over time, said Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairman Roy Blunt (Mo.). So my personal view is weve got, you know, about until now until the Fourth of July to decide whether the votes are there are not. And I hope they are.

Paul Kane contributed to this report.

Continued here:

Senate GOP aiming to conclude divisive health-care push one way or the other - Washington Post

TechCrunch

The consumerization of healthcare | TechCrunch TechCrunch Recently, I registered with the GP across the road from my flat. I've lived there for a year. I had put off registering beforehand due to a severe allergy.. and more »

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The consumerization of healthcare | TechCrunch - TechCrunch

New York Times

From Maine, a Call for a More Measured Take on Health Care - The ... New York Times Susan Collins, attuned to the particular vulnerabilities of her constituents, is among a handful of senators thinking about repairing, not replacing, the health law. and more »

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From Maine, a Call for a More Measured Take on Health Care - The ... - New York Times

Dont delude yourself that legislation to create a California universal healthcare system passed the state Senate last week. All that passed was authorization to keep yakking about it in dreamland.

Or you can look at it this way: A fantasy-driven single-payer healthcare concept was given the equivalent of a grade-school social promotion. It should have been held back for a lot more work but was advanced undeservedly to the next level.

The goal of the bill, SB 562, is to establish a state-run healthcare system that covers all 40 million Californians, including roughly 2 million who migrated here illegally.

There really arent any details, but as envisioned, it would replace all private and government insurance, including senior citizens Medicare. Right there, the bills advocates should stop. Federal Medicare works fine. Leave it alone.

The California concept is promoted as Medicare for all, except it wouldnt be Medicare. And it wouldnt include Medicares ability to buy extra service through a private plan.

No one can be sure of anything, however, because this is a hollow bill a bill in name only.

The legislative authors, Sens. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), promised to keep trying to mold a real bill.

No one even knows the bills price tag. But whatever it is, its astronomical.

An analysis by the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Lara, pegged it at $400 billion annually. To put that in perspective, total state spending for the next fiscal year is projected to be $290 billion, including $107 billion in federal dollars.

Lara says Californians currently spend $367 billion each year on healthcare federal, state and private money. His bill would use that money, eliminating private insurance. Thered be no patient co-pays or deductibles.

The California Nurses Assn., the bills loudest advocate, paid for a University of Massachusetts Amherst study that picked a $331-billion cost. Lara is running for state insurance commissioner with the nurses backing.

Even if the state gobbled up all the government and private money being spent on healthcare in California, thered still be a need for a state tax increase of up to $100 billion. A 15% payroll tax is envisioned. The nurses also suggested business and sales tax hikes. Lots of luck with that.

The rationale for passing a shallow bill devoid of substance was that June 2 was the deadline for a measure to be approved by its original house.

The way the rules work in the Legislature, we are deadline-driven, Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) argued during the long floor debate. The bill certainly has many holes, he said, but it should be kept alive and moved to the Assembly for negotiation and fine-tuning.

Except, the deadline argument was a poor excuse for the Senate not doing its job. Most legislative deadlines, like this one, are of the Legislatures own making. And the deadline can be suspended on a two-thirds vote the same vote that would be required to pass a substantive bill with a funding plan.

There would be a hard deadline Jan. 31 for Senate passage. But even after that, the proposals substance could be amended into legislation with a different bill number a common gut and amend tactic.

Updates from Sacramento

So what the Senate did was disappointing and rather shameful if youre a single-payer advocate. Rather than digging in and developing an actual plan, it passed the chore over to the Assembly, which hasnt shown much interest in the subject.

This is the most difficult issue Ive ever agreed to work on, Atkins told the Senate. Let me assure you Im serious about it. This is the biggest issue the state of California has undertaken in a very long time.

Then youd think it would have warranted more time and energy. But, realistically, its probably an impossible task given the complexity, competing interests and politics.

The bill passed on largely a party-line vote, 23 to 14, with most Democrats for it and all Republicans against. Because it didnt include any funding, only a simple majority vote was required.

Give four Democrats credit for refusing to support it: Sens. Steve Glazer of Orinda, Ben Hueso of San Diego, Richard Roth of Riverside and Richard Pan of Sacramento. Glazer voted no. The others abstained.

We should keep it here and finish the work, Glazer said, then put it on the ballot in 2018.

This is the Senate kicking the can down the road to the Assembly and asking the Assembly to fill in all of the blanks, Hueso said. I dont see this bill coming back from the Assembly. I think this bill will die in the Assembly.

Republicans brought up some practical problems for the bill. Start with the fact that California is only a state, not a nation. It would be almost impossible for one state to enact a single-payer system by itself.

And Californias anti-Trump Democratic legislators would need the Republican president to generously turn over federal Medicaid and Medicare funds to make their single-payer dream come alive.

We give Trump crap day in and day out, and were going to beg him for a couple hundred billion dollars? Sen. Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto) asked.

Anyway, even if the Legislature did manage to pass a bill, Gov. Jerry Brown probably would veto it. Hes very skeptical about the financing.

Well be watching what the Assembly produces. Maybe theyll surprise us. But probably therell just be more yak.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter

ALSO

Republicans are mad about the California gas tax, and they're taking it out on this freshman lawmaker

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California state senators passed a single-payer healthcare bill, but it's going nowhere fast - Los Angeles Times

As an employer and a health care provider I would like to discuss several things that are not being addressed in the debate between Obamacare and Trumpcare.

Firstly, though it is a dirty little secret, between 40 percent and 50 percent of the population in the U.S. is already on government-funded health care and mostly they are happy with it.

If you add up all the employees of the military and their families, those eligible for VA health care, Medicare, Medicaid, federal, state, county and city employees and their families, individuals in prison, companies that depend mostly on government-funded projects like highway construction companies and defense companies, and heath care providers treating mostly Medicare patients and the disabled, you have a large part of the population on government-funded health care.

Secondly, what both parties are trying to do in addressing only health insurance is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The reason health insurance costs are so high is due to what it insures, health care. The cost of health care is high and getting more so. Neither party is addressing this. It is as if everyone drives a Rolls Royce and we are wondering why car insurance costs so much. As an employer, I saw the same double-digit increases to health insurance premiums before Obamacare as I do now afterward.

I have heard a lot of nonsense about allowing the free market to work here. Health care in the U.S. does not function on a free market basis. There is no way to choose one hospital over another as to quality and cost. When you go into an emergency room you have no idea what your costs will be. You just walk out of the hospital afterward and hope you can pay your share. Anyone who has ever examined a hospital bill will tell you it is beyond understanding.

Allowing health insurance providers to sell stripped-down plans is the same as just increasing the deductible. It just allows the insurers to call it a non-covered procedure rather than tacking the charges on the deductible. Health care is a necessity. No one goes through their whole life and refuses to ever see a doctor. The federal government acknowledges this by requiring hospitals to treat anyone who walks into an emergency room whether they can pay or not. If health care was free market, hospitals could tell people "sorry you don't have insurance, so go die."

My proposal to both parties is to provide a federal re-insurance for the health insurance providers. Let's say an individual has more than $100,000 in a year in health insurance costs, then a type of Trumpcare along the lines of Medicare would step in and take over the costs. In addition, if an individual has more than $1 million in health insurance costs over their lifetime, what the old lifetime maximum was, then they would become instantly eligible for Medicare. Medicare is essentially a high-risk group insurance anyway and most people who need that much health care will end up disabled and soon on Medicare.

By limiting the losses to the insurers it should help to keep costs down. The costs of the program will only go to those we know are high risk and not individuals that insurers would perceive to be high risk. Medicare also approaches the costs of health care differently than most insurers by paying for the disease and not just procedures and supplies used. This is a real attempt to control costs. Medicare also has much lower administrative costs than private insurance.

Once we have addressed the costs of health insurance we need to take a good look at the cost of heath care. The answers to that puzzle are more complicated and require wiser men than me.

In addition, we should not switch regular Medicaid to block grants to the states. As most welfare payments go to support people in nursing homes and with us baby boomers reaching that age, going to block grants will put an incredible strain on state budgets. Remember Sens. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., you were all once state officials and what it takes to balance a state budget.

Could Congress also reduce the reporting paperwork of Obamacare and simplify it? One of our office managers spent three full days this year just filling out the Obamacare forms that no one will ever look at. It was ridiculous.

Bradley King is a lifelong resident of Bismarck and founder and senior partner at Prairie Rose Family Dentists in Bismarck and Mandan.

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What's not discussed in health care - Bismarck Tribune

New York Times

Rebuking Congress, Cuomo Plans to Keep State Health Care Plans Intact New York Times The measures, taken via emergency regulations, will include requiring any private company doing business on the state's insurance marketplace to guarantee the 10 essential health benefits required by President Barack Obama's signature 2010 health ...

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Rebuking Congress, Cuomo Plans to Keep State Health Care Plans Intact - New York Times

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson believes it would be easier for the Senate to focus on tax reform instead of healthcare.

The Wisconsin senator is the latest lawmaker to cast doubt on the prospects for getting Obamacare repeal done in the Senate quickly.

"I think tax reform is an easier lift," he told the radio station AM 970 The Answer. "There are a number of pretty good proposals out there."

Johnson speculated that getting Obamacare passed is going to be harder than it looks. Johnson has been pushing for a short-term bill to stabilize Obamacare's exchanges while working on long-term reform.

"We may have to break this into two pieces," he said.

He said the Senate should take its time to put together a healthcare bill that "restrains the cost of healthcare."

Senate committee and leadership staff is putting together legislative text that outlines the ideas being bandied about by a group of more than a dozen senators.

But the text is expected to be just a draft and reference point for continuing negotiations. Major rifts in the GOP conference remain over Medicaid spending and how generous tax credits should be.

Johnson isn't the only senator to vocalize his skepticism on whether a deal gets done on healthcare soon.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., recently said he also doubts that healthcare gets done this year at all.

More:

Ron Johnson: Tax reform an easier lift than healthcare - Washington Examiner

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Health Care in Iowa Shows Peril for Both Political Parties Wall Street Journal (subscription) Chuck Grassley's town-hall meeting to press the Republican senator on the GOP plan to overhaul health care. Mr. Barnum has health insurance through his work. But his family depends on Medicaid to help cover the medical costs of his 9-year-old son, Koan ... and more »

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Health Care in Iowa Shows Peril for Both Political Parties - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

A West Michigan doctor wishes to trade in his scrubs for a seat in Congress.

Jaleesa Irizarry, WZZM 11:19 PM. EDT June 04, 2017

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga has an early challenger in the 2018 election:Rob Davidson, an ER doctor who challenged the congressman on health care at an earlier town hall event.

GRAND HAVEN, MICH. - A West Michigan emergency room doctor who squared off with a congressman at an earlier town hall event says he's ready to challenge him for his seat.

Rob Davidson has worked in an ER for 16 years but he says after this November election, he needed to stand up for his beliefs. He's already is raising money as a Democratic candidate against U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland.

WZZM 13 first interviewed Davidson in February at a Huizengatown hall event in Baldwin, Mich.

"My concern is 10-15 years from now, these people have heart attacks and strokes that perhaps could have been prevented if they had the access that they needed," he said minutes before the town hall.The West Michigan man debated with the Republican congressman during that event.

"I had a question and we had a little mini debate on health care and a lot of people just spontaneously started asking me, 'Why don't you run?'"After that day, Davidson started strongly considering it. A few months ago, he decided to turn his fight for health care into a campaign to challengeHuizenga in the 2018 congressional election.

"I see a lack of fairness and the ability for people to get health care," Davidson said Sunday, June 4, at a healthcare rally.At that February town hall,Huizenga said there some good things about the Affordable Care Act, but it needed to be repealed.

"I have made a commitment to things like pre-existing conditions should not be a disqualifier, a lifetime cap should not be a disqualifier, a number of other things that we think are positives in that and we're going to try and make sure those are in there," Huizenga said in February.

"It just has to be a system where those of us who consume healthcare, as patients, have more understanding of the true costs and have more input as to what our decisions are."

Huizenga voted for that repeal in May showing support for the GOP health care bill, saying, in part,in a press release: "...The American Health Care Act provides the relief countless families across West Michigan have been asking for..."

"The American Healthcare Act was really a tax-cut for the wealthiest disguised as a healthcare bill and they paid for it by kicking 24 million people off of Medicaid," Davidson said.

Besides health care, Davidson hopes to advocate for education as well. He says he plants to hold events for his campaign in the future.

We reached out to Huizenga's campaign for a response to the news of a challenger.

They sent WZZM 13 the following statement: "Bill was reelected by a two to one margin just 8 months ago. For now he's focused on policies to create jobs, protect life, and serve the constituents of the 2nd District.

"While it's no surprise a liberal candidate has announced, Bill has a job to do to and is focused on making West Michigan an even better place to live, work, and raise a family."

Makeit easy to keep up to date with more stories like this.Download theWZZM13 app now.

Have a news tip? Emailnews@wzzm13.com, visit ourFacebookpage orTwitter.

2017 WZZM-TV

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After health care debate, ER doctor runs against US Rep. Bill Huizenga - WZZM

On Thursday, a panel of health, business and advocacy leaders gathered in Lancaster for a public town hall on health care.

The event covered a wide range of topics within health care.

Here are three key questions that arose.

Would Medicare for more be better?

Dr. David Silbert, a local ophthalmologist, told panelists Medicare seems to be effectively controlling medical costs, and he thinks expanding the program could be helpful.

If Medicaid pays 30 cents on the dollar, she said, everyone ends up paying the remaining 70 cents, because that cost gets distributed for other people that are paying for health insurance and buying health care services.

Chuck Pennacchio, executive director of Healthcare For All PA, said Medicare having much lower administrative costs than other payers makes a good argument for expanding it.

Akash Chougule, deputy director of policy of Americans for Prosperity, said government underwriting things automatically makes them more expensive.

Can people make good enough health care choices?

One audience member questioned whether its possible for individual choice to result in good overall outcomes for Americas health care, given the complexity of the issues.

Another person from the audience said as she has seen more and more people left behind by the choice model, she has begun to view health care as a moral challenge confronting America.

Do we need to do better on health insurance literacy and understanding? Absolutely, said Paula Bussard, chief strategy officer of the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

But, she said, the industry also has to do more to empower patients.

Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said America collectively pays for health care, including the tax deduction that benefits everyone who has job-based health insurance, and thats an argument for universal health care.

Would more local control be better?

Asked what they liked about the recent American Health Care Act proposal, the panel had little to say.

Lifting taxes was a positive, said Gene Barr, president & CEO of Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Taking coverage away from people was problematic.

Bergen said while shes wary of the impact of block-granting Medicaid, the effort to try to drive decision-making, control, etc. at the state and a more localized level could have some very tremendous benefits that should be fully considered.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who organized the event with Treasurer Joe Torsella, asked later about regulations.

How do we get to a place politically where we actually go through the regulatory process to see what works and what doesnt? he said.

Barr said he sees a need to frame the conversation in terms of tradeoffs, instead of good and bad.

With economic regulation, theres almost always going to be a drag on economic development, he said. Am I willing to accept additional protection for a little less economic development?

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3 key questions from the health care town hall in Lancaster County - LancasterOnline

A Bad Health Care Bill New York Times Now we learn that in a revised version of the bill being discussed, states would be permitted to allow insurers to drop coverage for essential health benefits like cancer care and mental health services and price their policies based on people's health ...

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A Bad Health Care Bill - New York Times

Its been 20 years since Savannahs two oldest hospitals joined in a remarkable journey to expand their provider network throughout the region and better serve their communities.

The merger of two faith-based hospitals St. Josephs in southside Savannah and Candler in midtown avoided potential hurdles in what Paul P. Hinchey, president/CEO of St. Josephs/Candler Health System Inc., called really a great Savannah success story that provided a textbook model for such collaborations.

It was remarkable, Hinchey said. There was no acrimony. (Trustees) just cared about what was good for the merger and the community.

The combination, driven by a common philosophy and vision, provided a springboard to rapid growth that is still vibrant, Hinchey said.

Today, the system has 87 provider locations spanning 33 counties in southeast Georgia from Wayne County to Statesboro and Hilton Head, S.C. There are 714 patient beds St. Josephs Hospital with 330 and Candler Hospital with 384 beds in what Hinchey called the largest health care provider in the region.

It employs 4,000 people and last year provided almost $75 million in community assistance, including $27 million in traditional charity care and $2.4 million in community health improvement service and community benefits, according to its 2016 Community Benefits Report.

Were still growing, Hinchey said.

Most recently St. Josephs/Candler unveiled a planned $62 million micro-hospital in Pooler with the first step to open in early 2019 on an 18-acre parcel on Pooler Parkway near the intersection with Interstate 16.

When built out over a 10-year period, the 170,000-square-foot facility will provide a health care campus that addresses the needs of west Chatham County and surrounding communities.

Pooler Mayor Mike Lamb said in February that the St. Josephs/Candler Pooler Campus is the type of expansion of services he has sought since he became mayor in 2004.

We constantly are looking for more and more medical facilities and doctors because it helps our citizens not to have to travel all the way to Savannah, Lamb said. Any steps that will help our citizens has got to be a big plus for our community.

The mergers goals

From the start, Hinchey said the merger, technically a joint operating agreement, is built on three goals:

Consolidating clinical services to pool talented caregivers in one location rather than have them fragmented

Eliminating duplication of services to provide care more efficiently

Creating a more robust community outreach to the underserved

It worked seamlessly, Hinchey said, adding the boards of the respective hospitals quickly moved from a St. Josephs Hospital, Candler Hospital mentality and morphed into a single entity. The two words became one word.

It required some shifts in programs between the hospitals. For example, St. Josephs moved its obstetrics and pediatrics programs to the Mary Telfair Hospital at Candler. Most cardiology moved to St. Josephs Heart Hospital as well as orthopedics.

The April 1, 1997, agreement came at a time when the three major local hospitals Memorial Medical Center (now Memorial University Medical Center) within blocks of Candler were involved in revolving talks to restructure the local health care provider systems.

Candler and St. Josephs began their talks about possible collaboration in March 1996, shortly after and partly because of Memorials announcement that it would enter into exclusive affiliation talks with Columbia/HCA, the nations largest for-profit hospital chain.

Shortly afterward, Candler ended its 18-month-old talks with Memorial and opened talks with St. Josephs and, on Jan. 7, 1997, formally approved creation of a proposed unified health system that would rival the countys largest health care provider in size.

Everybody had to give up something

Cecil Abarr, a retired Braniger Organization executive and community volunteer, was chairman of the Candler Hospital board of trustees when discussions began on joining with St. Josephs.

The environment for hospitals was bad all over the country at the time, he said. There were just too many of them. We were starting to feel the pinch here.

A group of hospital board members began kicking around what the future held, and a series of meetings followed. Among the concerns were the proposed merger of the Catholic and Methodist hospitals and how it would work, he said.

A lot of things about the structure (of the merger) had to be worked out, he said.

A series of frequent meetings involving Abarr, Harvey Granger, who chaired the St. Josephs board, Walton Nussbaum Jr. and Archie Davis, among others, resulted in the merger within 16 months.

After getting along with the discussions, they decided they needed to meet with Sister Margaret Beatty at St. Josephs and get her approval, Abarr said.

She wasnt a part of the final planning, she just approved it, Abarr said. She was very excited about how we got along.

Beatty then was president of the Baltimore Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy in the Southeast and a board member at St. Josephs Hospital. She now is vice president for mission services at St. Josephs/Candler. St. Josephs is a Sisters of Mercy hospital.

Everybody had to give up something, Beatty said of the merger. Everybody was taking a risk. We formed these human relationships where it didnt make any difference which hospital was involved.

Board members were all prominent citizens of Savannah all extraordinary leaders, she said. We came at it as a team, I think.

Another key issue was who would be named to head the new entity, and Abarr said Hinchey was named by agreement of both boards.

This is a real merger because were all really intertwined with key department officials all working for the benefit of both hospitals.

I think thats one of the key things that worked, Abarr said. Really we look at it as one operation now. Its pretty much a joint deal.

He said concerns of working two faith-based groups has long since past, he said.

That hasnt impacted the whole situation, Abarr said. Oh, it has been a tremendous success. They really work well together. Theres no question.

The stars were aligned

The Catholic Church- based St. Josephs and United Methodist Church-based Candler shared very similar cultures. Both are faith-based with a common philosophy and vision, Hinchey said.

It was, he said, a textbook example of a board-driven operating agreement rather than a CEO-driven agreement.

He said such collaborations should proceed not too fast, but dont drag your feet either.

You lose momentum through delay, he said. You need to start acting like a good married couple.

And Hinchey said the local agreement allowed for a rapid consolidation with the first steps completed within six months, not the 18-24 months commonly seen in similar mergers nationally.

Hinchey, who had been president of St. Josephs since May 1993, became president/CEO of St. Josephs/Candler on April 1, 1997.

A new 19-member board of trustees was elected with seven by Candler, six by St. Josephs and three by the Sisters of Mercys Baltimore Community. After six years it became a self-perpetuating board representing everybody.

The stars were aligned in this deal, Hinchey said. We had the right people here at the right time a perfect governance match. They (trustees) thought St. Josephs/Candler, not St. Josephs and Candler.

Looking back, Hinchey said, I wouldnt change a thing about it. I never had any doubts about it, but I do have a healthy respect for the amount of work it takes to do it.

As I start my 25th year as CEO, I was blessed to be there from day one and am gratified to see where it is 20 years later.

Timeline:

Since St. Josephs/Candler was created in an April 1, 1997, joint operating agreement, the health system has expanded across the region and increased services to include 87 provider locations spanning 33 counties in southeast Georgia and South Carolina in addition to the 714 patient beds at St. Josephs Hospital and Candler Hospital. The locations span from Wayne County to Statesboro to Hilton Head Island.

The St. Josephs/Candler Medical Group has added primary care practices in Claxton, Abercorn-Southside, Pooler, Plaza D by St. Josephs Hospital, the Islands, Metter, Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and the office of Dr. Jose Rendon.

1997: Consolidation of Obstetrical Service. Mary Telfair Womens Hospital Birthplace is expanded at Candler Campus.

1998: Surgical Services at both hospitals are consolidated. Home Health agencies are consolidated - CareSouth/Advantage and CareSouth/Quality were formed. Health System begins management of Appling HealthCare System, Baxley, Ga. S.A.N.E. (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) program formed at Candler Hospital to help preserve forensic evidence in sexual assault cases. CareCall Center, a telephone health information, community resource and physician referral hotline, begins operations. Opened The Childrens Place, a comprehensive pediatric acute care program tailored to serve the special needs of children who are sick as well as the concerned parents.

1999: Earned the rigorous Network Accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations. At the time, SJC was one of only 3 networks in the state to be accredited and one of only 55 in the country. Opened the African-American Health Information and Research Center to help improve the health of African Americans in Chatham County and address health disparities.

2000: Opened the St. Marys Community Center in the Cuyler-Brownville neighborhood

2002: Became the first in the region and second in Georgia to earn the Magnet Designation for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Opened a Level II neonatal intensive care unit called the Special Care Nursery. The Screen Machine, a mobile cancer screening vehicle, begins operations to reach local and outlying populations.

2004: Completed $2 million renovation and expansion of the Georgia Infirmary. The St. Marys Community Center earned the prestigious Achievement Citation from the Catholic Health Association for connecting people in need with vital and life-changing services.

2006: Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion opens.

2007: The Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion is named to the National Cancer Institutes Community Cancer Centers Program, now called the Community Oncology Research Program, to bring the latest research and treatments to Savannah.

2007: Opened the Good Samaritan Clinic in Garden City to serve patients without insurance.

2008: Was the first to bring the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System to the region. Opened the St. Marys Health Center on Drayton Street to serve those without insurance.

2009: Opened west Chathams first hospital-operated imaging center in Pooler, located next to the Medical Group Pooler practice. Acquired radiation oncology practice in Hilton Head.

2010: Acquired the regions first CyberKnife. Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion became the first institution of its kind to become a member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), a cooperative network of cancer researchers, physicians, and health care professionals at public and private institutions across the country offering state of the art clinical cancer trials.

2011: Begins major expansion into the Bluffton and Hilton Head area with the addition of a wound and hyperbarics practice and later adding an imaging center and a specialty physician office space in addition to the primary care doctors already there.

2012: Partnered with a chemotherapy and infusion oncology practice in Hilton Head and Okatie to create the St. Josephs/Candler SC Cancer Specialists practice. Collaborates with Wayne Memorial Hospital to open a physician.

2013: Earned the Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service. The Heart Hospital becomes the first in the region to receive full accreditation as a Chest Pain Center. St. Josephs/Candler becomes the first in the region to complete a Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

2014: $15 million renovation to the tower at St. Josephs Hospital completed.

2017: Completed a $21.6 million expansion and renovation of St. Josephs Hospital. Announced plans for a Pooler micro-hospital to open in 2019.

2016 St. Josephs/Candler Community Benefits

TRADITIONAL CHARITY CARE

Charity Care: $26,516,391 (Outpatient and inpatient services provided at cost for indigent patients)

Unreimbursed Care: $12,812,265 (Medicaid uncompensated care at cost for the underinsured and GA hospital tax)

TOTAL TRADITIONAL CHARITY CARE: $39,328,656

Other benefits

Community Health Improvement Services & Community Benefit Operations: $2,430,578

Health Professions Education: $53,761

Subsidized Health Services: $961,341

Financial and In Kind Contributions: $844,798

Community Building Activities: $282,844

TOTAL OTHER BENEFITS: $4,573,322

TOTAL COMMUNITY BENEFITS: $43,901,978

In addition to the nearly $44 million dollars in formal community benefits, St. Josephs/Candler provided $30,929,422 in uncollected service cost and uncompensated Medicare cost in Fiscal Year 2016.

TOTAL COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE: $74,831,400

2015 Total Community Assistance $67,932,941

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St. Joseph's/Candler still growing health care 20 years later - Savannah Morning News

One of my most important jobs is making sure your tax dollars are spent wisely. We must restore fiscal sanity in Washington, forcing bureaucrats to live within a budget and focus on priorities just like you do with your personal finances.

Last week, every member of Congress submitted official requests to the Appropriations Committee listing priorities for federal spending in their home districts. This lays the groundwork for building a responsible budget. Here in North Carolinas 9th Congressional District, supporting access to rural health care is a priority.

Why? Six out of eight counties are eligible for rural health grants (Anson, Richmond, Scotland, Robeson, Cumberland, and Bladen). Four of those counties recently ranked in the bottom 10 in North Carolina for quality of health.

In much of our district, access to quality health care services can be difficult for patients. Funds for rural health care programs play a critical role in solidifying the fragile health care infrastructure in these communities.

One of my priority requests is the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, which provides Critical Access Hospitals with crucial funding for updating equipment, delivery models, and care. Bladen County Hospital would benefit from this program.

Another request is for the State Offices of Rural Health, which in 2016 provided assistance to HealthQuest of Union County, Scotland Community Health Clinic, Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Cape Fear Valley Medical Foundation, and many other providers.

The State Offices of Rural Health helps rural communities, including technical assistance, recruitment of health care professionals to come serve in rural communities, and coordinating rural health needs statewide.

Technology is also improving how we provide health care to rural areas. Telehealth services allows patients to be diagnosed and monitored in their homes instead of requiring them to drive long distances to see their doctor. This not only increases access, but reduces costs since care doesnt always have to take place in an expensive setting, or involve expensive transportation.

To make telehealth services more widely available, I have requested support for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, which develops partnerships between the federal government, state agencies, and the private sector to create telehealth projects. These grants help reduce the isolation of rural health providers.

Some of my other priority projects include Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, which is a big long name for a program to help rebuild transportation infrastructure. Specifically, Im working to support a request by the town of Pembroke and UNC Pembroke. To support economic development in Lumberton, Ive also requested flexibility with the population requirements of a USDA grant program which has previously provided vital assistance in Robeson County.

As a fiscal conservative, I will fight to ensure your tax dollars are spent wisely, including ongoing efforts to reduce wasteful spending and eliminate outdated programs. As your congressman, I will also fight on your behalf for appropriate, useful programs which deliver real results for our communities.

Our neighbors near Charlotte and Monroe live in what meteorologists describe as a radar gap, where the distance to the nearest National Weather Service Doppler radar and the curvature of the Earth mean meteorologists dont have consistently reliable data about storms.

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act (H.R. 353), which includes my legislation requiring the Commerce Department to study and quickly develop a solution to the radar gap. Last week, the U.S. Senate also gave unanimous approval to this legislation with support from Senator Burr.

Without local, reliable data, the National Weather Service has actually missed at least two tornados and issued warnings for the wrong neighborhood, among other problems. This legislative solution now heads to President Trumps desk to be signed into law.

http://robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_robert-pittenger2017471439907.jpg

U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger represents the 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes of all Robeson County.

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Health-care access critical - The Robesonian

Its time to pull up a chair and talk about health care in our area. I know it is a pretty dry subject, but after driving around Chippewa Falls and Lake Hallie seeing Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers smiling face on billboards, if Aaron can discuss it so can we.

Over the weekend of March 18-19 I was made aware of a statement by Mayo Health System CEO Dr. John Noseworthy. Were asking if the patient has commercial insurance, or theyre Medicaid or Medicare patients and theyre equal, that we prioritize the commercial insured patients enough so we can be financially strong at the end of the year. (Pioneer Press)

As I am writing this article, Dr. Noseworthy is trying to clarify his remarks to assure that everyone will be treated the same by the Mayo Health Care System. As they say, the cat is out of the bag and is bounding across the barnyard.

At this point in my writing I would usually give out additional facts and figures from noted newspapers and other sources. But Dr. Noseworthy saved me both the time and the trouble. Additionally, I doctor at Mayo Clinic and will keep his statement in mind. Thanks, Doc.

As President Trump and Congress learned once again, health care is a complex issue. In Lake Hallie sits a small urgent care center of the Marshfield Clinic. Down Highway 53 Oak Leaf Surgical Hospital rests against the hills. Eau Claire has the Mayo System and Sacred Heart Hospital. On the northeast side of Chippewa Falls, St. Josephs Hospital stands as a symbol of health care for over a century.

The competition for a health care dollar is intense, and with the number of providers in the area, our health care costs should be the lowest in the state, but they are not. That honor goes to Madison and the Fox Valley area, which includes Green Bay. Perhaps that is why Aaron Rodgers is smiling.

We really should thank our Congress, Rep. Paul Ryan and President Trump for killing the Trump Care bill. It appears that people want to see their doctor on a regular basis and dont want to go bankrupt doing it. But there is far more to the story.

We are headed to what every other civilized country has: National Health Insurance. It may not be pretty and it may not be easy at first, but it will our secure our future as a country that cares about its people.

The problem in health care is on display right now as two area health care providers take on each other in the newspapers and the courts. Marshfield Clinic Health System and the Hospital Sisters Health System are at odd over costs. I believe it is not a cost issue but a philosophy issue.

While Marshfield and HSHS fight, we are urged every night on TV and radio to see our doctor about some new cure, pill or procedure. We are part of the problem. Drug companies are part of the problem, advertising at all levels for health care related products are part of the problem. Insurance companies are part of the problem. Politicians are part of the problem.

Do I dare say it? Aaron Rodgers may be part of the problem. I am sure Aarons smiling face on those billboards cost something. I wonder what kind of health plan the Packers offer for their employees and players? If Aaron gets hurt on the field, is it a workmans comp injury?

I do not have all the answers, but I know something has to change. I know gas prices dropped in the area when a grocery store that has a gasoline station with it opened in Altoona. Perhaps that is not how things work in health care. As long as people do not have health insurance or single payer health care, maybe the law of supply and demand cant work.

However I have a hunch if the Mayo brothers or the six doctors who founded the Marshfield Clinic came back they would not approve of how health care is run now. Have a good week and stay healthy. If you see Aaron Rodgers, say Hi for me.

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John Andersen: Get educated about your local health care options - Chippewa Herald

Of all the shibboleths used to denigrate the Affordable Care Act, perhaps the most persistent is to label it a job-killer.

The label was strong on the wing during the presidential campaign, when one could hear it uttered by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who called it the biggest job-killer in this country, and Donald Trump, who said repealing the law would save 2 million American jobs. The notion had a long history: In January 2011, only a few months after the law had been passed and three years before its major provisions went into effect, the newly Republican House was trying to pass a measure entitled the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.

This attack on the ACA never was based on facts. But a new report from the Altarum Institute, a nonprofit healthcare think tank in Ann Arbor, Mich., adds evidence that, in fact, the law is a job-creator. From 2014 through 2016, the researchers found, the law triggered the creation of 240,000 jobs in the healthcare field alone. The main reason is that increased insurance enrollments spurred more demand for healthcare services.

It really was the total change in coverage that made the difference, Ani Turner, one of the reports authors, told me. Turner wrote the report with Charles Roehrig of Altarum and Katherine Hempstead of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who have been tracking job statistics in healthcare for several years.

These are good jobs too, Turner says. Although the available statistics breaking down jobs by occupation are a bit sketchier than the overall job growth numbers, its clear that more growth is happening among physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners and therapists the practitioners who interact with patients.

That reflects the long-term trend of job growth in healthcare, according to another paper published by Turner, Roehrig and Hempstead in March. They found that growth in 2007 to 2015 was strongest among the diagnosing/treating categories of employment (doctors, nurses, et. al.), at more than 20%, followed by other health occupations and non-health support occupations such as clerical workers.

The strong growth in healthcare professional employment has been accompanied by expanded enrollment in medical and nursing schools, as one would expect the demand for doctors and nurses has to be filled somehow. Enrollment in U.S. medical schools reached a record 20,630 in 2015, up 25% from 2002, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. Nursing schools reported 320,000 enrollees in 2014, a 7% increase over the previous year.

The Altarum researchers warn that the job gains could be reversed if the ACA is repealed, whether through the GOPs misbegotten and (thankfully) moribund American Health Care Act or some other device. Providers and health systems may have already begun to slow hiring in early 2017, they observe, though theyre not sure whether the reason is the uncertainty about the ACAs future created by Republican dithering, or merely a return to the average growth rate of the pre-ACA era.

The Altarum paper measured the ACA-generated job growth in healthcare by examining the growth rate in healthcare jobs in 2015 and 2016, when coverage expansion began, compared to the average 1.7% growth rate in 2010-2013. They found that the increase in jobs lagged the coverage expansion by several quarters, but on the whole the rate jumped to 2.5% in 2015 and 2016. That yielded the figure of 240,000 new jobs directly attributable to Obamacares coverage expansion, which was about one-third of all the job growth in healthcare in those years.

When they checked the national trend against state average, they found that the that their expectations held: States with the highest percentage gains in their insured populations, such as Kentucky and California, also tended to experience the largest increases in healthcare job growth rates.

The anti-Obamacare crowd has been trying to torture job statistics almost from the inception to try to justify their job-killer meme. As part of their campaign, theyve claimed that the law has pushed more Americans into part-time work, since the mandate requiring employers to provide employees with coverage wont apply to part-timers.

Right-wing billionaire Charles Koch floated this claim via USA Today in 2014 and Andy Puzder, the CEO of the Carls Jr. and Hardees fast-food chains who was briefly a nominee for Trumps Labor secretary, tried it on for size last year. They were wrong. The truth is that the ranks of workers who are part-time for economic reasons that is, because they cant find work or are given fewer hours than they want or need has come down sharply since the enactment of the ACA to 5.5 million in March 2017 from 9.1 million in March 2010, a reduction of 40%.

The voluntary part-time workforce, however, has increased. These are people who choose not to take full-time jobs because they have better things to do, such as caring for their children or elderly family members. Theyve increased to 20.4 million last March from 17.9 million in March 2010. Full-time employment, meanwhile, has increased to 153 million in March 2017 from 138.8 million in the same month in 2010. (All these figures are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

The trend was well understood by the Congressional Budget Office, which projected in 2014 that the ACA would shrink the supply of labor, not the availability of jobs, by about 2.5 million full-time equivalents by 2024. The reason is that the ACA would decouple health coverage from employment, allowing more people to stay home without losing their insurance. Its not the CBOs fault that its projection was misinterpreted by politicians and business leaders like Trump, who were either too ignorant to understand it or deliberately out to mislead the public.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

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'Job-killing' Obamacare actually created 240000 well-paying healthcare jobs - Los Angeles Times

Health care is one of the most virulent issues of our time.

After former President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2011, Republicans in Congress pledged to repeal it. After winning the presidential election in November and holding onto control of both houses of Congress, Republicans vowed to replace the law with their own version of health care, one that would purportedly be more favorable to Americans.

Led by President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the GOP failed to even bring their legislation to the floor for a vote, however, marking a stunning defeat for the new president less than three months into his term.

On Long Island, the promised repealing of Obamacare could have severe ramifications, with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo characterizing Republicans recent changes as potentially devastating statewide.

Politics aside, health care is a major issue that affects all Americans: the uninsured, those with high premiums, insured citizens hobbled by burdensome hospital or prescription drug bills.

On Sunday, April 9, Long Islanders will get a chance to view the pitfalls of the American health care system firsthand during a screening of the documentary, Fix it: Healthcare at the Tipping Point at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. The viewing will include state Assemb. Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) as a guest speaker.

The documentary provides an in-depth look into how our dysfunctional healthcare system is damaging our economy, suffocating our businesses, discouraging physicians and negatively impacting on the nations health, while remaining un-affordable for a third of our citizens, according to the venue.

The film will also highlight the very real ramifications for Americans struggling to choose between paying for drugs they need and other items they need to survive. The documentary not only covers the problems with Americas health care industry, but it also offers a way out: a single-payer system.

The event is co-sponsored by Action Together Long Island and Long Island Activists.

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'Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point' Screens at Cinema Arts Centre - Long Island Press