Our Health Policy Matters

Last week, I reviewed five of my top ten health policy stories of the year.   Here are the other five, all of which involved matters that will have a major impact on our day-to-day lives in the coming years. 5.   The Enactment of CLASS.   Private long term care insurance has been on the policy agenda since the 1980s.   Seniors realized that the cost of long term care could bankrupt them, so they began protecting their assets by transferring them to their children.   The state and federal governments were left to pay the tab, and went looking for help. Private long term care insurance products were developed as a solution.   However, not enough people bought them.   When they were young, people didn’t think they would need the insurance, but once they got into their 60s and 70s, the premiums were too high.   This year, the federal government took action.   Tucked into the pages of the health reform legislation is a new government-sponsored long term care insurance program starting in 20

2010 was the most significant year in health policy since the 1960s.   It dominated the policy agenda for the first few months of the year, and it stayed in the news throughout the election season.   As the year drew to a close, conflicting lower court decisions about the constitutionality of the individual mandate foreshadowed a continued policy debate into the foreseeable future.   What makes a health policy story big in a time of change?   It’s not just the attention it commands in the media.   It’s the impact it has on our lives.   This week and next, I’ll countdown ten.     Using the impact criterion, there were actually some that weren’t part of health reform!     Here are my choices for numbers ten through six. 10. The Election of Senator Scott Brown.   It is hard to remember that as we entered 2010, the Democrats seemed to be putting the finishing touches on a bill that could pick up 60 votes in the Senate.   Lincoln, Lieberman, and Nelson were among the ones to whom everyone w

In the 1990s, the Department of Health and Human Services looked at health spending versus the improvements in the health of our population in the 20 th century.   The results were startling. 97 percent of our spending was in health care, versus 3 percent in wellness and prevention – the activities of public health.   Despite the meager investment in public health, however, 50% of the improvement in our health status could be attributed to it. Managing our health and preventing disease means a longer life.   I admit that this lesson wasn’t lost on me.   I run or take long walks at least three times a week, eat five portions of fruits or vegetables a day and no red meat, enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, and do my best to manage my stress.   My weight today is just a little higher than it was when I was in high school forty years ago. Those are the things I can do by myself, but they’re not enough. Without statins my cholesterol numbers would be a nightmare.   So I also go for my annu

States battling to repeal new health reform mandates have settled on two issues that may well turn out to be political brick walls.   One issue is the requirement beginning in 2014 that individuals purchase insurance or pay an income tax surcharge, the so-called “individual mandate.”   The other is the federal expansion of the Medicaid program.   The battle is being joined in the courts, the Congress, and state legislatures. Most of the action so far has been in the courts.   Florida has filed a suit challenging both the individual mandate and Medicaid expansion.   CNN calls it the “highest profile” lawsuit of many, and 19 other states have joined it. Florida argues that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, contending that it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to require individuals to purchase health insurance by taxing them if they don’t.   As of last week, federal judges in both Michigan and Virginia have ruled against this position in other cases, but these decisi

There is an epidemic of mental illness in America.   It’s time policy leaders did something about it. They could start by acknowledging just how widespread this epidemic is.   According to the National Institute on Mental Health , it affects one-fourth of our population – over 57 million adults and over 15 million children.   Why are the numbers so staggering? No one knows for sure, but the bad economy, wars, and abuse are all probable factors. According to a Gallup Poll released last year, the bad economy led to an increase in emotional illness among all adults.   Especially hard hit were those between the ages of 30 and 55, the family breadwinners. CNN reported in 2007 that one-third of all veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan were treated for mental illnesses.   Their children were also affected.   According to a survey of health records released this past month and reported in the New York Times , children between the ages of 3 and 8 with parents in the military had 10% mo