Our Health Policy Matters

It turns out that our health policy still matters to us, which shouldn’t surprise anybody – except a few politicians next election. A recent Rasmussen poll found that healthcare remains the second most important issue, behind the economy, to our people.   63% say it is very important to them in determining their vote. And last week, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll was released. source: Washington Post-ABC News Poll, 4/14-17/11 On the two major health care spending issues of the day – Medicare and Medicaid – the public had surprisingly strong opinions.   And it seems that some political leaders are incredibly out of touch with those opinions. Only 21% supported cutting Medicare.   78% were opposed, 65% strongly. Only 30% supported cutting Medicaid.   69% were opposed, 52% strongly. This comes after an avalanche of political debate about deficits that blame them on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.   Many elected officials, led by Representative Paul Ryan, single out enti

How do we help political leaders understand that the actions they take can have a profound, long-term effect on the mental health of our population?  copyright Mental Health America, 2011 David Shern, CEO of Mental Health America and one of the nation’s leading mental health advocates, has an answer.   Arguing that “the next century of mental health in the U.S. needs to be fundamentally different” from the last one, he makes the case for a new “vision for mental health now within our grasp.” Speaking at an April 13th seminar sponsored by the Mental Health Association of Palm Beach County, FL, Dr. Shern offered a glimpse into a policy future that could reverse the epidemic of mental illness in America.   “The United States has the highest rate of mental illness in the world,” he began, as he laid out the present state of mental health in the United States. ·          One in four of us have diagnosable mental illnesses each year.   Half of us will have diagnosable mental illness in

The President, the Congress, and State Legislatures are struggling mightily through their budget debates as if the health of the nation is at stake.   It is. But not in the way they think. Whether wealthy people will pay more or less taxes, young people will get fewer social security benefits, and the governments will get smaller are important considerations. But they are only important to people who are healthy enough to care about them. What about those who aren’t?   source: County Health Rankings, 2011 If someone were to tell you right now that you had a medical condition that was going to take 25 years from your life, would cutting spending and giving corporations tax breaks be your top legislative priority?   Would you vote for anyone who made those a bigger priority than your health? Here are some of the people whose life expectancy today is 25 years less than the norm: A person born with Down Syndrome. A person born with Cystic Fibrosis. A young person diagnosed in his/her

Want to get an email notice when new Our Health Policy Matters columns are posted?  Send an email to gionfriddopaul@gmail.com and I'll add you to the list. Treating the public policy arena like a casino is never a good idea. Florida is placing an $11 billion bet on Medicaid this year.   If the state loses, we’ll all be emptying our pockets for lower services. The bet involves moving all Medicaid recipients to managed care.   As reported in an article by Jim Saunders in Health News Florida last week, passage of this legislation this year is as close to a sure thing as there is in government. Florida hopes to save $1 billion the first year, and $2 billion by 2013 – nearly 10% of the total State Medicaid budget. There are three problems with this calculation. The first is that the projected savings from moving to managed care might be too high.   In a 2009 report prepared for America’s Health Insurance Plans , the Lewin Group found that savings in 24 different state Medicaid plan