Our Health Policy Matters

The debt ceiling and deficit reduction command the attention of Congress this week.   Its members are trying to find trillions of dollars of cuts to balance the budget. So why are some members of Congress trying to do something that is guaranteed to increase the already sky-high cost of the Medicaid program?   Do they want to drive us further into debt? The Senate Gang of Six wants to deep six the CLASS Act before it takes effect.   The CLASS Act is the new national long term care insurance program that will take effect next year.   It will cost the federal government nothing and is projected to save the Medicaid program billions of dollars. The Medicaid program, as most U.S. citizens now know, is a federal/state partnership resulting in different plans in every state.   In 2010, roughly 55 million people were insured through state Medicaid programs.   If they were all combined into one plan, Medicaid today would be the single largest health insurer in the nation.   Of the 55 mi

The U.S. debt debate is heating up as Congress and the President argue about the “cut, cap, and balance” plan and move closer to the August 2 nd deadline to raise the debt ceiling. The debt debate is important.   Our U.S. debt is now over $14 trillion, and we need to do something about it.   But Medicare cuts are on the table, and war spending is not. So I would like to propose a switch.   Take Medicare cuts off the table, and put war cuts on it. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost this country over $1.2 trillion since 2001.   The debt ceiling wouldn’t even be an issue if it weren’t for these, because we never paid for them.   We got the two men we wanted.   It’s time to pay the bill and get out. On the other hand, the 2011 summary of the annual report of the Medicare Trust Fund trustees shows that we still have surpluses in the Medicare Trust Funds.   The Medicare Part A Trust Fund had $271.9 billion in it in 2010.   The Part B and D Trust Fund had $72.1 billion in it.

Obesity rates in America are higher than ever. This is the conclusion in a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report entitled F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future .    Released last week, the document notes that one-third of children and two-thirds of adults are now obese or overweight.   Obesity is no minor health matter.   It is linked to disease, disability, and premature death. The report received some media attention for a couple of days, but then we had our fill of it.   It faded into the news background largely because we’ve heard the story before.   No one disputes the two major causes of obesity in America.   Americans take in too many calories, and work off too few. If we accept these causes at face value, the story ends as we decide that weight is a matter of individual – not governmental – responsibility.   The individual choice argument is a powerful one for those who do not think that the government needs to “interfere” with people’s food and exercise

Florida recently elected to turn down – again – over $2 million in Federal money to pay the administrative costs of expanding its Medicaid long term care program’s home and community based services. In March 2011, Florida qualified for over $35 million to join most of the rest of the nation in participating in the Money Follows the Person program.   The program was created during the Bush Administration as a way of helping people move back out of nursing homes into the community.   It became so popular in the 29 states (and District of Columbia) participating in it that it was expanded as part of health reform.   Thirteen additional states, including Florida, were invited to participate.   Former Governor Charlie Crist authorized Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to file Florida’s application. Rejecting the program means that people who want to leave Florida nursing homes won’t be given control of the resources they need to do so.   On the other hand, as