Our Health Policy Matters

It is way too early to break out the champagne over the latest Medicaid expansion initiatives bubbling up around the nation.  States that have been reluctant to expand traditional Medicaid are ablaze with proposals to offer “premium support” to expansion populations.  Premium support programs may differ in their details, but they have one thing in common.  Instead of offering regular Medicaid to an expansion population, the state pays the cost of their private insurance premiums. Kaiser Health News reported last week that the Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging states to explore this approach.  MSN featured some “let’s make a deal” offers on expansion by a number of GOP legislators.  And Health News Florida reported a wave of bipartisan enthusiasm for a Florida premium support proposal that was unveiled after support for traditional Medicaid expansion collapsed. For policymakers who don’t like Medicaid but want the federal expansion dollars,

Adrian Dantley was a six-time NBA all-star who averaged over 24 points per game during his 15-year career.  He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2008.  He made good money and reportedly invested it well. Today Adrian Dantley is 58 years old.  Like most 58 year-olds, he wants health insurance.  But the NBA does not offer health insurance to its retirees.  So Dantley recently took a job as a school crossing guard – for the health insurance.  The story is all over the sports pages this week.  I’m sure that it is drawing more than its fair share of giggles and head shakes. But I’ve known a lot of school crossing guards in my life.  And many do it for exactly the same reason. As a summary of news reports recently digested by Kaiser Health News shows, it isn’t always easy for a 50-something retiree to get health insurance. In just a few months, the Affordable Care Act will change this – and not just for 50-somethings. But despite all of the attentio

Will Weatherford is a political name to remember, no matter where you live. Weatherford is the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, a rising political star and a CPAC convention speaker this week, who “is widely regarded as a polished politician with excellent instincts,” according to the Tampa Bay Times . I’m not so sure about those instincts. In his opening speech of the new legislative session , Weatherford came out strongly in opposition to Medicaid expansion, saying it “crosses the line of the proper role of government.” He called Medicaid a “broken system.”   But Weatherford wasn’t content to leave it at that.  He invoked a moving, personal narrative to introduce his opposition to the Medicaid expansion. He told the tragic story of his young brother, who developed and died of cancer as an infant.  I can’t imagine what it was like for 15-year old Weatherford, his seven other siblings, or his parents to go through such a heart-wrenching experienc

Would you send your mother to a pediatrician for her arthritis, or your child to a geriatrician for his well-baby exam? Probably not – unless there were no other provider in town. But some new reports from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggest that something akin to that is happening every day to people with mental illnesses. Two reports – Costs for Hospital Stays in the United States, 2010 and Most Frequent Conditions in U.S. Hospitals, 2010 – were released in January 2013.  The third, Most Frequent Procedures Performed in U.S. Hospitals, 2010 , was released in February. They make for fascinating reading, with an unexpected twist at the end.  Spoiler alert – mood disorders are among the most common reasons for hospitalizations for people under 65.  But mood disorders aren’t driving the increase in hospital costs, because the procedures hospitals most often perform have nothing to do with treating people with mood disorders. Mood di