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Cancer Care, Simplified

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Cancer Care, Simplified

“Medicare for All” is long overdue, according to cancer specialist Dr. Lou Balizet, who spoke at a health forum in Pueblo, Colorado on December 8, 2009

By Louis Balizet, M.D.

“Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.” So said Will Rogers about the weather, but he may as well have been referring to our health care system — roundly decried, but still intact. Finally, however, on both state and national levels, well designed plans have emerged to replace our current wasteful chaotic system with the only workable alternative — a single-payer, tax-financed system that eliminates private health insurance, provides universal coverage, and introduces adult supervision (centralized planning). Like the majority of American physicians, I feel that “medicare for all” is long overdue.

I am a medical oncologist who has practiced in Pueblo for 32 years. This is how I imagine my, and my patients’, lives changing under single-payer health care:

1. It will be easier, and cheaper, to administer intravenous chemotherapy to all patients. Currently, uninsured patients needing intravenous chemotherapy receive it in the hospital — a costly and inconvenient alternative to outpatient therapy.

2. Office overhead, and therefore cost, will be reduced by the elimination of the present complicated adversarial billing system, which pits armies of physicians’ employees against armies of insurance company employees (ties go to the insurance companies).

3. Inpatient cancer care will be consolidated, with benefits for patients, oncology nursing staff, and physicians. Central planning will inevitable force the cooperation,if not outright merger, of Pueblo’s two hospitals — an idea initially proposed by the administration of the two hospitals over a decade ago. (The merger was nixed by Uncle Sam’s anti-trust watchdogs, suspected by some of carrying water for the insurance companies.)

4. Approved oral chemotherapy will be available to all. At present, the indigent uninsured depend on physicians’ offices begging free oral drugs from insurance companies — a wasteful and demeaning process that, more often than not, fails to deliver needed treatment. Obviously, with financial status no longer an issue, compliance with treatment, and therefore treatment outcome, will improve.

5. Everybody, not just the insured, will be able to avail themselves of life-saving screening procedures, such as mammograms and colonoscopies. Treatment of cancer, if discovered, will be covered by single-payer universal health care. This will eliminate dangerous delays in care for fear of financial repercussions, which, believe me, happen in this community, and happen a lot.

6. Some marginally effective but outrageously expensive cancer treatments will not be available. Central planning will require the establishment of an American equivalent of Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (“NICE”), charged with evaluating the value, not just the effectiveness, of new drugs, procedures, and devices. If a drug offers not cure, but only weeks more to a cancer patient’s life expectancy, and is prohibitively costly, society will not he harmed by its exclusion.

7. Consolidation of medical facilities will reach beyond hospital mergers. Pueblo currently has 6 MRI scanners and 2 CAT/PET scanners. These numbers would almost certainly be reduced under central planning, resulting in some delay, compared to now, in scheduling studies. By any rational standard, however, we have excess capacity in Pueblo; necessary studies, in an acceptable timeframe, should still be achievable.

8. Physician compensation would be determined at a state or national level. This would probably result in decreased income for specialists and increased income for primary care providers, as it has in countries with single-payer care. In addition, it would allow for bonusing doctors to practice in medically underserved areas. Pueblo has a worrisome shortage of some types of specialists but an ominous shortage of primary care providers. The present market-driven model of physician remuneration is not only incapable of addressing this problem, it is in large measure responsible for it. By ensuring that all care is remunerated, and by disproportionately rewarding practice in some areas, single-payer, centrally planned health care can do more than anything achievable under the present system to get doctors where they are needed. Enhanced access to primary care physicians would translate into earlier diagnosis of potentially serious conditions such as cancer. I would expect to see fewer advanced cases of cancer if patients did not have to consult their bank account before seeking help for their breast mass, or hoarseness, or bloody cough.

The most obvious winners under single-payer universal health care are patients, particularly those currently uninsured (now numbering upwards of 40 million, and sure to increase with the coming depression), and, I believe, doctors. However, there will be some adjustments, at times difficult. The hundreds of thousands of employees of insurance companies and hospitals and doctors’ offices who spend their entire workday wrangling over who gets to keep 15% of health care premiums will need to be redirected to more productive work — no small task, and one whose importance should not be minimized. Hospitals will revert to being service institutions instead of profit centers. Business acumen will cease to be a prerequisite for a satisfying medical practice. I have not even touched on the ramifications for the pharmaceutical industry, which will be major. However, for patients, especially cancer patients, and doctors, especially cancer doctors, the current system is unsustainable for much longer. Health Care For All Colorado, which proposes a single-payer system for our state, and Physicians for a National Health Plan, who designed a detailed national system, deserve your interest and support. Perpetuation of the current system is bad for our pocketbook, bad for our national pride, and downright malignant.

U.S. prisoners sicker than believed and have poor access to care

Harvard study also points to high social costs of undertreating mental illness

Embargoed until:
Jan. 15, 2009, 4:00 PM EST

Contacts:
Andrew P. Wilper, MD, MPH
Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH
Mark Almberg, (312) 782-6006

An article published today in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health, based on the first-ever study of the health of all prison and jail inmates nationwide, reports high rates of serious illness and poor access to care among the nation’s inmate population.

The study, carried out by researchers at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, analyzed data collected from U.S. inmates in the 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails and the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities.

Nationally, over 800,000 inmates – about 40 percent of the 2 million people in U.S. prisons and jails – reported having a chronic medical condition like diabetes, asthma or persistent heart or kidney problems, an illness rate far higher than other Americans of similar age. For example, the incidence of diabetes among federal inmates is 11.1 percent; among the age-adjusted general U.S. population, it is 6.5 percent.

The overwhelming majority of inmates surveyed were male, were younger than 35, and were disproportionately Black or Hispanic. About 10 percent were military veterans.

The researchers found that sick prisoners have poor access to care. For example, over 20 percent of sick inmates in state prisons and 13.9 percent in federal prisons had not seen a doctor or nurse since their incarceration. The same was true of 68.4 percent of jail inmates with persistent medical problems.

Besides care for physical illnesses, the authors also analyzed mental illness care among inmates both before and during incarceration. While about a quarter of inmates had a history of chronic mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety, two-thirds of them were off treatment at the time of their arrest. Only after their imprisonment did most of these inmates receive treatment.

Other key findings include the following:

* Compared to other Americans of the same age, the 1.2 million state prison inmates were 31 percent more likely to have asthma, 55 percent more likely to have diabetes, and 90 percent more likely to have suffered a heart attack.

* Access to care was worst in local jails and best in federal prisons. One-quarter of jail inmates who had suffered severe injuries had received no medical attention, versus 12 percent in state prisons and 8 percent in federal prisons.

* Inmates with medical problems like diabetes, which requires drug treatment, often had their vital medications stopped after their incarceration, including one-quarter of chronically ill state prisoners and 36.5 percent of inmates in local jails.

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a co-author of the study, is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University and a primary care physician in Cambridge, Mass. She stated: “The U.S. incarcerates more people per capita than any other nation. For many of them, treatment of their mental illness before their arrest might have prevented criminality and the staggering human and financial costs of incarceration.”

Dr. Andrew P. Wilper, the study’s lead author, is currently with the University of Washington School of Medicine. He remarked: “A substantial percentage of inmates have serious medical needs. Yet many of them don’t get even minimal care medical care. These prisoners are denied their constitutionally guaranteed right to care.”

Wilper added: “Twelve million Americans are released from prisons and jails each year. These individuals and the communities to which they return suffer as many carry with them the costs of untreated illness and preventable disability. Inmates are overpaying their debt to society when they are denied access to health care.”

###

Click here for the abstract of the study.

“The Health and Health Care of U.S. Prisoners: A Nationwide Survey,” Andrew P. Wilper, MD, MPH; Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH; J. Wesley Boyd, MD, PhD; Karen E. Lasser, MD, MPH; Danny McCormick, MD, MPH; David H. Bor, MD; and David U. Himmelstein, MD. American Journal of Public Health, Vo. 99, No. 4.

The research was supported by a National Service Research Award.

Physicians for a National Health Program, a membership organization of over 15,000 physicians, supports a single-payer national health insurance program.

RAND COMPARE

Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts (COMPARE)

RAND Health

COMPARE is a transparent, evidence-based approach to providing information and tools to help policymakers, the media, and other interested parties understand, design, and evaluate health policies.

COMPARE has four objectives:

* Synthesize what is known about the current health care system.

* Describe policy options that have been proposed to address one or more existing challenges.

* Analyze the effects of different health care policy options on multiple dimensions of health system performance.

* Identify gaps in our knowledge about the effects of policy changes.

COMPARE was developed to help public and private decisionmakers systematically assess and compare the effects of different policies across multiple dimensions of health care system performance, encompassing cost, quality, and access. COMPARE gives users a comprehensive framework in which to examine both the intended and unintended effects of changes in health care policy and to examine trade-offs across policies, or across different dimensions of performance for any particular policy (e.g., the effect on spending compared to the effect on insurance coverage or on patient experience).

The Web site includes four main sections, U.S. Health Care Today, Policy Options, Analysis of Options, and Modeling Estimates.

http://www.rand.org/health/feature/compare/

Press release:
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-13-2009/0004954039&EDATE=

And…

RAND COMPARE

Policy Options – Change Insurance Coverage

* Individual Mandate
* Employer Mandate
* Purchasing Pools
* Refundable Tax Credit
* Medicaid/SCHIP Eligibility
* Open Enrollment in FEHBP

Modeling Estimates – Policy Options

* Tax Credit
* Medicaid Expansion
* Individual Mandate
* Employer Mandate

Who funds COMPARE?

AARP
Abraxis BioScience, Patrick Soon-Shiong MD, Founder, Chairman, and CEO
Aetna Foundation
Alcoa
Amgen Foundation
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
California HealthCare Foundation
The Funari Family Foundation
General Motors Foundation
Johnson & Johnson
Karen Katen
Charles N. Martin Jr., The Martin Foundation
Pacific Business Group on Health
Pfizer
RAND Corporate Endowment
RAND Health Board, designated gifts from individual members
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
John J. Rydzewski
Leonard D. Schaeffer
The Suzanne Nora Johnson and David G. Johnson Foundation
United Health Foundation
Wellpoint Foundation

http://www.randcompare.org/

To generate custom reports:
http://www.randcompare.org/analysis/reports/

Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

RAND COMPARE provides both a valuable information resource on U.S. health care today, and an interactive tool that can be used to evaluate the impact of various policy options under different models of reform. It has now been released for public use.

Elizabeth McGlynn and Jeffrey Wasserman are codirectors of COMPARE. On a Webinar event January 13, the release of COMPARE was announced along with a discussion of how it works. When I noted that a single, public insurance model (single payer or Medicare for all) was not an option available on the COMPARE website, Dr. McGlynn assured me that it was a model that should be added.

In their press release they stated, “An individual mandate is the most cost-effective strategy for decreasing the number of uninsured.” Innumerable other studies comparing models of reform have shown that a single payer model is the most cost-effective strategy and actually eliminates the uninsured. Models based on private insurance, such as the individual mandate, have been shown to be less effective, according to these other studies.

The sponsors surely support RAND’s function as “a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis,” and would want to see that objective data on the single payer model be made available immediately for comparison with the other options.

Since we are entering a period of intense activity in health care reform, it would be helpful to have the single payer model added as expeditiously as possible. If you agree, then please send a very brief message requesting that single payer be added ASAP. Email them at: COMPARE@rand.org

You may wish to share this message with others and ask them to make the same request.

Health care tops agenda

Area's message to Obama is clear

By Laura Ungar
Louisville Courier-Journal January 8, 2009

Louisvillians had a strong message for President-elect Barack Obama yesterday: The nation’s health-care system needs either massive reforms or a complete overhaul.

“Health care in this nation costs too much and is serving too few,” said Scott Wegenast of AARP Kentucky, one of more than 80 people who attended a community health-care forum at the Brown & Williamson Club at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

Sponsored by the University of Louisville, U of L Health Care, Passport Health Plan and Save the Children, it is among thousands of similar meetings being held across the nation to inform Obama’s transition team and Tom Daschle, Obama’s choice for secretary of health and human services. Organizers plan to send them a videotape of the event, results of a survey and summaries of public testimony.

Much of that testimony focused on rising insurance costs and the number of people who can’t get care. About 46 million Americans lack health insurance and, as a Courier-Journal investigation found last year, skyrocketing insurance deductibles, premiums and other insurance issues are forcing an increasing number of families to choose between finances and health.

Some speakers told personal stories.

Jessica Johnson of Louisville said she has diabetes and her husband lost his job after having a seizure at work. They tried unsuccessfully to get on Passport, a Medicaid managed-care plan, she said, and “neither of us can get the health care we need.”

David Klein of Louisville, who has leukemia, said insurance officials initially turned down a bone-marrow transplant that his doctors wanted him to have — finally approving it six months later.

“It was the only solution I had to survive,” Klein said, adding that a friend who faced a similar delay died.

A steady stream of speakers said the best solution to such problems would be a universal, single-payer health-care system similar to those in Canada and some European countries.

“President-elect Obama has said health care should be a human right and no one should profit from human illness and misery,” said Walter Tillow of Louisville.

“I agree with everything (Tillow) said,” added Mary Ann Garnar, a Medicare recipient. “I have grave concerns for the people in our country who don’t have health care. … Many suffer and die for lack of it. … This should not happen in this country.”

She said a universal health-care system run by the government “is not socialism. It is a kind and practical solution to a difficult problem.”

Several speakers expressed support for a congressional bill, HR676, which would expand Medicare to cover all Americans. One speaker held up a placard in support of the bill and another wore a T-shirt espousing health care for all.

“There is a cure for this sick health-care system — surgery to remove the health insurance companies. … ” said Dr. Garrett Adams, a retired physician who heads up the Kentucky chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

While the majority of speakers offering solutions supported single-payer health care, some spoke of smaller reforms, such as greater use of electronic medical records. Charlotte Beason, director of the Kentucky Board of Nursing, said more primary care providers are needed in many Kentucky counties, as are better mental health, hospice and school health care. “Quality health care must be in place,” she said.

Garnar and others said they appreciated the chance to be heard. Regular people don’t have lobbyists, she said, and “this is as close as most of us will get to speaking to our national leaders.”

Reporter Laura Ungar can be reached at (502) 582-7190. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200901080430/NEWS01/901080428

UnitedHealth "praised for major leadership effort"

Big Health Insurer Agrees to Update Its Fee Data

By Danny Hakim and Reed Abelson
The New York Times
January 13, 2009

In a settlement with one of the nation’s biggest insurers, New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, has ordered an overhaul of the databases the industry uses to determine how much of a medical bill is paid when a patient uses an out-of-network doctor.

A statement from Mr. Cuomo’s office said the industry had engaged in “a scheme to defraud consumers” by systematically underpaying the nation’s patients by hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade.

The move, to be announced Tuesday, is part of a settlement with the insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, which operates the industry databases. It results from a yearlong investigation by Mr. Cuomo’s office that concluded the data had understated the true market rates of medical care by up to 28 percent.

The settlement will have a nationwide impact because UnitedHealth, the biggest health insurer in New York, operates the databases used by the entire industry, through its Ingenix business unit. The deal calls for creation of a new independent database, to be run by a university that is still to be selected.

Because insurers typically reimburse patients for only 70 to 80 percent of the “reasonable and customary” cost of medical services when they visit doctors outside the insurer’s designated network of physicians, the patient can get shortchanged if the insurer understates the prevailing local fees.

According to Mr. Cuomo, the databases consistently understated the local “reasonable and customary” rates, which Ingenix collects from insurers. The report of the investigation’s findings described the industry calculations as “created in a well of conflicts” that produced information that was “unreliable, inadequate and wrong.”

In an interview Monday, Mr. Cuomo said: “For years this database was treated as credible and authoritative, and consumers were left to accept its rates without question. This is like pulling back the curtain on the wizard of Oz. We have now shown that for years consumers were consistently low-balled to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The inability to decipher the insurer’s calculations can be overwhelming to patients with serious medical conditions.

Mary Jerome, a professor at Columbia who was found to have ovarian cancer in 2006, said she had been left with unreimbursed medical bills amounting to tens thousands of dollars. Her complaints to the attorney general’s office helped spur the investigation.

Ms. Jerome, who said she had been treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering, in large part because her primary care physician recommended the hospital, expected she would have to pay no more than her $3,000 deductible for going out of network. But she said she had soon been swamped with bills that left her $70,000 to $80,000 in debt.

Karen Ignagni, the president and chief executive of the industry trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, praised UnitedHealth for its “major leadership effort” in reaching the agreement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/health/policy/13care.html?ref=business&pagewanted=all

Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

The administrative waste of private insurers along with the excessive administrative burden they place on the health care delivery system alone is more than enough to warrant dismissing them as stewards of our health care dollars. A more fundamental moral reason to dismiss them is that they place service to patients in a secondary position to their efforts to achieve business success, frequently using dishonest deception to do so.

A prime example is this instance in which they have engaged in “a scheme to defraud” their own beneficiaries by deliberately falsifying the “reasonable and customary” cost of medical services. This is not simply an accounting trick to keep more money. This is thievery which has a negative impact on their own clients’ financial and physical health.

The experience of Professor Mary Jerome of Columbia demonstrates how nefarious this industry is. She had a $3000 deductible policy and used it at Memorial Sloan Kettering. You would think that this policy would allow her to obtain the care she needed without having to face financial hardship. But, no. She has been “swamped with bills that left her $70,000 to $80,000 in debt.”

Although New York’s attorney general has removed control of this data base from these crooks, they will continue to introduce more innovations that will enhance their bottom lines at the expense of patients and their health care professionals. The explosion in medical debt experienced by insured patients is proof that their innovations have the nefarious intent of defrauding their own beneficiaries.

And what does Karen Ignagni of AHIP have to say about this fraud? She praises UnitedHealth for its “major leadership effort.” Worse yet, what does it say about those controlling our national dialogue on reform when Karen Ignagni is included in almost every major forum, and single payer advocates such as the leadership of PNHP are deliberately excluded?

Do we really value these dishonest businessmen more than we value the health and financial security of our people?

Health insurer accused of overcharging millions

UnitedHealth Group agrees to a $50 million settlement after investigation

By Melissa Dahl, Jeff Rossen and Robert Powell
msnbc.com
Tues., Jan. 13, 2009

One of the nation’s largest health insurers has agreed to pay $50 million dollars in a settlement announced today after being accused of overcharging millions of Americans for health care.

The New York attorney general’s office launched an investigation after receiving hundreds of complaints about Oxford Insurance and its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, which claims to rely on “independent research from across the health care industry” to determine reimbursement rates. In actuality though, it relies on Ingenix, a research firm owned by UnitedHealth Group.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says Ingenix has been manipulating the numbers so insurance companies pay less. In a just-released report, he contends that Americans have been “under-reimbursed to the tune of at least hundreds of millions of dollars.” Although UnitedHealth Group and Oxford Insurance were the only entities investigated, other major insurers use Ingenix, including Aetna, CIGNA and WellPoint/Empire BlueCross BlueShield.

“This is a huge scam that affected hundreds of millions of Americans (who were) ripped off by their health insurance companies,” says Cuomo. “This was unethical, and it robbed vulnerable patients of insurance reimbursements they deserved.”

A battle on two fronts

Sixty-four-year-old Mary Jerome of Yonkers, N.Y., is one of those who complained to the attorney general. When Jerome was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2006, she chose to go to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, an out-of-network hospital under her insurer, Oxford, reported NBC News correspondent Jeff Rossen for the TODAY show.

The insurance company determined via Ingenix that many procedures Jerome needed — including chemotherapy medications — were not considered “usual, customary or reasonable.” After three surgeries and treatment for an embolism, Jerome was left owing $46,000.

Weakened from cancer and frightened over her finances, Jerome was fighting a battle on two fronts. She remembers “the devastation it gives to a patient who is at the worst time in their life. They’re trying to fight one battle, and then they have to fight a second battle when they have nothing — physically, spiritually, emotionally — left to fight with.”

But Jerome’s daughter, Eva, who is a Manhattan lawyer, encouraged her mother to appeal to the state’s attorney general. Jerome’s complaint was one of hundreds from angry customers, which prompted Cuomo to launch an investigation of the insurer.

“This is huge. This problem went across the country,” Nancy Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, told the TODAY show. “It’s industry-wide, throughout insurers. So, it touched every state. Many doctors. Many millions of patients, and this has been going on for years.”

More insurers under investigation

Cuomo is now investigating other insurance companies that use Ingenix’s database to determine reimbursement rates for patients and taking steps to make sure this won’t happen again in the future.

The $50 million UnitedHealth Group will pay as the settlement will be used to create a nonprofit organization that will determine reimbursement rates for patients.

Jerome’s cancer was in remission for 20 months, but returned in October. Her employer, Columbia University, where she is a lecturer in the English department, now uses United Health Care, another insurer owned by UnitedHealth Group, the company that owns Oxford. But so far, her experience with her new insurer has been “perfect,” Jerome says. She says she’s “thrilled” with the settlement the New York attorney general’s office has reached with UnitedHealth Group.

“My main hope now and in the future is that patients won’t have to go through this,” Jerome says. “It’s much more than money; it’s being treated with honor and dignity. I think that’s what’s going to change.”

Since Jerome complained, Oxford has refunded her thousands of dollars.

In a statement, UnitedHealth Group told TODAY: “We respectfully disagree with the New York Attorney General’s findings that we manipulated data … (or that our ownership of Ingenix was a conflict of interest.) We agreed to his settlement because it was an effective way to address any perceived conflict of interest.”

Cuomo says he’s now looking into other health insurance companies for the exact thing. So, there may be millions more on the line here, as well.

In addition, some patients plan to bring a class action lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28628880/

(c) 2009 MSNBC.com

Health for All Inaugural Ball Brings Renowned Speakers and Entertainment to Election's Key Issue

PNHP President Dr. Oliver Fein will be speaking at the “Health for All Inaugural Ball”

Nine-time Emmy award-winner, Tracey Neale, MC’s event with Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Jackson Browne and Graham Nash to highlight the nation’s biggest problem: the health of our people

PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — The Health for All Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball announced today the complete line up of speakers for January 20, 2009 at the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum, home of the Hope Diamond.

Prominent health advocates such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director NIAID, NIH; Congressman John Conyers, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Helene Gayle, President of CARE will express their support for health as a human right, as affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Jackson Browne will perform songs from his 40-year career and his latest album that peaked at #2 on Billboard Independent Album last month.

Today in the United States, 45 million people don’t have medical insurance. Around the world, billions are deprived of the basic human right to health. Health care was one of the campaign’s biggest issues and last month Moveon.org asked its three-million members, ‘What is the most important issue for the nation?’ The survey concluded that Universal healthcare was the number one choice ahead of the war in Iraq, the environment and even the economy.

Renowned former Washington TV Anchor, Tracey Neale, will co-MC the event. The nine-time EMMY Award-winner, Neale is also the recipient of awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Associated Press for Outstanding Journalism. She has been recognized for her health reporting, receiving an Edward R. Murrow Award for her documentary on AIDS in Africa and Award for Excellence from the World Health Organization. Neale is the founder of Veronica’s Story, a non-profit dedicated to pediatric AIDS and orphans. The organization is named after a South African girl who passed away before Neale could adopt her. Neale is now the proud parent of twins from Ethiopia: Emebet and Eyasu. Neale looks forward to presiding over the event. She says “I look forward to introducing some of the most passionate and dedicated health-makers from around the world.” Joining Neale on stage will be Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association (APHA); Donna Smith, patient and star of SICKO, Dr. Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program; Dean Mike Klag of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; and Dr. Renee Jenkins, Immediate Past President of the American Association of Pediatricians.

Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee Jackson Browne and GRAMMY-winner Graham Nash–both members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame–will headline the entertainment and be introduced by co-MC, Classic Rock 94.7 The Globe DJ Cerphe. Cerphe has been a Washington rock fixture since the ’70s. In addition to their enduring legacies as two of the most literate and respected singer-songwriters, Browne and Nash are both known for the social, environmental and political activism they have championed for almost four decades. In 1979, they collaborated on organizing an all-star series of concerts for MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy); in 2004, they both participated in the Vote For Change Tour. With the Health For All Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball, they continue their tradition of raising their voices in support of people across the United States and around the world.

Radia Daoussi, President of The Vineeta Foundation, explains, “A true transformation of the health care system in the United States has never been such an urgent priority. The presidency of Barack Obama offers an historic opportunity for reforming the health care system in the United States and strengthening support for health worldwide.”

Event Emissary, a DC-based event planning company, and the Vineeta Foundation, a health and human rights organization, are hosting the Health for All Blue Diamond Ball (www.bluediamondinauguralball.com).

(c) 2008 SYS-CON Media Inc.

UnitedHealth “praised for major leadership effort”

Big Health Insurer Agrees to Update Its Fee Data

By Danny Hakim and Reed Abelson
The New York Times
January 13, 2009

In a settlement with one of the nation’s biggest insurers, New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, has ordered an overhaul of the databases the industry uses to determine how much of a medical bill is paid when a patient uses an out-of-network doctor.

A statement from Mr. Cuomo’s office said the industry had engaged in “a scheme to defraud consumers” by systematically underpaying the nation’s patients by hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade.

The move, to be announced Tuesday, is part of a settlement with the insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, which operates the industry databases. It results from a yearlong investigation by Mr. Cuomo’s office that concluded the data had understated the true market rates of medical care by up to 28 percent.

The settlement will have a nationwide impact because UnitedHealth, the biggest health insurer in New York, operates the databases used by the entire industry, through its Ingenix business unit. The deal calls for creation of a new independent database, to be run by a university that is still to be selected.

Because insurers typically reimburse patients for only 70 to 80 percent of the “reasonable and customary” cost of medical services when they visit doctors outside the insurer’s designated network of physicians, the patient can get shortchanged if the insurer understates the prevailing local fees.

According to Mr. Cuomo, the databases consistently understated the local “reasonable and customary” rates, which Ingenix collects from insurers. The report of the investigation’s findings described the industry calculations as “created in a well of conflicts” that produced information that was “unreliable, inadequate and wrong.”

In an interview Monday, Mr. Cuomo said: “For years this database was treated as credible and authoritative, and consumers were left to accept its rates without question. This is like pulling back the curtain on the wizard of Oz. We have now shown that for years consumers were consistently low-balled to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

The inability to decipher the insurer’s calculations can be overwhelming to patients with serious medical conditions.

Mary Jerome, a professor at Columbia who was found to have ovarian cancer in 2006, said she had been left with unreimbursed medical bills amounting to tens thousands of dollars. Her complaints to the attorney general’s office helped spur the investigation.

Ms. Jerome, who said she had been treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering, in large part because her primary care physician recommended the hospital, expected she would have to pay no more than her $3,000 deductible for going out of network. But she said she had soon been swamped with bills that left her $70,000 to $80,000 in debt.

Karen Ignagni, the president and chief executive of the industry trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, praised UnitedHealth for its “major leadership effort” in reaching the agreement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/health/policy/13care.html?ref=business&pagewanted=all

Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

The administrative waste of private insurers along with the excessive administrative burden they place on the health care delivery system alone is more than enough to warrant dismissing them as stewards of our health care dollars. A more fundamental moral reason to dismiss them is that they place service to patients in a secondary position to their efforts to achieve business success, frequently using dishonest deception to do so.

A prime example is this instance in which they have engaged in “a scheme to defraud” their own beneficiaries by deliberately falsifying the “reasonable and customary” cost of medical services. This is not simply an accounting trick to keep more money. This is thievery which has a negative impact on their own clients’ financial and physical health.

The experience of Professor Mary Jerome of Columbia demonstrates how nefarious this industry is. She had a $3000 deductible policy and used it at Memorial Sloan Kettering. You would think that this policy would allow her to obtain the care she needed without having to face financial hardship. But, no. She has been “swamped with bills that left her $70,000 to $80,000 in debt.”

Although New York’s attorney general has removed control of this data base from these crooks, they will continue to introduce more innovations that will enhance their bottom lines at the expense of patients and their health care professionals. The explosion in medical debt experienced by insured patients is proof that their innovations have the nefarious intent of defrauding their own beneficiaries.

And what does Karen Ignagni of AHIP have to say about this fraud? She praises UnitedHealth for its “major leadership effort.” Worse yet, what does it say about those controlling our national dialogue on reform when Karen Ignagni is included in almost every major forum, and single payer advocates such as the leadership of PNHP are deliberately excluded?

Do we really value these dishonest businessmen more than we value the health and financial security of our people?

Health for All Inaugural Ball Brings Renowned Speakers and Entertainment to Election’s Key Issue

PNHP President Dr. Oliver Fein will be speaking at the “Health for All Inaugural Ball”

Nine-time Emmy award-winner, Tracey Neale, MC’s event with Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Jackson Browne and Graham Nash to highlight the nation’s biggest problem: the health of our people

PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — The Health for All Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball announced today the complete line up of speakers for January 20, 2009 at the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum, home of the Hope Diamond.

Prominent health advocates such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director NIAID, NIH; Congressman John Conyers, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Helene Gayle, President of CARE will express their support for health as a human right, as affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Jackson Browne will perform songs from his 40-year career and his latest album that peaked at #2 on Billboard Independent Album last month.

Today in the United States, 45 million people don’t have medical insurance. Around the world, billions are deprived of the basic human right to health. Health care was one of the campaign’s biggest issues and last month Moveon.org asked its three-million members, ‘What is the most important issue for the nation?’ The survey concluded that Universal healthcare was the number one choice ahead of the war in Iraq, the environment and even the economy.

Renowned former Washington TV Anchor, Tracey Neale, will co-MC the event. The nine-time EMMY Award-winner, Neale is also the recipient of awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Associated Press for Outstanding Journalism. She has been recognized for her health reporting, receiving an Edward R. Murrow Award for her documentary on AIDS in Africa and Award for Excellence from the World Health Organization. Neale is the founder of Veronica’s Story, a non-profit dedicated to pediatric AIDS and orphans. The organization is named after a South African girl who passed away before Neale could adopt her. Neale is now the proud parent of twins from Ethiopia: Emebet and Eyasu. Neale looks forward to presiding over the event. She says “I look forward to introducing some of the most passionate and dedicated health-makers from around the world.” Joining Neale on stage will be Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association (APHA); Donna Smith, patient and star of SICKO, Dr. Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program; Dean Mike Klag of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; and Dr. Renee Jenkins, Immediate Past President of the American Association of Pediatricians.

Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee Jackson Browne and GRAMMY-winner Graham Nash–both members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame–will headline the entertainment and be introduced by co-MC, Classic Rock 94.7 The Globe DJ Cerphe. Cerphe has been a Washington rock fixture since the ’70s. In addition to their enduring legacies as two of the most literate and respected singer-songwriters, Browne and Nash are both known for the social, environmental and political activism they have championed for almost four decades. In 1979, they collaborated on organizing an all-star series of concerts for MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy); in 2004, they both participated in the Vote For Change Tour. With the Health For All Blue Diamond Inaugural Ball, they continue their tradition of raising their voices in support of people across the United States and around the world.

Radia Daoussi, President of The Vineeta Foundation, explains, “A true transformation of the health care system in the United States has never been such an urgent priority. The presidency of Barack Obama offers an historic opportunity for reforming the health care system in the United States and strengthening support for health worldwide.”

Event Emissary, a DC-based event planning company, and the Vineeta Foundation, a health and human rights organization, are hosting the Health for All Blue Diamond Ball (www.bluediamondinauguralball.com).

(c) 2008 SYS-CON Media Inc.

HCHP Sponsors Free Screening of “Health, Money, Fear: A Film About Our Health Care System” by Dr. Paul Hochfeld, M.D., at MCPL

Film provides courageous insight and humane solutions as Americans and lawmakers join together to discuss the failing and tragic US health care system.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
8 January 2009

PRESS CONTACTS:
David Wierhake, Public Relations Coordinator, hchp@live.com
Karen Green Stone, Education Committee Chair, rstone@hchp.info

Website: www.ourailinghealthcare.com

Secretary of Heath and Human Services Tom Daschle recently pledged to work with lawmakers of both parties in a grass roots, ideology-free campaign to revamp the nation’s struggling health care system, “We will be guided by evidence and effectiveness, not by ideology.”

“When it comes to health care, we really are in it together,” Mr. Daschle said, adding that to do nothing — or too little — about the spiraling costs of health care, the growing legions of the uninsured and substandard medical treatment in some areas is simply unacceptable. —Source: NYTimes.com 08 Jan 09

Struggling? In reality, our health care system is beyond struggling, beyond broken, and beyond sick. It’s dumb! And, it’s unacceptable! We spend more than twice as much per capita than most developed countries, the taxpayer is already paying for 60% of the total bill, and, by any measure of public health, our results are poor. Driven by technology and fear of liability, physicians order tests and treatments without regard for cost. Patients and families embrace unreasonable expectations. Drug companies successfully market expensive drugs that, at best, are marginally more effective than less expensive, older ones. As our primary care providers continue to disappear, increasing fragmentation of care, costs will rise and outcomes will worsen. Most significantly, the insurance industry adds nothing to “health” and greatly to total cost, which is increasingly a burden to our economy and threat to the financial solvency of our government. What’s more, our State government are having to divert money to health care from education, infrastructure and protecting the environment, all of which may have more impact on the health of our society than access to a doctor.

Achieving “Universal Access”, which is a moral imperative, without focusing on controling cost is a prescription for disaster.

There are many lawmakers in powerful positions who understand this, but cower to the “political wisdom” that people don’t want single payer and the lobbyists will defeat them in the next round of elections if they speak their truth. WE need to educate the public and educate our politicians so they will show real leadership to transform our health care system in a postive manner.

Our health care system should be more about health and less about money. Instead of chaos, driven by profits, Somebody needs to be in charge of making sure we are getting the most health and the least suffering for our public health care dollars.

About Dr. Paul Hochfeld, M.D.: Physician and Filmmaker
After receiving a B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT, Dr. Hochfeld’s interest turned away from neurophysiology research and to enrollment in University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Upon graduation, he embarked on a Family Practice Residency, but left prematurely for a variety of reasons.

In 1979, he moved to Corvallis, Oregon, working at an Emergency Room position at Good Samaritan Hospital (GSH). Board certified in Emergency Medicine, he has been Physician Director of the Emergency Department, President of Mary’s Peak Emergency Physicians as well as Chairman of GSH’s Peer Review Committee and Physician Advisor to the Corvallis Fire Department Ambulance Service. —Source: Film’s Website www.ourailinghealthcare.com

“HEALTH, MONEY, FEAR: A FILM ABOUT OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM“
HCHP MONTHLY MEETING and FILM SCREENING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 5:30PM
MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY AUDITORIUM
HCHP Sponsors Free Screening of “Health, Money, Fear: A Film About Our Health Care System” by Dr. Paul Hochfeld, M.D., at MCPL

Film provides courageous insight and humane solutions as Americans and lawmakers join together to discuss the failing and tragic US health care system.

HCHP Sponsors Free Screening of "Health, Money, Fear: A Film About Our Health Care System" by Dr. Paul Hochfeld, M.D., at MCPL

Film provides courageous insight and humane solutions as Americans and lawmakers join together to discuss the failing and tragic US health care system.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
8 January 2009

PRESS CONTACTS:
David Wierhake, Public Relations Coordinator, hchp@live.com
Karen Green Stone, Education Committee Chair, rstone@hchp.info

Website: www.ourailinghealthcare.com

Secretary of Heath and Human Services Tom Daschle recently pledged to work with lawmakers of both parties in a grass roots, ideology-free campaign to revamp the nation’s struggling health care system, “We will be guided by evidence and effectiveness, not by ideology.”

“When it comes to health care, we really are in it together,” Mr. Daschle said, adding that to do nothing — or too little — about the spiraling costs of health care, the growing legions of the uninsured and substandard medical treatment in some areas is simply unacceptable. —Source: NYTimes.com 08 Jan 09

Struggling? In reality, our health care system is beyond struggling, beyond broken, and beyond sick. It’s dumb! And, it’s unacceptable! We spend more than twice as much per capita than most developed countries, the taxpayer is already paying for 60% of the total bill, and, by any measure of public health, our results are poor. Driven by technology and fear of liability, physicians order tests and treatments without regard for cost. Patients and families embrace unreasonable expectations. Drug companies successfully market expensive drugs that, at best, are marginally more effective than less expensive, older ones. As our primary care providers continue to disappear, increasing fragmentation of care, costs will rise and outcomes will worsen. Most significantly, the insurance industry adds nothing to “health” and greatly to total cost, which is increasingly a burden to our economy and threat to the financial solvency of our government. What’s more, our State government are having to divert money to health care from education, infrastructure and protecting the environment, all of which may have more impact on the health of our society than access to a doctor.

Achieving “Universal Access”, which is a moral imperative, without focusing on controling cost is a prescription for disaster.

There are many lawmakers in powerful positions who understand this, but cower to the “political wisdom” that people don’t want single payer and the lobbyists will defeat them in the next round of elections if they speak their truth. WE need to educate the public and educate our politicians so they will show real leadership to transform our health care system in a postive manner.

Our health care system should be more about health and less about money. Instead of chaos, driven by profits, Somebody needs to be in charge of making sure we are getting the most health and the least suffering for our public health care dollars.

About Dr. Paul Hochfeld, M.D.: Physician and Filmmaker
After receiving a B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT, Dr. Hochfeld’s interest turned away from neurophysiology research and to enrollment in University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Upon graduation, he embarked on a Family Practice Residency, but left prematurely for a variety of reasons.

In 1979, he moved to Corvallis, Oregon, working at an Emergency Room position at Good Samaritan Hospital (GSH). Board certified in Emergency Medicine, he has been Physician Director of the Emergency Department, President of Mary’s Peak Emergency Physicians as well as Chairman of GSH’s Peer Review Committee and Physician Advisor to the Corvallis Fire Department Ambulance Service. —Source: Film’s Website www.ourailinghealthcare.com

“HEALTH, MONEY, FEAR: A FILM ABOUT OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM“
HCHP MONTHLY MEETING and FILM SCREENING
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 5:30PM
MONROE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY AUDITORIUM
HCHP Sponsors Free Screening of “Health, Money, Fear: A Film About Our Health Care System” by Dr. Paul Hochfeld, M.D., at MCPL

Film provides courageous insight and humane solutions as Americans and lawmakers join together to discuss the failing and tragic US health care system.

Families USA report on COBRA

Squeezed! Caught between Unemployment Benefits And Health Care Costs

Families USA
January 2009

By November 2008, more than 2.7 million people had joined the ranks of the unemployed since the recession began in 2007, and 10.3 million people were unemployed. Many of those people (and their families) lost their health coverage when they lost their jobs.

Some workers who had insurance through their former employers may be able to continue to purchase the same coverage — but they must pay the full cost out of their own pockets. This continuation coverage, called “COBRA” (from the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986), could provide a vital health care lifeline for many families. Unfortunately, for most individuals and families, the cost of this coverage is prohibitively high, especially when compared to average unemployment benefits.

$1278 – Average monthly unemployment income

$388 – Average COBRA premium for an individual
30% – Premium as a share of unemployment income

$1069 – Average COBRA premium for a family
83% – Premium as a share of unemployment income

Conclusion

As our nation faces a severe recession, growing numbers of unemployed workers and their families are coping with the loss of health insurance. The short- and long-term physical and financial consequences of such a loss can be devastating. COBRA continuation coverage can be a crucial health lifeline for newly unemployed workers. But while many workers have the right to purchase such coverage, the cost is often prohibitively high. To make COBRA coverage truly affordable, a meaningful subsidy should be provided to recently unemployed workers. For those who do not have a COBRA coverage option, Congress should provide a temporary Medicaid benefit to recently unemployed, low-wage workers.

http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/cobra-2009.pdf

Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Families USA has continued to be a source of highly credible studies demonstrating the severe deficiencies in health care financing in the United States. A prime example is this study of COBRA benefits. Although the intent of COBRA was to allow individuals and families to maintain their employer-sponsored coverage after losing their jobs, this study demonstrates that this is yet another failed policy as unemployed individuals are unable to pay for that coverage.

Unfortunately, the conclusion of this study also represents yet another inadequate policy recommendation of Families USA. The obvious conclusion is that health insurance must be automatic, for life, and comprehensive enough to prevent financial hardship regardless of income or health status. Instead, Families USA would leave this flawed COBRA program in place, and merely tweak it so that a few of the 46 million uninsured could receive coverage. Temporary Medicaid? Come on!

It is no secret that PNHP and Families USA have had their differences. The leadership of PNHP has demonstrated that a single payer national health program would provide affordable health care for everyone throughout life. The leadership of Families USA has continued to insist that single payer is not feasible, and that reform must occur in incremental steps – increments such as subsidies for COBRA benefits.

We have been following for decades their preferred course of incremental reform, and all parameters are worse. We have an outrageously expensive system with increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured, and ever greater financial hardship for those individuals and families with health care needs. Of nineteen industrialized nations, we have the worst rate of amenable mortality (premature deaths which are preventable). Incrementalism has been a cruel, miserable policy failure in the United States.

The leadership of Families USA understands this. Thus for the past decade they have supported “strange bedfellow” coalitions, bringing together organizations that traditionally have been at odds on the reform issues. Each of these efforts has been introduced with considerable fanfare, with the obligatory statements from each participating organization to the effect that finally we are coming together to fix our health care system.

What happens? Behind the scene the opponents of reform continue to sabotage the efforts. The opponents are using the reputation of Families USA to burnish their own tarnished images, while gaining additional years before they must face the inevitability of a bona fide national health program.

The opponents will never support a program that is contrary to their selfish interests or their right-wing ideology. NEVER!

For those who believe that we are close to bringing all interests together on reform, think about this. The leading reform proposal is based on private health plans which everyone knows are no longer affordable, and the Republicans will never approve an adequate “tax on the rich” that would be needed to pay for those plans. The supporters also have recommended the creation of a public insurance option which individuals could purchase (even though it wouldn’t be affordable either). Yet the opponents have blasted the proposal because it is an incremental step towards single payer. AHIP, USCOC and some of the Senate Republicans have made it clear that this is a non-starter.

Forget incrmentalism! Forget sleeping with the enemy!

Ronny, sorry, but what you’ve been doing just hasn’t worked. It’s time for you to get up out of that bed and join us in our crusade for the real thing – health care justice for all.

****

Note of Clarification: What is the fundamental disagreement? One side wants an affordable, high-quality health care system that really does include everyone. The other side is opposed, either because of anti-egalitarian ideology or simply because of selfish self-interest. That is where the battle must take place.

The debate over an incremental versus comprehensive strategy for reform has been an unfortunate digression that has splintered one side – the supporters of health care justice. PNHP, Families USA, UHCAN, Healthcare-NOW!, Health Care for All, the HCAN coalition, and all of the other individuals and organizations that share the common goal of health care for everyone must unify in support of truly comprehensive reform that does not compromise on the policies that will get us there. This goal must have precedence above all others and must represent the primary thrust of our efforts.

That does not mean that there is no place for incremental measures. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is an incremental measure that must be renewed and expanded immediately, but only as an urgent, temporary measure until we can enact a comprehensive program for everyone, including children.

It is absolutely crucial that we all pull together now, pulling out all the stops, especially while we are in this political window. Once we have a comprehensive system, the incrementalists can have a field day tweaking the inevitable glitches in the system.