Obama on Health care

Check out this video of President Obama's discussion with George Stephanopoulos regarding how his administration will look at managing health care costs and improving quality.

http://media.bulletinnews.com/playclip.aspx?clipid=8cb4275f6a44ad3

Share your thoughts with us.

What stimulus package could mean for health care

With the House and the Senate working this week with the stimulus bill proposed by Barack Obama, many changes could come about for health care in the United States. One of the biggest is that newly unemployed individuals would be eligible for Medicaid.

Other incentives proposed with the $117 billion proposed for health care spending:

•$87 billion dollars to help states pay the costs of Medicaid, which provides medical care for the poor and disabled.

•$29 billion to help the unemployed pay for private insurance.

•$20 billion to implement new healthcare technologies, such as electronic medical records, aimed at improving care and cutting costs.

For more on the recent proposal, read the article here at the Christian Science Monitor.

Expanded Coverage of Cancer Care Still an Issue

Yesterday we posted that Medicare has decided to expand coverage for cancer drugs because of the increased cost of care. Part of the policy allows coverage of cancer treatments that have not yet been approved by the FDA. Today I came across several more posts from AAARP Bulletin Today and TopNews. What is your take on the policy? Do you support it?

Medicare opens more coverage to cancer drugs

In the New York Times today, they looked at the new coverage of drugs for cancer that have not been approved by the FDA. Doctors see the use of these drugs as a way that patients can receive more up-to-date care. It also enhances the understanding of which treatments work for cancer. For the full article, read here.

More Works to Face Higher Healthcare Costs in '09

From the LATimes.com,

A growing number of workers in 2009 will pay more for health benefits -- and in some cases receive less coverage -- as their employers grapple with the financial fallout of rising medical expenses and diminished revenue and profits, recent surveys of human resource officials show.The Corporate Executive Board found in its survey that a quarter of officials from 350 large corporations said they had increased deductibles an average of 9% in 2008. But 30% of the employers said they expected to raise deductibles an average of 14% in 2009. Mercer, a global benefits consulting firm, surveyed nearly 2,000 large corporations in a representative poll and found that 44% planned to increase employee-paid portion of premiums in 2009, compared with 40% in 2008.

Three huge reasons why this is happening:

1. Employers are curbing their spending on coverage
2. More people are without health benefits
3. Most cannot afford COBRA


What others can you add to the list?

Florida to receive more healthcare money

According to the ABC News affiliate in Tampa Bay, Florida will be receiving at least $4.3 billion more in federal Medicare funds. The Florida congressman Kathy Castor has been working for this extra money for over a year, and believes that it will create and preserve jobs in Florida.

Source: ABC Action News

Electronic prescription physicians to receive bonus

According to this article at the Kaiser Network reports that Medicare will start giving bonuses to physicians who begin to use electronic prescriptions.

This month, Medicare began to pay physicians bonuses for the use of e-prescribing, and some private health plans have begun to offer extra reimbursements to physicians who adopt the practice. In addition, a coalition of technology companies has begun to provide e-prescribing software at no cost to encourage physicians to adopt the practice.

Obama to Cut Medicare Advantage

According to this post on CQPolitics.com, Obama has claimed in a recent interview on ABC’s “This Week” that Medicare Advantage is an example of an initiative that does not work, and so eliminating it altogether would free up $200 billion that can be used on expanding health care.

Obama later mentions,

“We are spending a lot of money subsidizing the insurance companies around something called Medicare Advantage, a program that gives them subsidies to accept Medicare recipients, but doesn’t necessarily make people on Medicare healthier.”

Do you think getting rid of Medicare Advantage will help solve our national health care dilemma?

Early opt-in for Medicare?

Over 5.1 million Americans between the age of 55 and 64 are currently uninsured. The Dallas Morning News recently took a look at what would be the benefits of changing Medicare so that they could be insured under this policy. If these individuals were allowed to enroll, they would pay higher premiums than the seniors enrolled in the program. In addition to these individuals being insured, the medical care would also allow them to stay healthier and productive longer.

Drug Marketing Blow Out: Eli Lilly Fined $1.5B

Eli Lilly has been fined the largest amount for marketing fraud in US History, for their “off-label promotion” of the drug Zyprexa. According to CNNMoney.com, The company had promoted the drug as a treatment for dementia, including Alzheimer’s dementia in elderly people - for which it was never approved, the statement said. The company pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge as part of the settlement, it said in a statement. The sum includes a criminal fine of $515 million, which the Justice Department called “largest criminal fine for an individual corporation ever imposed in a United States criminal prosecution.”
What do you think of this settlement? As a marketer, how would you have done things differently? Share with us here.