Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Leavitt Announces New Advisory Commission To Study Medicaid Reforms Item in the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report - "HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Friday formally established the Medicaid study commission, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 5/21). The commission, called for in the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution approved by Congress last month, will recommend ways to cut $10 billion from Medicaid over five years and propose longer-term solutions to slow the program's rising costs. Leavitt will appoint the commission's 15 voting members. ... The Medicaid commission 'bears little resemblance to the panel some lawmakers asked Leavitt to create,' CQ HealthBeat reports. Some legislators had requested that bipartisan congressional leaders appoint commission members and that the Institute of Medicine administer the panel. ..."  
  

Bill aims to create national health insurance market  Cincinnati Business Journal story - "House Speaker Dennis Hastert endorsed legislation to allow individuals to buy health insurance from any state, regardless of where they live. The legislation would lower the cost of health insurance by allowing individuals to get around their state's coverage mandates and pick a less-comprehensive plan, says Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., the bill's sponsor. These mandates add thousands of dollars to the cost of health insurance in some states, bill supporters say. 'Where you live should not determine whether or not you can afford a health insurance policy,' says Angela Hunter, federal affairs director for the Council for Affordable Health Insurance. Shadegg says his bill would 'create a national market for health insurance.' This additional competition would keep a lid on premiums, he says. Under the legislation, any insurer that meets the regulatory requirements of its home state could sell in any state."  
  

Extend Kendra's law (New York) Editorial in Newsday - "It's an unexpected pleasure when Albany does something that actually works. It did when it enacted Kendra's Law, giving courts the power to force mentally ill outpatients with histories of violence and hospitalizations to stay in treatment. The legislature should extend the commonsense law that sunsets on June 30. But it shouldn't make it permanent unless studies show that the court orders, which circumscribe the rights of the mentally ill, are critical to the law's success. They may be, but a previous experiment with assisted outpatient treatment suggested that the key component could be the enhanced services and intensive follow-up the law mandates. Albany should continue funding those services while reviewing whether the legal compulsion really helps..."