Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Covering The Uninsured: What Is It Worth?
A "web exclusive" in the latest Health Affairs in both HTML and Acrobat format - "One out of six Americans under age sixty-five lacks health insurance, a situation that imposes sizable hidden costs upon society. The poorer health and shorter lives of those without coverage account for most of these costs. Other impacts are manifested by Medicare and disability support payments, demands on the public health infrastructure, and losses of local health service capacity. We conclude that the estimated value of health forgone each year because of uninsurance ($65-$130 billion) constitutes a lower-bound estimate of economic losses resulting from the present level of uninsurance nationally." See also related papers and two other related articles, How Federalism Could Spur Bipartisan Action On The Uninsured and The Institute Of Medicine Committee’s Clarion Call For Universal Coverage.  
  

Painful cuts loom for Medicaid (Florida)
March 29 story in the St. Petersburg Times on proposals by Gov. Jeb Bush of "a far more radical idea" than tightening eligibility and the scope of optional services - "...a spending cap that would mean some poor people could be left without medical care. The governor has dispatched state health officials to Washington, D.C., to talk to federal Medicaid administrators about making Florida a pilot program for reengineering Medicaid, which is straining state budgets across the nation. The plan would allow Florida to keep Medicaid programs while serving fewer people...."