Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Now Can We Talk About Health Care?
Article by Hilary Rodham Clinton in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine - "... Twenty-first-century problems, like genetic mapping, an aging population and globalization, are combining with old problems like skyrocketing costs and skyrocketing numbers of uninsured, to overwhelm the 20th-century system we have inherited. The way we finance care is so seriously flawed that if we fail to fix it, we face a fiscal disaster that will not only deny quality health care to the uninsured and underinsured but also undermine the capacity of the system to care for even the well insured." The Magazine also featured other related articles, including The Writing Cure, on narrative medicine; Singled Out, on health insurance; and The End of Primary Care, which notes that "the idea of the personal physician is out of date" and that primary care's future may be "in danger."  [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Mental health providers warn of cuts (Missouri)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch story - "Metro East area mental health care providers say that a new system for funding their services could lead to big cuts in their programs, staff and the number of patients they can serve. In January, Gov. Rod Blagojevich criticized mental health providers over a lack of accountability and said the state would stop giving them 'blank checks.' Under a plan by the state Department of Human Services, mental health care providers would stop getting lump-sum grants that they must later reconcile with the state. The providers would have to bill the state at the end of the month for the costs they incurred, a system called 'fee for service.'"  
  

Mental health care not working (Michigan)
Detroit News story - "Consumers and providers of mental health care in Wayne County complained of heavy administrative costs, duplication of services and a lack of appropriate care at a hearing of the Michigan Mental Health Commission last week. Representatives of both groups said that a managed care system instituted by the state and federal governments in 2002 to provide competition among health care providers in the county has made the problems worse..."