Monday, May 09, 2005

Experts Poles Apart on How To Reform Troubled System  Psychiatric News story - "Market and regulatory reform coupled with tax credits for the uninsured is pitted against a Canadian-style, single-payer national health insurance program. It was the leading physician group advocating for publicly funded national health insurance versus the voice of organized American medicine that has for decades crusaded against "socialized medicine." And their divergent visions for health system reform could not be more starkly at odds: tax credits for the uninsured in a free-market, multipayer system offering a wide range of health plan options tailored to the individual, or a Canadian-style, publicly funded, and government-run single-payer system. Those two visions clashed when psychiatrist Jeremy Lazarus, M.D., speaking for the AMA, countered Steffie Wool-handler, M.D., co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, in a debate sponsored by the American Medical Student Association in Washington, D.C., in March. .."  
  

States Propose Sweeping Changes to Trim Medicaid by Billions Lead, front page article in the New York Times - "Governors and state legislators have devised proposals for sweeping changes in Medicaid to curb its rapid growth and save billions of dollars. Under the proposals, some beneficiaries would have to pay more for care, and states would have more latitude to limit the scope of services. The proposals, drafted by separate working groups of governors and state legislators, provide guidance to Congress, which 10 days ago endorsed a budget blueprint that would cut projected Medicaid spending by $10 billion over the next five years. Many of the proposals resemble ideas advanced by President Bush as part of his 2006 budget. In some cases, the governors embrace Mr. Bush's proposals but go further. At the same time, they also reject some of the president's recommendations that they believe would shift costs to the states." [Viewing New York Times resources requires registration, which is free]. Abbreviated versions of this story are available at a number of sites that do not require registration, among them The Argus(California) and Vermont's Times-Argus. See also States face "meltdown" over Medicaid (American Medical News).