From Don McCanne's email - health coverage for children

From time to time I am just going to copy Don McCannes email listing to this blog. Don doesnt blog but should, you can get his daily email at the PNHP website.

Los Angeles Times August 24, 2008
Thousands of California children are in danger of losing health insurance
By Jordan Rau

California's promising strides toward extending medical coverage to all its children, a longtime goal of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one advocates believed was in reach by decade's end, has stalled -- and thousands of kids are in danger of losing insurance.

...legislative budget negotiators this year have decided to increase premiums for the state's Healthy Families program (SCHIP), which pays for medical care for more than 850,000 children of low-income workers who are above the federal poverty line. The state estimates that the parents of 19,000 children will end up dropping out of the program by July...

Lawmakers also have decided to require the parents of 3.4 million Californians who are below the federal poverty line to renew their Medi-Cal health coverage every six months. The Schwarzenegger administration expects that rule will pare Medi-Cal rolls by about 196,000 children over the next two years.

The changes to subsidized or free health programs come as private health initiatives that pay for the care of children are running out of money, causing them to limit the number they cover. These privately run initiatives exist in 30 counties, arranging medical care for children who are not legal residents or whose families earn slightly more than the threshold for public programs. Enrollment in the initiatives has dropped by 8,000 in the last two years, to 80,000, according to Wendy Lazarus, co-president of the Children's Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy group.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kidshealth24-2008aug24,0,4590020,full.story


Comment: The good news in yesterday's Census Bureau release was that increased enrollment in government health programs more than offset the decline in private insurance coverage, especially for children. Nationally, there were 512,000 fewer uninsured children in 2007 than there were in 2006, primarily because of increased Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment.

Only one year later, over 200,000 children in California alone are projected to lose their coverage.

Think about that.

If SCHIP and Medicaid expansion represent the successes of incrementalism, then how do you define failure?

Try this one. Failure is the perpetuation of policies that do not ensure that everyone is automatically included, for life, in a program that enables affordable access to all necessary health care.

Success would be easy - merely adopt a single payer national health program. So why are we so fixated on perpetuating failure?

Free Medical Advice

Thats what having a doctor in the family means!  Ask me questions, ask me opinions!  I will look things up if I don't know.  I will refer you to an article or a website.  Remember this information is made with good intentions but is not meant to replace your doctor's advice, ie., I am giving advice but am not pretending to be your doctor, ie., don"t sue me over this!

Smoking - an evidence based analysis of the national data

A study from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute puts some perspective on smoking.  I had been discussing this with patients and my numbers are pretty accurate with what this article concludes.  CIGARETTES ROB 5 TO 10 YEARS FROM THE LIFE OF SMOKERS.  Thats the conclusion. Its an average, not all smokers will die 5 - 10 years sooner than non-smokers but on the whole, smokers die that much sooner and for every smoker that lives to the ripe old age of 90 (about 10 years longer than normal) there is a smoker that dies at 50 (twenty years sooner - 10 to balance the 90 year old and 10 because the average is lower!).  So maybe some smokers live a long life but most on average die 5 to 10 years sooner.  What would you give to live 5 or 10 years longer if you found out you were dying.  Would you give up smoking then?

health care - why the election counts

Believe This

there is a huge difference between these candidates in terms of health care reform. Obama will try to institute some real reform. I dont know if he can do it, because fighting the entrenched interests of the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry will be really hard (but I dont believe its impossible).  

McCain doesnt understand health care delivery, anyone who thinks competition will keep health care costs down, doesnt understand health care delivery.  Competition is the idea behind health savings accounts, and while this sounds good in theory, the average person cant make a decision about what a reasonable price for healthcare delivery IS!  It just doesnt work.  I dont think there has ever been a study to show that it increased access, improved quality and held cost down, of even accomplished one of those things.  

So for people who care about health care for everyone, even basic coverage, the democrats should have a shot at it.