Different Takes: Bring In The IRS To Remedy Health Care Ills; Medicaid Access Improves Thanks To Health Law
Editorial pages express views on health care policy issues.
The Wall Street Journal:
The IRS Can Save American Health Care
Health care is fast becoming an unsustainable expense for American families. This year the total cost of insurance for the typical family of four eclipsed $28,000, according to the Milliman Medical Index. ... The solution is simple: The Internal Revenue Service should give all workers the chance to purchase health insurance with pretax dollars—just as employers do—using Health Reimbursement Arrangements. Companies would give employees a fixed amount of money in these HRAs to go out and buy the best plans for their families on the ObamaCare exchanges. The plans there would be subject to the Affordable Care Act’s requirements on essential health benefits and cost-sharing limits. Employees could use this tax-free money only for the purchase of health insurance, but would pocket any leftover savings as taxable income. (Regina Herzlinger and Joel Klein, 7/1)
The New York Times:
Finally, Some Answers On The Effects Of Medicaid Expansion
The Medicaid logjam appears to be breaking. When the Affordable Care Act first invited states to make more low-income people eligible for Medicaid, pretty much all the blue states said yes, but many red ones said no. Now, the Maine Legislature seems poised to overcome Gov. Paul LePage’s opposition to expanding the program. Just weeks ago, Virginia voted to expand Medicaid as well. They would join 32 states that have already expanded the program, and three others actively considering it. (Aaron E. Carroll, 7/2)
The Atlantic:
Judge Halts Kentucky’s Medicaid Work Requirements
This hasn’t been a good week for Democrats and progressives in federal courts. President Trump got his travel ban in the Supreme Court, despite his documented intent to make it a Muslim ban. The Court also dealt a serious blow to labor in Janus v. AFSCME, curtailing the ability of unions to raise funds. And then there was the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose departure will mean an unbreakable arch-conservative majority in that same body. But on Friday, Democrats received a sliver of daylight. A federal district court decided to vacate a plan from the Kentucky government to implement work requirements for able-bodied adults in the state Medicaid program. That decision calls into doubt an initiative strongly favored by the Trump administration and several Republican governors across the country. It also challenges a larger administration plan to refashion all federal welfare and means-tested poverty programs, and should kick off a flurry of court activity on the issue. (Vann R. Newkirk, 6/29)
Des Moines Register:
Iowa Hospitals Offer Treatment For Medicaid System Broken By GOP
A rose to the Iowa Hospital Association for offering help to navigate this state out of the chaos of privatized Medicaid. The organization, which represents 118 Iowa hospitals, worked with a consultant to come up with a plan. That is more than our elected officials have done since former Gov. Terry Branstad set the health insurance program on an inevitably disastrous course in 2016. (7/1)
Bloomberg:
What An Amazon Pharmacy Could Solve, And What It Won’t
If Amazon’s move to disrupt health care is going to make Americans any healthier, the improvement is most likely to take place in the business of getting prescription drugs to patients more reliably. For one thing, there’s plenty of room for improvement. Failure to take prescription drugs kills about 125,000 Americans a year, according to a recent review in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and this form of noncompliance costs the health care system $100 billion to $289 billion a year. (Faye Flam, 6/29)
Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio Must Demand Drug-Pricing Transparency
PBMs, as they are known, were once hailed as an answer to provide needed cost controls through claims management for insurers and payers including Medicaid. But as their middleman role between prescription-drug manufacturers and payers has grown, they have been revealed as lining their pockets on both ends of the equation. (7/1)
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Where Is Price Transparency In Healthcare?
Many believe there's no fix without healthcare price legislation, and recently we have seen some regulations passed and additional measures discussed by our political leaders. But Americans already get consumer-based pricing models in nearly every other industry, and shopping comes naturally to most of us. (Mark Galvin, 7/1)
Richmond Times-Dispatch:
State Budget Addresses Mental Health Reform - But The Work Goes On
With the implementation of STEP-VA, an acronym for mental health system transformation, we are expanding the services that community services boards (CSBs) must provide to the public, and supporting that effort with additional resources. We have made progress on issues such as alternative transportation and telemental health. We continue to explore the confounding nexus between the criminal justice and mental health systems to get more people into treatment. (Creigh Deeds, 6/30)
