Viewpoints: Assessing Rate Increase Requests; GOP’s Lack Of Contingency On Subsidies
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The New York Times' The Upshot:
Understanding The Rate Increases For Health Care Plans
Insurance companies have begun announcing rate increases for the health care plans they will sell next year on the Obamacare marketplaces, and a handy new website from the federal government makes searching for rate change requests easier than ever. Some of the rate increases are substantial. But for several reasons, simply looking at the current numbers can be misleading. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 6/2)
Huffington Post:
The Real Reason Republicans Don't Have A Contingency Plan For Obamacare
If you want to know about the Republican Party’s priorities for health care, pay close attention to what transpired -- and what didn’t transpire -- on Capitol Hill Tuesday. The House Ways and Means Committee held a session to consider a number of health care-related measures. In theory, it would have been an ideal time to take up, amend and maybe even vote on a contingency plan for King v. Burwell .... The Ways and Means chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), has said repeatedly that his party will have a contingency plan ready to go if the court sides with the law’s challengers. ... But take a look at the official agenda for the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday. You’ll see a bill to repeal Obamacare’s tax on medical device makers and a proposal to repeal the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board, which sets reimbursement rates under Medicare. ... Here’s what you won’t see: contingency plans for the upcoming Supreme Court ruling or alternative schemes for expanding insurance coverage. (Jonathan Cohn, 6/2)
Nashville Tennessean:
Obamacare A National Disaster, But It’s Congress’ Mess
King v. Burwell, revolves around the IRS potentially paying illegal subsidies to people who bought their premiums on the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov. It is more than unfortunate that Congress had to pass the law to find out what was in it, as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi so eloquently demanded of her congressional colleagues on the floor of the House. (Glen Casada, 6/2)
Nashville Tennessean:
Tennessee Must Stop Playing Public Records Law Games
The state of Tennessee has been playing games with the public records law, and it has to stop.
The Tennessean has made uncomfortable records requests over the last four months concerning which lawmakers are on the state health insurance plan, how much they and the state are paying in premiums, and how much the state is paying out in medical costs for their care. (David Plazas, 6/2)
The Washington Post:
The Dangerous ‘Red-State Model’
Kansas’s budget woes have overshadowed another important element of [Gov. Sam] Brownback’s red-state experiment: his refusal to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. In the latest issue of The Nation, features editor Kai Wright reports on the devastating consequences of that decision. As Wright explains, Kansas has some of the most restrictive Medicaid eligibility requirements in the country. The program is available only to non-disabled adults earning less than 32 percent of the federal poverty level, and most childless adults don’t qualify, regardless of income. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to raise that threshold to 138 percent, but Brownback declined to implement the Medicaid expansion. As a result, thousands of poor Kansans who would qualify for Medicaid in other states remain uninsured. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, 6/2)
Orlando Sentinel:
Floridians Deserve Better Than Senate's Medicaid Expansion
Our friends, neighbors and constituents want and deserve a Florida that is a great place to work, raise a family and retire. They know the best way to a strong Florida isn't laden with Washington mandates; it's by working with strong leaders back at home. This is why our communities elected my freshmen Republican colleagues and me to the Florida House this November to stand up to the feds. This is why I oppose D.C.'s trying to run our health-care system with Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, and I urge my Republican partners to stand with me. (State Rep. Scott Plakon, 6/3)
Modern Healthcare:
Medicare Should End Penalty For High-Performing Systems Under ACO Model
Imagine a company that produces a high-quality product, operates efficiently and generates $16 million in year-over-year savings. Then imagine that the company is not allowed to retain those savings, but is assessed a financial penalty. Hard to imagine? Well, it's a reality in the American healthcare system today. Dartmouth-Hitchcock and other leading academic health systems in Medicare's Pioneer accountable care organization program face a payment conundrum. Instead of sharing in savings generated through the program—the incentive—Dartmouth-Hitchcock will be hit with a multimillion-dollar Medicare penalty. How could that be? As you might expect, there's more to the story.
(Drs. James Weinstein and William Weeks, 6/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Preserving The Blessings Of Antibiotics
We are near a tipping point with antibiotic resistance. An increasing proportion of bacteria no longer respond to the drugs designed to kill them. We can either work to improve antibiotic use and prevent infections, or watch as the clock turns back to a world where simple infections kill people. (CDC Director Tom Frieden, 6/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Transgender Surgery Isn't The Solution
Yet policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered by treating their confusions as a right in need of defending rather than as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention. This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken—it does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes. (Paul McHugh, 6/2)
