| Schnurman: Employers' decades of healthcare experience should be
The Dallas chipmaker has a higher insurance premium for smokers, on-site walking programs and fitness centers, and an outside company to reach out to diabetics. This year, for the fifth time, it won a national award for the way it promotes healthy lifestyles for its employees. But you don’t see President Barack Obama touring TI or similar companies, dissecting the best practices of these key players in the American health system. So far, most of the high-profile attention has gone to places like the Cleveland and Mayo clinics, medical providers that offer top-notch treatment at a lower cost. It’s time to start drawing employers into the public discussion, and not just because they provide health coverage for more than half of all Americans.
Hospital officials have concerns on health reform
Richardson, chairman-elect of the Iowa Hospital Association, said he sees three main components to the bill: Insurance reform through prohibiting exempting people with pre-existing conditions and allowing portability; insuring nearly 50 million uninsured people; and cost reduction, as health care makes up about 17 percent of the gross national product. While Richardson said it's hard to argue with the former two components, he's not sure the cost savings are there. "I really believe they're overly exaggerating the amount of cost savings that can come out of health care right now," Richardson said. Taxation and penalties Platt said one of the main means of paying for health reform is putting an end to cost shifting. Now, the difference between reimbursement rates and costs is financed on the backs of people with private insurance.
Residents letting Boccieri know their health care insurance stance
Boccieri, meanwhile, said he hasn't made a decision on the proposed health insurance reform bill pending in the House. For starters, the initial bill was rolled through three House committees. Those three versions will be combined into a single bill. "I'm not going to take a position on something I haven't been able to read yet," Boccieri said. He believes reform is needed, saying that health care insurance and energy dependence have been the two biggest albatrosses weighing down the national economy. But Boccieri said he has concerns with some of the health insurance bill's proposals. He doesn't want to see small businesses bear the burden and be forced to take on coverage insurance companies won't pay. He likes efforts to focus on preventing health problems, because he believes that can help lower costs over the long term.
Pelosi's new tack on healthcare - target big insurance
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is bracing for “carpet bombing, shock and awe" from insurance companies directed at members of her caucus. “We have no illusions about what insurance companies will do to hold on to their power to exploit patients or about how much money they have to spend on it and what they have at stake," she told reporters at a round-table discussion in her Capitol Hill office Friday. At issue is a slight change in phrasing that signals a major shift in strategy. Most Americans like their current healthcare plans and are afraid that the healthcare reform legislation now in the works across five House and Senate committees will threaten it. 'Health insurance reform' So the new tack is to frame the heath debate around “health insurance reform." That means holding insurance companies accountable — “putting you and your doctor back in charge — not the insurance companies — to guarantee stability, lower costs, higher quality, and more choices of plans." That's the headline on the blue-and-white laminated card of talking points that the Speaker's office prepared for members heading back to their districts.
Republican San Diego Congressmen Address Health Care
He wants health care benefits to be portable and he says insurance companies should not refuse coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Yet he voted against health care reform legislation when it went before the House Education and Labor committee. "This bill does not do what it set out to do," says Hunter. "One, reduce costs and two, provide better health coverage and health insurance to the American people." Fellow republican Brian Bilbray says he also believes people with pre-existing conditions shouldn't be denied insurance. But he fears a government insurance option would give employers a reason to drop their coverage. House legislation, favored by Democrats, would require businesses to pay a tax if they do not provide health care benefits to their employees.
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