New Proposal Fills the 'Doughnut Hole' for Medicare Recipients
June 30, 2009 - Posted by Lauren McGlothlin
Last week, the Obama administration announced a proposal that would cut in half the prescription drug costs for all Medicare recipients who fall into a coverage gap in their drug plans.
As the nation's largest federal health care program, Medicare covers nearly 40 million Americans, primarily seniors over the age of 65 and people with disabilities. The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) allows Medicare patients to obtain insurance that covers some of their prescription drug costs.
Currently, more than 26 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in the plan, but about 26 percent of them are affected by a coverage gap. Medicare covers costs up to a specific point and then beyond a certain point, which forces beneficiaries that fall between these coverage levels, commonly referred to as the "doughnut hole," to pay for drugs out of their own pocket or stop taking medications if they can't afford to pay.
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New Report Finds Health Care Disparities; Reform Legislation Should Expand Access to Quality Health Care
June 17, 2009 - Posted by Alex Goldman
 Lack of Health Insurance: More than one in three Hispanics and American Indians - and just under one in five African Americans - are uninsured. In comparison, only about one in eight Whites lacks health insurance. As Congress considers legislation to expand access to health care, a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services on health care disparities between demographic groups shows that to reduce the disparities, Congress must make high-quality health care more affordable and invest in preventive care.
The report finds that minorities suffer from diseases and illnesses, like obesity, cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS at higher rates than Whites. For instance, African-American men are 50 percent more likely than Whites to have prostate cancer and American Indians suffer from diabetes at more than twice the rate of Whites.
In addition, because minorities and low-income people are more likely to be uninsured and lack access to preventive care, they are more likely to end up in the emergency room. For instance, Low-income women are 26 percent less likely than women in the highest income bracket to receive a mammogram.
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Most American Workers Want Health Care Reform Now; New Coalition Will Push Congress to Pass Legislation
June 2, 2009 - Posted by Dayo Adiatu
As the Obama administration pushes for health care reform this year, a new poll commissioned by the Change to Win, a coalition of labor unions, shows that most Americans (62 percent) support reforming the nation's health care system now.
A coalition of more than 1,000 progressive organizations, including Change to Win, Health Care For America Now (HCAN), and LCCR, have launched a national campaign to ensure real health care reform legislation passes this year, capitalizing on public support for a system that would provide quality health care to all Americans. It is the largest progressive issue campaign in history.
"We need healthcare for America now that lowers the income, racial, ethnic, language, gender, and disability barriers to access to health insurance and quality health care providers. We need coverage reform that is affordable for everyone and we need delivery reform that reaches into every neighborhood, and does it with care that works for every community," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of LCCR.
In this video interview with HCAN, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean talks about what it will take to get Congress to pass health care reform legislation.
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May Is Older Americans Month
May 29, 2009 - Posted by Clarissa Peterson
 May is Older Americans Month, a time to acknowledge the contributions older people have made and continue to make to our country, and to highlight our work to ensure that older Americans are able to live with dignity and security.
This year's theme for Older Americans Month is health care. Although Medicare provides health insurance coverage for people 65 or older, many seniors have difficulty getting the health care that they need.
One particular concern is prescription drugs, for which Medicare covers only part of the cost. A recent survey by The Senior Citizens League found that in the past year, 42 percent of respondents had postponed filling prescriptions or took less than the prescribed amount of a drug because of financial hardship.
Some states have programs that help low-income seniors and people with disabilities afford their prescription drugs, but the current financial crisis is causing some states to consider cutting funding to those programs.
Another concern for many seniors is being able to find a primary care doctor that will accept Medicare. Doctors are not required to accept Medicare insurance, and some choose not to because of low payments and complex paperwork requirements.
Combined with a nationwide shortage of primary care doctors, many seniors are faced with making dozens of phone calls before finding a doctor who will see them - or sometimes not finding one at all. A 2007 survey by The Commonwealth Foundation found that about a third of Medicare patients had trouble finding a doctor who would take Medicare.
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New Report Shows Millions of Americans Have Lost Health Care Coverage during the Recession
May 8, 2009 - Posted by Lauren McGlothlin
A new report on health care coverage over the last 15 months by the Center for American Progress shows that rapid increases in unemployment have increased the number of uninsured Americans.
Nearly 60 percent of Americans get health care through their employers. However, employers have cut 5.1 million jobs since the recession started and the report estimates that in that time 2.3 million people have lost their health insurance.
The report states that the highest number of losses occurred during the first four months of 2009, with over 1 million workers losing health care coverage – about 42 percent of the total losses since 2007.
These numbers only include those Americans who receive employer-provided insurance and doesn't reflect the number of families that have indirectly lost health coverage due to spouses or parents losing their jobs.
The report calls on the Obama administration to work on comprehensive health care reform now so that every American can have access to quality health care.
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National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day Focuses on Teenagers
May 7, 2009 - Posted by Isha Mehmood
 Today is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, an annual event created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) four years ago to bring attention to the mental health needs of children and promote effective and accessible services to meet these needs.
According to a report from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (PDF), approximately 4.5 to 6.3 million children and adolescents experience symptoms of a mental health disorder, such as depression, ADHD, or bipolar disorder. More than half of these children do not receive treatment due to high costs and few options for treatment in most communities.
This year's theme, "Thriving in the Community," focuses on the important role that community-based programs can play in addressing the mental health needs of high school students so that they can excel in education. Providing school-based mental health services also helps lower the anxiety of students with mental illnesses, and decrease the likelihood that they will attempt suicide.
SAMHSA's Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program works with communities to provide mental health care to children and assist schools with administering proper care.
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Civil Rights Groups Call for Health Coverage for Millions of Uninsured Children and Pregnant Women
April 20, 2009 - Posted by Jessica Agarwal
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) have joined together to advocate for health coverage for all children in the United States.
Although the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was reauthorized earlier this year, providing coverage for low-income children from families who are not covered by private insurance and do not qualify for Medicaid, at least five million additional children remain uninsured.
"For far too long, children and families have suffered because this country has failed to provide a basic need – access to affordable, quality health care," said NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía. "The health care system must be changed [to] address the deep-seated inequities that threaten to hold back this generation of children by causing illnesses that could have been prevented and, in the worst cases, premature death."
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Paralyzed Veterans of America Celebrate PVA Awareness Week
April 13, 2009 - Posted by Jessica Paquette
 In honor of its 63rd anniversary, the Paralyzed Veterans of America has made this week PVA Awareness Week, in order to celebrate its successes and achievements and highlight some of its current challenges.
During the week, PVA and its 34 chapters are holding events around the country to increase awareness about their work.
In addition, every day this week the PVA website will be providing information around a particular area of their work, starting with today's theme of their work to make sure veterans receive the health care and benefits they are due.
Currently, the veterans health care system has so many problems that some veterans wait for months before they can see a doctor.
President Obama recently announced plans to create a federal electronic database to better track veterans' medical records. The database will be overseen by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which will allow them to share information more easily.
Active members' health care is managed through DOD. Once a soldier is released from active duty, the VA takes over administering health care. Currently, the two agencies maintain separate databases and it's common for information to get lost during the transition from active duty to civilian.
"We are delighted that the President is making veterans a top priority for his administration … The issue of seamless transition of electronic medical records is a nut that needs to be cracked and will remove much of the needless red tape that folks coming home from conflict have to deal with," said Homer S. Townsend, national executive director of PVA.
The other PVA Awareness Week themes are: promoting wheelchair sports and recreation, advocating research into new treatments and cures for spinal cord injuries, increasing accessibility for people in wheelchairs, and empowering paralyzed veterans.
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Rising Unemployment Hits Minorities Hard, Could Affect Health Care Coverage Too
April 8, 2009 - Posted by Antoine Morris
Source: John Holahan and Bowen Garrett, Rising Unemployment, Medicaid, and the Uninsured, prepared for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, 2009. With unemployment rates for racial minorities exceeding the national average, minorities continue to be disproportionately affected by the economic downturn and overrepresented among the people who lack health insurance.
In March, the White unemployment rate was 7.9 percent compared to 11.4 percent for Latinos and 13.3 percent for African Americans.
Overall, the nation's unemployment rate reached a 26-year high, up from 12.5 million in February (8.1 percent) to 13.2 million in March (8.5 percent), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Since the great majority of Americans with health insurance have coverage through their employers, health care experts think rising unemployment will lead to more uninsured people. A 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that for each percentage point the unemployment rate rises, an additional 1.1 million people are uninsured.
This correlation between unemployment and health insurance will likely exacerbate existing racial disparities in health care coverage, with African Americans nearly twice as likely and Latinos three times as likely to be uninsured than whites.
The recession is also causing some struggling Americans to put off seeking needed care. A recent Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who are chosing to defer treatment because of medical costs rose from 19 percent in 2002 to 29 percent in late 2008.
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World Health Day 2009: Making Health Facilities Safe
April 7, 2009 - Posted by Jessica Paquette
Today is World Health Day, an annual celebration which marks the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) on April 7, 1948. The WHO, an agency of the United Nations, coordinates public health efforts worldwide, particularly by working to combat infectious diseases.
This year, World Health Day focuses on the safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers who treat people affected by emergencies, such as earthquakes, floods or outbreaks of communicable diseases.
Earlier today, the WHO called for governments to make their health facilities disaster-proof -- a message that is especially apt the day after an earthquake in Italy killed more than 200 people. A hospital in the town of L'Aquina had to be evacuated due to structural damage.
"The tragedy of emergencies or disasters is compounded when health facilities fail," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "When a hospital collapses, all its functions are disrupted, lives that depend on emergency care can be lost."
View more WHO World Health Day 2009 videos.
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