Health news round up

U.S. health system not sustainable, says Washington insurance commissioner

In an op-ed piece in today’s Seattle Times, Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says Congress cannot fail again to reform the U.S. health-care system.

Kreidler writes:

What Congress is considering now should have been done years ago. We need universal coverage, insurance that’s not necessarily tied to your employer, and to stop letting pre-existing conditions wall people off from coverage. It should be affordable, with financial help for those who truly need it. A substantive, public-plan competitor to private insurance would help keep insurers honest and be another choice in the marketplace.

To learn more:

• Read Kreidler’s op-ed piece: Health-care reform advice from Washington’s chief insurance regulator.

State court right to toss malpractice law, Seattle Times says

The Washington State Supreme Court was right to throwout a malpractice law that required patients to obtain a certificate of merit from an expert before they can sue for medical malpractice, the Seattle Times says in today’s lead editorial.

The court noted that the law required patients to obtain evidence to support their claims before the discovery process on which plaintiffs often depend to make their case.

The Times editors write:

“The right to have access to the courts is clearly stated in Article 1 of the Washington state Constitution,” the Seattle Times editors write.

“This wasn’t a close call for the Supreme Court and one does wonder why the Legislature enacted the law in 2006.”

To learn more:

• Read the Seattle Times editorial: Unfettered access to the courts.
• Read the article: State court throws out medical malpractice law.

Tax on “Cadillac” health plans could hit the Chevys too

New York Times reporter Reed Abelson writes that a provision in the health-reform bill proposed by Sen. Max Baucus last week to tax expensive “gold-plated” health insurance plans could lead to a tax on plans enjoyed by many union members and others in the middle class.

Abelson writes:

The tax is meant to raise more than a quarter of the $774 billion needed to pay for the Baucus plan. But just as much, the tax is intended to discourage the overly generous coverage that many experts say has helped propel the country’s reckless spending on medical care.

As it turns out, though, many smaller fish would get caught in Mr. Baucus’s tax net. The supposedly Cadillac insurance policies include ones that cover many of the nation’s firefighters and coal miners, older employees at small businesses — a whole gamut that runs from union shops to Main Street entrepreneurs.

Under the Baucus plan, insurers selling a plan costing more than $8,000 for an individual and $21,000 for a family would have to pay a 35 percent excise tax on the excess amount.

To learn more:

• Read Abelson’s article: A Tax on Cadillac Health Plans May Also Hit the Chevys
• Photo Credit: Creative Commons

Health insurance will be affordable, Obama says

New York Times reporters Jeff Zeleny and Robert Pear write in today’s paper that in his appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows yesterday, President Obama said that competitive insurance exchange markets and subsidies contained in health-reform legislation will make sure health insurance premiums will be affordable for the middle-class.

Some liberal Democrats charge that leading health-reform legislation under consideration in the Congress is not generous enough and will require middle-class families to buy insurance they cannot afford.

Zeleny and Pear write:

As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to take up the legislation this week, the White House is trying to hold together fractious Democrats, particularly those who believe that the plan is not generous enough for people required to buy insurance. Mr. Obama argued that the proposal was not a bad deal for the middle class and that it could not be called a tax hike.

To learn more:

• Read Zeleny and Pear’s article: Obama insists insurance will be affordable.

Tags: Health Insurance, Health-care Reform, Insurance, Malpractice

Category: News