Among the trends that drove down the state’s rankings this year were rises in the rates of obesity, diabetes, and smoking — and a decline in high school graduation rates.
In several counties, more than 1 in 5 residents has no health coverage, according to a new report from Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “If anyone doubts the need for health care reform,” said Kreidler,”there are a million people out there that they should talk to.”
Despite a recession, the number of jobs in Washington state’s life sciences sector rose 9 percent from 2007 through the first quarter of this year, according to a report released at the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Associations 2011 Governor’s Life Sciences Annual.
New legislation that will make it tougher for parents to obtain exemptions to state laws requiring their children be vaccinated before attending public schools.
There has been a substantial drop in both smoking and alcohol use among Washington youth, according to a survey of more than 212,000 students in the state’s public schools.
At risk are some of the very programs seen today as national models: A state-subsidized Basic Health insurance plan, services that help the elderly and disabled stay out of nursing homes and insurance for 27,000 undocumented children.
Health care accounts for $10 billion — or nearly a third — of the state’s two-year budget and so is a prime target for cuts.
Health-care reform has passed, but how will we implement all the changes the new law will require? To try to come up with some answers, more than 300 experts will come together in Seattle on Wednesday, Jan. 6th for the 2011 State of Reform conference.
Seattle Times reporter Sean Collins Walsh writes that Washington’s new computer system for processing Medicaid payments is failing to pay so many valid claims that several doctors and clinics have stopped taking new Medicaid patients until they get paid for the ones they’ve already treated. Others say they soon may need to do the same, or even stop treating Medicaid patients altogether.
In a surprise move, Gov. Chris Gregoire has agreed to pay 85 percent of health-care premium costs for state workers in the next two-year budget, Seattle Times reporter Andrew Garber writes in today’s paper.
For those of us who have looked forward to the day when better health care access is provided to each and every person, it’s a great, new day.
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner explains how the new health reform law will effect you and when the changes will take effect.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Seattle Times Health News
Experts divided over recommendation to screen children for cholesterol
Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
People in state high-risk insurance plans often feel left behind
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Peeking in on your doctor’s notes
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
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