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May 9, 2008
Health Care Costs, A Competitive Disadvantage
From Kaiser.org, its invaluable daily reports:
U.S. manufacturers that offer health insurance to employees spend an average of $2.38 per worker per hour on health care, substantially more than the amount spent by foreign competitors, according to a report released on Tuesday by the New America Foundation, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Times, the report "provides support for the now-familiar lament of employers -- that rising health care costs are eating into the corporate bottom line."Not the way we'd characterize it. How about: "provides support for the reality employers face, that rising health care costs make it more difficult to compete in the global marketplace."
In its materials, the Foundation summarizes:
A new model for health care that...Again for the report and briefing paper, start here.reforms the current insurance marketplace;
provides income-based subsidies; and
is individual, rather than employer-based,
...would enable us to finance our 21st-century health system in a more sustainable and competitive way.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:42 AM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend
May 6, 2008
Other SF News: Higher Costs, More Government
From The San Francisco Chronicle, last Friday:
San Francisco's groundbreaking program to provide health care to all 73,000 uninsured city residents received a major lift this week as more than 700 businesses in the city signed up for the plan.Major boost! Guess the critics were wrong, right? Except....The businesses represent 12,900 employees, more than half of whom are eligible for the Healthy San Francisco program, which currently enrolls 19,000 people. The other employees are eligible for a health-care reimbursement account.
The program is expected to cost about $200 million a year, with a portion of that paid by employers who join. So far, businesses have contributed about $6 million to the program, according to the Department of Public Health.Well, they're 3 percent of the way! (If that $200 million figure isn't a low-ball figure.)
The Pacific Research Institute's John Graham comments, "And, did I mention that San Francisco, like California, has a big bomb of a budget deficit before taking SFHAP into account?"
The NAM has filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit brought by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association against the city plan, which violates ERISA, the federal law that supersedes state and local regulation of employee-provided health care.
Posted by Carter Wood at 8:59 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
April 13, 2008
The War Against Carbon Dioxide Goes Too Far
From The San Jose Mercury-News:
SACRAMENTO - Joe Six-pack will have to pay a lot more to get his buzz on if Assemblyman Jim Beall has his way.Well, then, let's get all the attorneys general together and sue the beer industry. Force them to reach a settlement.The San Jose Democrat on Thursday proposed raising the beer tax by $1.80 per six-pack, or 30 cents per can or bottle. The current tax is 2 cents per can. That's an increase of about 1,500 percent.
Beall said the tax would generate $2 billion a year to fund health care services, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and addiction.
"The people who use alcohol should pay for part of the cost to society, just like we've accepted that concept with tobacco," Beall said.
NO, NO! Just kidding. That's just the reductio ad absurdum for the logic behind this tax-hungry attack on a single industry AND on the consumers and taxpayers who enjoy its product.
And, unfortunately, this punitive, jobs-killing mindset isn't so absurdum. From the Ellsworth-American in Maine comes a doctor's public policy prescription to fight obesity:
Because whole milk is a gateway drug?Tax unhealthy foods with funds going towards either environmental health improvements such as sidewalks or offsetting the higher price of fruits and vegetables. Could tax sugar sweetened items per gram. Ban sales of whole milk in stores. Legislate zoning in school areas to require businesses to have a minimum percent of sales be healthy foods.
The totalitarian impulse appears way too often among public-health advocates.
Posted by Carter Wood at 7:46 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
April 2, 2008
Calling for Better Health Care Through Technology
Good column from Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon, at the Health Affairs Blog on the need to enact Health IT legislation.
At Verizon, health care benefits used to be just one more element in a package of benefits, but now it is a line item in our budget of $4 billion annually and growing. Over 900,000 employees, retirees, and their families depend on our company for health care. We have a commitment to support the health and well-being of our employees and their families, so we have to figure out how to maintain this responsibility as its share of our corporate budget continues to grow. The technology to do so exists today but must be implemented thoughtfully. The first thing we need to do is adopt interconnected and interoperable standards for health IT platforms so that electronic medical records can be shared seamlessly among health care providers, as required by the bipartisan Wired for Health Care Quality Act.The legislation is S. 1693 and H.R. 3800, which the NAM is also working to support as a member of the Health IT Now! Coalition.
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 2:45 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
April 1, 2008
First: Do Now Harm -- The S.F. Health Ordinance
From BizJournals:
San Francisco restaurateurs' legal battle with the city's novel health plan is gaining supporters.The Golden Gate Restaurant Association has a resource-rich webpage devoted to its opposition to the city ordinance, available here.At least nine groups have submitted briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals urging judges to halt mandatory business payments to a program designed to provide coverage to as many as 82,000 uninsured adult city residents. The plan, called Healthy San Francisco, is also funded by city money and payments from people who are enrolled.
Groups including the National Federation of Independent Business, the California Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Department of Labor have written the court arguing that the city's health plan is superseded by a federal law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which restricts local governments from administering employee benefits.
The NAM's news release and amicus brief are available here.
Posted by Carter Wood at 1:18 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
March 31, 2008
San Francisco's Employer Insecurity Ordinance
Last Friday the National Association of Manufacturers joined the Society for Human Resource Management and the International Franchise Association (IFA) in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case, Golden Gate Restaurant v. San Francisco. The suit involves San Francisco's law, "The Health Care Security Ordinance," that requires companies doing business in the city to provide employee health insurance or pay into a city fund for the uninsured.
This is an obvious violation of ERISA, the 1970s' era law through which federal employment-benefits law supersedes state and local laws. In their drive for universal health care, San Francisco and other mandate-happy localities would create an even more expensive, unsustainable system, featuring potentially thousands of different local laws on health-care coverage.
In December, a federal court ruled the city had violated ERISA, but the usual suspects at the 9th Circuit suspended the district court’s ruling and allowed the ordinance to go into effect in January 2008.
“Congress understood that without a dependable set of national rules on employee benefits, businesses will find it too complicated and expensive to work across state lines,” said Quentin Riegel, NAM's director of litigation. “That’s why ERISA has always superseded state and local laws like San Francisco’s.”
Representing the three trade associations is the law firm of Ogletree Deakins, with Tom Christina as lead attorney. The amicus brief is available at the NAM’s website, here, and the IFA issued its own news release.
The National Federation of Independent Business is also alarmed, given the imposition of yet another mandate on the small employers they represent. From the NFIB news release:
"This ordinance is extremely unfair to small employers, the real job creators in California and across the country," said John Kabateck, NFIB/California executive director. "If this ordinance is upheld, small employers will be forced to make difficult decisions about whether to lay off staff, increase prices on consumers or if possible, move their business out of San Francisco. Hurting small employers in this manner is simply unacceptable and should not be permitted by our state or local laws."
The online trade publication, Occupational Health and Safety, covered recent developments in this article.
UPDATE (9:15 a.m.) Washingotn Post small-business reporter/blogger Sharon McLoone has more on the legal developments in her column today.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:10 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
March 24, 2008
Wash Post Highlights Rising Health-Care Costs
Washington Post, page one today, an overview of an issue that manufacturers know all too well: "Rising Health Costs Cut Into Wages -- Higher Fees Squeeze Employers, Workers":
Employees and employers are getting squeezed by the price of health care. The struggle to control health costs is viewed as crucial to improving wages and living standards for working Americans. Employers are paying more for health care and other benefits, leaving less money for pay increases. Benefits now devour 30.2 percent of employers' compensation costs, with the remaining money going to wages, the Labor Department reported this month. That is up from 27.4 percent in 2000.The NAM's Jeri Gillespie is quoted.
Nearly nine out of 10 firms that responded to a National Association of Manufacturers survey last year named the cost of health insurance as one of their top-three worries -- ranking it higher than government regulation, competition from imports or finding qualified employees.Speaks for itself, really.An increasing number of companies are trying to control costs by promoting employee wellness campaigns and pushing insurance companies and health providers for more details about their operations.
"Certainly, it is frustrating for the benefit managers and the budgeters," said Jeri Gillespie, vice president for human resources policy at NAM. "They say, 'my pot is only so big every year and our health-care costs are rising.' "
Posted by Carter Wood at 10:55 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
Blogging the Issues at Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson grabs the blogging reins with hands & hands and does a very nice job at JNJBTW.com. NJBiz profiled the project last week, "Spreading the Word with a Corporate Blog."
Marc Monseau, J&J’s director of corporate communications, says jnjbtw.com helps the company connect with everyone from employees to suppliers while discussing regulatory and other ticklish issues in a candid fashion. It can even be used to settle scores.Elsewhere in Blogospheria, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz discovers another communications platform, "With BlogTalkRadio, the Commentary Universe Expands."“Everyone else is talking about our company, so why can’t we?” Monseau says on the site. “I will try to find a voice that often gets lost in formal communications.”
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:48 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
March 14, 2008
Tort Reform: Beating Back the Beating Back
Last week we noted the recent successes the plaintiff's bar had in beating back medical malpractice reforms, including the defeat of a bill in Hawaii's legislature to limit non-economic damages.
Now there's new news from the islands, good news:
The original house bill died a couple of weeks ago when the judiciary committee refused to hear it, but Wednesday, the health committee passed a revised version of a senate bill that keeps tort reform alive.The American Tort Reform Association has a new white paper out on anti-reform agenda being driven by tort lawyers, "Defrocking Tort Reform: Stopping Personal Injury Lawyers from Repealing Existing Tort Reforms and Expanding Right to Sue in State Legislatures." From the news release, quoting Sherman "Tiger" Joyce, ATRA's president:The bill still many hurdles to cross, but its revival today indicates there's enough support to at least give it a fighting chance.
"This is a crisis, that is here today," said Dr. Goto. "Physicians are leaving the state and cutting back on their practices."
"The front-page prosecutions of Bill Lerach and Dickie Scruggs, coupled with various tort reform court victories in recent years, make it easy enough for some in the media and elsewhere to believe that the plaintiffs' bar is in retreat...The full paper is available here as a .pdf file.But as this new white paper makes clear, personal injury lawyers and their allies are still aggressively, if subtly, on the march, particularly at the state level. Their drive to expand liability and litigation markets has been quiet, but it's robust and as opportunistic as ever.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:56 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
March 4, 2008
McCain Reinforces Unfounded Autism Claims
Remarks by Sen. John McCain about the potential that autism can be caused by thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines, are gradually drawing more attention. First reported by ABC News, McCain's remarks came last week in town-hall meeting in Texas.
It’s indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what’s causing it. And we go back and forth and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines.No, there is NOT strong evidence that autism has anything to do with thimerosal. It is a claim made by some parents of autistic children, trial lawyers -- of course -- and demagogue activists like Bobby Kennedy Jr.
Walter Olson at Overlawyered.com has a good collection of commentary, links and resources about the false claims against thimerosal. He quotes Mark Kleiman, certainly no industry apologist, who has also written on the controversy:
[The] thimerosal-autism theory is as dead as phlogiston in respectable company. I'm not surprised that "respectable company" excludes a few ambulance-chasing lawyers looking for deep pockets and a some emotionally devastated parents looking for someone to blame.Yes. The fact is autism has continued to exist after the mercury-containing preservative was removed from vaccines, so...But it's distressing — to use no stronger term — that the presumptive Republican nominee for President, rather than looking at the evidence, has chosen to side with the panic-spreaders and pander to the emotions of the panic victims.
Most discouraging about a presidential candidate lending credence to these claims is that it may prompt some parents to forego vaccinations for their children. So we get more illness, more long-term damage to children's health, because the plaintiff's bar has ginned up a medical controversy. Awful.
UPDATE (10:40 a.m.): More from The New York Times. And a very clear, point-by-point assessment of the claims by Arthur Allen at Slate, from 2005.
Posted by Carter Wood at 10:16 AM | 5 comments; click here to read them or submit your own! | Send to a Friend
March 3, 2008
Trial Lawyers Beating Back Medical Tort Reform
All this reported last week....
Posted by Carter Wood at 7:36 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
March 1, 2008
Health IT: The View from the West Coast
Don Brunnell, president of the Association Washington Business, takes note of last week's news Health IT Now! news conference featuring Governors Culver, Manchin and Douglas, and adds a local perspective.
In eastern Washington, medical provides have a sophisticated electronic medical link. AWB President Don Brunell's column earlier this year addressed this topic and on May 22, Rich Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association (AHA) will address AWB's spring meeting in Spokane on health care and Health IT.
Posted by Carter Wood at 2:11 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
February 29, 2008
Health IT: The Governors Take Charge
As Congress moves (too) slowly on legislation to encourage adoption of health information technology, some state leaders are saying, in effect, "What's taking so long? We've made so much progress at the state level, now let's get moving in Washington."
That was a strong message left earlier this week by three governors speaking at a news conference called by Health IT Now! coalition, an event moderated by National Association of Manufacturers President John Engler.
Governors Chet Culver (D-IA), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jim Douglas (R-VT), each outlined the widespread success of Health IT within each of their own states. Their initiatives couple public and private cooperation to bring efficiency to health care via a uniform information exchange network. In switching from paper files to digital information, the states have eased access for doctors and patients to electronic medical records, established medical information exchange via a secure network, and helped bring costs under control.
We've created a webpage with video highlights from the news conference, including links to each governor's statement. Please visit the site here. And the Health IT Now! news release is available here.
(Caption: From left, Governors Culver, Douglas and Manchin discuss health IT at a National Press Club news conference, 2/25/08.)
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 10:32 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
February 25, 2008
Health Care Syndicalism, a Sick Idea
"What if the doctors went out on strike?" asks the Pacific Research Institute's John R. Graham in today's Examiner. The question is elicited by the talk of unionizing doctors, which then raises broader issues about the U.S. health-care system.
Unionizing doctors is not the answer; giving control back to patients is. Let them choose and pay doctors without the bewildering array of bureaucratic intermediaries. The cost savings would be enormous, and doctors and patients alike would feel like they have control over their treatment.
Posted by Carter Wood at 10:20 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
February 22, 2008
FDA Pre-Market Approval and Medtronic
The Supreme Court's ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic reminds one of how involved and safety-conscious the FDA pre-market approval process is. Phew.
Premarket approval is a “rigorous” process. Lohr, 518 U. S., at 477. A manufacturer must submit what is typically a multivolume application. FDA, Device Advice— Premarket Approval (PMA) 18, http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ devadvice/pma/printer.html. It includes, among other things, full reports of all studies and investigations of the device’s safety and effectiveness that have been published or should reasonably be known to the applicant; a “full statement” of the device’s “components, ingredients, and properties and of the principle or principles of operation”; “a full description of the methods used in, and the facilities and controls used for, the manufacture, processing, and,when relevant, packing and installation of, such device”; samples or device components required by the FDA; and a specimen of the proposed labeling. §360e(c)(1). Before deciding whether to approve the application, the agency may refer it to a panel of outside experts, 21 CFR§814.44(a) (2007), and may request additional data fromthe manufacturer, §360e(c)(1)(G).Do we really want to replicate state regulation of medical devices sold in interstate commerce? It's the logical extension of allowing lawsuits under state tort law.The FDA spends an average of 1,200 hours reviewing each application, Lohr, supra, at 477, and grants premarket approval only if it finds there is a “reasonable assurance” of the device’s “safety and effectiveness,” §360e(d).
Posted by Carter Wood at 2:35 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
February 20, 2008
A Sensible Standard for Medical Devices
A good ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in a product liability case, Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. From Reuters:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court handed a victory to Medtronic Inc on Wednesday, ruling that patients cannot sue medical-device manufacturers in state court over harm from a device that has approval from federal regulators.To function in any sort of predictable, profitable way, medical device manufacturers have to rely on a reasonable approval process that provides some level of certainty. Congress has determined that FDA, that is, federal approval is the proper way to achieve that certainty, logically enough given the interstate commerce considerations. You simply cannot change the standards every time there's a lawsuit.By an 8-1 vote, the court ruled a 1976 law creating federal safety oversight for medical devices bars state-law claims challenging safety or effectiveness of devices that have won premarket approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In his majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia argued, "State tort law that requires a manufacturer's catheters to be safer, but hence less effective, than a model the FDA has approved disrupts the federal scheme no less than state regulatory law to the same effect." He suggested that tort law, applied by juries, is "less deserving of preservation" than statutory law or regulations, because juries, unlike federal or state officials, do not take into account the benefits of a particular product design along with its risks.
Here's the the NAM summary of the case notes. More on Riegel and several other federal pre-emption cases from The Jurist. The Supreme Court's opinion is available here.
Posted by Carter Wood at 12:45 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
February 13, 2008
Health IT, Keeping Costs Down, Quality Up
From IDG News Service, reporting on a Capitol Hill demonstration/news conference that took place yesterday.
WASHINGTON -- Congress needs to pass health care IT legislation before private companies develop multiple systems that don't talk to one another, two advocacy groups said today.The National Association of Manufacturers is a member of the Health IT Now coalition, which has its website here. The NAM news release is available here.Members of the Health IT Now coalition and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) urged Congress to move ahead with health IT legislation such as the Promoting Health Information Technology Act (PDF format). The bill would establish a public/private group to recommend health IT standards and certification, and it would budget $163 million annually for health care providers to adopt health IT products such as electronic health records.
Government Health IT also had a story.
Posted by Carter Wood at 8:16 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 30, 2008
Profits: The Keys to the Cures
Megan McArdle, a blogger at the Atlantic, has been writing about the pharmaceutical industry the last few days, that profits make R&D possible and increased government controls will work against pharmaceutical innovation. She does a fine job of refuting the usual arguments meant to undermine pharma: Government will replace the R&D, we should get Europe to pay more, the companies can just reduce advertising, etc.
Here's a basic point that too often gets ignored by the statists, populists and well-meaning simplifists:
I don't think of R&D as a budgeting problem; I think of it as an investment problem. After all, even if the pharmaceutical industry has no profits right now, they can borrow the money in the financial markets at fairly attractive rates.Posts here, here, here and here.The main obstacle to R&D, then, is not the current state of pharmaceutical industry profits; it is the potential return on the investment in R&D. After all, Merck doesn't have to make drugs; it could generate a nice, safe return of 5% a year in government bonds. Or it could get into some other business, such as making soap. If you drive down the profits on new drugs too far, it stops making sense to invest in new drugs, even if there is a small profit to be made on current production.
(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:16 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 25, 2008
Malpractice Reforms Bring Balance to Health Care
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new report says the number of medical malpractice claims in Ohio dropped 20 percent from 2005 to 2006.The press release from the department's director, Mary Jo Hudson, is pretty oblique, really, obscuring malpractice reform's clear contribution to curbing jackpot justice. Political spin, most likely. (Full report here.)The report released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Insurance says there were 4,006 medical malpractice claims reported for 2006, compared with 5,051 for 2005.
The department attributed the drop to changes made by lawmakers five years ago as they tried to deal with growing concern about the number of claims and the size of jury verdicts.
Some of those changes included caps on the amount of money injured patients could receive for pain-and-suffering, and attempts to restrict so-called frivolous lawsuits against doctors.
The legal climate is definitely improving in Ohio. Last month the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of caps on damages, reforms enacted by the Legislature.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:09 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 17, 2008
ERISA: Not an Obstacle, but the Foundation
USA Today has a front page story, "Health plans up against U.S. law" (although the online version says "Universal health care plans..."), casting ERISA as a roadblock to state and city health-care "reform" plans. The sidebar on 3A then adds business to the list of obstacles, "Businesses fight plans to ensure health care." The whole premise is off the mark.
The notion that ERISA was intended to “shield” businesses from varying rules and thus impede health care reform is ridiculous. Employers voluntarily provide quality health care to more than 100 million employees in this country. ERISA simply facilitates this process and allows employers to offer these benefits uniformly to employees who live and work in multiple states.
Erode ERISA and you eliminate the primary source of quality care for millions of Americans. How is that for appropriate reform? Complex rules and administrative constraints – which would prevail without ERISA -- make benefits less affordable for employees and their dependents.
Earlier: San Francisco Health Care: Risk and ERISA
Jeri Gillespie is vice president of Human Resources Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 2:13 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 15, 2008
San Francisco Health Care: Risk and ERISA
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has given San Francisco the go ahead to implement its universal health care plan, approving the city ordinance that forces employers to either provide health care insurance to their employees or pay into a fund for the uninsured. A copy of the court's order is here; the case is Golden Gate Restaurant Assocation v. San Francisco.
The decision temporarily blocks a lower court's ruling that held that the city's Health Care Security Ordinance was pre-empted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, the landmark 1974 federal law that permits employers to maintain uniform benefits for their employees, regardless of where they live or work. Employers have many differing views on health care reform, but nearly all agree on ERISA's fundamental value. Without it, employers are faced with burdensome and conflicting mandates and regulations from all 50 states and thousands of local governments.
The court's ruling should provide an early indicator of what's to come in terms of "reform" on the health care front. The worry is that other cities and states might act to quickly follow San Francisco, which is just what Congress intended to avoid by passing ERISA more than 30 years ago. We can expect further litigation, potentially all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At a time when we're concerned with the growing number of uninsured in this country and access to quality health care, do we want to jeopardize a successful program that covers more than 100 million health care consumers? From an employer's perspective, ERISA is the very foundation from which health care was built and while reform is necessary, maybe we should maintain the parts of care proven to work.
Various trade associations and businesses have joined forces to preserve the federal framework embodied in ERISA. Called the National Coalition on Benefits or NCB, our goal is to spread the word about the federal framework that has been successful in encouraging employers to provide the health benefits that many Americans value. The website is www.coalitionbenefitsonbenefits.org. We view this coalition as a way for manufacturers and other employers to stick up for the ability to offer employee health-care benefits across state lines.
A thousand different San Francisco-like health care systems across the country would be impossible to manage, increase health care costs dramatically, and in the end, hurt the quality of care. Let’s prevent that unhealthy outcome by preserving ERISA.
News stories:
Jeri Gillespie is vice president of Human Resources Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 8:13 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 9, 2008
D.C. Council: Get Your Priorities Straight
The D.C. City Council voted 7-6 vote on Tuesday to license pharmaceutical company sales representatives, making it the first city in the country to regulate drug sales reps.
So a city with 181 killings in 2007 -- an increase of 7 percent over the previous year -- where the government financial scandals come fast and furious, is going to establish and operate a new regulatory regime. Forgive us if we lack confidence in D.C. ability's to carry out this oversight.
[Opponents] worried about the precedent such regulation would set for other sales positions, as well as the effects of promising to police an industry better than the federal government can.Correct. More costs, redundant government and no obvious benefits. Lots of potential for shakedowns and corruption, though."Over-regulation, misguided regulation, bad regulation affects everybody," said Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, D- Ward 4, who voted against the bill. "I know it won't do what it claims to do."
Another bit of silliness: The bill, called SafeRx, requires drug reps to have a bachelor's degree. Why not specify the course of study, too? No art history majors need apply.
UPDATE (1:10 p.m.) PhRMA comment, from Washington Post story:
"The bill was significantly revised, but it does absolutely nothing to benefit patients," Ken Johnson, senior vice president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement released after the vote. "It is still legislation looking for a reason to exist. The fact is the licensing of sales representatives is not needed."
Posted by Carter Wood at 8:29 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
December 13, 2007
Senate Says Tough Luck, Rural Ob-Gyns
The Senate on Wednesday voted 41 yeas to 53 nays to reject an amendment to the Farm Bill that would have capped pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice suits against rural ob-gyns at $750,000. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH):
We are going to follow what has happened in the law that has been set up in Texas and California, two States which have confronted this issue of liability insurance for doctors and have come up with a plan that has alleviated the cost of the insurance so doctors are able to practice in those States. It essentially says that in the area of economic recovery, you can recover every expenditure, every loss you had, if you were injured as a result of malpractice on the part of a doctor delivering a baby in a rural area.We won't pretend that this debate was much more than about making a point, but it was informative. You can read excerpts here.But in the area of pain and suffering, where so much of the huge awards occur, and where you have had these real decisions that have been in the numbers that are multiple millions, that won't happen any longer. We are going to limit recovery in the pain and suffering area to what has been the standard in Texas and California, which is $750,000 per incident.
The practical effect of this is very simple. It will mean doctors who wish to practice in rural America, who wish to deliver babies for farm families and for other families who live in rural America will be able to pursue those practices and still make a living, something they cannot do in many parts of this country today, so women in these communities will not have to drive for miles and miles to get adequate health care, especially when they are having children.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:29 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
December 12, 2007
D.C. Doesn't Have Better Things to Do?
From today's Washington Post:
The D.C. Council voted 7 to 6 yesterday to give initial approval to legislation that would make the District the first jurisdiction in the country to license pharmaceutical sales representatives, a major blow to the prescription drug industry and one that could have national implications if states follow the District's lead.What else is pressing in D.C. these days?
Here is a statement from Ken Johnson, senior vice president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, via a spokesman:
We regret that the council voted in favor of legislation that creates unnecessary financial burdens for the District of Columbia at a time when the money would be better spent addressing a wide array of health care challenges confronting the city including HIV/AIDS, diabetes and heart disease. .The bill passed by the council puts the city into a regulatory arena that has been effectively addressed by federal laws and federal government agencies for years.City Councilman Marion Barry is right. (It happens now and then.) "Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) called the debate 'misdirected energy.'"
Posted by Carter Wood at 7:58 AM | 2 comments; click here to read them or submit your own! | Send to a Friend
November 27, 2007
John Edwards: Buy or Die (Health Care, That Is)
John Edwards, a Democratic candidate for president, says there will be no choice as to signing up for health care when he's president. From ABC News:
I'm mandating healthcare for every man woman and child in America and that's the only way to have real universal healthcare."For some reason, the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution comes to mind."Everytime you go into contact with the healthcare system or the government you will be signed up."
During a press avail following the event Edwards reiterated his mandate:
"Basically every time they come into contact with either the healthcare system or the government, whether it's payment of taxes, school, going to the library, whatever it is they will be signed up."
When asked by a reporter if an individual decided they didn't want healthcare Edwards quickly responded, "You don't get that choice."
(Hat tip: Rob Port.)
Posted by Carter Wood at 12:38 PM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend
November 21, 2007
Tort Reform: Improving Medical Care
From the Michigan State Medical Society:
DETROIT, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A clear indication that Michigan's 1993 tort reforms are working is that the state's largest physician medical malpractice insurer is cutting its premiums by 12 to 25 percent for Wayne County physicians, the Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) announced today at a news conference in Detroit.Sophie J. Womack, MD, a Detroit neonatalogist who serves on the Medical Society's board, makes two salient points:The average decrease for all physicians in Wayne County will be 13 percent beginning January 1, according to American Physicians Assurance Corporation, a medical liability insurer based in East Lansing that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the publicly held American Physicians Capital, Inc. (APCapital). Statewide, American Physicians' malpractice insurance rates will be reduced by an average of 6.5 percent in 2008.
Meanwhile, in Cook County, Illinois, where a judge struck down caps earlier this month:
By the best estimates, the country is short 80,000 to 100,000 physicians, and that shortage will at least double by the year 2020," Smith said. "The number of doctors is not going down. What's causing the shortage is consumption of services is going up at a rate of 40 percent. It's going to be made even worse by the baby-boom generation, who will hit the retirement window in four to five years."
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:52 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
November 20, 2007
From Maryland, More Trouble for Expanded SCHIP
Maryland has just increased its tobacco tax by $1 a pack of cigarettes. Minnesota this year raised its tobacco tax -- oh, excuse us, "health impact fee" -- by 75 cents a pack. In Wisconsin, Governor Doyle pushed through a $1 a pack increase.
Indeed, a July 13th summary by the Tax Foundation -- before the Wisconsin and Maryland increases -- reported, "Thirty-six states have increased cigarette taxes since 2002, some more than once. The trend is not slowing, as five states have already increased their tax in 2007."
Tobacco demand IS elastic, right? After all, health advocates promote higher cigarette taxes to discourage smoking, especially by children. Always the children.
So with all these state increases, Congress' plans to raise federal tobacco taxes to fund more children's health coverage should, rightfully, be going up in smoke.
Posted by Carter Wood at 8:33 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
November 14, 2007
Illinois Judge Overturns Medical Malpractice Limits
From our friends at the indefatigable Illinois Civil Justice League, bad news on the health-care front.
An Illinois judge struck down a state law Tuesday protecting doctors and hospitals from large payouts in medical malpractice cases, a move that could reopen the bitter political fight over patients' rights and big-money lawsuits.That's the angle? The political consequences. Gee. Maybe the more serious consequences are lives and medical costs.*
Judge Larsen's ruling (in .pdf).
Illinois Civil Justice League statement.
Illinois State Medical Society statement:
“We are disappointed in the decision, which strikes down the very careful and deliberate effort of the state legislature to bring vital reforms to Illinois,” said Theodore B. Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General and prominent constitutional scholar who heads the ISMS/ISMIE team defending the law.Illinois State Hospital Association statement.“In 2005, Illinois lawmakers faced health care shortages throughout Illinois due to an exodus of medical professionals triggered by out-of-control medical malpractice litigation. It’s a well-documented fact that reforms like these are working in other states. They attract more doctors and make health care more widely available,” stated Mr. Olson.
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association statement.
* To be fair to the reporter, the rulings' effect on costs and medical care are theoretical and disputed. The political battle? That's a certainty.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:45 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
November 8, 2007
Diminishing Returns, No Ifs, Ands or Butts
The Democratic leader of the state Assembly announced a final effort Monday to pass a health care overhaul before the end of the year, proposing a $2-a-pack tax on cigarettes to help expand coverage to all 6.8 million uninsured Californians.Tuesday in Oregon:
Smokers in Oregon are breathing easier after voters defeated a cigarette tax increase to pay for children’s health care in Tuesday’s special election.In Washington, from the Heritage Foundation, on the latest House-passed SCHIP reform:With 54 percent of the expected vote counted, Measure 50, proposing an 84.5 cent tax increase per pack, was rejected by 60 percent of the state’s voters. Among Oregon’s 36 counties, the cigarette tax intended to extend health insurance to more than 100,000 uninsured children through a new “Healthy Kids” program was passing only in Multnomah County.
The bill depends on 10 years of tobacco revenue to pay for a 5-year bill. Therefore, in 2012, either millions of kids will be forced off SCHIP or Congress will have to inject an estimated $59.3 billion in new spending to maintain enrollment. Moreover, not only does a tobacco tax disproportionately target low-income families, but Heritage Foundation analysts estimate that 22 million new smokers would be needed to fund the proposal.And in Washington, D.C.:
According to Leavitt, President Bush will veto the latest version of SCHIP legislation, as well as any version of the measure that includes a tobacco tax increase. "The president has been very clear that he does not intend, is not willing, to raise taxes and doesn't think it's necessary," Leavitt said (Johnson, CongressDaily, 11/6).Policymakers who propose tobacco taxes as a way to fund a defacto entitlement program are pandering, unserious, or fully intend to replace those revenues with another tax in the future.
Posted by Carter Wood at 8:34 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
November 2, 2007
Friday Follies: SCHIP - Care Enough to Smoke?
A little detour today into political commentary as humor, a YouTube video by Nicolai1951, mocking the financing of SCHIP by tobacco taxes.
A disgusting habit? No, an act of charity. For the children.
Nicolai1951, a recent user name at YouTube, is being described in the blogosphere as "the mysterious Nicolai1951," raising the image of the lonely video pamphleteer. Eh...looks awfully well produced (good lighting) for an amateur product.
In any case, a very clever use of humor in politics. Not enough to sway the Senate to kill the bill on the second go-around, but still...
To watch this week's Friday Follies, click here.
Posted by Carter Wood at 7:16 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 29, 2007
How to Make Prescription Drugs More Expensive
The American Association for Justice, né the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, is sponsoring a daylong program in New York today: Pharma and Beyond: Litigation Today with Special Guest Mark Lanier.
Taking lessons learned from going up against big pharma, this one-day program will offer unique insights beneficial to all plaintiff lawyers. Special guest Mark Lanier will be joined by an outstanding faculty of trial lawyers and consultants who will share with you the insights, techniques, and strategies they developed in handling landmark pharmaceutical cases. This seminar is designed to teach you how to take these valuable tools and apply them to every type of case you handle.Cost of the seminar: $695. Now which client can we bill this to?
Guest speaker is Harold Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman and now head of the Democratic Leadership Council, the self-styled moderate/center group. You know what would be gutsy, in a moderate/center kind of way? Telling the audience that tort reform is necessary to help rein in medical costs and restore true accountability to our system of civil litigation.
P.S. Lanier's law firm website is here. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog wrote about Lanier and his Vioxx suit last year.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:35 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 24, 2007
Tort Reform Successes: Florida Medical Malpractice
Good to see that people's efforts are achieving results, with the medical malpractice climate improving in Florida and more doctors willing to provide ob-gyn services. True, the improvements appear to be on the margins, but there is clearly a cause-and-effect relationship with the legislation that was passed. From the Sun-Herald:
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reports that malpractice premiums have at least stabilized. The agency does a report each year on Florida's medical malpractice market. The 2007 edition, released in late September, may have been the most encouraging in a long time.The other key signs of progress:Malpractice rates declined nearly 3.1 percent during 2006, OIR reported. While this may not sound like much, in past years Florida doctors could depend on a double-digit premium increase nearly every year. Some practitioners couldn't find coverage at any price.
"This report shows that the Florida Legislature's efforts to control these costs has been effective," claims Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in a statement.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:05 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
Counterfeit Drugs, Killing
Many compelling reasons present themselves to oppose the spread of counterfeit drugs. Fakes represent theft of millions upon millions of dollars of value, undermine international protection of intellectual property, and its damage often redounds -- unjustly -- to pharmaceutical companies.
And counterfeits kill. This article in The American, the magazine of the American Enterprise Institute, documents the death that counterfeits spread throughout the developing world. Author Roger Bate, an AEI fellow, focuses on the harm afflicting Nigerians, especially those suffering from malaria. Not only do their diseases go untreated when they buy fake drugs, adulterated or diluted pharmaceutical dosages help diseases build drug resistance, endangering entire populations.
Many of these products contain no active ingredients at all—one survey in Cambodia showed that over 90 percent of the fake antimalarials seized there contained nothing more potent than chalk. Most of the products tested in Africa do contain some antimalarial compounds, but in many cases not enough to prevent disease—the patient isn’t cured but the parasite has a chance to build up the ability to resist the therapy and pass on that resistance to new generations of parasites. Weakened versions of real malaria drugs can do a great deal more harm in the long term than totally fake ones.Bate also details how international aid organizations, such as WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, engage in practices that in effect encourage the spread of counterfeits. With U.S. taxpayers accounting for 35 percent of the Fund's financing, Bate suggests it's time for accountability, and he reports on successful anti-crime initiatives in Nigeria. In the process, Bate hits another reason for fighting fakes -- they're increasingly made and distributed by organized crime.Researchers estimated that 86 percent of understrength medicines analyzed in Kenya and Congo came from India and China. Who makes the bad drugs? Some are deliberate perpetrators, faking the packaging and relabeling aspirin or chalk as an antimalarial. But other culprits are legitimate firms that are simply slack in their operations; with more effort, they might make a perfect copy of a malaria drug. Sometimes the entire firm is operating to unacceptable standards; other times rogue employees work after hours to increase production and sell the drugs to criminal networks.
We point to this article for several reasons:
Finally, the article serves as a good peg for us to link to the NAM's Oct. 23 news release, "NAM Joins USTR, Other Business Groups in New Intellectual Property Rights Initiative."
Posted by Carter Wood at 7:42 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 19, 2007
Vodcast: OMB Director Jim Nussle on SCHIP
The video podcast of this week's "America's Business with Mike Hambrick" highlights a real nuts-and-bolts interview with the newly confirmed director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jim Nussle.
The former eight-term Congressman from Iowa gives us the Administration's point of view on current budget issues, including Congress' failure to pass appropriations bills and the PAYGO or "pay-as-you-go" budgeting approach. PAYGO is fine, Nussle says, but not as an excuse for raising taxes: "We think PAYGO for taxes is a little bit perverse and doesn't recognize that it's really your money, it's not the government's money."
Nussle also makes the Administration's case for a limited expansion of the SCHIP children's health insurance program: "Let's make sure we're delivering a quality product to kids that don't have any other place to turn, but let's not do it in a way that covers adults and people of middle income who have other alternatives or who for that matter are under private insurance right now."
The NAM's Hank Cox has the week's news in the economy and manufacturing. (And our thanks to Hank for filling in for Mike Hambrick this week.)
NAM President John Engler closes with his "The Last Word" commentary, explaining how free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia and Korea can expand exports and help create good U.S. jobs.
For more NAM videos, please go to the NAM's YouTube page. To listen to the full "America's Business with Mike Hambrick" please go to the radio program's homepage, www.americasbusiness.org.
Posted by Carter Wood at 9:09 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 17, 2007
Family and Medical Leave in California
More evidence of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's pro-employer proclivities: He recognizes that government cannot keep adding new demands, new workplace rules, more, more, more, without companies saying, enough is enough, how does Utah look? From the Chronicle:
Saying that California's family leave laws are already too confusing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed two bills that would have expanded family leave to include care for ill siblings, in-laws and grandparents.The Governor's veto message on AB 537 is here in .pdf format. The Senate bill was SB 727. We don't immediately find the veto message."While some expansion of existing law may have merit, these laws in combination are too expansive and also fail to recognize the need for reforms to current law," Schwarzenegger wrote in a veto message shortly before his Oct. 14 deadline to act on bills from the 2007 legislative session.
Posted by Carter Wood at 11:15 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
Hillary Clinton's Agenda for Working Families
Senator Hillary Clinton released her "Agenda for Working Families" yesterday, a plank in her presidential platform. Key paragraph from the news release:
Hillary’s plan would set an ambitious goal for all states to implement a paid family leave program by the year 2016, and offer $1 billion per year in grants to encourage innovative paid family leave programs at the state level. Hillary would also extend the Family Medical Leave Act to cover 13 million additional workers across the country, and guarantee every American worker seven days of paid sick leave to help them deal with a health crisis faced by themselves or their children.And the bullet points:
Hillary’s work-family agenda will:At first blush, this seems quite... European.
Expand paid leave across the country through a new State Family Leave Innovation Fund;
Extend the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover 13 million additional American workers and guarantee workers at least 7 paid sick days per year;
Promote model workplaces with grants to support new workplace flexibility programs and a federal telecommuting initiative;
Ensure better access to affordable, high quality child care; and
Prevent parents from being discriminated against because of pregnancy or their caregiving responsibilities.
Posted by Carter Wood at 10:21 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 15, 2007
Weighty Topics, Overblown Rhetoric
The public health threat posed by obesity in the UK is a "potential crisis on the scale of climate change", the health secretary has warned.Seems like a good opportunity to link to this book by Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi: Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Child."It's a global phenomenon, you see, or at least one endemic to wealthy societies able to afford a professional class of finger-waggers.
Harsanyi blogs at Davidharsanyi.com . And a tip of the hat to Andrew Stuttaford.
Posted by Carter Wood at 1:39 PM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend
October 12, 2007
Vodcast: Budget Chair John Spratt Talks Medicare
Representative John Spratt (D-SC) chairs the House Budget Committee, and he looks with alarm at the long-term fiscal risks posed by Medicare and other federal entitlement spending. In this week's video podcast highlights of "America's Business with Mike Hambrick," Chairman Spratt talks about making budgeting discipline a priority for his Democratic Party, and for the nation.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee joins us for the second part of a wide-ranging interview about his campaign and platform, responding to a question from NAM Chairman Charles E. Bunch on domestic energy supplies. The former Arkansas governor also weighs in on the general election, saying he's the best hope to challenge Senator Hillary Clinton.
The "America's Business" vodcast leads off with quick roundup of economic news and closes with NAM President John Engler's "The Last Word" commentary, thanking the public for weighing in on proposed new ozone emissions standards.
For more information about "America's Business with Mike Hambrick," please visit the program's homepage, www.americasbusiness.org.
Posted by Carter Wood at 11:37 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 10, 2007
UAW, Chrysler Reach Agreement
Glad to see. Health care trusts a new defining part of Detroit. Statements from the WSJ's "Strike Notebook" blog:
Statement from UAWUAW reaches tentative agreement at Chrysler
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and UAW Vice President General Holiefield announced today that the UAW has reached a tentative agreement with the Chrysler Corporation.
The strike against Chrysler at 11 this morning, following the expiration of an extension to the current labor agreement, will be recessed immediately. UAW Chrysler workers will be notified by the corporation to report to work on their next available shift.
“This agreement was made possible because UAW workers made it clear to Chrysler that we needed an agreement that rewards the contributions they have made to the success of this company,” Gettelfinger said.
“Once again, teamwork in the leadership and solidarity in the ranks has produced an agreement that protects jobs for our communities and also protects wages, pensions, and health care for our active and retired members,” said Holiefield, who directs the UAW’s Chrysler Department.
Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification votes by UAW Chrysler workers.
Source: UAW
Statement from Chrysler
Attribute to Tom LaSorda, Vice Chairman and President, Chrysler LLCChrysler LLC and the UAW have reached a tentative agreement on a new national labor contract, covering approximately 45,000 represented employees. The agreement is subject to UAW member ratification.
The tentative agreement includes a memorandum of understanding to establish an independent retiree health care trust, as well as other changes to the national agreement. Following ratification, implementation of the memorandum of understanding is subject to approval by the courts and satisfactory review of accounting treatment with the Securities Exchange Commission.
The national agreement is consistent with the economic pattern, and balances the needs of our employees and company by providing a framework to improve our long-term manufacturing competitiveness. At this time, we cannot discuss specifics of the agreement pending a ratification vote - an internal UAW process.
Source: Chrysler
Posted by Carter Wood at 5:50 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
October 2, 2007
Tort Reform Contributes to Better Health Care
In a rare development, North Carolina physicians and trial lawyers found common ground on a new law that caps damages in medical liability cases that go to arbitration. But doctors see the measure as just the first step toward more comprehensive reforms.On Aug. 31 Gov. Mike Easley signed the Voluntary Arbitration of Health Care Claims Act. It places a $1 million limit on total damages in medical liability cases when both parties agree to resolve their dispute through binding arbitration. The law requires attorneys on both sides to discuss the option to arbitrate with the parties involved. It also outlines a host of mechanisms designed to resolve claims more quickly and less expensively than traditional litigation. The statute will take effect Jan. 1, 2008.
"This is a strong start to a conversation about tort reform, and that's as important as anything right now," said Chip Baggett, legislative relations director for the North Carolina Medical Society, which backed the law.
Posted by Carter Wood at 10:24 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
September 30, 2007
In Praise of Elaine Chao at Labor
The American Spectator has just put its September cover feature online, a piece by W. James Antle III on Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, "Rewarding Labor." Antle calls the Department of Labor one of Washington's rare enclaves of common sense:
Overtime regulations that had been unchanged since 1949 were modernized. Union financial disclosure requirements have been better enforced than at any time since Congress enacted them in 1959. Job training programs have been updated and made more flexible for modern workers. All this has been done while spending 3.4 percent less than in 2001. This year, the department submitted its lowest budget request since fiscal year 1996.Antle does not include Labor's work on education and training, another area where the department has achieved much in streamlining programs and focusing on the right priorities.This record is noteworthy for two reasons. The first is that spending restraint and managerial prowess have been conspicuously lacking elsewhere in President Bush's administration. The second is that we're talking about the Department of Labor, an agency that mostly regulates work conditions and runs job training programs. As Chao puts it, "This department is one of the most important departments in the federal government because we regulate every single workplace in America."
Otherwise, the article puts the right emphasis on the right places -- such as the Office of Labor Management Standards' efforts to hold organized labor accountable -- and explains how Chao has been able to achieve so much in the department. It's a good piece.
Posted by Carter Wood at 5:12 PM | 1 comment; click here to read it or submit your own! | Send to a Friend
Underreported Facts about SCHIP
From the Wall Street Journal's editorial, "Schip for Everyone":
Naturally, however, there's a budget sleight-of-hand. Known as a "funding cliff," the yearly Schip layout increases to $13.9 billion in 2011, then abruptly cuts spending by 65% below current funding levels. This helps "score" the bill as costing only $35 billion over the five-year budget window, but it also means that come 2012 Congress will either have to pass new spending or kick kids off the rolls. The chances of the latter happening are approximately zero...The Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 976 is available here: "If H.R. 976 were presented to the President in its current form, he would veto the bill." It's on its way.
Posted by Carter Wood at 2:54 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
September 27, 2007
SCHIP and Perverse Incentives
David Freddoso passes on an e-mail from a reader at The Corner.
Maybe I'm missing something but if I ran a business, SCHIP expansion would have me jumping with joy: I'd kick dependents off of employees' insurance plans as fast as I could. Just think of the immediate (who cares about future costs?) cost savings if I could jettison a hefty percentage of dependents?And another:
I have a business with about 500 employees & I've already thought that if [SCHIP] passed I would be calling the union for a reopener. Who needs my coverage when the govt will supply for you?Single-payer health care, bit by bit.
Posted by Carter Wood at 3:09 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
A Credible Financing Plan?
With Senate passage of SCHIP expansion now expected, a few not-so-random observations about its financing mechanism: a 61 cent increase in the tobacco tax. From the Indianapolis Star:
WASHINGTON -- Indiana smokers, who recently absorbed a state tax increase, would pay higher federal taxes to expand a federal-state children's health insurance program under a bill approved by the House on Tuesday...[snip]From the Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin on current budget discussions between Governor Doyle and legislators:The bill would raise the federal cigarette tax 61 cents, to $1 per pack. Indiana recently increased the state cigarette tax 44 cents to 99.5 cents to pay for a new state health insurance plan for low-income Hoosiers.
Doyle and Democrats want to impose new taxes on oil companies and hospitals to pay for road projects and health care. They would expand the availability of health insurance to 98 percent of the state's residents, including all children, raise the tax on cigarettes by $1.25 per pack and double a fee paid by sellers of homes.From David Harsanyi's blog:
Today, Department of Revenue agents will begin targeting Tennessee motorists who are spotted buying “large quantities of cigarettes in border states” – and naturally, they will be charging them with a crime and in some instances also seizing their cars.From the MacKenzie Institute, Canada, a 1994 report, on smuggling and other crimes involved in black-market cigarettes, after the dramatic increase in tobacco taxes: "Sin-Tax Failure: The Market in Contraband Tobacco and Public Safety."
Posted by Carter Wood at 2:16 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
September 26, 2007
Health IT Now! (We Endorse the Exclamation Mark)
From the Health IT Now! Coalition of which the NAM is part:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Health IT Now! Coalition, co-chaired by former Sen. John Breaux and former Rep. Nancy Johnson, called on Congress once again today to pass health information technology legislation this session.The release was issued following a hearing of the House Science and Technology Committee on health care information technology and interoperability. Details here."It's time for Congress to act so that our health care system can begin to deliver to patients the many benefits we are currently missing," said former Sen. Breaux. "Americans have waited too long for the benefits of health IT- benefits that we could have right now if only Congress would
act."
Posted by Carter Wood at 5:32 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
September 11, 2007
Family and Medical Leave Act: Chronic Complaints
NAM President and CEO John Engler met with reporters today to discuss business cases before the upcoming October term of the Supreme Court. (We don't necessarily anticipate any stories from the gathering; while on the record, the briefing mostly served to provide background.) The topic of the Family and Medical Leave Act and the abuses of intermittent leave, which we mentioned earlier today, did come up during a broader discussion of regulations and policy. Here's what Engler had to say:
When it finally got all said and done, there was no real argument about family leave for birth or adoption. Where it got murky is over in the medical side, and what became ‘chronic conditions,’ and what starts to emerge there and the regulatory construction of that.Surely the Department of Labor can develop proposed rules that could introduce some measure of accountability into the process while leaving whole the underlying benefits -- unpaid leave for extended illness, birth, adoption or family emergencies .We’ve got now a lot of companies that have excessive numbers of migraines on Mondays and Friday as chronic conditions, and with no real way to deal with that. We have others where the chronic condition is sort of congenital lateness in the morning, getting there 30 minutes late, so when the first shift finally clears out and you come in, the parking spots up front are open and it’s easy to park. That kind of stuff happens.
Posted by Carter Wood at 5:55 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
September 8, 2007
Hospitals, Union and Single-Payer Health Care
Have always been puzzled by organized labor's demand for universal healthcare. Why would they want to inflict second-rate, rationed health care on their members.
Here's one answer. Shared the following union news release with a friend who once involved in resisting an attempt to unionize a local hospital.
FRESNO, Calif., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare workers from Community Medical Centers delivered a message to CEO Tim Joslin on Thursday: the union-busting tactics going on at the Fresno hospital facilities are putting the quality of treatment offered there at risk.The workers instead urged Joslin to negot