Economic recovery requires affordable health care system

Hawaii's successful system for providing health care at relatively inexpensive rates has been replicated in many states and may be a partial model for nationwide health care reform. The rise in the number of workers laid off from jobs that included health insurance shows the need to extend employer-based insurance to universal coverage.

Hawaii became the first state to require minimum mandatory employer-based health insurance 35 years ago. As a result, a study released this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed that one in seven adult workers in Hawaii are insured, compared with one in five nationally.

Meanwhile, a study by the Dartmouth Institute last month showed that the national average cost of Medicare, which covers the elderly and disabled, was $8,304 in 2006, while the cost in Hawaii was $5,311, lowest in the nation. Some attribute that to systems like Kaiser Permanente, a health plan that directly employs doctors. Still, small businesses in Hawaii complain about the rising cost of providing health benefits to employees.

During last year's presidential campaign, then- candidate Barack Obama proposed requiring most companies to offer their employees health insurance or pay a payroll tax of 7 percent into a pool financing government-sponsored insurance. The president now says he doesn't "presume that it was a perfect plan or that it was the best possible plan."

The number of uninsured Americans has reached 46 million, and there is talk of expanding Medicare, a step toward a government-run system that some fear would come close to nationalizing the health care industry.

Republican Senate leaders have warned Obama in a letter that "forcing free-market plans to compete with these government-run programs would create an unlevel playing field and inevitably doom true competition," resulting in "a single government-run program controlling all of the market." Private insurers maintain they can guarantee affordable, adequate health coverage without resorting to a government plan.

Obama has become flexible about what health care reform should include and he has solicited leaders of labor unions, business groups, hospitals, insurance companies and consumer organizations to engage in discussion. That contrasts with the approach of the Clinton administration, which unloaded on Congress a comprehensive, detailed reform measure that sank on arrival.

Health care reform should not be put off because of the current economic crisis, which has thrown millions of families into their own crises by the loss of health insurance because of job losses. Obama's proposed expenditures of at least $634 billion — it could be much more — on reform over 10 years is needed to assist those families and create universal health care for the future.
Sourse: starbulletin.com

Personal Private Medical Insurance Launched By NPA Insurance

NPA Insurance is launching Private Medical Insurance designed for pharmacists and their families. The NPA's medical insurance offers comprehensive benefits such as out-patient, inpatient and day-treatment. Complementary therapies and medicines are also included as standard along with helpful advice lines and a claims service with experienced and friendly staff.

Key benefits

- A comprehensive product covering complementary medicines and therapies - these could include physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, acupuncture or homeopathy
- No excess
- Easy arrangement of treatment over the phone
- Optional cover for long term health conditions such as heart and cancer treatment
- Easy transfer from existing private health insurer
- A range of helpful advice lines and a 24 hour counselling service.

A bespoke group health scheme can be arranged for larger groups.

Paul Coleman, NPA Insurance Director, explains some of the particular advantages of taking out medical insurance from NPA Insurance: "Our research showed that many NPA members already have some form of health insurance but that there is a need for a more comprehensive offering. We believe our policy will fulfil this need.

"We have made transferring from an existing provider easier and we offer the same rates to customers switching from their existing health provider as we offer to first time customers. Making a claim is even easier. In most circumstances, our customers will simply need to call the Claims Helpline and treatment will be arranged and approved over the telephone - no forms will have to be completed. This makes things so much simpler, and is likely to be especially helpful at a time when you could be under particular stress."

Notes

Core Benefits - Cover Available
Out-patient
Specialist consultation fees - Core benefit
Diagnostic tests - Core benefit
Physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, acupuncture or homeopathy - Core benefit
Heart treatment - Core benefit
Cancer treatment - core benefit
In-patient and day-treatment
Diagnostic tests - Core benefit
Surgeons' and Anaesthetists' fees - Core benefit
Hospital charges - Core benefit
Physiotherapy - Core benefit
NHS cash benefit - Core benefit
Parent accommodation - Core benefit
Heart treatment - Additional benefit
Cancer treatment - Additional benefit

Further information can also be obtained from npainsurance.co.uk. 

Healthy San Francisco Costs Less Than Private Health Insurance, Report Shows

Australians should be able to choose either private health cover or Medicare to ensure a more efficient and fair system and help reduce public waiting lists, a health care economist from The Australian National University has proposed.

Dr Francesco Paolucci - a Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health (ACERH) at ANU - says the current public/private mix in health care financing leads to duplication, high-transaction costs, and long waiting times in the public health sector.

"Although the policy goals of subsidising private health insurance in Australia are, among others, to decrease the pressure on the public system, increase choice and affordability of health coverage to Australians - the current arrangements have led to some perverse incentives and undesirable effects" Dr Paolucci said.

"Giving consumers a choice between Medicare and private health insurance (PHI), combined with a system of risk-adjusted subsidies, would improve incentives for efficiency and increase stability in the PHI market."

Dr Paolucci says Australia should explore introducing consumers' choice of health plan and leave Medicare and the private insurers to compete with each other to be a 'prudent buyer of care'.

"The crucial element of this approach is that it removes duplication of coverage by allowing individuals to choose to be enrolled in one plan or the other. Private health insurers would have to cover all types of services and pay all health care expenses, which is not the case now.

"An essential component of the 'Medicare/PHI choice' would be that as compensation for covering all health care costs, PHI holders or funds receive a risk-adjusted subsidy. In the long run, both PHI and Medicare might receive the same risk-adjusted subsidy from the Government who collects the funds, and manages the risk equalisation fund."

Prior to his appointment at ACERH, Dr Paolucci worked for five years as a researcher at the Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. In June this year he organised and presented in an ACERH Research Forum on Risk Equalisation in Health Insurance Markets, which included international and national experts from the academia, the Private Health Insurance Council and industry.

The argument about reforming health insurance is outlined in a new ACERH working paper, which is available from the ANU media office on request.

The Australian National University anu.edu.au

Comparing Public And Private Health Insurance: Would A Single-Payer System Save Enough To Cover The Uninsured?

The Manhattan Institute released a new report by senior fellow Benjamin Zycher, entitled "Comparing Public and Private Health Insurance: Would a Single-Payer System Save Enough to Cover the Uninsured?" In it, Zycher dispels a common misconception regarding single-payer health insurance.

Among the attractions of a government-provided health-care system has been the possibility that it might broaden coverage, while simultaneously reducing costs. As economist Paul Krugman has written: "Eliminating the excess administrative costs of private health insurers . . . would by itself more or less pay the cost of covering all the uninsured" (New York Times, 02-16-07).

Similarly, this week a Majority Report issued by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee made the claim that "the administrative expenses, sales costs, and profits of the privatized [Medicare] Part D program are almost six times higher than the administrative expenses of traditional Medicare."

In his new study, Zycher tests this proposition by comparing the costs of administering Medicare with the administrative costs of a private system. His data reveal that the costs of administering Medicare are twice as high as is commonly asserted. Furthermore, Zycher computes that a switch to a single-payer system would, in fact, not yield savings sufficient to cover the costs of the uninsured.

Specifically, Zycher finds that:

- Administrative costs for private health insurance, defined broadly, are in the range of 11-14 percent of total premiums.

- Administrative costs reported directly in the Medicare budget, combined with a proportional allocation of the costs of other federal government administrative functions, yields a finding of 6 percent of Medicare outlays - twice the proportion of Medicare outlays that is commonly asserted.

- A shift to a single-payer system would yield net savings of about $2100 in potential health-care benefits for each of the 47 million individuals cur¬rently uninsured.

- Under a single-payer system, the increase in average health-care consumption by those currently uninsured would be in the range of about $1700 to $3400; this results in an annual impact on govern¬ment costs, as measured, between a saving of about $19 billion to a funding shortfall of about $61 billion. The midpoint estimate thus is an approximate funding shortfall of $21 billion annually.

The author concludes that the total economic cost of delivering health insurance benefits under a single-payer system would be substantially greater than that under the current private system. Moreover, the administrative and other net costs of private health insurance programs are more likely to be efficient in terms of satisfying the preferences of consumers.

Benjamin Zycher writes extensively on economic and political effects of government regulation and taxation. His research interests include health care policy and the pharmaceutical sector. Benjamin Zycher is available to discuss this report and matters relating to economics and public expenditures.

The Manhattan Institute, a 501(c)(3), is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo Biloba leaf has been used as food and medicine for over 4,000 years. The ancient Chinese and Japanese also ate roasted ginkgo seeds as a digestive aid and to prevent drunkenness. Ginkgo was associated with long life by the Indian ayurvedic healers who reportedly used it as an ingredient in soma, a longevity elixir.

The Ginkgo tree from which ginkgo biloba is derived is considered the oldest living tree species known to mankind, dating back over 200 million years. As the last survivor of its botanical family, it has been described as a "living fossil".

Today, Chinese physicians view Ginkgo as being good for the heart and lungs. Chinese herbalists still use it for the treatment of asthma, bronchitis and brain disorders. Physicians in Germany consider ginkgo biloba to be as effective as any drug therapy for Alzheimer's disease and other severe forms of mental function decline including dementia and senility.

Ginkgo biloba is one of the world's best studied herbs with hundreds of scientific studies published documenting its varied effects. The active ingredients in Ginkgo biloba extract have potent antioxidant effects and inhibit platelets from sticking together. Platelets are involved in blood clotting. Clinical trials have shown ginkgo biloba to improve circulation and blood flow to the brain.

Ginkgo is said to be helpful in a number of conditions including:

• Decline of memory and mental function as found in Alzheimer's disease, non-Alzheimer's dementia and age-related memory loss.
• Intermittent claudication: impaired circulation in the legs
• Impotence
• Vertigo
• Tinnitus
• Macular degeneration
• Fluid retention related to menstrual changes

Preliminary reports suggest ginkgo may help prevent rejection of transplanted organs. It may also be effective against high blood pressure, kidney problems, and allergies.

Ginkgo has not yet been shown to improve memory in healthy people without dementia, nor have studies been conducted to show whether long term use can prevent dementia.

Ginkgo products are standardized to contain 24 percent of the bioflavonoids which occur in the leaf, as well as ginkgolides and bilobilides, a complex group of compounds found only in the ginkgo tree. Common forms of ginkgo include:

• Capsules and Tablets
• Ginkgo biloba extract
• Seeds, which are available at Asian markets. (Need to be boiled before consumption to remove toxic components)
• Sublingual sprays
• Concentrated alcoholic extract
• Nutrition bars

Ginkgo is well tolerated by the vast majority of persons taking it. However, some individuals may experience adverse reactions such as nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, diarrhea and flatulence.

There have also been cases of spontaneous bleeding into both the brain and eye reported as well as brain hemorrhage in several patients taking blood thinning medications who started taking Ginkgo.

Ginkgo should not be taken by children, women who are pregnant or nursing, or those with clotting disorders. Ginkgo seeds should be kept out of the reach of children due to the risk of seizures from ingestion.

Make sure to purchase ginkgo and other herbs from a reputable source as quality can vary greatly among manufacturers.

Always inform your health care provider of any herbal preparations you are using. And if you are taking Ginkgo products, notify your doctor immediately if you notice:

• New-onset headaches or vision changes
• Unusual bleeding or bruising

Sourse: http://www.healthnews.com/