“The result was filing bankruptcy to wipe out the medical debt,” Paul Stephens of Princeton, Ind., said, echoing the experiences of so many Americans caught in the economic downturn. More than 50 percent of personal bankruptcies in the United States are now attributable to medical crisis, and 75 percent of those individuals and families had health insurance coverage.

“During this time my medical treatment ended when I left the hospital. I sat on the side of my bathtub draining infections from the surgery. I lapsed into a deep untreated depression for the next two years. Then I had chest pains again. I entered an emergency room where the treating physician confirmed I was having a heart attack. I was transported via ambulance to a regional hospital for treatment.

“Later I was sued for not paying a bill that I was unable to pay since I was unemployed. I tried to work out some sort of settlement with the hospital only to be told they did not make settlements, and that I should go to court,” Paul said as he recounted the trauma of surgery, serious illness, the unaffordable COBRA benefits, and his ultimate bankruptcy.

Read stories like this every day through Election Day at: www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org

Sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

Eighty-two percent of Americans think the U.S. healthcare system should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt (Commonwealth Fund, Aug. 7, 2008). America’s nurses know that only single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare for all will fix our broken system and the tragedy of our devastated families. HR 676, by U.S. Rep John Conyers, is the most comprehensive, cost effective way to achieve guaranteed healthcare for all. Read prior stories in this series at www.GuranteedHealthcare.org.

For more information, or to contact this patient: Liz Jacobs 510/273-2232 or Donna Smith 312/491-4901 .

By: Paul Stephens – Princeton, IN – Sun, 09/07/2008 – 14:42

Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org. Youcan view the entire Kaiser DailyHealth Policy Report, search the archives, and sign up for email deliveryat kaisernetwork.org/email. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, afree service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 2007 Advisory BoardCompany and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

By: Kaisernetwork.org – Tue, 09/25/2007 – 17:55

Beneficiaries will make payments to the Personal Wellness and Responsibilityaccount based on an incremental scale, with contributions not exceeding 5% ofthe family’s income. The account will cover up to $1,100 of their medicalexpenses. Once residents reach that deductible, private insurance purchased bythe state will take effect (Freking, AP/Houston Chronicle, 12/15).Health benefits covered under the program include physician consultation,prescription drugs, home health services, in-patient and out-patient care,mental health and substance abuse treatment, and preventive services. Unusedfunds in the account can carry over to offset the following year’scontributions if the beneficiary has obtained age-appropriate preventive healthcare services, according to CQ HealthBeat.

Comments

HHS Secretary Mike Leavittin a statement endorsed the program, saying that it is "critical thatevery state in this nation be thinking of creative new ways to help residentsgain access to health care, and, at the same time, working to make those ideasbecome reality" (CQ HealthBeat, 12/14). Indiana Gov. MitchDaniels said, "This is a big stepforward that will lead to approximately 120,000 uninsured Hoosiers having thepeace of mind of health insurance" (AP/Houston Chronicle,12/15).

Reprintedwith permission from kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, and sign upfor email delivery at kaisernetwork.org/email . The Kaiser Daily Health PolicyReport is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J.Kaiser Family Foundation. 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser FamilyFoundation. All rights reserved.

By: kaisernetwork.org – Mon, 12/17/2007 – 18:09

The Families USA report, the first-ever state-specific report of this type, is based on a groundbreaking national study by the Institute of Medicine, which in 2002 forged the direct link between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes.

“Our report highlights how our inadequate system of health coverage condemns a great number of Hoosiers to an early death simply because they don’t have the same access to health care as their insured neighbors,” Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, said today. “The conclusions are sadly clear–a lack of health coverage is a matter of life and death for many Hoosiers.

“Health insurance really matters in how people make their health care decisions,” Pollack said. “We know that people without insurance often forgo checkups, screenings, and other preventive care.”

As a result, he said, uninsured adults are more likely to be diagnosed with a disease, such as cancer, in an advanced stage, which greatly reduces their chance of survival. The Institute of Medicine found that uninsured adults are 25 percent more likely to die prematurely than adults with private health insurance.

Another recent academic study found that uninsured adults between the ages of 55 and 64 are even more likely to die prematurely. For this group, a lack of health insurance is the third leading cause of death, following heart disease and cancer.

The Families USA report for Indiana makes three specific points about uninsured adults:

* Families USA estimates that nearly nine working-age Hoosiers die each week due to lack of health insurance (approximately 460 people in 2006).

* Between 2000 and 2006, the estimated number of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 years old in Indiana who died because they did not have health insurance was nearly 3,100.

* Across the United States, in 2006, twice as many people in that same age category died from a lack of health insurance as died from homicide.

“I believe quality healthcare should be the right of every American,” U.S. Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) said today. “And, this report clearly demonstrates that it is only getting harder for working families to get good coverage.

“To that end, I am working with my colleagues in Congress to create the Commission on Affordable Healthcare to investigate ways to lower healthcare costs in America,” Hill said. “This Commission would include patient advocacy groups, medical professionals, hospital associations, medical equipment providers, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, as well as lawmakers. I believe that the government should take the lead in bringing everyone together to finally resolve this crisis.”

“This report reminds us that the lack of affordable health insurance has real consequences, often deadly, for the people of our country,” U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) said today. “This isn’t a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. Providing health care coverage for all Americans should be a goal we all share and work together to achieve.”

In its 2002 report, the Institute of Medicine estimated that 18,000 adults nationwide died in 2000 because they did not have health insurance. That estimate was later updated by the Urban Institute, which reported that at least 22,000 adults died in 2006 due to a lack of health insurance.

By: Families USA – Wed, 04/09/2008 – 15:54

Under the SCHIP portion of Hoosier Healthwise, beneficiaries contributepremiums of $22 to $50 per month, depending on the number of children in thefamily. However, the expansion also will increase premiums for newly eligiblefamilies. Families with incomes between 200% and 225% of the poverty level willcontribute $42 per month for one child and $53 per month for two or morechildren. Families with incomes between 226% and 250% of the poverty level willcontribute $53 per month for one child and $70 per month for two or morechildren.

State Rep. Charlie Brown (D) said that lawmakers might meet this summer todiscuss how to boost enrollment in Hoosier Healthwise and the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan (Kusmer, AP/Chicago Tribune, 5/9).

Reprintedwith permission from kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, and sign upfor email delivery at kaisernetwork.org/email . The Kaiser Daily Health PolicyReport is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J.Kaiser Family Foundation. 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser FamilyFoundation. All rights reserved.

By: kaisernetwork.org – Tue, 05/13/2008 – 15:52

The Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) passed the legislature with bipartisan support last year, and people already are enrolling in the new program. It has funding to cover 130,000 people, and thousands of applications have already been received.

Works Like HSA

Participants get a POWER account (Personal Wellness Responsibility) to use for routine health spending and are covered by health insurance for larger medical bills.

The state of Indiana and HIP participants jointly pay into the POWER account, giving enrollees $1,100 a year to spend on routine care such as doctor’s visits and prescription drugs. After that, regular insurance triggers in, just as with a Health Savings Account.

In addition to paying for all medical bills above $1,100, the insurance covers up to $500 a year in preventive care, such as cancer screenings.

Payments Capped

People are eligible for HIP if they have been uninsured for more than six months, don’t have access to job-based health insurance, and earn less than 200 percent of the federally defined poverty level–about $41,300 a year for a family of four.

The amount they pay into their POWER account depends on their income, but no one will pay more than 5 percent of income.

For example, for a family of four with an income of $20,000 the state deposits $480 into the POWER account, and the family pays $620 a year, or about $52 a month. For that they get the $1,100 in their account to pay for small medical bills, plus insurance covering preventive care and all medical bills above $1,100.

If they have any money left in their POWER account at the end of the year, it rolls over to help fund their share of the account in the next year.

Responsibility, Security

The plan encourages responsible health spending because people see the money in the account rolls over if they spend wisely. And they have the security of knowing they have health insurance that will cover them and their families so big medical bills will not bankrupt them if someone gets sick or injured.

Many states want to simply expand Medicaid to cover the uninsured. Instead, Daniels wanted to give people new incentives to spend money wisely, get preventive care, and become partners in managing their health costs.

Shelly Ross, a community college instructor and divorced mother of two, was one of the first people to sign up for the plan. She makes $25,000 a year and pays $91 a month for her coverage. She already has had a cataract excised and received the mammogram she had been putting off. "I’m smiling when I’m writing that check," she told a columnist for the New York Sun. "It’s not like I wanted a free ride."

Other States Interested

Daniels had to work hard to convince the federal government to approve the plan, because it is funded partly with Medicaid money and the Office of Management and Budget saw it as a big change. Daniels also passed an increase in the cigarette tax to fund his state’s share of the program, for which he was severely criticized.

But Daniels said he believed Indiana’s high uninsured rate and declining job-based insurance required a creative solution and thus HIP was worth the price.

The plan is popular in Indiana, and other states now are looking at whether this creative, market-based solution to help the uninsured get coverage could work for them as well.

By: Grace-Marie Turner of Heartland Institute – Wed, 06/11/2008 – 20:24