VOP fighting for Healthcare Reform

As most people know, change arises out of dedication and hard work. With this in mind, the members of the UMW chapter of the Virginia Organizing Project have been following these guidelines, along with the rest of the Organization, making strides towards health care reform in the state of Virginia. The UMW chapter is brand new to the Mary Washington campus this semester. The Virginia Organizing Project is a statewide organization that focuses on a variety of issues and was able to team up with the UMW chapter to conduct phone bankings. To read more about VOP and UMW chapter click the link provided below: http://umwbullet.com/2009/11/11/phone-banking-for-healthcare/

Virginia's Ranking

Virginia has consistently excelled in attracting competitive businesses to the state, remaining fiscally sound, and providing a high quality education to its children and young adults. For over 70 years, Virginia has maintained a AAA bond rating. In addition,Virginia is ranked:• #1 state for business [Forbes Magazine ]• #8 nationally in per capita personal income ($42,876 a year in 2008)• Best managed state [Governing Magazine ]Yet, by many measures, Virginia has failed to achieve as much success in the availability and delivery of health care to its citizens. The Commonwealth lags behind many states in maintaining safety net protections and ensuring affordable private insurance options. To learn more click the link provided below:http://www.havcare.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=eJLbYURv8RQ%3d&tabid=928&mid=2150

Virginia Citizens & Health care Providers

Virginia's Medicaid program contributes to cost shifting in the Commonwealth, because it does not provide adequate payment to our hospitals, physicians and nursing homes. This is not a sustainable model. HOSPITALS: Paid $.72 on the Dollar All of Virginia’s hospitals accept Medicaid patients. This year, Medicaid payments to hospitals were reduced. As a result, hospitals are now only compensated $.72 for every dollar of care provided. The graph illustrates the downward trend of underpayments. To learn more about provider information click the link provided below:
http://www.havcare.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wuzAgSRwL%2bQ%3d&tabid=928&mid=2150

Provider Facts about Health care Insurance

WHAT is cost-shifting?Cost shifting occurs when providers do not receive sufficient payment to cover what it costs them to render treatment, either because their patients are uninsured, or Medicaid payment is too low. This causes them to charge private insurers more than it costs to render treatment, thus “shifting” the cost burden. Cost shifting occurs everyday, in Virginia and nationwide. It is estimated that this added $1,107 to the cost of each family premium, and $368 to the cost of each individual premium throughout the country in 2008.

Importance of Healthcare for Children

Health care insurance is so important for our children. Well-child exams ensure they are developing on schedule and properly immunized. 32% of children without health insurance had no usual source of care in 2007. Uninsured children were also six times more likely to go without needed medical care because they could not afford it. There is a direct connection between health insurance and educational achievement. Uninsured children lose 30% more school days than insured children, resulting in lower academic performance.Currently only 68% of Virginia’s children have private health insurance. Another 8% have military coverage. For more information on health care for children click the provided link below:http://www.havcare.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=gwHtQW3tDvw%3d&tabid=928&mid=2150

Health care for Parents

Health care insurance is important for parents because parents need to remain well and productive so they can effectively raise their children. A study by the Institute of Medicine found that working age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; and they are more likely to be sicker and die sooner.Parents with health care coverage are more likely to make sure their children obtain preventive and wellness services. Many of Virginia's working low income parents do not have health care insurance. In fact 44% of working, low-income adults in Virginia are uninsured. For more information about health care for parents visit the click provided below:http://www.havcare.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=AnLzzly8efM%3d&tabid=928&mid=2150

Affordable Health Care for America Act Promotes Competition

Insurance reforms and Health Insurance Exchange will promote healthy competition in the market. Affordable Health Care for America Act: · Implements insurance reforms and standardized benefit packages that will require insurers to compete on the basis of price and quality, not on the basis of the medical underwriting of sicker patients. · Establishes the Exchange, a transparent marketplace that replaces today’s dysfunctional small group and individual market, to lower administrative costs and provide incentives to insurers to maintain lower premiums in order to attract millions of Exchange enrollees.· Injects further competitive pressure into the Exchange by adding a public health insurance option in many markets that have little competition. · The public option will be a low cost, transparent insurance option that can exert price pressure on all other plans in the Exchange.

Strengthening Primary Care

Primary care providers can provide lower-cost and higher-quality care for many ailments. Affordable Health Care for America:· Improves payments for family doctors and other primary care providers· Increase training of primary care doctors· Expands Community Health Centers.· Encourages physician training outside the hospital, where most primary care is delivered.

Health Care Reform: Prevention & Wellness Programs

Benjamin Franklin was right- “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Prevention and wellness programs will help Americans live longer, healthier lives, and help reduce the need for more costly treatments of health conditions later in life. Affordable Health Care for America Act:· Eliminates patient co-pays for preventive services in Medicare, Medicaid, and private plan· Creates community-based programs that deliver prevention and wellness services· Creates a new grant program to encourage small employers to develop employee wellness programs· Invests in the science of prevention so that physicians know which preventive treatments work best

Improving Accuracy & Eliminating Waste

In trying to get health care costs under control, it’s important that we know what we-re paying for. That means cracking down on waste, fraud, abuse, and making sure that payments are made accurately and for the right services and coverage. Affordable Health Care for America Act:· Improves screening and requires providers and suppliers to adopt compliance programs as a condition of participating in Medicare and Medicaid· Increase funding for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Fund to fight Medicare and Medicaid fraud· Eliminates wasteful overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans that increase private plan profits, not patient care· Improves payment accuracy for numerous other providers, following recommendations by the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission· Requires drug and device companies to disclose their payments to physicians to reduce excessive utilization of services

More Peace of Mind to put You at Ease

Rate review to prevent insurers from price gouging. Discourages excessive price increases by insurance companies through review and disclosure of insurance rate increases. (2010)Allows individuals to keep their COBRA coverage until the Exchange is up and running. (2010)Immediate help for the uninsured. Creates a fund to finance an immediate, temporary insurance program for those who are uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions. (2010)Provides for a 50% discount on brand-name drugs in the Part D donut hole, and immediately shrinks the size of the donut hole $500 in 2010.

House Care Bill means to You

Lower Costs· No more co-pays or deductibles for preventive care (2013, 2010 for Medicare)· Requires State Medicaid programs to cover preventive services recommended to the Secretary of HHS based on evidence. (2010)· No more rate increases for pre-existing conditions, gender, or occupation (2013)· An annual cap on your out-of-pocket expenses (2013)· Guaranteed, affordable oral, hearing, and vision care for your kids (2013)Stability & Peace of Mind· No more coverage denials for pre-existing conditions. (2013)· Insurers cannot consider pre-existing conditions beyond 30 days. (2010)· The waiting period for excluding certain benefits is reduced from 12 months to 3 months. (2010)

House Democrats Unveil $894 Billion Health Care Bill

The battle over health care reform reached another milestone Thursday as top House Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation that includes a highly controversial public health insurance option. The nearly 2,000-page bill -- a combination of three versions passed by House committees -- would cost $894 billion over 10 years to extend insurance coverage to 36 million uncovered Americans, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.However, the bill's total cost, including Medicare changes, is expected to be higher and could push the price tag over $1 trillion, according to an initial CNN analysis. The bill guarantees that 96 percent of Americans have coverage, Pelosi stated. The claim is based on an analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. To learn more about this article click below: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/29/health.care/index.html

Crushed with Cancer & No Insurance

In West Palm Beach, Florida, Leslie Elder's eyelids fluttered open, and through the fog of pain medication, saw the emergency room doctors pull back the curtain in her room. She could tell that the news was bad. They told her she had a tumor in both her left and right kidneys.The words "You have a tumor" were not new to Elder however; her grim financial situation was.Elder had cancer twice before in 1988, when doctors found a tumor in her right breast, and again in 2001, when doctors found one in her left breast; except back then she was insured. By the time she learned that she had kidney cancer in September 2005, she was uninsured.Elder and her husband, Jim, say their health insurance carrier, Nationwide Insurance, forced them into an impossible situation by raising the rates on their policy over several years. Eventually, they were forced to cancel. To learn more about this story click the link provided below:http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/13/cancer.insurance.finances/index.html

Small Businesses Support Health care Reform

We’re seeing more and more of Virginia's small businesses demanding their voice be heard on health reform. A recent survey of 200 small businesses in Virginia found that most think health insurance reform is important and most support a public option. The results of the survey are listed below:66 percent said health-care reform is important for getting the economy back on track.46 percent said they pay for health insurance for employees. Of those, 76 percent said they struggle to do so.79 percent support choice of a public or private plan; 13 percent want private-only options; 5 percent prefer only a public option.39 percent identified themselves as Republican, 23 percent as Democrat and 28 percent as independent.59 percent believe their company has a responsibility to offer health coverage to employees.To learn more about this article click link provided below:http://www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org/Default.aspx?tabid=485&EntryID=89

Nursing Home Industry Scares Senior Citizens

An influential Medicare advocacy group has called out a large skilled nursing home corporation for going into its facilities and scaring elderly residents into thinking their healthcare benefits will be worse if health reform provisions in H.R. 3200 are voted into law."The nursing home industry is scaring residents, telling them that healthcare reform will lead to poorer quality of care and the loss of the staff who provide them with essential care each day," says the Center for Medicare Advocacy's senior policy attorney Toby S. Edelman. "This outrageous misinformation campaign must stop." Click link to read article:http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/239622/page/1/topic/WS_HLM2_FIN/Nursing-Home-Industry-Frightening-Seniors-Against-Health-Reform-Says-Medicare-Group.html