Archive for October 13, 2009

Obama Care Flash- HHS to control state chidcare and mental care #obc-1 #58 #59

BACUSUS BILL will tell States How to ALLOCATE Mental and Child Block Grants
FLASH -pages 59-88
Pages 67-68

Page 67 -68 (Note these are the page numbers on the document, not Adobe Acrobat’s which includes intors, blank papges, etc.

The Secretary of HHS will have the responsibility to ensure that privacy security safeguards are in place for the health disparities data collection (that is data on race/ethnicity), analysis and sharing processes.

SUBTITLE I.

This sections addresses an expansion of the current Social Security Administration Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) block grants to states which focus on which a wide range of programs related to mother and child health.

(1) It adds a new Section 511, which requires states as a condition of getting MCH money to identify communities that are at risk for poor maternal and child health and have few quality home visitation programs.

(2) As part of this needs identification process they must review the state‘s capacity to provide appropriate services to those communities. States would be required to submit the results of their needs assessment and their proposed activities to the Secretary.

(3) Establishes a new grant program for early childhood home visitations with three and five year benchmarks for demonstrating improvement in Mother/child health, school readiness, juvenile delinquency, family economic factors and coordination with community resources.

The programs implemented under this grant are expected to use well established models used by national organizations or higher ed institutions and that through peer review, journals articles, or quasi-experimental research have demonstrated to be successful. However, 25% of the money could be used for untested programs that are well designed and have rigorous evaluation components.

Obama Care- #obc-1 #12 Baucus Markup creates national insurance board w/broad powers

FLASH- Baucus Bill Creates NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS, Gives Broad, Ill-Defined Powers Over ALL Aspects of Health Care

Page 12 Grandfathered Plans – they will allow people who already are covered under plans to renew them as long as they offer coverage equal in value to the “young invincible” plan. Last sentence on page 12 says no tax credits would be given to grandfathered plans. Who gets tax credits now for health insurance. It sounds like one way to get people off of their current plans and into the government plan.

Page 13 – Federal rating rules (don’t know what that is) will be phased in for these grandfathered policies over 5 years beginning 07/01/2013.

Page 13 Interstate Sale of Insurance – by 2013 the National Association of Insurance Commissioners will develop rules to create “health care choice compacts”. By 2015 states will have formed these compacts to allow individual health insurance to be purchased across state lines. Insurers would not have to be licensed in the state but would be subject to the regulations of the state where policy issued.

Page 13 & 14 National Plans
National Plans with uniform benefits would be offered across state lines. They must be licensed in every state and would operate through “state exchanges”. It permits states to opt-out. These national plans would have to offer silver and gold benefit levels. Seems to give alot of power to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). (who are they???) While the plans have to be uniform in every state in which they operate, the rates will reflect geographic variation.

Page 14 – Rules Regarding State Opt-Out
In 2015 states can apply for a waiver to opt out of certain aspects of the Act. The Secretary (Health and Human Services I guess) will determine if a waiver will be accepted. In order to be able to opt-out the state must “meet the requirements of this Act such as all residents have affordable, quality insurance coverage”. (I want to know who defines affordable and quality??)

Last part of page 14 says that states must get “citizen input through a referenda or similar means” in order to opt-out and that the state plan “will ensure that all residents have coverage”.

(That seems to make it impossible for any state to opt out of the federal plan because the federal plan is not even ensuring that all people will have coverage. They make it sound like there are options when in reality they make it impossible.)