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Senate Finance Committee Releases Policy Paper Describing Options To Pay For Health Overhaul
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday released a 41-page document outlining policy options for financing health care reform, The Hill reports (Young, The Hill, 5/18). The paper is the third and final to be released before the senators draft health reform legislation. The document says Baucus and Grassley do not support all the proposals included in the paper, but does not indicate which are backed by the senators (Wayne, CQ Today, 5/18). The options, which will be discussed at a closed-door committee meeting on Wednesday, include a number of proposed spending cuts and new or revised taxes (Drucker, Roll Call, 5/18). The report outlines several ways to gain revenue by re-evaluating the tax exemption for employer-sponsored health care benefits, which cost the government $194.2 billion in revenue in 2008, according to the report. The options include:
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Landmark Study Published In New England Journal Of Medicine
One of the world"s most respected medical journals, the New England Journal of Medicine, is publishing a landmark study this week that explores treatments for people with both Type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. The Lang Research and Education Center of New York Hospital Queens was one of the sites that conducted this study.
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Increased 'Dialogue' Needed In Black Community About HIV/AIDS, Opinion Piece Says
"HIV/AIDS has literally become a state of emergency in the [b]lack community and our leaders, organizations and institutions can no longer afford to remain silent," Lisa Fager Bediako, project coordinator for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation"s ACT! Against AIDS Leadership Initiative, writes in the Florida Courier. She continues, "Over the past three years that I have been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy, one thing has become apparent: the crucial need for expanded dialogue about HIV/AIDS within the [b]lack community." Bediako writes, "In order to reach a larger audience, we need to have hard conversations, creative outreach and committed support from leadership organizations and media outlets," concluding, "We cannot afford to ebb and flow our conversations of HIV/AIDS while this preventable disease continues to devastate our community" (Bediako, 7/10).
Public Health

AARP Pushes Lawmakers To Improve Long-Term Care - Legislation Would Allow More Americans To Get Services At Home

As lawmakers return to Washington to tackle health care reform, AARP is pressing them to improve the country"s long-term care system as a part of comprehensive reform. Millions of older Americans rely on Medicaid for the long-term services and supports they need, but the program"s bias toward institutional care prevents most from getting more affordable care where they want it: their own homes. "It"s shameful that so many people are forced into nursing homes when we could improve their quality of life and typically spend less money by caring for them at home," said AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. "As we overhaul the health care system, we need to build on win-win solutions that expand choices and could save billions of dollars." Under current law, Medicaid-the largest payer of long-term care-has an institutional bias. While states must provide coverage of nursing facility services, they do not have to cover most home and community based services (HCBS). On average, Medicaid can pay for three older people in HCBS for every one person in a nursing home. Despite this, HCBS is often one of the first programs to lose state funding during an economic downturn, often forcing more people into higher cost nursing facilities even if they would prefer to remain at home. AARP has endorsed the Empowered at Home Act (S. 434), sponsored by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), which would provide incentives and greater opportunities for states to expand access to home and community based services. It would also provide the spouses of people receiving HCBS with protection against impoverishment. The Association has also endorsed the "Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America Act" (S. 245/H.R. 468) sponsored by Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI), Bob Casey (D-PA) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). This legislation would provide support, training and information to family caregivers, and improve the health and long-term care workforce to better meet the needs of the aging population. LeaMond added: "Real health care reform isn"t only about covering every American. It"s also about rethinking how we provide care. Allowing people to live in their homes with their loved ones means a drastic improvement in the quality of life and potentially huge cost savings in the long term." AARP


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