HEALTH DISPARITIES BLOG

April 22, 2009

links for 2009-04-22

• Report blames social factors for Indigenous health gap
  "If we look at the rate of an Aboriginal child dying compared to a non-Aboriginal child dying, the rate of difference is around three to four times that for Aboriginal children for infant mortality, for higher rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, childhood injury, suicide, accidental death"
• Ohio hospitals not always eager to promote charity care
  State law requires hospitals that receive Hospital Care Assurance Program money to provide free care to patients earning up to the federal poverty level ($22,050 for a family of four). Beyond that, every hospital can decide how much assistance it wants to provide.
• Health care prices need more price transparency
  "There are so many types of payment systems, both public and private, that it's hard to understand," said Silbaugh. "No one pays the same price on anything.""There are so many types of payment systems, both public and private, that it's hard to understand," said Silbaugh. "No one pays the same price on anything."
• After Layoff, Family Struggles to Solve Health-Insurance Puzzle
  Since Danna Walker lost her $37,000-a-year salary, the government’s recently enacted 65% break on Cobra health-insurance costs would still mean paying $476 a month for continuing coverage.
• Health Care Reform by Medicare Expansion
  Our proposed reorganization, Medicare Expansion, would build a national care system by expanding on the existing Medicare program for citizens over the age of 65 years, with a gradual phasing out of state administered Medicaid programs. This restructuring would involve gradual changes in the age of eligibility into the Medicare system to include the most needy first, until eventually the entire population is covered. The first step in the Medicare Expansion program would be to enroll children under 5 years of age and pregnant women by the end of 2010.