A study in Health Affairs shows that more than half of the nation’s uninsured are ineligible for public programs such as Medicaid but do not have enough resources to purchase coverage themselves.
In a Health Affairs news release, lead author Lisa Dubay, now a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, “Sometimes you hear arguments that all but a small minority of the uninsured could either purchase coverage or are already eligible for assistance. But our study shows that the affordability problem is far more serious than that.”
This study was released more than a week ago and I have seen very little news coverage of it. There are 47 million uninsured Americans. It’s the job of journalism to give voice to the voiceless, to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. It ain’t happening on this issue.
Phil Daigle commented on the Healthcare Shopper blog:
This study goes a long way toward putting a number on the target for public healthcare assistance. There’s been too much shooting from the hip on both sides of the “uninsured problem”. Again it seems obvious that the children that remain uninsured should be the first priority.
Every uninsured American should be a priority; there’s no more time to waste.
From a Mother Jones interview with Ohio senator-elect Sherrod Brown:
MJ: What do you want to do on the Health and Education Committee?
SB: FDA reform — wrestling the agency away from drug company influence. In my 14 years in the House, I’ve seen a very good agency, the Food and Drug administration — one of the best public agencies in the world, frankly — turn into a shadow of itself because of drug company influence. I think the best way to fill the donut hole [the coverage gap in the Medicare drug benefit] is to negotiate drug prices. When you negotiate drug prices on behalf of 40 plus million beneficiaries, the donut hole begins to shrink.
Ezra Klein has a great post explaining why drugs purchased through the Veterans Administration are cheaper than those purchased by Medicare patients. He concludes with these eye-opening facts:
in 2003, The New England Journal of Medicine found the “socialized” VA better on all 11 metrics of care than fee-for-service Medicare …The National Committee for Quality Assurance, the gold-standard, found the VA the best health system in the country, beating out such star performers as John Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic. And an astounding 81% of Vets approve of their care, higher than Medicare, Medicaid, or the private sector.
A commenter on Klein’s post adds:
Better prices based on guarantee of patients is the current basis for every private health insurance company. If United Health, Blue Cross, stc can all demand and get price cuts (and kick-backs) from pharmacuetical companies based solely on numbers of guaranteed patients who will be forced to use their products, why can’t all of US? Big pharma really doesn’t have a choice here, play ball or pack up and sell in another country, they’ll play ball, Ecuadorians can’t afford Lipitor.
CanadaDrugTalk.com posts this quote from David MacKay, an international pharmacy expert and consultant:
The bottom line in 2007 is that enrollment costs are going up substantially, drug coverage is declining and the brand name coverage in the doughnut hole is being eliminated… Medicare D is an insurance program, not a benefit. As consumption increases, so too will cost. The changes in 2007 clearly demonstrate the limitations of the program. Therefore, seniors are wise to re-evaluate their plans and consider online Canadian pharmacies… especially since Customs seizures are no longer an issue.
MacKay is also quoted in this Toronto Star piece on Canadian imports.
