Congress is studying Major legislative package That could affect not only investments in climate change, but health care affordability.
Healthcare advocates stressed that it’s not coming too soon. One study found that from 1970 to 2020, average American health care costs rose from $1,875 per year to more than $12,500.
Jim Manley, a board member for Consumers for Quality, said the main concern is that out-of-pocket costs are too high, according to the group. new poll. Michiganders agree that they are under pressure because of health care costs.
“As in other states, higher deductibles, increased out-of-pocket costs and unpaid medical bills are affecting American healthcare consumers,” Manley noted. “In our Michigan survey, 67% of Michiganders agreed that the cost of health care was going up more than other things they needed.”
The survey, conducted by Impact Research and Michigan Research Associates, found that 84% of Michigan voters say the amount they pay out of their pockets for health care appears to be rising each year. The Senate can vote on the package, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, by the end of the week.
Last week, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer approved a bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate some drug prices and reduce out-of-pocket drug costs.
Monique Stanton, chief executive of the Michigan Public Policy Association, said the health care portion of the Inflation Reduction Act will often exempt Michigan families. crush medical bills Forcing them to drastically cut back on food and other necessities.
“Congress caps insurance deductions, prescription drug sharing, and these other caps that are at reasonable levels for a family to bear, really help prevent people from getting into medical debt,” Stanton noted. As well as making sure that they have access to health care.
Since there are no Republican plans to vote on the bill, Senate Democrats say they will pass it under the budget compromise process, but all 50 members must be in their caucus and the vice president vote yes to do so. Traffic could stop Arizona Democrat Kirsten Sinema, who has not yet decided how she will vote.
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new Report of the Institute for Economic Policy He links staff shortages in residential long-term care facilities in Nebraska and across the country to low wages and poor working conditions.
The median wage for caregivers, at just over $15 an hour, is well below the national average of $20 an hour.
A lack of adequate staffing could lead to significant negative health impacts on the population, said Todd Stupendyk, state manager at AARP Nebraska.
“Decreased physical ability, increased rates of infection, more falls, then more hospitalization,” he summarized. “Dealing with this staffing issue is key to ensuring that we provide quality care to long-term care residents.”
Long-term care workers are also less likely to be covered by employer-provided retirement and health insurance benefits. Even before COVID, nursing home employment had failed to meet demand, and the industry had lost 235,000 workers since the pandemic began. AARP analysts found that a fifth of all nursing homes have reported a shortage of enough staff per month since the summer of 2020.
Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association, said staff shortages in nursing homes are also affecting Nebraska hospitals. When long-term care facilities don’t have enough staff, he said, hospital patients can’t be taken out, and their bed isn’t available for the next patient who needs it.
“We’ve seen recently, only in the Omaha area, that hospital emergency rooms start running back up because beds weren’t available,” Nordquist noted. “Because we didn’t have enough nursing facilities and skilled nursing homes across the state to take these patients.”
The report called for expanded public funding to ensure higher wages and better working conditions to attract and retain experienced and committed workers. States and localities can also establish industry-specific labor standards councils to recommend changes to minimum wages and working conditions.
Stupendek added that helping Nebraskans access home care would also ease demand.
“We know that people want to stay in their homes for as long as possible, or in the lowest level of care,” Stubendyk noted. “People stay home and get care, and they don’t have to go to long-term care facilities, which tend to be more expensive. So strengthening this home and community care is one solution.”
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The Federal Children’s Health Insurance Program helps maintain more than 620,000 Kentucky children.
a new report I found that CHIP, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week, is a lifeline for families who earn a lot to qualify for Medicaid but don’t have access to employer-sponsored coverage.
Emily Beauregard, CEO of Kentucky Sounds for Healthsaid an emergency clause enacted during the pandemic means that children who rely on CHIP enjoy quality health care, regardless of their parents’ changes in jobs or income.
“When your income changes from month to month, or if it’s seasonal because you’re probably a farmer, you’re more likely to have times when your income is a little bit above the limit — and then other times when you’re under the limit,” she said.
Beauregard said the declaration of a public health emergency will expire in October. The federal government said it will give states at least 60 days notice of the deadline, so agencies can start reaching out to families to ensure children don’t fall into the coverage gap.
Beauregard added that the state could make the ongoing 12-month eligibility permanent, which it believes will reduce costs in the future.
“It leads to healthier children, but it’s also less administratively expensive,” she said. “Over time, kids get healthier because they have constant coverage.”
Noting that CHIP and Medicaid cover more than half of the country’s black and Latino children, Beauregard said increasing awareness of the upcoming changes and Re-enrollment In these populations is critical, as well as ensuring permanent federal funding for the program.
“All of these are ways we can make sure that children are healthier,” she said.
Research shows that children who have CHIP coverage visit the doctor and dentist regularly, and are less likely to visit the emergency room.
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Congress is considering a major legislative package that could affect not only investments in climate change but also health care affordability. Healthcare advocates say it doesn’t come too soon.
One study found that from 1970 to 2020, average American health care costs rose from $1,875 per year to more than $12,500.
Jim Manley, Board Member Consumers for Quality of CareThe main concern, he said, is that out-of-pocket costs are too high, according to the group’s new survey. He says Arizonans agree that they are under pressure because of health care costs.
“High deductibles, rising out-of-pocket costs and unpaid medical bills are upsetting American healthcare consumers,” he said, with 75% of Arizona voters agreeing that healthcare costs are rising more than other things they see. need to.”
Survey, by Impact Researchfound that three out of four American voters believe insurance companies “reduce their family budgets and underestimate their costs.”
The Senate can vote on the package, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, by the end of the week.
Last week, Senator Joe Manchin, the DW.Va, agreed. and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DNY, on a bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate some drug prices and cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs.
Scottsdale City Council member Tami Capote said the medical debt is forcing many Arizonaans, including its constituents, to cut back on spending on food and other necessities. She said some have lost their homes or been pushed into bankruptcy.
“The general consensus is that Congress should cap insurance deductibles, share prescription drugs and all those other out-of-pocket caps, so much that people don’t need to skip their care and go to medical debt,” she said.
Since there are no Republican plans to vote on the bill, Senate Democrats say they will pass it under the budget compromise process, but all 50 members must be in their caucus and the vice president vote yes to do so. The scroll could stop on Senator Kirsten Senema, Democrat of Arizona, who has yet to reveal her plans for the vote.
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