Dental health, as well as correcting dental problems, is essential to overall health. Many Americans are finding themselves without effective dental coverage to treat and maintain their dental needs. This is due in part to businesses increasingly cutting-back or offering inferior dental coverage for prices many can’t afford. So what are people to do? As a result, people have started looking for alternatives for their dental coverage needs especially online. The absolute question people are asking is, “What’s the difference between Dental Insurance and Discount Dental Plans?” (more…)

Cornell University graduate students collected signatures to send to the school in order to attract attention to the growing health insurance problem affecting many of the students and their dependents. The university offers graduate students enrollment in a student health insurance program, and many of their dependents are also eligible to obtain coverage this way but many students feel the cost is excessive.

Around 7,800 graduate students attend the University and bring with them at least 1,200 dependents, including spouses, children under the age of 19, and same-sex partners. Student premiums for the health care plan are a reasonable $1,434, yet their dependents must pay $3,149. Because jobs for graduate students at the university pay only about $20,000 a year, covering the costs of health insurance for a family can be nearly impossible.

After collecting about 500 signatures, the Mao Ye – the student-elected trustee – plans to present the petition to the Board of Trustees on October 19^th. Ye and others are also working on a health insurance plan that will be more affordable for graduate students and their dependents.

A survey released on January 8, 2008 of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries ranked the United States last when it comes to providing health care to its citizens.  The survey was conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, a charitable organization created to promote health care in the industrialized parts of the world.  Their study, which was called “Measuring the Health of Nations:  Updating an Earlier Analysis” and published in the Health Affairs journal this month, examined the death rates for individuals under the age of 75, particularly looking for problems that could have been prevented through more effective health care.

The same study had been conducted twice before:  once in 1997/1998 and more recently in 2002/2003.  Part of establishing the country rankings involved looking at each country’s improvement as compared to past studies.  While all of the other countries saw a decline in preventable deaths by an average of 16 percent, the United States’ rate only decreased by 4%.  The U. S. was also ranked last in the 2002/2003 results after placing 15^th in the 1997/1998 results.  Had the United States shown similar improvements approximately 100,000 deaths would have been prevented.

The survey’s top five countries included France in first place followed by Japan, Australia, Austria, and Canada.  The survey also pointed out the United States spends more on health care than do any of the countries with better results.

Forty-two states are planning to increase coverage for their uninsured adults and children according a report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. More U. S. states are realizing the need to take action now that 47 million Americans, including 9 million children, lack any type of health insurance. This is also the first time in half a decade that none of the states are planning to cut Medicaid benefits in order trim their budgets.

Much of the state’s plans revolve around extending the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and/or Medicaid. The bad news is that a budget increase for SCHIP was vetoed earlier this month by President Bush and there are limitations on how much both programs can be used to insure all adults.

Several states are also hoping to pay more to medical providers, increase income level eligibility for programs such as SCHIP, and find ways to link the quality of service with the payments made for that service. Many states are also encouraging Medicaid health plans to release information about their performance.

When the fiscal year for Medicaid ended on June 30^th, directors were surprised to see a drop in enrollment for the first time in almost 10 years. In conjunction with that drop was the smallest spending increase – of just 2.9% - for the program during the same time period.

Seventy-five percent of the states cited the reason for the decreased enrollment as tighter citizenship documentation requirements. The 0.5% decline resulted from a change last year that required Medicaid applicants to submit documentation – a driver’s license or birth certificate, for example - proving they are legal citizens of the United States. Before this change, applicants merely had to check a box.

However, the director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations disputed that information. Instead, they claim a strong economy kept the numbers of people needing to enroll to a minimum.

The spending increase was caused primarily by an increase in reimbursements to care providers in a number of the states, including Connecticut. Officials from Kansas also complained that the documentation changes increased their administrative costs.

Michigan Govenor Jennifer Granholm wants the state’s Republican representatives to help override President Bush’s veto of a bill to extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) budget by another $35 billion. The override vote is expected to take place on October 18^th.

Granholm contends that vetoing the bill, which would allow an additional 80,000 Michigan children to have health insurance, “is a travesty.” Three of the state’s republican representatives already voted for the bill prior to the veto.

Republican Representative Tim Walberg co-sponsored a bill that would extend the current SCHIP budget for 18 months but he released a statement saying the bill isn’t doing enough to prevent that money from going to people who don’t need it, such as illegal animals and middle class family who can afford private coverage. Mike Rogers, another representative targeted by Granholm, said “The governor ought to be helping us negotiate a bill that focuses on providing for the critical health needs of Michigan’s poor children.”

A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine found children – even those who are well-insured and from middle class families – are often not receiving the health care they require. The research was based on reviews of the medical records of more than 1,500 children from 12 metropolitan areas in the United States and was conducted by the Rand Group, the University of Washington, and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Some of the discrepancies found in the children’s medical records included a failure to measure their height and weight at yearly checkups among over 40% of 3 to 6 year olds while only 15% of adolescents had their height and weight recorded. Over half of the children suffering from asthma did receive recommended treatment and 38% did not receive appropriate treatment for diarrhea. The study also found a failure of doctors to check for anemia in children less than two years of age even though such tests are recommended and a failure to provide recommended care for diabetes and other serious medical problems. Pediatricians, according to the study, only spend about 10 minutes with their patients.

These noted failures occurred even among children who were insured. More than 82% of the children were covered by private health insurance. Experts believe the statistics are even worse for children who have no health insurance.

Potential Republican presidential nominee John McCain released details of his own plan to address the problems of the U. S. health care system while he was campaigning in Iowa on October 11^th. According to McCain’s plan, Americans would be given a tax credit as an incentive to purchase private health insurance. That credit would be $2,500 for single people and $5,000 for families.

McCain admitted that changes were needed because of the vast number of problems plaguing the system which could lead to an implosion if not addressed. Besides the tax credits, McCain also wants to open up health care markets nationwide so for-profit insurance companies would not be restricted to offering their policies in only specific regional areas. Families and individuals would have more health insurance policy options and more competition among policies would be available.

McCain’s plan is quite different than the plans proposed by other potential presidential nominees. Democratic hopeful Hilary Clinton, for example, has announced a plan that would require providing health insurance to all Americans.

Massachusetts may have successfully covered a large portion of the state’s uninsured, but their plan is facing real challenges which could help other states, such as California, as they work towards universal health insurance coverage in their states. In 2006, Governor Mitt Romney and the state’s legislature passed a plan that would require all state residents to carry health insurance. The law would also provide subsidies to help low-income families pay for those costs and would charge employers who did not offer health insurance.

Currently, the state has enrolled about one-third of its uninsured residents, roughly 200,000 people. The majority of those enrolled have been low-income residents who qualify for subsidies. Unfortunately, those who do not qualify for subsidies may be facing major challenges. Because the law did not include cost negotiations, nothing is being done in the state to keep health insurance costs affordable. Plus, those who do not secure their own health insurance will face fines starting at $216 and increasing yearly into the thousands.

With the costs of health insurance expected to continue rising, the state may also find funding the subsidies for low-income individuals difficult to maintain in the coming years.