Healthcare Leadership Council

Just months from health reform’s coverage enrollment and insurance requirement, millions of Americans don’t know very much about the Affordable Care Act.

• A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows many Americans know little about the ACA or how it will affect them.
• Part of the reason may be that critical parts of the law — state exchanges, whether Medicaid will be expanded in a given state, which insurers will offer plans in a state, what those plans will cover or cost — remain undetermined.
• But the poll reinforces a larger point:  If health reform is going to work, it will take a full-court press of community outreach to inform the public about the changes coming very soon.
• The uninsured stand in the most need of valid, accurate information. More Details »

Letter to Capitol Hill Says Independent Payment Advisory Board would “severely limit Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care”

WASHINGTON – Over 500 organizations representing patients, individuals with disabilities, the elderly, veterans, healthcare providers and employers sent a letter to Congress today urging lawmakers to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the 15-member panel of political appointees that will have unprecedented powers to affect Medicare spending.

In the letter, the organizations assert that IPAB will have a harmful impact on Medicare beneficiaries’ access to quality healthcare and also sets a dangerous precedent by essentially transferring legislative responsibilities to an unelected board that is not subject to judicial review. Under provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, IPAB is charged with recommending Medicare spending reductions if program expenditures exceed an arbitrary level set in statute. Those recommendations could only be overturned by a supermajority of both houses of Congress. More Details »

Canada’s government-run healthcare is supposed to provide all Canadians equal access to medical care. But the theory doesn’t work in practice.

• In Canada, better-off patients get appointments with doctors more readily than do welfare patients.

• A study by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto was recently reported in the Los Angeles Times.

• The study sampled 375 general practitioners and family doctors in Ontario. Researchers pretended to be patients seeking an office visit. They phoned to make their request. More Details »