Archive for the 'Reform' Category

Realizing the Full Potential of Health Reform

Published on October 11, 2011 in Debra Ness, Health Care, Quality and Reform. 0 Comments

Debra Ness, President

When it passed, we recognized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation.

This new law is already beginning to eliminate the punitive and predatory insurance practices that have penalized women and families for decades, and instead bringing us closer to the day when essential women’s services are fully covered, prevention is a priority, and care is coordinated so family caregivers don’t struggle to shoulder impossible loads. The benefits to women – and their families – are myriad. Health reform means insurers cannot charge women more because of our gender, or deny or cap our coverage when we get sick. It means coverage for breast and cervical cancer screenings and family planning services. It ends the days when young adult children were kicked off their parents’ insurance policies.

So why is a law that’s brought so much progress, and even more promise, in such great peril? Because too many lawmakers are putting politics ahead of the best interests of their constituents, who urgently need reliable, affordable, comprehensive and well-coordinated health care. They are more interested in throwing up roadblocks and scoring political points than focusing on what the country needs.

It’s time to take a step back and reconsider what’s best for women and families, for our economy and for the country. We need to realize the promise of health reform by allowing implementation to proceed. And we need to adopt the family friendly policies that will allow workers to access the health care services they need, while holding onto their jobs.

I read with interest a recent study by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scholar which found that more adults postpone or go without medical care for nonfinancial reasons than for financial reasons. The researcher, Jeffrey T. Kullgren, notes that: “Many patients also have nonfinancial reasons they can’t get the health care they need when they need it. They may live a great distance from the doctor, and traveling is a challenge. They may work jobs that make it hard to go to a doctor’s office during a normal business day, where leaving work would mean they wouldn’t get paid or might risk losing their job.”

That’s not a huge surprise when you consider that nearly 44 million workers in the United States don’t have paid sick days. A mere 11 percent have access to paid family leave through their employers, and fewer than 40 percent have access to paid medical leave through employer-provided short-term disability insurance. When workers are without these basic protections, they are forced to choose between their health and their financial security when illness strikes – and in this job market, it’s no surprise many choose to forgo treatment and preventive care rather than risking their jobs or their paychecks.

So instead of continuing the posturing and politicking and efforts to repeal health reform, let’s get to the business at hand – work together to implement the Affordable Care Act, and adopt paid sick days and paid family and medical leave. Then, we’ll be on track for healthier workers, healthier families, and a healthier country.

On the Right Track: Institute of Medicine’s Essential Benefits Report

Published on October 7, 2011 in Debra Ness, Health Care and Reform. 0 Comments

Debra Ness, President

America’s women and families want and need confidence that when they buy health insurance, it will cover comprehensive benefits that meet their needs. Thanks to health reform, we may soon get that.

The new law charged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with determining exactly what services should be considered “essential benefits” that must be covered by health insurance.  To help Secretary Kathleen Sebelius shape this package, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) created a committee to recommend a process and methodology for defining the essential benefit package – because how that package is designed, and what is included and excluded, will help determine whether reform delivers on its promise.

The committee’s report, released today, is hugely promising. It proposes a process for determining essential benefits that is a balanced approach that prioritizes public involvement.  Women and families will have a say, helping to ensure that the final package reflects their needs and values.

A primary aim of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to ensure that women and families can access better, more reliable coverage for a range of health care needs – from prevention to women’s health services to coverage of chronic conditions and more. The IOM committee’s report aims to do that and to strike a balance between comprehensiveness of coverage and cost.

We are pleased that the committee recommended that the essential benefits package not be used simply as a cost containment tool. Rather, members recognized that we must look at the broader picture of how to address skyrocketing health care costs. We urge the Secretary to not only consider the short term costs of any given benefit, but the long-term value of a package that pays for the items and service that women and families need to get and stay healthy.

Women will be better off if the Secretary establishes an essential benefits package that includes reproductive health services, care coordination and palliative care.  We are especially hopeful that the package will cover maternity care, well-woman and well-child visits, cancer screenings and the full range of reproductive health services and supplies. We want to see care coordination and primary care fully covered.  We hope it will to cover language access services, which have the potential to drive down costs associated with the unnecessary care that is common for limited English proficiency patients.

Importantly, the committee today also recognized that our definition of what constitutes an essential benefit may change in the future. We applaud the creation of the National Benefits Advisory Council, an independent, non-partisan advisory group comprising a variety of stakeholders – including consumers – to update the essential benefit package over time.

The work the IOM committee has done is good for women and for all consumers, but now we need to encourage the Administration to adopt its recommendations. Only then can we ensure that those who need help the most can access the health care they need – which is, after all, what reform is all about.

To learn more, go here and here.

 

In Science v. Politics, Science Scores a Win

Published on July 21, 2011 in Debra Ness, Health Care, Reform and Reproductive Health. 0 Comments

Debra Ness, President

A milestone for women’s health is finally within reach: On Tuesday, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified the full range of FDA-approved contraception and birth control options as preventive health services – and recommended that they be made available to women without additional fees or co-payment under health care reform. IOM’s decision, which was based on strong scientific evidence, finally confirms what most women already know: that birth control is basic preventive care.

Preventive care is at the heart of the Affordable Care Act, so IOM’s recommendation is an encouraging step toward realizing the promise of health care reform for women. For most women of reproductive age, contraception and birth control are the care they need most, the care they get most regularly, and their main reason for interacting with health providers and thereby receiving other kinds of health care they need. Timely access to contraceptive services vastly improves maternal and child health, and it has been the driving force in reducing rates of unintended pregnancy in this country.

On average, women spend at least 30 years being sexually active but trying to avoid pregnancy. But with 30 years of fertility comes 30 years of expensive contraception – and studies show that even minimal co-pays deter individuals from obtaining the care they need. [1] In fact, one study found that low-income Americans reduced their use of effective health care by 44 percent when required to make co-pays. [2] In 2008, 36 million women — more than half of women of reproductive age — needed contraceptive services and supplies. [3] Of that group, 17.4 million needed publicly funded contraception. [4] For these women, eliminating expensive co-pays is the key to ensuring they have access to the care they need. So IOM’s recommendation is vital to the health of millions of individual women — and of our country as a whole.

At long last, it’s time to put politics aside. These science-based recommendations must guide policy, and politics should not intrude.  Secretary Sebelius should move quickly to make these recommendations policy under the Affordable Care Act, so women are able to access the contraceptive services they truly need. It’s about time.

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[1] Solanki G and Schauffler HH, Cost-sharing and the utilization of clinical preventive services, Am J Prev Medicine 17, no.2 (Aug 1999) 127-133.
[2] Ku L, Charging the Poor More for Health Care: Cost-Sharing in Medicaid, Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2003.
[3] Frost JJ, Henshaw SK and Sonfield A, Contraceptive needs and services: national and state data, 2008 update, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2010.
[4] Frost JJ, Henshaw SK and Sonfield A, Contraceptive needs and services: national and state data, 2008 update, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2010.

The Affordable Care Act at One

Published on March 25, 2011 in Campaign for Better Care, Health Care, Judith Lichtman and Reform. 0 Comments

Judith L. Lichtman, Senior Advisor

This week is the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act – the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation.

This law is helping me, my 97-year-old mother, my daughters and granddaughter. It’s making care more affordable, more secure, and more responsive to women’s needs at all stages of our lives.

And it’s giving families the security they need to avoid financial devastation when illness strikes.

It saddens me that opponents are keeping up their relentless, baseless attacks instead of joining with us to make the health care system work for all of us.

I wrote a piece about it that’s running on Kaiser Health News. I hope you’ll read it and tell me what you think. Also check out our new fact sheets on the health reform law and how it affects women, older women and lower-income women.

And take a look at our Campaign for Better Care, which is doing incredible work to make sure reform is implemented in ways that will help the sickest, most vulnerable patients – who often are older women.

~ Judy

Just When You Think You’ve Seen It All

Published on February 28, 2011 in Debra Ness, Health Care, Reform and Reproductive Health. 21 Comments

Debra Ness, President

Sometimes I think there’s not much that can surprise me. But last week proved that theory wrong: the U.S. House of Representatives voted to prohibit federal funds for health care services provided by Planned Parenthood, and eliminate funding for all Title X family planning services, which are the sole source of health care for millions of low-income and uninsured women in this nation. And because, apparently, even that wasn’t enough, they also voted to defund the federal agencies and personnel that are working to implement health reform, which is the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation.

House leaders are willing to risk shutting down the federal government in order to advance their anti-woman, anti-reform agenda.

If these measures pass the Senate, unintended pregnancies in this country will skyrocket, fewer women will be screened for breast and cervical cancers and sexually transmitted infections, and women’s health will suffer terribly because millions of women will lose their primary source of health care. Planned Parenthood clinics in communities across the country will be at risk for closing.

Representatives Jackie Speier and Gwen Moore helped remind us about what is at stake with these votes when they shared their personal stories. They drove home the stakes in this debate, and the human impact of what the House is trying to do.  Their courage made it even more appalling to watch a majority of their colleagues callously vote to take away women’s health care.

We are counting on our Senators and President Obama to block these short-sighted, dangerous cuts, and to stand strong for women and their families. Tell your Senators: hands off my health care (and family planning too)!

Shame on Them!

Published on January 19, 2011 in Debra Ness, Health Care and Reform. 2 Comments

Debra Ness, President

For decades, women and families have been penalized by punitive and predatory insurance practices that have restricted their access to quality, affordable care. But the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is changing that.  It is the greatest advance for women’s health in a generation.

This new law is already bringing us closer to the day when essential women’s services are fully covered, prevention is a priority, and care is coordinated so family caregivers don’t struggle to shoulder impossible loads.

Yet just as we are beginning to realize the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, House leaders chose to pursue politics instead of better care: by repealing a law the nation urgently needs.

The ACA is ushering in an era in which women can access affordable coverage, and insurers cannot charge women more because of gender — or deny or cap our coverage when we get sick. It is making screenings for breast and cervical cancer available without deductibles or co-pays, making family planning services more accessible, and outlawing gender discrimination in insurance. And it is ending the days when young adult children were kicked off their parents’ insurance policies, and when the preventive services that can keep patients healthier were out-of-reach for millions.

That is why the vote in the House of Representatives to repeal health care reform was such a deep disappointment.

That vote was politicking and posturing at a time when Americans urgently need is progress on jobs, the economy, creating more fair and family-friendly workplaces, and finishing the work to give every person quality, affordable health care. The nation will be much better off if this vote marks the end of this political theater, and our lawmakers now return to solving the urgent problems facing America’s families.

Your Senators need to hear from you. Urge them to stand strong and support health reform — a huge advance for women. Urge the Senate to prioritize women’s health — rather than trying to unravel reform — so we can protect and build on its critical advances for women and families.

Six Months After Health Reform There is Much to Celebrate…And Lots of Work Ahead

Published on September 23, 2010 in Campaign for Better Care, Debra Ness, Health Care and Reform. 2 Comments
Debra Ness, President

Debra Ness, President

Six months ago today, President Obama signed the health care bill into law.  And with his signature, our health care system was opened up for renovation.  But, like any remodeling job, we’ve got a long way to go before the final product will be ready for a ribbon cutting ceremony.

So, why is the six month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act important?  Because today some key provisions in the law go into effect – and that means it’s time to take stock of where we are and where we’re going. Meaningful implementation of the health reform law – implementation that focuses on what’s best for patients and families – in the months and years ahead is critical.  But there is already much to celebrate.

Consider that we’ve already seen important patient protections put into place so that insurance companies can’t deny or drop your coverage based on your age, gender, or pre-existing conditions.  And, starting now, any new private health plans will cover the full cost of preventive health services like cancer screenings.  On January 1st, cost-sharing for preventive services under Medicare will be eliminated.  This means people will be able to access the most basic health care – the kind of care that can help identify disease early or prevent it altogether.

Today we can also celebrate the first steps towards improving care coordination and rewarding good primary care. The Afffordable Care Act increases payment for primary care providers in Medicare and Medicaid which will help ensure that patients have better access to primary and preventive care. The law also lays the groundwork for improving coordination of care by testing new and innovative approaches to delivering health care to promote higher quality, improve communication and collaboration among providers, ensure safer and smoother transitions when patients move across different settings of care, and provide more time, support and information for patients and family caregivers. It also supports medication management services to reduce adverse interactions and medication errors — which will especially help patients and families who are managing multiple chronic conditions.

These improvements, coupled with the funding for improving health care through better health information technology (IT) under the stimulus package passed in January of 2009, will create better patient outcomes and reduce costly duplication and waste.

And just as these new policies are being put into place, longer-term strategies required by the new law are being developed and rolled out. Just last week, the Obama Administration issued a core element for the implementation of health reform:  a national strategy for health care quality improvement.  The National Partnership for Women & Families and the Campaign for Better Care are at the table and ready to help shape this important strategy to make sure it truly meets the needs of patients and consumers.  In the end, we’re hopeful that this new plan will help reduce health disparities, increase positive health outcomes, and improve patient and caregiver experiences in the health care system.

We’re off to a good start, but our efforts to make the health care system work for patients and families are just beginning. When doctors can spend enough time with their patients – and when they talk to each other to manage our care better – we will all benefit.  We will be less likely to experience bad drug interactions or unnecessary and duplicate tests.  Our medical records will be at our fingertips – and available to our health care providers so that they have the whole picture when treating us. We will be less likely to suffer from preventable medical errors that can result in injury or even death.  And we won’t have to fend for ourselves or our loved ones in an uncoordinated and fragmented system.

These things are the foundation of a good health care system and, ultimately, a healthy population.  It will take some time – as any renovation does – but in the end it will finally get us to a health care system that delivers the comprehensive, coordinated, high quality care that everyone deserves.

HealthCare.gov: Your Health Care, Explained!

Published on July 6, 2010 in Campaign for Better Care, Health Care, Kirsten Sloan and Reform. 0 Comments
Kirsten Sloan, Vice President

Kirsten Sloan, Vice President

For many American families, women are the ones who gather information, compare plans, and make the decision about which plan best suits their needs and budget. Today, your job got a little easier.

In a first step of implementing the new health care reform law, the Obama administration launched a new website that gives women access to critical, unbiased information about their private and public insurance coverage options – so women can feel confident they are choosing the best plan for themselves and their families.

We recommend you take a look: http://www.healthcare.gov.

Dr. Berwick… Just What the Doctor Ordered

Published on July 1, 2010 in Campaign for Better Care, Debra Ness, Health Care and Reform. 0 Comments
Debra Ness

Debra Ness

Enough is enough. Dr. Berwick – nominee for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – has been the victim of partisan and baseless attacks, and at the Campaign for Better Care, we think it’s time to set the record straight. That’s why we organized a strongly worded letter in support of Dr. Berwick’s nomination, which was signed by some 90 of the nation’s top consumer, purchaser and provider groups. Dr. Berwick is the right leader, at the right time, to make health care reform work for patients and their families.

Why should you care about Dr. Berwick’s nomination? The CMS is a critical federal agency that runs government-insurance programs for tens of millions of older persons, children, and those living in poverty. As Administrator, Dr. Berwick will help decide how to implement the new health reform law – a crucial role for the future of health care in the United States. That’s why his opponents would have you believe that he will ration care and let the government make health care decisions that should be made by patients and their doctors.

On the contrary, Dr. Berwick has consistently prioritized patients’ needs and preferences – and his record shows that commitment to patient-centered care. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on health care quality and improvement, and has dedicated his professional career to closing the gap between the health care we have and the health care we should have.

Driven by his belief that health care is a human right, Berwick has launched groundbreaking initiatives to reduce unnecessary deaths, minimize preventable harm from surgical complications, and put control of health care decisions in the hands of informed patients and their families – goals we share at the National Partnership and with the Campaign for Better Care.

Berwick’s supporters describe him as a “passionate advocate for patients’ rights,” and he is “highly regarded in health-policy circles for his work to impose quality-control systems inside medical facilities and improve treatments.”

The New York Times writes that “[w]orking with numerous hospitals and clinics around the country, Dr. Berwick has shown that it is possible to reduce medical errors and improve the quality of care while reducing its cost.”

The Washington Post agrees: although Berwick’s focus “has been on improving care, several health policy experts said his methods often result in lower costs as well.”

And in a glowing endorsement of Berwick, a Los Angeles Times editorial states that “[o]nly in the topsy-turvy world in which end-of-life counseling services are called ‘death panels’ could a doctor who champions patients’ rights and better medical treatment be labeled a threat to healthcare consumers.”

So don’t let the negative, partisan spin fool you: Berwick is the highly qualified, experienced, and patient-centered Administrator CMS needs in order to implement health reform in a way that will lower costs and improve health care coordination.

And the experts agree – Berwick has widespread support from doctors, hospitals, medical schools, consumer groups and several former directors of CMS who served under presidents on both sides of the aisle.

The Washington Post sums it up best: Donald Berwick is “just what the doctor ordered for CMS.”

Progress…Power…Women…Lunch!

Published on June 30, 2010 in Debra Ness, Health Care and Reform. 0 Comments
Debra Ness

Debra Ness

A heartfelt thanks to the honoree of this year’s National Partnership annual luncheon, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who inspired us with her comments on the future of health reform – and the many women in top positions who are working to implement it.

“Taken together, these reforms have the potential to give all American women more control over their health care,” Secretary Sebelius said in her keynote speech. “But to achieve this potential, we need to make sure we get these reforms right. That’s why I appreciate the work you’re doing through the Campaign for Better Care to organize advocates to push for a more effective health care system.”

We were also touched by a powerful story from artist and patient advocate Regina Holliday, who courageously shared her experiences with the health care system during the final months of her husband’s life.
We extend our deep appreciation to the event’s emcee, WRC-TV anchor Eun Yang, as well as National Partnership Board Chair Ellen Malcolm, and approximately 1,000 supporters who helped make this year’s annual luncheon an incredible success.

Check out the luncheon highlights and watch the video >>