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Government Workers Covered
Two-thirds of the nation's nearly 20 million state and local government workers got their health insurance through their employers in 2008, a much higher percentage than among private sector workers, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Premiums for one-person plans ranged from $4,560 to $6,631, while family plan premiums cost between $12,068 and $16,965 per year. New England government workers had the highest average premiums, and workers in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania contributed the least to their premiums for both one-person and family coverage, the report said.
Seniors Hit by Drug Expenses
Medicare Part D enrollees who used high-cost, “specialty tier” drugs are much more likely than other beneficiaries to reach the “doughnut hole,” when they must pay 100% of prescription costs until the totals they and the plans pay reach $6,154, according to a Government Accountability Office report. More than half of Medicare beneficiaries with drug coverage who took one or more of the high-cost drugs spent at least $4,645 out of their own pockets in 2007 and reached the high end of the doughnut hole, or catastrophic threshold, beyond which the government pays at least 80% of all drug costs. Meanwhile, only 8% of beneficiaries who did not use specialty tier–eligible drugs reached the catastrophic threshold. Specialty tier drugs include immunosuppressant drugs, those used to treat cancer, and antiviral drugs. Medicare supplement-plan sponsors told the GAO that they had little leverage to negotiate price concessions for most specialty tier–eligible drugs.
Public Health Funding Is Down
Federal funding for public health has remained flat for nearly 5 years and states have cut a total of nearly $392 million in public health programs in the past year, a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health shows. That has left communities around the country struggling to deliver basic disease prevention and emergency health preparedness services, the report said. “Chronic under-funding for public health means that millions of Americans are needlessly suffering from preventable diseases, health care costs have skyrocketed, and our workforce is not as healthy as it needs to be to compete with the rest of the world,” said Jeffrey Levi, Ph.D., who is the trust's executive director. States in the midwest received the least funding for disease prevention in public health in fiscal year 2009—a total of $16.50 per person, compared with $19.80 per person in the northeast, $19.22 per person in western states, and $19.75 in southern states.
Food Poisoning Cost Is Sickening
Each case of foodborne illness, such as from Escherichia coli and Campylobacter, costs an average of $1,850 in treatment and other health costs, totaling $152 billion for the nation annually, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University. Cases related to tainted produce cost $39 billion in just medical costs per year. “Although this study only addresses the health-related costs of foodborne illness, the total cost of foodborne illness also includes … costs to industry and government from outbreaks,” according to the report. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million new cases of food-related illness result in 5,000 deaths and 325,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year.
Massachusetts Care Still Short
Despite the 2006 passage of health care reform in Massachusetts, some groups—including young adults, low-income residents, and Hispanics—still have low rates of annual checkups and limited access to providers, according to the CDC. Overall, insurance coverage in the state increased from 89% in 2005 to 97% in 2008 as a result of the reform law, providing coverage for an estimated 300,000 additional individuals. Hispanics benefited the most from the law, with a 14% increase in insurance coverage, the report said. But that group and some other traditionally underserved groups still lag behind in basic health care: Only about 75% of Hispanics, men aged 18-34, people in low-income households, and those with less than a high school diploma reported having a personal physician in 2008.
FDA Warns on Food Labels
The Food and Drug Administration has notified 17 food manufacturers, including Gorton's Inc. and Nestle, that labeling for some of their food products violates the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Violations cited in the warning letters include unauthorized health claims, unauthorized nutrient-content claims, and the unauthorized use of terms such as “healthy,” the FDA said. Nestle, for example, was warned about using “100% juice” to describe a product that had added flavors, while the FDA told Gorton's in its letter that its fish fillet packages need to disclose high levels of sodium, saturated fat, and total fat to accompany the claim of zero trans fats.