State Health Watch Archives – December 1, 2002

December 1, 2002

• Like a bridge over partisan waters: Politics, philosophy divide parties

  Since the Bush administration and Senate Democrats agreed to spend some $9 billion a year for the next 10 years to provide health coverage for the uninsured, the nonpartisan Washington, DC-based Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says the two sides need to resolve their political and ideological differences.

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• Medicare isn’t doing the job for long-term care, so states are turning to Medicaid

  With long-term care increasingly a principal driver of higher Medicaid costs for many states, program directors are hoping increased cooperation between states and the federal government will help ease the pressure.

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• Should health care benefits be limited or comprehensive?

  The Washington, DC-based Economic and Social Research Institutes report on possible approaches to expanding health coverage for the uninsured notes that one of the contentious issues is defining the benefit package to be provided.

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• Can states really manage managed care?

  Basically, youre powerless, James Fossett, a researcher with the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, NY, says about the states and their management of managed care.

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• Smallpox vaccinations imminent for hospitals

  The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently approved a plan that calls for smallpox immunization of 510,000 health care workers. The plan suggests that all hospitals should designate a smallpox care team that should be immunized prior to any release of the virus.

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