Monday, December 21, 2009

Health care reform update

By Free Press Editor Joe Spear

Lots of news coming out of health care reform bill going through the Senate. A couple of developments worthy of note:

President Barack Obama says he will support prescription drug re-importation legislation outside of health care reform, according to the Washington Post.

The pharmaceutical industry has been fighting this, and I'm not sure why Obama would propose it later versus in current reform, but don't expect it to be an easy win for him.

CBO still reports Senate Bill will cut deficit by $130 billion over 10 years, but Wall Street Journal makes an important clarification on the language. Bill will cut the deficit by $130 billion (less than it would otherwise be), which if we keep spending like crazy, could be a lot.

One of the better sites I've seen that puts together a lot of good analysis, fairly balanced is the Kaiser Foundation Health News site.

Here are some key facts to how it might affect average working person in buying health insurance. It's from the main Kaiser article titled "Individual mandate is central to health overhaul."

Here's a key excerpt:

"Under the Senate bill, people who don’t buy coverage would face a maximum penalty of $95 beginning in 2014. That would jump in 2016 to $750 or two percent of their annual income up to the cost of the cheapest health plan, whichever is greater. In the House bill, violators would pay as much as 2.5 percent of their annual income up to the cost of the cheapest plan beginning in 2013.

When people buy health insurance on their own rather than through employers, the average cost in 2016 is projected to be $5,500 for an individual policy and $13,100 for family coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Both health bills would provide a sliding scale of subsidies to individuals who earn less than $43,320 or families of four who earn less than $88,200. The bills also exempt millions of people from the mandate, including for religious reasons and financial hardship."


So, depending on the subsidy, if you're making an average of say $32,400, the approximate average wage in Mankato, you'd pay $915 penalty, versus says $4,000 to $5,000 for a policy. The question being raised: Would young people just pay the penalty and go without insurance?

Friday, December 18, 2009

Senate kills lower prescription prices


By Free Press Editor Joe Spear

The U.S. Senate could not muster enough votes on an proposal to allow imports of safe prescription drugs from Canada as part of the health care reform bill.

We all lose as this was one non-government, market-driven way to reduce health care spending with good old American competition and capitalism.

As The Free Press vote watching service Thomas Reports Inc., notes "Voting 51 for and 48 against, the Senate on Dec. 15 failed to reach 60 votes needed to pass an amendment under which individuals and businesses could import U.S.-made, federally approved pharmaceuticals from Canada and other countries at retail costs much lower than in U.S. stores. This amendment was offered to a pending health-care bill (HR 3590).

Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said: "I have a beef with (a drug) industry that decides they are going to overcharge the American people, in some cases 10 times more, in some cases...double the price that is paid in other parts of the world for the identical drug."

Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said: "As much as we want to cut costs for consumers, we cannot afford to cut corners and risk exposing Americans to drugs that are ineffective or unsafe."

Lautenberg, by the way, has many large pharmaceutical companies in his state. And they seem to be generous supporting his campaign with contributions.

Minnesota senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken voted in favor of imports, and as noted previously, this proposal has had bipartisan support and been passed in varying forms through almost 15 years. That legislation always contained a "poison pill" list of bureaucratic regulations that effectively killed its practical implementation.

The pharmaceutical companies, with new bulldog lobbyist Billy Tauzin, have been tenacious as a pitbull hanging on to a bloody limb in fighting this for years. (Sorry about mixing my dog metaphors).

It's too bad someone can find stick to whack this pitbull.

Tauzin is the former powerful representative from Louisiana, of Cajun descent, Democrat turned Republican, majority whip for both parties, and eventually chairman of the committee that, surprise, surprise, regulated pharmaceuticals.

He left Congress in 2004, but take a look at the industries that supported him. In 2002, these industries were even more generous.






Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Healthcare reform: More lawsuit savings

By Free Press Editor Joe Spear

The Free Press recommended in its editorial a few weeks ago that Congress consider "lawsuit reform" as part of its healthcare overhaul plan.

A Congressional Budget Office analysis at the time estimated a potential $41 billion savings over 10 years, thereby helping healthcare reform trim the deficit even more, the key talking point of proponents.

Well, our friends at the CBO just upped the ante. It now says tort reform, limits on damage awards and other caps on lawyers and their fees, will help stop frivolous lawsuits, but also so-called "defensive medicine" to the tune of $54 billion over 10 years.

That estimate was revised "substantially upward" according to the CBO director's blog because of a larger estimated impact on reducing payouts on medical malpractice suits and decreased utilization of medical procedures that are basically unnecessary unless there's a threat of a lawsuit.

CBO also noted that the higher savings estimate can be attributed to lower overall federal spending on healthcare, presumably in payouts to Medicare and Medicaid patients.

And finally, CBO updated its report on lawsuit reform in response to a question for Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., who asked if the CBO could estimate the cost of tort reform on patient outcomes. In other words, would these new restrictions on lawsuits affect healthcare of consumers.

On that, CBO says the studies show mixed messages, but there is only "limited evidence" about the connection.

We stand by our previous editorial. Lawsuit and medical malpractice reform should be part of healthcare reform legislation. Adopting such would also give Democrats a chance to say they've included Republican ideas in the bill.

Health reform stifles lower drug prices

By Free Press Editor Joe Spear

When does Congress thwart the will of the people in health care reform? When politics is more important than say something like lower drug prices.

One key proposal in health care reform that through the years has garnered bipartisan support is being stymied by political considerations. Allowing for imports of safe prescription drugs has been a proposal that has been approved by Democrats and Republicans alike for at least 15 years.

It always runs into an administration, first Clinton White House, then W. Bush White House, that set up the "poison pill" a bureaucratic procedure that allows White Houses to thwart the will of Congress, and quite frankly, the people.

After Congress has passed import legislation, administrations have bottled it up by requiring overly stringent and bureaucratic rules for importation that all agree effectively limit it. These administration efforts are bolstered by parts of the legislation, usually added by some opponent of importation, that require administration to "guarantee safety" of imported drugs.

The administrations, with a wink and a nod, always says, they can't "guarantee" such a requirement and it would require lots of costs and bureaucracy to do this. It's also a provision that does not apply to drugs made in the U.S. Figure that one out.

And, the drug re-imported are just as safe as anything made in the U.S., in fact, some come from U.S. factories, are sold to Canada and then re-imported. And we say we can't "guarantee" their safety. That's an argument that doesn't fly.

The re-importation language was a stumbling block as of early December, according to the Los Angeles Times. Had it been approved, health reform may have lost the support of the pharmaceutical industry. Even though Obama supported it in principle, he feared it would undercut pharmaceutical companies support for overall health care reform.

Too bad. Re-importation makes a lot of sense, and it has for years. It will lower costs of health care, something badly needed in any reform measure.

Here's a case where politics is thwarting the will of the people.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Why we're better than bloggers

The speed at which today's news and pseudo-news moves makes it all a little difficult to sort what's credible and what's not, even for news junkies and people in the business.

Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, search engines all allow news and commentary posing as news to move more quickly than ever. It seems it's getting faster every day. What's lost however, is credibility or rather our ability to judge if something is credible.

Unfortunately, some news organizations that used to consider credibility before speed have now resorted to speed. They take some commentary, that could be a "possible fact" and more or less run with it. Publish it. Put it online.

For the news consumer, this means you're getting a lot more information, but you're probably more confused about what it means and if it can be trusted.

News organizations like The Free Press make it our goal to help with that understanding. While our writers and editors blog like everyone else, they are still part of our larger organization, and can face consequences if, through their blog, they're spreading information that is either blatantly false or seriously unreliable.

Our competitive advantage against bloggers and others who don't have people checking their content remains that we have professional journalists working for us, and yes, by and large they're better at discerning truth from B.S. than others. They don't have hidden agendas. They're transparent. You can find them at a real office with a real phone number.

But we find ourselves constantly defending our profession as main stream media. As an organization, we all have different views and can keep our journalistic activities in check because we engage regularly in self criticism. We even take criticism from outside our walls and publish it in our product. They're called letters to the editor.

Last time I checked, bloggers and talk radio show hosts with large web site followings did not have a daily method and an ethical rule for publishing criticism of themselves. They don't have regular discussions among staff if they're doing the right thing.

That's why news organizations are more credible, and until these other media out there can show the public they have checks and balances and willingly accept criticism, we will have the competitive advantage, maybe not always in speed, but the thing that matters more: credibility.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Headlines vs. Fact in agriculture

I was invited to sit on a panel at the recent rural/agriculture legislative forum titled "Headlines vs. Fact" the media's portrayal of food issues like pandemics and H1N1.

While I felt a little like I may be in the bulls eye on this topic, I was happy to explain the role of "the media" as it were and my role as editor of The Free Press.

Others on the panel included representatives from the pork industry, the ethanol industry and a public relations specialist.

For more than an hour we discussed how food scare issues and the H1N1 issues can be portrayed in the media in ways that are not always accurate or in some cases where facts are not complete.

One issue: Why does the media use the term "swine flu" when you can't get it by eating pork. The Free Press tries to avoid the term swine flu, and our headline writers are instructed to use H1N1. The key here: Do people know what you are talking about when you use the term H1N1. I contend they do.

Do people know you definitely cannot catch H1N1 from eating pork when you use the term "swine flu." My take: some do, some don't. So H1N1 in my mind is more informative, and accurate.

The caveat I mention to folks. Media rely on sources, and the biggest source in this case is the Centers for Disease Control. If you look on their Web site, they title their information on the issue just like this "H1N1 (swine flu)."

My key advice to the agricultural industries, is to engage the mainstream media. Officials say they tend to favor the trade media, like the ag publications etc, out of a comfort zone type of thing.

But, they must engage mainstream media, because mainstream talks to consumers, and it is consumers' confidence that directly affects the price of their products.

All in all a great panel, lots of positive feedback from the audience. One e-mail I got said our story on the event was even pretty darn accurate!!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thoughts on the local economy

Free Press reports from last week seem to sound a somewhat optimistic note about Black Friday shopping, with retailers saying it was definitely better than last year.

That's not too surprising, given we were in midst of much uncertainty in the national economy last Christmas. We were in the middle of bank bailouts, stimulus plans, and new federal deficit projections. Lots of people were fairly cautious.

The job picture in the Mankato region also appears to be better than one year ago. The unemployment rate is down and the number of people working is up slightly for Blue Earth and Nicollet counties, even though the number of people looking for work and not being able to find it is much higher.

Part-time jobs for college students have been particularly tough. Word on the street was a new Pizza place opening had a couple of entry level jobs that drew 150 applications even without much publicity.

Bar owners downtown also sound a definitely less optimistic note, especially just in the last couple of months.

The Free Press carried another story a week ago that detailed a number of area businesses beginning to rehire people they had laid off earlier this year. That included about 80 re-hired workers at ISJ-Mayo hospital and 60 at Wells Concrete. Jones Metal products recalled about a dozen.

Statewide, 3M, Best Buy and Ecolab also reported they were hiring again.

The Mankato regional economy also has major employers who are in industries, according to state figures, that are growing again, namely health care and educational services.

A recent unscientific poll on The Free Press Web site showed about half believed the regional economy was stable and doing well, another half thought it was stagnant.