Thursday, August 10, 2006
Moses reports on Medicaid Commission
[Stephen A. Moses, "Medicaid Commission Overlooks Private Financing Options," Health Care News, The Heartland Institute, 1 August 2006.]
Steve Moses of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, who is currently finalizing a report on long-term care in Kansas for The Flint Hills Center, offers his review of a recent meeting of The Medicaid Commission in this Health Care News column:
The Medicaid Commission--a 30-member committee appointed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt--convened in Dallas in mid-May to pursue its congressionally mandated objective of fixing the federal health care program for the poor before it implodes financially.
Since being established by Leavitt in May 2005, the commission has met approximately once every two months. At this sixth meeting, roughly two-thirds of the way between its founding and its expected final report, the outlines of the commission's likely findings and recommendations became clear. But some witnesses and commissioners worried the majority is ignoring its fiscal mandates.
Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, warned that the program, especially its long-term care (LTC) component, is growing beyond its means.
"Everybody can agree that Americans should prepare for their own retirement needs," Smith said. "LTC insurance is one solution, but it hasn't grown for many reasons. We need lots of good discussion on how to stimulate the private sector."
Yet the commissioners rarely addressed incentivizing private financing alternatives. Their focus was nearly exclusively on how to make Medicaid-financed care more attractive and more affordable.
Without addressing these matters, the commission risks attacking symptoms instead of causes with its recommendations, proving ineffective or worse. Yet no one on the commission and none of the witnesses in Dallas raised these concerns, though I tried to do so in two minutes of "public testimony."
Voting members of the Medicaid Commission who are more favorable to private financing alternatives, such as Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner and Robert Helms, director of health policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, have expressed concern that some of their requests to invite witnesses have not been honored.
The Medicaid Commission may be drifting toward conclusions and recommendations that will make Medicaid even less sustainable financially in the future than it is today--exactly the opposite of its mandate.
[Stephen Moses, "Its time to end welfare for the well-to-do," The Kansas City Kansan, 26 April 2006.]
Steve Moses of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, who is currently finalizing a report on long-term care in Kansas for The Flint Hills Center, offers his review of a recent meeting of The Medicaid Commission in this Health Care News column:
The Medicaid Commission--a 30-member committee appointed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt--convened in Dallas in mid-May to pursue its congressionally mandated objective of fixing the federal health care program for the poor before it implodes financially.
Since being established by Leavitt in May 2005, the commission has met approximately once every two months. At this sixth meeting, roughly two-thirds of the way between its founding and its expected final report, the outlines of the commission's likely findings and recommendations became clear. But some witnesses and commissioners worried the majority is ignoring its fiscal mandates.
Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, warned that the program, especially its long-term care (LTC) component, is growing beyond its means.
"Everybody can agree that Americans should prepare for their own retirement needs," Smith said. "LTC insurance is one solution, but it hasn't grown for many reasons. We need lots of good discussion on how to stimulate the private sector."
Yet the commissioners rarely addressed incentivizing private financing alternatives. Their focus was nearly exclusively on how to make Medicaid-financed care more attractive and more affordable.
Without addressing these matters, the commission risks attacking symptoms instead of causes with its recommendations, proving ineffective or worse. Yet no one on the commission and none of the witnesses in Dallas raised these concerns, though I tried to do so in two minutes of "public testimony."
Voting members of the Medicaid Commission who are more favorable to private financing alternatives, such as Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner and Robert Helms, director of health policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, have expressed concern that some of their requests to invite witnesses have not been honored.
The Medicaid Commission may be drifting toward conclusions and recommendations that will make Medicaid even less sustainable financially in the future than it is today--exactly the opposite of its mandate.
[Stephen Moses, "Its time to end welfare for the well-to-do," The Kansas City Kansan, 26 April 2006.]
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