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The number of Americans without health insurance rose to 45 million in 2003, an increase of 1.4 million. But the increase was not as bad as many had feared in last year?s sluggish economy, rising by only 0.4 percent. The biggest decline was among those with job-based health insurance where coverage fell 0.9 percent. In 2002, 61.3 percent of Americans had job-based insurance; in 2003, the number … [Read more...] about The Uninsured

The U.S. Census Bureau is expected to announce this coming Thursday its estimates of the number of people who didn?t have health insurance in 2003. The number almost certainly will be higher than the 43.8 million estimate for 2002, and it will equally be certain to add more fuel on the political debate over how to reduce the numbers. Dan Crippen, former director of the Congressional Budget … [Read more...] about Awaiting the Numbers

The health sector is entering a dramatic new era in which people are demanding more control over decisions involving their health care and medical coverage. The Internet allows them easy access to a wealth of medical information that was available only to professionals as recently as a few years ago. As they become more empowered with information, they want access to the care and services that … [Read more...] about Transforming Our Health Sector By Empowering Consumers

While Democrats were celebrating and partying until dawn this week in Boston, Republicans were busy in Washington issuing more than a thousand pages of new regulations governing Health Savings Accounts and Medicare. (A recent opinion poll found that Republicans in general say they have more fun than Democrats say they do, but I guess that all depends upon how you define ?fun.?) The new HSA … [Read more...] about Fun Times

While the health care debate traditionally heats up in the summer months, this year the legislative scene has been comparatively quiet. Most of the energy has been spent explaining ? or debating ? the various provisions of the new Medicare law, especially the Temporary Drug Discount Card and Health Savings Accounts. The biggest excitement of the summer (and only in Washington would this be … [Read more...] about Summer Excitement

The New York Times this week set off alarm bells in Washington with a lead story by Robert Pear entitled "Medicare law is seen leading to cuts in drug benefits for retirees." You will recall that the issue commanding attention at the highest levels during the Medicare debate last year was making sure that seniors' retiree coverage would be safe when the permanent drug benefit comes on line in … [Read more...] about Alarm Bells

It takes a lot for virtually every major newspaper in the country to feature a positive article about an announcement by a pharmaceutical company on drug prices, but that is exactly what happened yesterday. New York-based Pfizer announced on Wednesday a new initiative to provide its medicines to the uninsured at savings as good or better than they would get if they had a health plan to negotiate … [Read more...] about Mending Images

More and more studies are validating the value of the new Temporary Drug Discount Card program, and, despite a spate of bad press, more and more seniors seem to be figuring out for themselves that this is a good deal. Bob Helms of the American Enterprise Institute hosted a briefing on Wednesday that focused on a benchmark study by Joe Antos and Ximena Pinell of AEI that provides a detailed … [Read more...] about Independence