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Thursday, August 22, 2013
Tacking Health Care Costs Onto California Farm Produce
Friday, August 9, 2013
A Conservative Re-Envisioning Of The Health Care Overhaul
Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org
Tired of hearing policy experts and politicians debate the 2010 health care law? What if you took the Affordable Care Act out of the conversation? If you could scrap the nation’s current health care system and build a new one, what would it look like?
A group of health care experts from Stanford University, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the University of Southern California, among other institutions, has compiled a report with their answer to that question. Funded by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute’s National Research Initiative, the document offers a variety of ideas that its authors say would achieve universal coverage, protect the poor and the sick and restrain health care cost growth, among other priorities.
“In many ways, the ACA has been a distraction, because people think that all of the health care debate boils down to ‘do you support the ACA or do you oppose it?’ ” said Darius Lakdawalla, one of the authors and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, as well as a professor of pharmaceutical economics in the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy. “To us, that is really a very narrow and misleading question.”
The report’s proposals include allowing health insurers to charge premiums that reflect consumers’ health care costs and providing generous subsidies to help the poor obtain...
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
NJ Governor Christie to Propose Workers' Compensation Reform
In the past, unsuccessful major attempts to reform the State's workers' compensation
system have come from interest groups from outside of the State, ie. 1980's national insurance Industry (AIA) concerns. Now the focus is changing, and the proposals for reform will be coming from the the State's Chief Executive, a major coalition builder who has successfully tackled major legislative changes during his term in office.
-1980's Following the WCRI Study attempt to adopt AMA Medical Guidelines
“'We’re going to be coming up with a package of proposals that’s going to work both sides of that,' Christie told a caller on his monthly NJ 101.5 FM radio show tonight.
'The employers who may not be stepping up and meeting their obligations and also the employees who are committing fraud on the worker’s comp system,' he said."
Click here to read the complete article: Christie to present plan to reform N.J. worker's compensation system (NJ.com)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Workers’ Compensation 2013 – What Happens on the Other Side of The Fiscal Cliff?
Overall health care devours 18 percent of the US economy and amounts to 25% of the Federal budget.
Medical treatment for injured workers continues to be delayed, denied and limited under current workers’ compensation programs. Medical costs continue to be shifted to other programs including employer based medical care systems and the Federal safety net of Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration and Tricare.
While a trend continues to emerge to offer “Opt Out” and “Carve Out Programs,” they are not global enough to solve the critical budget deficit issues. The latest emerging trend is for employers to utilize ERISA based medical care plans to efficiently delivery medical care. In NJ a limited alternate dispute-resolution procedure between unions and employers has been introduced. See “NJ Care Outs –Another Evolutionary Step” authored by David DePaolo.
The US economy continues to be very weak. This in an ominous signal for the nation’s workers’ compensation program which is starved for premium dollars. Premiums are based upon salaries and real median incomes continued their dramatic decline over the last decade from $54,841 in 2000 to $50,054 in 2011. There just may not be enough dollars available in the workers’ compensation programs to pay for present and lifetime medical care.
Even the present Federal system leaves much to be desired. Whether Federal rationing medical care becomes a reality is unknown. Physicians are under economic scrutiny as the “Doc Fix” to limit provider fees continues as a cloud over all medical programs. The agreement reached by Congress still does not resolve the 26.5% percent cut reimbursement cut to physicians who treat Medicare patients. The law merely "freezes" payment to physicians.
Workers’ compensation programs presently structured provide no real economic incentive to monitor and compensate for more favorable medical outcomes. On the other hand, the Federal government, with broad and sweeping regulatory ability, is able to continue to make strides in many areas including present incentives to hospitals and proposed incentives to physicians to provide medical treatment with fewer complications and ultimate better outcomes
Steven Ratner in the NY Times points out the dramatic increase in the nation’s health care costs. He wrote, “…no budget-busting factor looms larger than the soaring cost of government-financed health care, particularly Medicare and Medicaid.”
Now that we are on the other side of the fiscal cliff, the opportunity to be creative is possible. The US needs to transition to a single-payer health care system subsuming a medical care program for injured and ill workers who suffer both traumatic and occupational conditions.
Read more about the "single-Payer System" and workers' compensation
Workers' Compensation: A Single Payer System Will Solve the ...
Nov 29, 2012
The question is whether the nation will recognize that the US needs tol take the bold step previously taken by the European Community, finally adopt a single payer medical care program. The perpetual cost generator that ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
NJ Urged to Adopt Single Payer System for Workmens Comp
Jun 06, 2011
NJ Urged to Adopt Single Payer System for Workmens Comp. A coalition that has been formed in NJ is urging that the Garden State follow the lead of Vermont and establish a single-payer system. Single-payer movements ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Vermont Single Payer System Called the Dawn of A New Era
Apr 03, 2011
The proposed state based Vermont Single-Payer health care system, that would embrace workers' compensation medical care, is gaining momentum. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, citing increased ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
RICO Issues Can Be Cured With A Single Payer Medical System
Mar 22, 2011
Vermont's proposed single payer system would seperate medical care from indemnity. Vermont's single proposed single-payer system would likely also provide a primary care doctor to every resident of Vermont. This would ...
http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Path to Federalization: A National Workers Compensation System--US Supreme Court Validates
John G. Roberts Jr., Chief Justice US Supreme Court |
In a 5 to 4 ruling, Chief Justice Roberts validated the individual mandate as a permissible exercise of congressional power under the Taxing Clause of the US Constitution. Under 26 U.S.C. Section 5000A. The law requires that: (a) an individual must maintain minimum essential coverage for each month beginning after 2012; and (b) if there is a failure to maintain minimum essential coverage, a "penalty" is imposed "on the taxpayer" of $695 per year or 2.5% of family income, whichever is greater. The penalty "shall be assessed and collected in the same manner as taxes."
Constitution of the United States |
The US Supreme Court previously validated compulsory workers' compensation programs. Compulsory compensation systems have been held not to be an arbitrary classification contrary to the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution, 14th Amendment. The state-enacted systems were created for the protection of the lives, health and safety of the employees. The systems provide payment of compensation through a state mandated system for injuries to employees or for the death of employees resulting from injuries related to work, regardless of fault. The compensation systems are held as a simple, inexpensive and expeditious method of providing recovery to employees who are injured in a highly organized and modern industrial employment environment. New York Central Railroad Company v. White, 243 U.S. 188, 37 S.Ct. 247, 61 L.Ed. 667 (1917). See also, Lower Vein Coal Co. v. Industrial Board of Indiana, 255 U.S. 144, 41 S.Ct. 252, 65 L.Ed. 555 (1921) and In re Asbestos Litigation, 829 F.2d 1233 (3d Cir.1987), cert. denied 485 U.S. 1029, 108 S.Ct. 1586, 99 L.Ed.2d 901 (1988).
Generally, the ACA provides a much needed national structure for the regulation, delivery, and enforcement of medical coverage. The ACA contains significant fraud and abuse provisions. In 2010 the law significantly expanded the government's authority to prosecute Faults Claims Act (FCA) cases. In 2011-2012 the ACA triggers increased provider screening, oversight and reporting. The ACA also establishes the Independent Payment Advisory Board to evaluate fee schedules and expands the scope of Medicaid and CHIP payments.
Unlike most State compensation systems that presently struggle with both expeditious medical delivery as well the value and responsibility of medical care, the ACA provides a uniform system and expeditious system. The fragmented network of complex, dilatory and inconsistent results in the State programs have been described recently by national experts as "irrational" and "unjust." They characterize the present compensation programs as "....dizzying and frustrating in its complexity, and apparent irrationality," and they conclude that "a substantial proportion of persons with work-related disabilities do not receive workers' compensation benefits," and in need of a better format.
In addition to the widely publicized tax for non-compliance, the ACA contains several other innovative revenue provisions that will provide additional funding from collateral sources without burdening al employers globally. In 2010 an indoor tanning service tax was implemented. In 2011 annual fee was instituted on pharmaceutical companies as well as an increased penalty for early withdrawal from health savings accounts. In 2013 the following provisions go into effect: the Medicare payroll tax will increase for high-income individuals, an excise tax on medical device manufacturers, limits on Flexible Spending Accounts, and the elimination of the deduction for Employer Part D subsidy. In 2014 there will be an annual fee on health insurance plans. In 2018 there will be an excise tax and high-cost plans commonly referred to as the "Cadillac tax."
"Libby Care"--Universal Care
Center for Asbestos Related Disease Libby, MT. |
The Future: Universal Health Care
Landmarks on the Path to Federalization |
History reveals that a series of efforts have been made by the Federal government to federalize medical care for industrial accidents and illnesses. Those efforts demonstrate a commitment to bring the nation ever closer to a universal care medical program incorporating the entire patchwork of workers' compensation medical delivery systems. The US Supreme Court has accelerated the nation down that promising path.
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Jon L.Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thompson).
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Thursday, June 14, 2012
National Experts Call Workers Compensation System Irrational and Unjust
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Thursday, January 5, 2012
Contagion in The Workplace: Ready or Not
Whether the release is because of an unintentional act, or a terrorist attack, the workers' compensation system has not established a protocol for responding with urgent medical care and an elaborate and expedited medical delivery and benefit system.
Read more: Debate Persists on Deadly Flu Made Airborne (NY Times)
“This research should not have been done,” said Richard H. Ebright, a chemistry professor and bioweapons expert at Rutgers University who has long opposed such research. He warned that germs that could be used as bioweapons had already been unintentionally released hundreds of times from labs in the United States and predicted that the same thing would happen with the new virus.
“It will inevitably escape, and within a decade,” he said.
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Related articles
- The Urgent Need for Workers Compensation Flu Pandemic Planning (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- New Swine-Origin Flu Cases Reported (medpagetoday.com)
- How Hard Would It Be For Avian Flu To Spread (nytimes.com)
- The Top 10 Workers' Compensation Blog Posts for 2011 (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Comp Maybe Going Viral in Florida Over Dengue Fever (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- OSHA Sets H1N1 Flu Employer Responsibility Standard for Health Care Workers (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Compensating Sick Workers at Home with H1N1 Flu (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- CDC Reports Flu Widespread - Is the US Workers’ Compensation System Ready? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Food-contamination responses, resistant E coli in raw chicken, H5Ns in Vietnam (cidrap.umn.edu)
- Contagion: The Movie
Friday, May 13, 2011
Common Themes, The Green Mountain System & Newt Gingrich
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Related articles
- Vermont Single Payer System Called the Dawn of A New Era (workers-compensation.
blogspot.com) - RICO Issues Can Be Cured With A Single Payer Medical System (workers-compensation.
blogspot.com) - Vermont Universal Health Care to Embrace Workers Compensation (workers-compensation.
blogspot.com) - Newt Gingrich's New Strategy for Workers' Compensation (workers-
compensation.blogspot.com) - Green Mountain Dreams (slate.com)
- Progressives and Conservatives Agree: Single Payer Healthcare is Inevitable (pnhp.org)
- 300 Million Payer Healthcare System -- New Gingrich (youtube.com)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Common Themes, The Green Mountain System & Newt Gingrich
For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.
Related articles
- Vermont Single Payer System Called the Dawn of A New Era (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- RICO Issues Can Be Cured With A Single Payer Medical System (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Vermont Universal Health Care to Embrace Workers Compensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Newt Gingrich's New Strategy for Workers' Compensation (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
- Green Mountain Dreams (slate.com)
- Progressives and Conservatives Agree: Single Payer Healthcare is Inevitable (pnhp.org)
- 300 Million Payer Healthcare System -- New Gingrich (youtube.com)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Synchronizing Federal Care for Oil Spill Workers
The need for coordination of Federal benefits for oil spill workers is now becoming a major concern. It is becoming more apparent, by the day, that the State programs are now stretched beyond their limits to respond to the crisis. As The Path To Federalization expands, this debate will expand.
A recent study by the Center for American Progress addresses these concerns.
"Health threats from the oil spill may linger unseen, perhaps for more than a generation. And we will not be fully prepared to address the public health problems that arise in the future unless there is an effective and coordinated handover of responsibilities for protecting public health from the emergency response agencies to agencies with the capability and capacity for long-term monitoring and management. Federal agencies have been pulled in as needed in the gulf spill response, but it’s not clear that the Health and Human Services response has been synchronized from the top to ensure effective delivery and coordination."
"In short, the spill reiterates why we need to better manage the short- and longterm responses required to address the public health threats such disasters pose whether they are manmade or due to natural causes."