Costly silence: Lynch needs to speak up

The Union Leader calls on Governor Lynch to stand up against health care legislation that would expand the state's liability under Medicare, and put that burden on New Hampshire taxpayers.

Though some other governors immediately and loudly opposed this expansion as a state budget-buster, Gov. John Lynch has been largely silent. Last week he quietly expressed "concern" about the issue. That's not going to cut it.

As a popular Democratic governor, Lynch's opposition would carry special weight in Washington. He should initiate a bold campaign to fight this entitlement expansion, which would ruin our state budget. Enlisting other moderate Democratic governors would help, but he should do it alone if others won't buck their party.

Medicare for Everyone

In a column in this morning's Union Leader, Dr. Thomas Clairmont finds a simple solution to the health care debate. Just put everyone on Medicare.

For about 4.5 percent of income, matched by your employer, you would receive a lifetime policy with no co-payments, no deductibles, no out-of-pocket expenses and, most important, no pre-existing conditions exclusions. Your policy would cover your choice of physician and appointments with them, hospital care, diagnostic imaging, laboratory tests, prescriptions, vision care, preventive care, dental care, chiropractic care, emergency care and ambulance transportation, podiatry, speech, physical and occupational therapy, mental health care, substance abuse care, health education, hospice care, adult day care, skilled nursing care, long-term care and dialysis. This policy would be portable, continuous and never could be canceled regardless of your employment status.

Please note that passage of this plan covers everyone with the same basic policy. Medicaid would be eliminated; Medicare would be considerably improved. Medical bankruptcy would be eliminated, and the President’s goals of universal, affordable, choice and cost controls would be met. the dreaded doughnut hole in Medicare D would be an unpleasant memory.

Where to begin? How about the "for just 4.5 percent of income, matched by your employer..." That's a nine-percent tax, just for health care.

Dr. Clairmont then goes through the well-worn argument that Medicare is so much more efficient that private health care. After all, the administrative costs are so much lower. Well, Medicare has lower administrative costs because it doesn't have to pay for administrative costs. Medicare doesn't have to repave the hospital parking lot every few years. It doesn't have to fix the leaking roof on the doctor's office. It doesn't have to work around vacation days for the cafeteria workers and receptionists. Medicare underpays doctors for their services, who lose money treating these patients. Medicaid underpays so severely that many physicians have decided to stop accepting Medicaid patients in order to stay in business.

Medicare and Medicaid, valuable and helpful programs to be sure, exist solely because we subsidize them not only through our taxes but also through higher prices in the private health care sector. And despite these huge subsidies, both Medicare and Medicaid are headed towards bankruptcy.

There are plenty of good ideas for fixing the accessibility and affordability of health care in America. Piling everyone into a sinking ship isn't one of them.

State HHS releases private data

UPDATE- The Union Leader has updated this morning's story by reporting that 9,300 Medicare Part D recipients have had their private information sent out:

The state Department of Health and Human Services mistakenly released personal information about 9,300 Medicare Part D recipients to its service providers two weeks ago and is now notifying those affected.

In letters to clients and providers obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the department said it is taking steps to make sure no information is used illegally. But it urged the people affected to initiate credit fraud alerts or freezes on their accounts.

The Union Leader is reporting that New Hampshire's Department of Health and Human Services has mistakenly released private data of Medicare recipients to private service providers:

New Hampshire's Department of Health and Human Services mistakenly released personal information about Medicare Part D recipients to its service providers two weeks ago and is now notifying those affected.

In letters to clients and providers obtained by The Associated Press, the department says it is taking steps to make sure no information was used illegally. But the department is urging clients to initiate credit fraud alerts or freezes on their accounts.

The information was mistakenly attached to an e-mail to providers on Dec. 1.

Medicare Outpatient Rates Cut

The Fiscal Committee this morning unanimously approved a significant cut to reimbursement rates to non-critical access hospitals. The State had been reimbursing 81.24% of allowable expenses for outpatient services, which was estimated to cost $69.4 million.

An increase both in hospital costs and increased caseloads pushed that cost to $95 million. In order to cut back the $25.6 million excess, DHHS Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas and Medicaid Director Katie Dunn requested that the reimbursement rate be cut to 54.04%. Representative Neil Kurk (R-Weare) explained that hospitals would either make up the difference out of their bottom line, or pass along the costs to insuruers. Many hospitals in the northern part of the state are classified as critical access hospitals, and will not be affected. Most hospitals in New Hampshire's southern tier are subject to the lower rate.

Senator Molly Kelly (D-Keene) led the questioning prior to the vote, expressing concern about how the rate cut would hit hospitals.

"I had concerns about the burden this would place on hospitals. Hospitals in my part of the state, which is in the souther tier; this will affect them," Kelly said after the hearing. "In my discussions with the (Lynch) Administration, they are committed to meeting the needs of people in this state. These are difficult times nationally. New Hampshire is not alone."