January 2008 No. 4Table of ContentsSpecial Report - Health |
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Health #1 issue facing states. Every time Stateline.org itemizes priority issues facing states, it begins with “health.” This nonpartisan initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts is staffed entirely by professional journalists. It was originally envisioned as a resource for newspeople who cover state government. But its readership now includes thousands of state officials, students of state government, and ordinary citizens who want to keep track of what's going on in states across the USA.
Stateline’s 2008 “State of the States” reviews problems, prospects, and approaches in several key areas facing state policy makers—health care, gambling, stem cell research, infrastructure, National Guard, education, and immigration. It leads off with an analysis of the roll-out and impact of Massachusetts and California healthcare coverage plans. So too, Capitol Steps compares how Hoosiers stack up to Americans in other states. Download the full report from www.stateline.org/live.
Indiana is the 32nd most-healthy state according to the United Health Foundation’s annual rankings. It lags the national average and all its neighbors except Kentucky. Vermont tops the list. Indiana moved up from 33rd in 2006 due to a 12% decrease in smoking, a 13% drop in the uninsured, and long-term improvement in infectious diseases. Twenty health measures comprise this rating system. “Over the last six years…the nation’s health has virtually stagnated,” the report stated. To get a copy of Indiana’s profile, go to www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/ahr.html.
Indiana’s new Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) enrolled 4,500 low-income uninsured Hoosiers in the first week of January. Indiana’s 500,000 eligible for HIP make up less than 2% of the nation’s 40 million who told Reuters they could not afford adequate health care and go without drugs, glasses, and dentist visits.
Indiana’s HIP is for non-disabled Hoosiers ages 19-64 with household income under 200% of the federal poverty level. They must have been uninsured for 6+ months and ineligible for employer-sponsored healthcare coverage. It covers prescriptions, home-outpatient-inpatient-hospice, family planning, and mental health care. Unlike Hoosier Healthwise, HIP is subsidized by the state and requires a “POWER Account” paid in-part by the participant that is intended to promote personal responsibility toward prevention.
People can sign up for HIP by phone (1-877-GET-HIP-9), online at www.HIP.IN.gov, or at Hoosier Healthwise centers and local Division of Family Resources offices. Nonprofits are encouraged to assist their clients to apply for HIP.
As the election season plods on, candidates are challenged to provide ways to organize and cut double-digit increases in annual healthcare costs. Healthcare spending will jump 20% by 2016, or to $4 Trillion (a “T”), The Commonwealth Fund projects.
The Fund found 81% of Americans believe that to get coverage for all Americans employers should either provide health insurance to their workers or contribute to the cost of their coverage—88% of Democrats, 73% of Republicans, and 79% of Independents agreed on this “pay or play” position. In fact, all agree—Independents (70%), Democrats (67%), and Republicans (66%)—that paying for health costs is something to be shared by individuals, employers, and government alike. If a dozen changes in federal policies it proposes are coupled with such a multi-payer universal health insurance approach, the Fund says the growth in healthcare spending could be cut by a third ($1.5T). To see what presidential candidates propose, see www.commonwealthfund.org.
Indiana ranks 45th in a consumer advocacy group’s analysis of states’ Medicaid programs:
See www.citizen.org/hrg. And yet, Medicaid spending is still 15% of Indiana’s state budget, second only to public k-12 education. Still, Indiana had the 7th highest growth in states’ Medicaid spending, now $6 Billion. See www.statehealthfacts.org for the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 50-state Medicaid comparisons.
It is also noted that the Congressional Budget Office forecasted that rising health costs will be fueled by private healthcare providers and private health insurance carriers, not Medicare and Medicaid.
Indiana got $16.1 Million from the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to help link 3 dozen hospitals around the state and provide rural patients with better access to healthcare services through the Indiana Telehealth Network. Indiana is one of 42 states getting federal funds from $417 Million set aside for 69 regional or statewide broadband networks. The Indiana Rural Health Assn is the grantee. For more info, see www.indianaruralhealth.org.
Indiana ranked 40th among states on a group of key indicators of women’s health—one of 12 states to get and “F” grade overall. Nearly 47% of Hispanic women in Indiana don’t have health insurance. Neither Indiana's whites (83%), blacks (69%), nor Hispanics (66%) made the national average (84%) for starting prenatal care in the first trimester; and while 24% of all U.S. women were obese, 25% of Indiana’s white, 40% of black, and 32% of Hispanic females were so. See http://www.nwlc.org for details from the National Women’s Law Center report.
One-fifth of Indiana’s high-school juniors name health services as their most popular career choice, according to 3 years of surveys by Learn More Indiana. One-sixth choose arts and communications. One-tenth pick science, engineering, and technology. In fact, the “hottest” jobs for Hoosiers center on computer software & systems and healthcare (from dental hygienist to biomedical engineer). See www.learnmoreindiana.org.
In 1998, Indiana joined many other states in winning a lawsuit against tobacco companies. The original Indiana law said 60% of the $457.7 Million the state was to get would be devoted to health-related programs with the other 40% in a trust fund for permanent tobacco prevention programs. A consortium of health agencies report in A Broken Promise to Our Children that Indiana and is spending about one-third of the minimum amount it should to make a difference in youth smoking habits. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that Indiana spend between $35 Million and $96M a year to have an effective anti-smoking campaign. Indiana spent $16.2M last year and ranks 26th for adequate funding. Seewww.tobaccofreekids.org.
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