05 | October | 2011 | AfriQtalk Diaspora

News Release:

For more than 25 years, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been a time to reaffirm our commitment to fighting breast cancer and to remind ourselves of the importance of prevention and early detection. Breast cancer remains one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers among American women and despite remarkable advances in treatment and prevention, it remains the second leading cause of cancer death. This year alone, it is estimated that more than 230,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and nearly 40,000 will die of the disease.

Regular mammography screening can help lower breast cancer mortality by finding breast cancer early, when the chance of successful treatment is best. If 90 percent of women 40 and older received breast cancer screening, 3,700 lives would be saved each year. Costs, even moderate co-pays, deter many patients from receiving these important screenings. Under the Affordable Care Act, women’s preventive health care – such as mammograms and screenings for cervical cancer – is covered with no co-pays or other out-of-pocket costs.

In addition to regular mammography screening, there are steps that women can take that may help reduce their risk of developing breast cancer. Women should talk with their doctor about their personal risk for breast cancer, when to start having mammograms, and how often to have them. Women should also try to maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, and reduce their intake of alcohol. If a woman is found to be at increased risk of breast cancer because of her medical history or a known high-risk gene mutation, she should talk with her doctor to decide what her best options are to reduce breast cancer risk might be. With the release of new Women’s Preventive Services Guidelines, a well-woman visit is available to women to have an opportunity to discuss her health care needs with her medical provider—at no additional cost to her.

The Affordable Care Act is also helping women who are going or have gone through costly breast cancer treatment. Beginning in 2014, it will be illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against anyone with a pre-existing condition. In the past, insurance companies could deny coverage to women due to pre-existing conditions such as breast cancer, and if coverage was attained, insurance companies set lifetime and annual limits on what the companies would spend for benefits. We have done away with lifetime limits, offering women the peace of mind that their health insurance will be available when women need it most. We are also phasing out the use of annual dollar limits over the next three years until 2014 when the Affordable Care Act bans them for most plans.

These changes are making real differences in the lives of American women and families. Prevention, coupled with continued research, will help save more lives and improve the quality of life for all of us touched by breast cancer.

~ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

September 29th, 2011

As part of a plan to reduce the federal budget by more than $3 trillion over 10 years, President Obama has proposed $320 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Most of the savings ($248 billion) would come by slowing the projected growth of Medicare in the coming decade, according to the White House. The remaining $72 billion would be shaved from Medicaid and other health programs.

Details of the plan include:

Pharmaceutical companies would be required to lower their rates to some beneficiaries. The change would allow the federal government to receive the same brand name and generic rebates for low-income Medicare patients as are provided to Medicaid beneficiaries. This proposal accounts for the single biggest savings for Medicare, an estimated $135 billion over 10 years starting in 2013.
New beneficiaries would be required to pay higher deductibles. The current, inflation-adjusted deductible ($162/year) would increase by $25 in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Medicare premiums would increase by approximately 30 percent for new beneficiaries who buy private insurance to help fill gaps in Medicare. The protection afforded by Medigap policies “gives individuals less incentive to consider the costs of health care and thus raises Medicare costs,” according to the White House.
Starting in 2017, some new beneficiaries would be required to make co-payments for home health care, which is now exempt from such charges. The co-payment would be $100 per episode (defined as a series of five or more home health visits not preceded by a stay in a hospital or a skilled nursing home).
Higher-income Medicare beneficiaries would pay higher premiums for Medicare Part B and Medicare prescription drug plans.
Medicare payments to nursing homes, home health agencies, and rehabilitation hospitals would be reduced. Medicare payments to nursing homes with large numbers of hospitalized patients (because the patients did not receive appropriate care in the nursing home) would be reduced even further.
Doctors would have to seek approval from Medicare for the most expensive imaging services.
A revised formula for calculating Medicaid payments to states would save a projected $15 billion over 10 years (but would shift those costs to the states).
Over the next decade, $3.5 billion would be cut from a prevention and public health fund created by the 2010 health care law.
Medicare would cut payments to hospitals and other providers for bad debts that result when beneficiaries fail to pay deductibles and co-payments.

The President’s proposed savings would represent less than 3 percent of what the government expects to spend on Medicare and Medicaid in the next 10 years, but nevertheless generated protest from many quarters. The drug companies, through the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), lashed out against what it called “price controls” for the Medicare prescription drug plan (Medicare Part D).

Senior groups also denounced the plan. “AARP reiterates its strong opposition to any proposals that would raise costs or cut the hard-earned Medicare benefits that millions of seniors depend upon every day for their health and retirement security,” said Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president of AARP.

“The cuts to the Medicaid program in the president’s proposal … shifts the burden to states and ultimately onto the shoulders of seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families who depend on the program as their lifeline,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of the consumer advocacy group Families USA.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) also criticized the Obama proposal, saying that reduced Medicaid and Medicare provider rates would lead to 200,000 job cuts by 2012 for hospitals and businesses they support. Rich Umbdenstock, AHA president and CEO, called the president’s plan, “The wrong prescription to create a healthier America and sustain job growth in a sector of the economy that is actually adding jobs.”

Medicare and Medicaid insure more than 100 million people, and account for nearly a quarter of federal spending.