Annual Health Care Cost Survey

The 17th Annual Towers Perrin Health Care Cost Survey involved data collected from more than 200 large employers, who provide coverage to more than five million workers, retirees and dependents. According to the survey, health care costs for large U.S. employers in 2006 will increase by 8%, a smaller rate of increase than in recent years. Average premiums per employee in 2006 will increase by about $600, and employees will cover about $155 of that increase. The survey also found that employees will cover about 20% of the cost of health insurance premiums in 2006. In addition to efforts to shift more of the cost of health care to employees, employers plan to promote use of generic medications and implement health risk assessment and wellness programs to help reduce costs.

Information about the survey is available online at http://www.towersperrin.com/hrservices/global/default.htm

Health Care Costs Add to Higher Cost of Living in California

The California Budget Project http://www.cbp.org/ estimates what it costs to support a family with two children or to live as a single adult - allowing only for the basic costs of housing, utilities, child care, transportation, food, health coverage, taxes, and miscellaneous expenses - in 10 regions of the state. According to The Making Ends Meet: How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Family in California? in order to have a "modest" standard of living and cover the basics of everyday costs, including health care, California residents need to earn far more than the state's minimum wage or federal poverty level.

The report is available online at http://www.cbp.org/2005/0509_mem.pdf

US 29th in life expectancy according to the 2005 Human Development Report

Every year since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has commissioned the Human Development Report by an independent team of experts to explore major issues of global concern. A worldwide advisory network of leaders in academia, government and civil society contribute data, ideas, and best practices to support the analysis and proposals published in the Report. Developing countries and their international partners use the Report to gauge results and shape new policies. The "Human Development Report" for 2005 was released Sept 7. The entire report can be downloaded at http://hdr.undp.org/reports/

Hospital Compare: HHS Tool

Hospital Compare, a United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) tool, provides you with information on how well the hospitals in your area care for all their adult patients with certain medical conditions. This tool uses Medicare and Medicaid data to analyze the records of more than 4,000 hospitals nationwide. http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/

CalPERS Announces Telemedicine Project

Beginning Jan. 1, 2006, nearly 90,000 CalPERS members who live in rural areas will have access to a telemedicine program. The program will facilitate consultations between patients and their primary physicians with specialists in cardiology, dermatology, pediatric neurology and psychiatry at UC Davis, Cedars Sinai Medical Center and other locations. CalPERS will be the first employer in the state to provide full telemedicine coverage. The program is intended to expand rural CalPERS members' access to medical specialists without requiring them to travel long distances.

CMS to Launch New Web-Based Tools

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will launch three new Web-based tools designed to help beneficiaries understand the new prescription drug benefit. The Web tools will be found on the "partners" section of the Medicare Web site starting Oct. 13. http://www.medicare.gov/

Study: Canadian Online Pharmacies Cheaper than U.S. Drugstores

U.S. residents could save an average of 24% by purchasing prescription drugs from online Canadian pharmacies instead of U.S. drugstores. The McGill University (Quebec) study, which was published in the September 20, 2005 "Annals of Internal Medicine," compared the prices of 44 top-selling brand-name medications at 12 Canadian online pharmacies with the prices on the Web sites of three U.S. chain drugstores: CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreen. Dr. Mark J. Eisenberg is the lead author.

Survey finds steady decline in businessed offering health benefits to workers since 2000

"The percentage of businesses offering health insurance to their workers has declined steadily over the last five years as the cost of providing coverage continues to outpace inflation and wage growth, according to the 2005 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust."

Employer Health Benefits 2005 Annual Survey can be found at
http://www.kff.org/insurance/7315/index.cfm

Study Finds Insurance Status Determines Access to Follow-Up Care

According to a study published on Wednesday in JAMA, patients who have private health insurance are more likely to receive follow-up care within one week of emergency department treatment than those who are enrolled in Medicaid or lack health coverage.

Citation: Asplin, Brent R. et. al. "Insurance Status and Access to Urgent Ambulatory Care Follow-up Appointments." JAMA. 2005;294:1248-1254. (check COAST for article)

More Than 1M Caregivers in U.S. Are Children

More than one million U.S. children ages eight to 18 care for relatives who are ill or have disabilities, according to the first study to examine child caregivers in the U.S. The study, financed by the Administration on Aging, will be presented at a conference Friday (September 16, 2005) by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the United Hospital Fund. The study is based on two surveys by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc. Gail Gibson Hunt, president of NAC, is lead author and Carol Levine of UHF is co-author.

State HMO Report Card

The fifth annual HMO report card was released on Tuesday by the State Office of the Patient Advocate. Overall quality of care provided through California's 10 largest HMOs has improved and members are increasingly satisfied with their plans, although the HMOs continue to have "critical shortfalls" in providing preventive care. The report is available online at
http://www.opa.ca.gov/report_card/

Study Finds What California Teens are Eating

Researchers at the Center for Health Policy Research (University of California-Los Angeles) have found that "More California Teens Consume Soda and Fast Food Each Day Than Five Servings of Fruits and Vegetables." The study analyzed data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey.

The policy brief can be found at http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/files/teen_fastfood_PB.pdf

900,000 Youth Planned Suicides During Major Depression

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released (September 9, 2005) data showing that approximately 900,000 youth had made a plan to commit suicide during their worst or most recent episode of major depression, and 712,000 attempted suicide during such an episode of depression. The data are extracted from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which asked youth ages 12-17 about symptoms of depression, including thoughts about death or suicide.

The special report, "Suicidal Thoughts among Youths Aged 12-17 with Major Depressive Episode" is available on the web at http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/suicide/suicide.cfm

Study Finds Many Special Needs Children Lacked Health Insurance in 2003

According to a new study, "Public Coverage Provides Vital Safety Net for Children with Special Health Care Needs," by the Center for Studying Health System Change, about 650,000 children with special health care needs did not have health insurance in 2003, although many were eligible for public health insurance programs. The study is available online http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/778/

Preparedness in Cross-Cultural Care

"In a survey of resident physicians about attitudes, educational experiences, and perceptions of preparedness to provide quality care to diverse patient populations, Weissman and colleagues found wide agreement that cultural issues are important. However, many residents reported a lack of instruction or evaluation in specific areas of cross-cultural care and a significant number responded they were not prepared to treat patients from other cultures." (One study in JAMA theme issue on medical education)

Citation: Weissman, J.S., et al. "Resident Physicians’ Preparedness to Provide Cross-Cultural Care" JAMA. (September 7)2005;294 (9):1058-1067. (for full-text search COAST)

Study Measures Smoking Rates Among Specific Populations in California

On September 6, 2005, the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) "released the results of five population-based studies showing significantly higher smoking rates for the active military stationed in California, Korean men and those identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT), compared to the general California adult population. This first-ever population-specific data are in contrast to the state’s overall smoking prevalence, which is at historic lows. The new data also show that Chinese and Asian Indian Californians smoke at considerably lower rates than the general population.... "

http://www.applications.dhs.ca.gov/pressreleases/store/pressreleases/05-60.html

Census Bureau's annual report on poverty, health insurance and income

The percentage of the nation’s population without health insurance coverage remained stable, at 15.7 percent in 2004. The number of people with health insurance increased by 2.0 million to 245.3 million between 2003 and 2004, and the number without such coverage rose by 800,000 to 45.8 million. These findings are contained in the "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004" report. http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf

New NLM/SIS webpage re: Hurricane Katrina and health effects

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has created a web site with Hurricane Katrina-related environmental health information links. NLM will continue to add/refine as they learn of new, relevant sites. It is now available at http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/hurricane.html