National/Politics States spent nearly $31 billion on employee health insurance last year By Niraj Chokshi, Washington Post, August 12 at 4:00 PM States paid nearly $31 billion to insure their employees last year, according to a new Pew Charitable Trusts study. The study offers a window into what is one of the largest sources of state health care spending, second only to Medicaid spending. On average, states spent $808 in premium payments per employee per month, Pew finds. But that number varied widely by state — in part due to factors policymakers can control, and in part to those they cannot. Report: State Employee Health Plan Spending: An examination of premiums, cost drivers, and policy approaches Related: Study Finds Big Range In State Workers Health Costs, Kaiser, Aug. 13, 2014 AL: Alabama state workers pay more in insurance premiums, Montgomery Advertiser, Aug. 12, 2014 AZ: State employee health benefits more generous in Arizona, study says, The Republic, Aug. 12, 2014 CA: Report: State [California] offers workers generous health plans, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 FL: Health insurance for Florida employees gets another look, Tampa Bay Times, Aug. 12, 2014 HI: No state pays smaller share of workers health insurance, Star Advertiser, Aug. 13, 2014 IL: Report: Illinois State Workers Have Higher Than Average Premiums, WNIJ News, Aug. 12, 2014 ID: Idaho gives state workers premium health coverage, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 IA: Report: State workers get generous health benefits, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 AFSCME quote MN: Minnesota State Health Plan Among Most Generous, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 AFSCME quote NC: Report claims costs rise for NC health plan, News and Observer, Aug. 12, 2014 NV: Employees of state pay larger share of insurance, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 NJ: Study: NJ public employee benefits among costliest, Asbury Park Press, Aug. 13, 2014 ND: Report: North Dakota state employees have among most valuable health care plans in the nation, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 OH: State-government workers pay less for better health insurance, Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 13, 2014 OK: Health insurance costs increasing for state workers, Norman Transcript, Aug. 12, 2014 OR: Oregon has comparatively high health insurance costs for state workers, national study shows, The Oregonian, Aug. 12, 2014 OR: Study: Health care cheap for Oregon state employees, Statesman Journal, Aug. 13, 2014 SD: Report: Other state health plans better than SDs, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 TN: Tennessee state employees face higher health premiums, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 WI: Report: Wisconsins state employee health plan among most benefit-rich in country, Associated Press, Aug. 12, 2014 How Governors Could Become Americas Health Care Czars By Sophie Novack, National Journal August 12, 2014 Courts have put more and more power in the hands of states to run health care coverage—and not in the way the Affordable Care Act intended. The health care law assumed that all states would expand Medicaid and establish state-based exchanges. But a 2012 Supreme Court decision made it easier for governors to opt out of Medicaid expansion, and 24 states decided not to expand their coverage, leaving millions of low-income people uninsured. Another round of court challenges could soon allow governors to decide whether to provide subsidized coverage on the insurance exchanges as well. The Debate We’re Not Having over Fiscal Disparities Our state and local governments vary greatly in their capacity to address urgent public needs. Shouldnt we be talking about this issue? by Paul L. Posner, Governing, August 13, 2014 It is an article of faith in public finance that the best formula for providing efficient public services is to decentralize to the lowest level of government possible. State and local governments have greater incentives to economize and improve productivity because they are, in effect, in competition with one another for taxpayers and businesses. While the theory is alluring, competition does not play out on a neutral field. Significant disparities exist in the tax bases and needs across states and localities. A 2007 study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution using the latest data on comparative fiscal capacities across states and localities showed fiscal capacity varying by nearly 120 percent between Connecticuts state and local governments and those of Mississippi. Typically, jurisdictions with low tax bases also are those with high spending needs, which together add up to a low fiscal-capacity score. Over 300,000 Must Prove Eligibility or Lose Health Care By Abby Goodnough, New York Times August 12, 2014 WASHINGTON — More than 300,000 people who bought subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act could lose it next month if they do not provide proof that they are living in the United States legally, the Obama administration said Tuesday. Home Health Leaders Re-launch Initiative to Bring Voting to Homebound Patients Emily Study ∙ Home Health Care News ∙ AUGUST 11, 2014 As home health care faces billions of dollars of reimbursement cuts in the next several years, industry leaders are looking to give homebound Medicare beneficiaries a voice by bringing the voting process to them. National home health leaders are reinvigorating the “Bring the Vote Home” initiative, a program that aims to engage the nation’s 3.5 million Medicare home health patients and their caregiving teams by assisting patients in the voter and absentee ballot registration process. The P3 dilemma: States learn partnerships come with hazards (part 4 of 4 part series) August 13, 2014 12:14 AM By Len Boselovic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Many government officials see public-private partnerships as a convenient solution to their infrastructure woes. Enlisting investors and private sector know-how gets roads, bridges and other projects built long before government could do the work on its own. And it comes without career-jeopardizing tax increases, and sometimes with deal-sweetening upfront payments. “It’s such an easy sell to politicians, which is why we have such a hard time stopping it,” said Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, a citizens group fighting toll roads being built and operated by private investors in that state. One need look no farther than the federal highway trust fund, recently rescued from the brink of insolvency by a stopgap funding measure approved by Congress, to appreciate the lack of political will to do something about America’s deteriorating infrastructure. But states using public-private partnerships, or P3s, are discovering that what sounds like a straightforward, efficient process can be fraught with hazards. Those include negotiating an agreement that protects the public interest and monitoring that agreement over the decadeslong life of the project. Federal financing for many projects sparks concerns that taxpayers may be left on the hook. More importantly, critics question the fundamental premise of P3s: that they cost less. They say if P3s save one part of government money, there are costs incurred elsewhere. Part 3: Bridge initiative promises savings and efficiency Part 2: The P3 dilemma: Partnerships often fall short of taxpayers expectations Part 1: The P3 dilemma: How effective are public-private partnerships? On Immigration, G.O.P. Starts to Embrace Tea Party By JONATHAN WEISMAN, New York Times AUG. 12, 2014 WASHINGTON — Late last month, as members of Congress were poised to leave for their summer recess, the House Republicans’ top policy experts found themselves in a barren conference room in the Capitol’s basement, negotiating with the party’s most ardent opponents of immigration overhaul. As senior members of the Judiciary Committee looked on, the opponents — Representatives Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Steve King of Iowa and Mo Brooks of Alabama — reshaped two bills to address the rush of unaccompanied children trying to enter the country illegally. Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, was there, too, and she and Mr. King later took to Twitter to post photos of themselves approving the final language. In Order to Grow, Does Labor Need to Shrink? By Moshe Z. Marvit, In These Times, August 12, 2014 Two recent developments hint that the beleaguered American labor movement could find a way to expand by, counterintuitively, narrowing the size of its locals and bargaining units. … For labor, the potential advantage of micro-units is that they tend to draw from those departments that have higher levels of worker support, as opposed to wall-to-wall units, which may include departments where support is lower. Therefore, they’re harder to crush during the organizing phase. Similarly, minority unions are relatively impervious to many of the standard techniques of union-busting, since by definition they have the support of all the workers that choose to join, Political-Targeting Tools Move Down the Ballot Parties Develop Platforms to Let Lower-Budget Campaigns Tap New Platforms By Patrick OConnor, Wall Street Journal Aug. 12, 2014 7:45 p.m. ET Ever since President Barack Obama successfully used data and technology to target voters in 2012, candidates for lesser offices running on shoestring budgets have wondered if they would have access to the same tools. Increasingly, the answer is yes. Both parties are developing platforms that will allow candidates at every level of government to benefit from the same high-tech practices that have revolutionized national political campaigns. Taking the tools that powered the presidents $1 billion re-election effort and making them available to, say, House races, has been until now an elusive goal. From the Blogs AFSCME’s Got Talent! BY OLIVIA SANDBOTHE We asked AFSCME members to share their talent on stage at the 41st International Convention and the results were amazing. San Jose Cuts Endanger Public Safety BY KEVIN BROWN Cutting the pay and pensions of city employees has become a public safety issue for one of California’s largest cities. Psst! Income Inequality Is Hurting the Country! BY PABLO ROS Standard & Poor’s, a major credit rating agency headquartered in New York City’s financial district, provides financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds. Lately S&P has been telling wealthy Wall Street banks and investors something they may not want to hear: Income inequality is hurting the country. Our Election Work Starts Now! BY CLYDE WEISS AFSCME members are at the leading edge of an intensive labor get-out-the-vote effort across the nation, with early voting already underway in many states. Unless we can increase voter turnout for candidates who support working families, anti-union forces will continue to undermine our rights and living standards. Mo’ Maggots, Mo’ Fines BY CLYDE WEISS For the third time this year, in two different states, food service outsourcer Aramark was hit by fines for violations involving its operations at corrections facilities. State authorities should apply an old umpire’s rule of thumb – “Three strikes, you’re out!” – and cancel Aramark’s contract.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:55:04 +0000
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