Chiropractic Breakthrough

With the aim of depoliticizing a largely Republican assault, the leading lobbying group for small businesses, the National Federation of Independent Business, has joined officials from 20 states in their legal challenge to the new health care law.

Hospice benefits won’t change under the new law. The House provision that would have required plans to offer voluntary end-of-life counseling — which led to the infamous “death panel” claims that government bureaucrats would be empowered to give the thumbs up or thumbs down to care for the critically ill — was dropped.

Since the new legislation passed, a dozen lawsuits have been filed in federal courts by states who challenge it. They question whether Congress can regulate inactivity — by levying a tax penalty on those who do not obtain health insurance. If so, what would prevent the government from mandating all manner of acts in the national interest, say regular exercise or buying an American car?

Starting in 2014 the new health care law will allow employers to offer premium discounts and other incentives of up to 30% of the cost of employees’ health coverage (and up to 50% in some instances) if workers participate in wellness programs and meet health targets.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or Class Act, the first national plan to help the great majority of Americans who have no insurance for long-term care, became law in March. Even though there was little fanfare. To be eligible, participants must pay premiums for a vesting period of 5 years before they can receive benefits, and they have to continue working for 3 of those years.

The White House announced Tuesday that it would help pay medical bills for early retirees who have health insurance provided by their former employers. The purpose of the temporary $5 billion program, authorized by the new health care law, is to reverse the erosion of employer-sponsored insurance. Under the program, the federal government can reimburse employers for 80% of the cost of claims from $15,000 to $90,000 a year for a retired worker who is 55 or older and not eligible for Medicare. The program will run from June 1 of this year to Jan. 1, 2014, when many early retirees, like millions of other Americans, will be able to enroll in health plans offered through new state-based markets known as insurance exchanges.

Americans are already starting to see the benefits of health care reform. The new law requires health insurance companies — starting in September — to end their most indefensible practice: rescinding coverage after a policyholder gets sick. In recent days insurers have rushed to announce that they will end rescissions immediately.

Athenahealth, a provider of Internet-based business services for medical offices, released the results of a national survey of 1,000 physicians. Nearly 2/3 of doctors felt that the current health care environment was detrimental to the delivery of care, and more than half believed that the care quality would decline over the next 5 years. Less than 1/5 of doctors felt they could make clinical decisions based on what was best for the patient rather than on what payers were willing to cover. And an overwhelming majority believed that getting reimbursed was becoming increasingly complex and burdensome.

Anthem Blue Cross, the insurance giant that was criticized by President Obama when it proposed increasing rates for Californians by as much as 39%, withdrew plans for the proposed increase this week. Anthem made the decision following an independent audit, which decided that the company’s justification for increasing rates was based on flawed data.