Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announces $10 million worth of Recovery Act funds are going to be put toward non-profit organizations to help lower obesity and tobacco use. (0:25)
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calls for health insurance companies to publish information online explaining why they are raising prices. (0:23)
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebleius gives information on the earning statements of insurance companies and gives perspective on what double-digit rate increases mean for customers. (0:23)
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius lists a number of negative effects that arbitrary rate increases on the part of health insurance companies can have on the budgets of consumers. (1:02)
By Laurel Brishel Prichard-University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service
Health and Human Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Thursday that through the administration’s health care reform effort, health insurance providers could soon be required to publish the rationale behind premium increases on American’s policies.
“Right now we have a situation where the top 5 companies filed earning reports of $12.7 billion for 2009 in terms of profit statements and yet pivot around with double digit rate increase,” Sebelius said during a conference call with reporters. “People have no bargaining power, they have no leverage and often are desperate in terms of what in the world they are going to do.”
According to the secretary, posting the reasons behind raised premiums online will provide additional transparency.
Sebelius’s remarks came shortly after a meeting with a variety of the heavy hitting insurance company CEO’s and commissioners, including those from UnitedHealth Group, Aetna and WellPoint.
President Barack Obama stopped in during the meeting, according to Sebelius, to share a letter that he received from a cancer survivor in Ohio. Her rates were increased 25 percent last year, which put her insurance premiums at $7,000, with $4,000 in out of pocket costs, and has been informed that her rates will go up another 40 percent this year.
Sebelius quoted Obama saying “that kind of rate increase is just unacceptable and unsustainable.”
By Monique Cala University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius had harsh words regarding the ‘extreme’ premium increases insurance companies have requested this year.
“We are seeing this at a same time where not only is there an economic down turn around the country, but we know that insurance companies are not suffering that same kind of downturn,” said Sebelius during a conference call with reporters Thursday. “The five largest insurers in America have declared more than $12 billion worth of profits in 2009.”
The Secretary’s comments came shortly after Health and Human Services released a report entitled “Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System,” which detailed hikes in premiums, such as Anthem Blue Cross of California, which seeks to raise premiums by up to 39 percent.
Sebelius said she had contacted Blue Cross to ask for an explanation for the hike. In response, the company said they would delay the increase for two months.
According to the report, a recent study found that almost 75 percent of individuals looking for coverage on the individual market never bought a plan, with 61 percent of those who did not purchase insurance citing premium costs as the primary reason.
“The president said we won’t fix the economy without fixing our healthcare system,” added Sebelius. “Thats why he invited leadership from the Democrats and Republicans, from the House and Senate, to sit down, roll up their sleeves and talk about a comprehensive health reform plan.”
$750 million in Recovery Act funds will be allocated toward improving information technology in the health care sector, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Friday.
“The awards we are talking about today … help to unleash the power of health I.T. to cut costs, eliminate paper work and most of all help doctors deliver high-powered coordinated health care,” Sebelius said during a conference call with reporters.
According to a statement released by HHS, more than 100,000 medical centers and individual providers will have access to the technologies within the next four years.
The funds are coupled with an additional $225 million from the Recovery Act to train workers in careers based around the soon-to-be-implemented technologies.
Jared Bernstein, the Chief Economist for the office of the Vice President, praised the training programs as a wise investment.
“In every month of this recession, including those at the beginning… the health care sector was adding jobs,” Bernstein explained.
The program, which will be spearheaded by the Department of Labor, is set to provide training for 15,000 workers.
By Laura Smith – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Friday lauded a new report compiled by HHS that claims health care reform will boost employment and raise individual families’ incomes.
“Lots of families are looking into the future and asking what is it that happens to them when Congress passes health reform. The biggest change is that under reform families will have a lot more security and stability in the health insurance system than they have today,” Sebelius said.
The new report, entitled “Protecting Families and Putting More Money in Your Pocket: How Health Insurance Reform Will Lower Costs and Increase Choices,” states that “lowering health care costs by one percent will create 320,000 jobs nationwide and raise median family income by $6,800 by 2030.”
The secretary also outlined the benefits the Senate’s pending health care reform bill will bring to American families.
“If you lose your health insurance, it’s a lot easier to find a new policy. You don’t have to make 25 different phone calls to find coverage. It will be a new market place, called an exchange, where you can compare plans and rates and make some choices,” Sebelius stated.
She added, “there are basic rules that will apply to companies offering plans in the exchange. They can’t deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, they can’t deny coverage once you have it, you can’t put a cap on benefits. That’s a huge change for American families, even those who have insurance today.”
By Laura Smith – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
The H1N1 flu virus is showing no signs of going away anytime soon, but more doses of the vaccine are being produced.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday that 100 million doses of the H1N1 flu virus vaccine will be made available to the American people.
“Our message is take advantage of the increased supply, and get vaccinated as soon as you can,” she said.
“The vaccine was given to the high risk groups first to ensure that the limited vaccine would get to those most in danger of complications, added Sebelius, referring to pregnant women, people with asthma, small children and the elderly.
Sebelius noted that programs such as “Sid the Science Kid” as well as children’s television characters like Elmo are teaching kids about how to properly cover a sneeze or cough.
Additionally, social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook are just a few “unconventional methods” that are helping to get the message out about the vaccine and prevent the spread of the flu, said Sebelius.
“You can’t mount a public response only inside the Beltway. It has to be a collaborative effort with partnerships on the ground, and that’s exactly what this response has been,” she said.
The Secretary urged people to go to www.flu.gov to find out more information about the H1N1 vaccine.
By Laura Smith – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) discussed measures that are being taken to manage the spread of the H1N1 virus Wednesday during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on how the U.S. has so far dealt with the virus.
Lieberman, the committee’s chairman, said the H1N1 virus reached pandemic levels this summer and that it was impossible to accurately report how many people in the U.S. have died from the H1N1 virus because it’s hard to stay on top of the numbers.
“We do know that at least 2,300 people have died in the United States from the H1N1 flu in the last few months,” Lieberman said.
Lieberman mentioned that the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that the H1N1 flu virus has spread to all 50 states in the country, and that “this particular strain of influenza has moved at an alarming speed and taken an exceptionally high toll at a time of year when we normally don’t encounter significant cases of flu.”
Lieberman also said that pregnant women are being hit hard by the H1N1 virus. He said that of 100 pregnant women who required intensive care and were treated for the flu in late August, 28 died.
The former Democrat said he is concerned that the flu is spreading so rapidly and in some cases with such intensity that it may well be getting ahead of the federal government’s ability to prevent and respond to it.
Lieberman gave three reasons for his concern: The schedule for the production and availability of the vaccine, the fact that hospitals and public health departments don’t have the capacity to care for the surge of people who may need hospitalization as a result of the virus, and the availability of intravenous antiviral medication to treat the critically ill who have contracted the virus.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) mentioned that Bates College in Lewiston, Maine issued a report showing that there was a jump in how many students at their school had the H1N1 virus, from six to 160 people in just a week.
“As of yesterday, 245 Bates students are infected with H1N1,” Collins said.
She said public health experts are learning as they go along, sometimes with the surprising results that run counter to their previous assumptions about H1N1. She added that the CDC released a report saying that 46 percent of 1400 adults hospitalized with H1N1 were healthy and did not have underlying chronic illnesses before getting H1N1.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she testified in April that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and their federal partners were addressing the situation of the H1N1 virus aggressively and collectively. She said their planning has assumed that there would be some gap period between when vaccine would be commonly available and when the flu would actually be present.
“In other words they were assuming some lag time between the flu spiking and vaccine availability,” she said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the H1N1 virus has not changed significantly since April. She also said that people are using the website flu.gov as a tool, and that the website has gotten about five million hits a week.
She also said the flu season officially started October 4th, but echoed Sen. Lieberman’s assertion that this is not a typical flu season.
“Visits to doctors are higher than expected, 41 states represent what we now call wide spread level of activity, which is just the count that they’re giving, and the remaining states are at elevated levels of flu. so this is a national issue,” Sebelius said.
She said there have been 86 reported H1N1 pediatric deaths since the virus was reported earlier this year, and that pregnant women are among those seriously affected.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Sebelius if she thought the spread of the virus would come down in the winter months, and she said she was hoping it would after people were vaccinated.
McCain confronted Sebelius about a comment she made saying there would be many people who would not be vaccinated, and asked her if she was worried about hospital over utilization and lack of capacity in the hospitals in America, to which Sebelius stumbled to a response.
Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan said schools earlier this year closely followed school-dismissal guidance policies developed by the CDC. One example he gave occurred on April 26, 2009 when he said, “the CDC advised schools to consider closing when they had a confirmed or suspected case of H1N1 – and we found that schools adhered to that advice.”
Duncan said they learned a lesson in the spring that not only did schools follow the CDC’s advice on flu-related issues, but also that quickly closing a school is a complex undertaking that has consequences beyond the loss of valuable school time.
“For example, unplanned school closures led to the loss of school meals for some of the 31 million kids who rely on the federal school meals programs, loss of wages for parents who had to stay home from home to take care of their children, and older students left home without proper supervision,” he said.
