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Senator Baucus Unveils Health Care Reform Legislation

On September 16, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D–MT) unveiled the chairman’s mark of America’s Health Future Act of 2009, the health care reform bill that the bipartisan “gang of six” has been negotiating for several months. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the bill will cost $776 billion over 10 years and reduce the deficit by $50 billion over the same period.

JCAHO Proposes SBIRT Accreditation Standards for Hospitals

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has proposed a list of new hospital performance measures for screening, brief intervention, referral, and treatment (SBIRT) of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. If approved, the SBIRT measures may become one set of optional information that hospitals may choose to provide in order to meet accreditation standards or they may be included in mandated accreditation standards for the 16,000 health care facilities that JCAHO accredits.

HHS Awards $70.9 Million To Expand Health Insurance in 13 States

On September 3, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $70.9 million in grants for 13 states to expand health insurance to the uninsured. The grants, which are distributed under the State Health Access Program and administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration, help states provide insurance to targeted groups, including seniors and children.

Employer Health Benefits Survey Finds Costs of Employer Health Insurance Continue To Rise

The 2009 annual Employer Health Benefits Survey, released September 15 by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Education Trust, found that the average cost of employer-sponsored health insurance for a family has increased 5 percent from 2008 to 2009 and 131 percent since 1999 to $13,375 annually. The survey also found that the average deductible for an individual in a preferred provider organization plan rose from $560 last year to $634 this year and that twice as many workers (40 percent) in companies with fewer than 200 employees had deductibles at or more than $1,000 in 2009 than did in 2007.

Commonwealth Fund Report Examines CHIPRA and Issues Recommendations

On September 10, the Commonwealth Fund issued a report examining provisions of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program expansion under the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) (Financing News Pulse, February 2 edition). The report examines provisions of the bill pertaining to outreach, enrollment, health quality, and measurement and gives recommendations.

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