Healthcare

Any formal, comprehensive proposal on healthcare reform proposed by The Obama Administration will be reviewed by the Northern Kentucky Chamber when it becomes available, but a fundamental underlying concern will be the proposal’s impact on job gains or job losses in the Northern Kentucky region.  

Access to Affordable Health Care

Background

More than 174 million people in the United States receive health coverage through their workplace. In 2005, the number of uninsured Americans increased to 45 million as health care costs grew and more people found they could no longer afford their plans. Between 2000 and 2003, the percentage of non-elderly Americans with workplace health coverage decreased from 67.1% to 63%.

About 60.4% of uninsured people live in a household in which the head of the family works full-time for the full year, but is either not offered health insurance or cannot afford to pay the premiums to participate. Uninsured workers tend to be self-employed or work for smaller businesses.

About 12.3% of the self-employed are uninsured, 31.8% of workers at businesses with less than 25 people are uninsured and 18.4% of workers at businesses with 25 to 100 employees are uninsured. In addition, health care inflation is at record levels, with premiums for large companies increasing 13.2% while small businesses are experiencing annual premium increases of 15.5%.

The Northern Kentucky Chamber supports efforts to enhance an employer’s ability to create environments that are healthier and contribute to a more fit, productive workforce and community. While individuals must take personal responsibility for their own health and lifestyle choices. 

The Northern Kentucky Chamber Supports:

• Allowing above-the-line deductions for individuals who pay their own health insurance premiums (including premiums for long-term care insurance).
• Creating forward-funded, non refundable tax credits for the purchase of private health coverage for low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
• Continued availability of health savings accounts and eliminating market restrictions on their use.
• Providing independent, third-party reviews of medical claims denials.
• Encouraging the standardization of health care delivery and increased use of technology for medical records. 
• Expand tax benefit for employers offering wellness programs and support healthy lifestyles with their employees.
• Limited health benefit plan concept (not full medical insurance coverage or catastrophic insurance coverage) targeted to the uninsured.
• Congress explore the value and need of intrastate portability of healthcare for individuals.

We oppose:

• Taxing employer health benefits for any purpose.

Medical Malpractice Reform

Background
Increased litigation and larger awards contribute significantly to the overall cost of healthcare and health insurance premiums. Kentucky is one of the crisis states (top ten) with regard to the cost and availability of provider malpractice insurance. Kentucky has and continues to lose highly qualified physicians (especially high risk specialties such as Obstetric / Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Emergency Medicine and Orthopedics) due to dramatic increases in malpractice insurance cost and the inability to buy this coverage.  The cost of defending frivolous claims and the cost of “defensive medicine” are significant elements in the rising cost of health care and the decreasing access to quality healthcare providers.

The Northern Kentucky Chamber supports:

• Requiring law suits to undergo a mandatory medical review by an expert screening panel to determine if they have merit.
• Disclosure of substantiated cases against physicians.
• Placing a cap on both non-economic damages ($250,000) and punitive damages (the greater of twice economic damages or $250,000), which are indexed for inflation.
• Making each party liable solely for its share of damages and not others.
• Allowing periodic payment of future damages in excess of $50,000.
• Imposing a sliding scale cap on attorneys’ fees.
• Imposing a statute of limitations.
  
  

Medicaid Program

Background

There are currently 818,000 Kentuckians on Medicaid. The Medicaid budget continues to be an issue for Congress, and there have been proposals to reduce the Medicaid budget by as much as $10 billion.  This action could threaten the states’ ability to provide Medicaid benefits, since the states rely on the federal matching program to operate.  If funding is cut and the state Medicaid program is forced to make drastic reductions in eligibility, there will be even more uninsured Kentuckians, which currently number over 625,000. 

A reduction in eligibility creates a series of problems. First, there will be a significant reduction in access, because fewer providers will see these patients. This reduction in access will result in a less healthy population. A less healthy population would ultimately consume more public and private resources. Not only will uninsured patients become sicker and more costly to treat but also the costs of caring for them will be shifted to those who are insured. Cost shifting will ultimately result in higher insurance premiums for employers.

The Northern Kentucky Chamber supports:

The federal government maintaining the current matching program for Medicaid funding, this will help to assure sustainability of state Medicaid programs.