Perry hits Romneycare in new ad: “The Rick Perry campaign is out with a scathing new ad that ties chief rival Mitt Romney to President Obama’s health care law and paints him more broadly as a flip-flopper. The minute-long spot describes both “ObamaCare” and “RomneyCare” as “America’s most damaging prescription.” [Texas Insider]
Rate hikes on the web: “Insurance customers will now be able to find out when health plans are considering steep premium hike thanks to a new Web-based tool the Obama administration launched Friday… The new Web tool lets customers search for proposed rate hikes by state.” [Julian Pecquet]
Progressive state leaders develop alternatives to mandate: “Lawmakers associated with the Progressive States Network are meeting next month in Baltimore with hopes of coming up with state-based legislation that could fill the void in the health care law. Those measures could range from state-based individual mandates — like the one in Massachusetts — to incentives for people to buy insurance on their own.” [Jennifer Haberkorn]
Jerry Brown signs three health bills: California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law three health care bills: one bill will make California the first state to make it illegal for teenagers than 18 to use tanning beds, the second will let children as young as 12, without their parents’ consent, be vaccinated against HPV, and the third bill requires insurance coverage for autism. [Mercury News]
Private exchanges can help prevent employer dumping: “Employers, perhaps, are nervous that the public exchanges will have all kind of kinks when they launch; they’ll be too overwhelming for their employees. So they give their employees a comparable amount of money to spend on a private exchange….If that scenario plays out, it could actually be a good thing for the cost of health reform.” [Sarah Kliff]
Feds approve some parts of Arizona’s Medicaid changes: “Thousands of low-income Arizonans will keep government-funded medical coverage but face new co-payments and fees under a decision that federal officials announced Friday. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services OK’d some of Arizona’s proposals to reduce the state’s financial burden. But federal health officials rejected other key pieces: The state will not be allowed to impose a smoking fee or cap enrollment for low-income parents, a move that would have left an estimated 30,000 people uninsured in the first year.” [Arizona Republic]
CLASS a ‘budget zomby’: A central design flaw dogged CLASS from the beginning. “Unless large numbers of healthy people willingly sign up during their working years, soaring premiums driven by the needs of disabled beneficiaries would destabilize it, eventually requiring a taxpayer bailout. The main reason the program produced budget savings in its first 10 years was a rule that enrollees pay in for at least five years before collecting benefits.” [AP]
States need better appeals process: “Sixteen states and the District of Columbia don’t meet new requirements under the federal health law for consumers to appeal health plans’ decisions to a third party, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services” and “will have to contract with three “independent review organizations” to handle consumers’ grievances, or contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the process.” [Kaiser Health News]
Florida gears up alternative exchange: Participation in Florida’s exchange — which actually predates the Affordable Care Act and was championed by then-House Speaker Marco Rubio — is voluntary for both insurers and small businesses. But it is drawing only tepid support from health plans, insurance agents, and businesses. [Kaiser Health News]
Personhood amendment has a real chance in Mississippi: “If Proposition 26 passes, abortion foes hope it will build momentum for a broader national assault on Roe vs. Wade. Supporters say similar propositions will be featured on ballots in Florida, South Dakota and Ohio in 2012. Both sides in the debate agree that the measure would outlaw abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest.” [LA Times]
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