'Public Health Policy'
Washington State to Hold Insurance Companies Accountable
On Friday [February 29, 2008], the Washington State Legislature enacted SB 5261 which will restore state oversight of the individual health insurance market. The law authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to disapprove unreasonable rate increases and establishes a sliding-scale medical loss ratio for insurers.
As Families USA discusses, medical loss ratios require insurers to spend […]
Online Tutorial of Women’s Health policy Issues
KaiserEDU.org presents a newly expanded tutorial on women’s health policy by Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D., Kaiser vice president and director of women’s health policy. The narrated slide tutorial provides an overview of women’s health care needs and concerns, discusses issues of importance for women related to their health coverage and access to care, and reviews the […]
Hungry Children Can’t Learn
Last week Food Bank of Alaska and the Alaska Food Coalition released a new report on school breakfast in Alaska. In conjunction with the release of the study and a request for funding for school breakfasts, the Coalition held a breakfast for legislators at the Capitol Tuesday, February 12.
The Coalition’s report says that 8,500 […]
An Expiration Date on Health?
Here in America, turning “sweet sixteen” is a coming of age; a rite of passage into a new phase of life and the beginning of what we hope to be great. However, for the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), it has been sixteen years since it was last authorized in 1992. And it is […]
New Policy to Improve Aviation Safety in Alaska
January 25, 2008, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today announced details of her administration’s comprehensive aviation safety initiative. This multi-departmental effort includes a bill that will establish a new loan program in the Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development. Under the program, low interest loans will be provided for the purchase and installation […]
Update: Governor’s Health Strategies Planning Council
The Governor’s Health Strategies Planning Council is about to have it’s first, and apparently only public comment period on December 3, 2007. The details are below. There is a prior meeting of the Council in November (noted below) that you can attend, but no comments are allowed from the public. However, the […]
What the States Are Doing About Toxic Toys
California is a leader in this area, having enacted Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act as a ballot initiative in November1986. Groups like California’s Center for Environmental Health have used the law to win legal agreements to eliminate lead threats from diaper creams, children’s medicines, home water filters, vinyl lunch boxes, […]
Seniors Who Can’t Get Health Care in Alaska
The following is an important message from our colleagues at AARP:
KTUU Channel 2 is developing a story (and possibly a two-part story) on individuals age 65 plus who are having problems finding an Alaskan physician who will accept Medicare. I am working with KTUU in developing this story, which won’t air until November. […]