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Archive for the ‘Public Health Policy’ Category

Title 21 Panel Discussion: Thursday March 3, 2011

In Public Health Policy on March 2, 2011 at 11:57 pm

Dan Coffey, Tim Potter, Tom Davis, Dan Coffey and moderator Tom Nelson will discuss Title 21 – how Anchorage’s land use code will (or perhaps will not) implement Anchorage 2020.  
 
1675 C Street in the Kaloa Building, Thursday, March 3, 11:30am – 12:45pm

(OLE’s full History of Anchorage City Planning series has gotten positive reviews, and was recorded.  Check out other OLE’ offerings at http://www.oleanchorage.org/olePDF/2011_winter_courses.pdf)

Here’s some background on the current status of Title 21:
 
Undermined:  Decades of Public Effort
 
Title 21 is now being rewritten behind closed doors.

Anchorage 2020 describes a community envisioned by its citizens for themselves and their children. It took six years and the participation of thousands of citizens to produce the final plan.  Now, the year 2020 is only nine years away.  The question is, how far have we come towards achieving Anchorage 2020′s goals of a more livable community where

  • neighborhoods are protected and even improved,
  • children can walk safely to school and neighbors’ homes,
  • and there’s less traffic because drivers can choose to walk, bike or even catch a bus to work? Read the rest of this entry »

Repealing Health Reform’s Maintenance of Effort Provision Could Cause Millions of Children, Parents, Seniors, and People With Disabilities to Lose Coverage

In health reform, insurance industry, Low-Income Families, Public Health Policy, Retirement Security on February 13, 2011 at 6:10 pm
A number of Republican governors have asked Congress to repeal the maintenance of effort provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which generally requires states to hold coverage steady in their Medicaid and CHIP programs until 2014. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a paper that highlights the harmful effects such a repeal would have on children, working parents, and the economy.

 

[The full paper, released on February 10, 2011 from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, can be downloaded here.]

 

Book Review- The Political Economy of Oil in Alaska: Multinationals vs. the State

In Oil and Energy, Public Health Policy on February 4, 2011 at 7:45 pm

In The Political Economy of Oil in Alaska: Multinationals vs. the State, four University of Alaska professors tackle a question daunting in breadth and import: How has a young and sparsely populated northern state managed its relationship with the multinational corporations (MNCs) that developed the largest oil production complex in the United States, including its transportation arm? The answers play out dramatically on a rapidly changing northern stage, where economic, environmental, and social decisions are made in remote political centres; Native interests are integral to the tapestry. Described by its authors as “a comprehensive study of an often contentious alliance” (277), this book is a collaborative effort that contains a wealth of documented historical information and interesting insights. It will be used by students of economic, social, and environmental issues in the North and elsewhere. But the sanguine conclusion – that Alaska’s state government has developed the institutional strength and regulatory skills necessary to negotiate and implement resource policy on an almost equal footing with the MNCs – is seriously undermined by contradictions and gaping holes in its methodology and its empirical foundations.

The book’s central premise – that the state of Alaska now defends its public interests “on a more or less equal footing with the oil and gas industry” (20) – is rendered suspect by contradictions, omissions, and skewed conclusions, and by countervailing evidence the book itself presents, including industry financing of political campaigns and serious doubts about environmental regulatory effectiveness. The authors thank British Petroleum and ConocoPhillips for financial support during the project’s final stage; I do not see this as evidence of corruption. Nevertheless, this book’s shortcomings demonstrate the need to exercise great care and independence when working in this arcane and complex arena. Researchers can make a significant contribution to the study of petroleum development by utilizing Alaska’s celebrated (but relative) transparency to identify information process and data deficiencies, as well as the subtle but pervasive powers of oil industry seduction.

[Excerpted from Fineberg Researach on February 4, 2011. View  the full book review at The Oil Patch.]

Misunderstandings Regarding State Debt, Pensions, and Retiree Health Costs Create Unnecessary Alarm

In health reform, Public Health Policy on February 4, 2011 at 7:19 pm

Misconceptions Also Divert Attention from Needed Structural Reforms

A spate of recent articles regarding the fiscal situation of states and localities have lumped together their current fiscal problems, stemming largely from the recession, with longer-term issues relating to debt, pension obligations, and retiree health costs, to create the mistaken impression that drastic and immediate measures are needed to avoid an imminent fiscal meltdown. 
 
The large operating deficits that most states are projecting for the 2012 fiscal year, which they have to close before the fiscal year begins (on July 1 in most states), are caused largely by the weak economy.  State revenues have stabilized after record losses but remain 12 percent below pre-recession levels, and localities also are experiencing diminished revenues.  At the same time that revenues have declined, the need for public services has increased due to the rise in poverty and unemployment.  Over the past three years, states and localities have used a combination of reserve funds and federal stimulus funds, along with budget cuts and tax increases, to close these recession-induced deficits.  While these deficits have caused severe problems and states and localities are struggling to maintain needed services, this is a cyclical problem that ultimately will ease as the economy recovers.
 
View the full report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Federal Unions Release Two Reports on the Detrimental Impact of the Senate Excise Tax on FEHBP Health Plans

In General, insurance industry, Public Health Policy on January 26, 2010 at 3:09 pm

Reports find that excise tax will have reduce benefits and raise costs for employees

WASHINGTON – Two reports released December 8, 2009 by federal unions found that the so-called “Cadillac” tax on higher-cost health plans contained in the U.S. Senate health care bill would actually affect average plans like those under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). The reports suggest that the excise tax would result in significant health benefit cuts and shifting of costs to employees, as plans try to avoid the tax.

The reports were released by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA). They were joined by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

“These studies show us that the excise tax will further drive up the skyrocketing health care costs and will make it impossible for federal workers to achieve the health security they need.  Read the rest of this entry »

Gas Shortages and Potential Health Emergency

In Oil and Energy, Public Health Policy on October 25, 2009 at 1:00 pm

I sent this out to some of my colleagues a couple of weeks ago…

Colleagues:

I would like to share my concerns with you about the possible public health consequences if we do have serious gas shortages this winter, and especially if it is a prolonged very cold winter and there are periods and/or areas where the gas is restricted entirely, or the price of gas skyrockets.

  • people tighten up air leaks in the home, and use alternative heating sources such as kerosene or briquettes.  This results in carbon monoxide poisonings.  What are we doing to prevent that?
  • home fires are likely to increase due to inappropriate use of alternative heating sources such as open flames from various sources. What are we doing?
  • For a variety of reasons more and sicker people are managing their health conditions at home.  Do we know who and where they are?  Do we have the ability to evacuate them?  Do we have alternate places, warm and well-stocked and equiped, to evacuate them to? Read the rest of this entry »

110 Alaskans Lose Health Insurance Every Week

In General, Low-Income Families, Public Health Policy on July 16, 2009 at 2:15 pm

110 Alaskans Are Losing Their Health Coverage Every Week, as the Steady Rise of Health Care Costs Drives More and More Working Families out of the Market

These Alaskans are part of a national trend that will cost an average of 2.3 Million Americans their Health Coverage each year between 2008 and 2010.

Rising like a deadly tide, escalating health care costs will have caused 17,360 Alaskans to lose their health coverage between January 2008 and December 2010. In that same period, the number of Americans without health coverage is expected to climb by an estimated 6.9 million.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anchorage Citizen's Coalition Critical of New Freeway

In General, Public Health Policy on October 27, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Municipality of Anchorage

Image via Wikipedia

It is a health hazard

While proclaiming the benefits of building a freeway connecting the Glenn and New Seward Highways, officials are not acknowledging the health threats to people who would live near the proposed highway.

In 2005, local air quality officials studied how constructing all proposed projects in Anchorage’s Long Range Transportation Plan would affect air quality. They found that while carbon monoxide levels would drop citywide due to cleaner engines, two square kilometers of Fairview would experience increases in carbon monoxide[1]. Increases came from expected doubling of the traffic along the Gambell-Ingra corridor after construction of the Glenn-Seward Highway connection. Coarse particle pollution from roadway silt is also expected to rise along the new highway connection.

Read the rest of this entry »

Commonwealth Fund Compares Candidate Health Plans

In General, Low-Income Families, Public Health Policy, Tax Policy on October 23, 2008 at 6:12 pm

The following is the executive summary of a longer analysis of Obama’s and McCain’s health plans. The analysis was conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, a widely respected foundation that analyzes national and international health plans. The full report is available on their website.

INTRODUCTION

With the 2008 presidential election just weeks away, health care reform is at the top of the nation’s domestic policy agenda. The soaring costs of health care, along with a faltering economy and lackluster wage growth, are leaving many working families without insurance or with medical expenses that consume a large share of their incomes. A recent Commonwealth Fund study found that nearly two-thirds of working-age adults—an estimated 116 million people—either were uninsured for a time during 2007, were insured but had such high medical costs compared with their incomes that they were underinsured, reported a problem paying medical bills, or did not get needed care because of its cost. Over the past seven years, such problems have crept up the income scale among people with and without health insurance. Consequently, voters are calling for change: eight of 10 adults said in a May survey that the health care system is in need of a major overhaul or fundamental reform. Read the rest of this entry »

August 20 Debates: Clean Water and Clean Elections

In Oil and Energy, Public Health Policy on August 15, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Removed background, cropped, and converted to ...Image via Wikipedia

Alaskans Go To The Polls on August 26; Have Your Questions Answered Before You Vote

Alaska Common Ground along with AARP, the League of Women Voters and Commonwealth North presents a forum on two of the initiatives on which we will be voting on August 26.

When: August 20
7:00 to 9:30 pm

Where: Marston Theater, Loussac Library
3600 Denali Street
Anchorage

Ballot Measure 3 is known as the “Clean Elections” measure. Speaking in favor of Ballot Measure 3: Read the rest of this entry »

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