Consumer and safety groups are rightly applauding an agreement by House and Senate lawmakers to move forward a bill which bans lead and most phthalates — plastic chemicals that can cause developmental disorders — in most children’s products. The bill, already approved by the U.S. House, will also increase funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, strengthen testing standards, and enhance public access to product safety information.
Archive for the ‘Public Health Policy’ Category
Future State Toxic Toys Laws to Be Preempted Under Federal Consumer Protection Legislation
In Public Health Policy on August 9, 2008 at 6:16 pmWashington State to Hold Insurance Companies Accountable
In Public Health Policy on March 18, 2008 at 11:15 amOn 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 a certain amount of premium revenue on direct medical care. These laws help ensure more of our premiums are used on medical care and less on administrative costs, including profits and bonuses. The Washington bill sets up a tiered loss ratio that is tied to the number of people an insurer denies for coverage. For example, a rate of denial under 6% equals a loss ratio of 74%, meaning 74-cents of every premium dollar must be spent on medical care. Insurance companies that deny coverage to more people, more than 8% for example, face a loss ratio of 77%. Read the rest of this entry »
Online Tutorial of Women's Health policy Issues
In Public Health Policy on February 23, 2008 at 6:45 amKaiserEDU.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 central policy challenges in improving women’s access to care.
KaiserEDU.org is an online resource for faculty, students, and the general public presented by the Kaiser Family Foundation. KaiserEDU.org is designed to provide those interested in learning about health policy easy access to the latest data, research, analysis, and developments in health policy. This site includes narrated slide tutorials, background reference libraries, and issue modules on current topics and policy debates. It is a fascinating and extremely useful resource. Please take a look at it, poke around, and learn a lot!
Hungry Children Can't Learn
In Low-Income Families, Public Health Policy on February 17, 2008 at 8:15 amLast 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 low-income students do not even have the opportunity to get a breakfast at school. The Legislature is being asked to put aside $1 million as an inducement for breakfast programs, which in turn would leverage federal funds.
Susannah Morgan of the Food Bank noted that the K-12 education budget is around $1 billion. “What we want to do is make sure that that money is well-spent, that those kids are actually learning what we’re putting our money into, that they are learning and getting the best education they can by being nutritionally prepared to learn,” she said.
The executive summary of the report follows: Read the rest of this entry »
An Expiration Date on Health?
In Public Health Policy on February 10, 2008 at 6:55 pmHere 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 about time that the IHCIA enters its own “sweet sixteen” by being reauthorized. It would be an end to a deteriorating health system, and a new beginning of improved healthcare for the American Indian and Alaska Native people. The Act had expired in the year 2000, and since then, its renewal has met opposition from the Bush administration. Read the rest of this entry »
New Policy to Improve Aviation Safety in Alaska
In General, Public Health Policy on January 27, 2008 at 7:04 pmJanuary 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 of advanced satellite based avionics in aircraft.
Alaska has seven times more licensed pilots than the national average and has the highest aviation accident rate in the nation. One of the leading causes of accidents is bad weather. The avionics and advanced satellite system are aimed directly at preventing that type of accident. Read the rest of this entry »
Update: Governor's Health Strategies Planning Council
In Public Health Policy on November 2, 2007 at 4:29 pmThe 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 long-awaited online forum is up and running, and waiting for your advice to the Alaskans sitting around the Council table. Have at it! Health care is a terribly important issue and it affects all of us. Tell your story, and don’t be intimidated by jargon, details, and the seeming complexity of the issues. Just tell your story. They need to hear it. Read the rest of this entry »
What the States Are Doing About Toxic Toys
In Public Health Policy on November 2, 2007 at 4:00 pmCalifornia 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, and baby bibs. To emphasize the importance of this state action, even if federal law was being enforced (which it isn’t), the federal CPSC legally allows 350 times more lead in products than are allowed under California law. Read the rest of this entry »
Seniors Who Can't Get Health Care in Alaska
In Public Health Policy on October 10, 2007 at 5:38 amThe 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. If you are one of those individuals, please call me with your story. Read the rest of this entry »
US Lags Behind in Parental Leave, Paid Sick Days, and More
In General, Public Health Policy on September 25, 2007 at 11:09 amThis list is courtesy of McGill’s Institute for Health and Social Policy, summarizing some of the ways in which the US lags in leave, sick days and other worker protections . . .
- Out of 173 countries studied, 168 guarantee paid maternal leave, with 98 of these countries offering 14 or more weeks of paid leave. The U.S. provides no paid leave for mothers. Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea are the only other countries studied that do not guarantee leave with income to mothers.
