HEALTH INSURANCE

CoverTennessee to Expand

Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, more Tennesseans will be eligible for CoverTN, the premium subsidy program for the working uninsured. When CoverTN was launched nearly six months ago, it covered workers who earned up to $41,000 in small businesses with 25 employees or less. The state pays one-third of the premiums, the employer may choose to pay one-third and the employee one-third. If the employer chooses not to participate, the employee may pay two-thirds. Premiums for the basic benefit plan are about $150 a month and coverage is portable. The state plans to expand the program by opening it to individuals with annual incomes of up to $43,000, and in companies with up to 50 employees. About 13,000 Tennesseans are currently enrolled, and administrators hope to increase enrollment to 100,000 by 2010. Come the new year, significant changes also will occur in Tennessee’s other public health insurance programs. CoverKids (the state’s SCHIP program) will begin offering dental and vision benefits. AccessTN, a high-risk pool, will increase its maximum payout from $120,000 per year to $200,000 per year, and will boost the amount of premium assistance that it provides.

PUBLIC HEALTH

MRSA Hospitalizations On the Rise

The number of hospitalizations in the United States due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, have doubled over six years, according to a study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers found that the number of hospitalizations associated with MRSA rose from 127,000 in 1999, to 278,000 in 2005. During the same period, regular staph infections increased by 62 percent. The rise in MRSA-related illnesses stemmed mostly from an explosion in the number of skin and soft-tissue infections, which are typically associated with strains acquired outside of hospitals, the study found. MRSA is difficult to treat because it has developed resistance to most common antibiotics. “Antibiotic-resistant infections are spreading more rapidly in the community, while the epidemic of drug-resistant infections in hospitals continues unabated,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, the lead epidemiologist.

Prescription Drugs

Medicaid is now spending more money on antipsychotic drugs than any other category of pharmaceutical, the Wall Street Journal reports. Much of the rise is attributed to more nursing home residents receiving these drugs to mitigate symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. About 30 percent of residents now receive antipsychotics, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. However, 21 percent of nursing home patients who do not have a diagnosis of psychosis are still on these medications. CMS spent $5.4 billion—or 13 percent of all drug outlays—in 2005 on what are known as atypical antipsychotic drugs. The drugs were introduced in the 1990s, mostly to fight schizophrenia, but are now common for bi-polar disorder and off-label treatment of dementia. Recently, the Arkansas Attorney General filed suit against Johnson & Johnson claiming the company “engaged in a false and misleading campaign” to market one of its antipsychotics to geriatric patients.

CHILDREN’S HEALTH

Data Source

The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) just released a "point and click" online tool containing national- and state-level findings from the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). The web resource offers data for over 100 child health indicators, including ER usage, use of specific health-care services, insurance coverage, as well as household income level, race/ethnicity and family structure. Users can select and download findings for various population subgroups, create custom profiles of health use and compare findings across states. The NS-CSHCN is a national survey sponsored by the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau and administered by the National Center for Health Statistics. The survey was conducted for the first time in 2000/01, and repeated again in 2005/06. For more information, visit cshcndata.org/Content/Default.aspx