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Improve Quality and Cut Health Care Costs

We spend substantially more per person than any other country on health care, yet the World Health Organization ranked our health care system 37th in the world in 2000. We spend more, but we get less. In fact, the US ranked 42nd in life expectancy in 2007. Clearly, improving the quality of care, reducing public health hazards, and eliminating disparities in health care access will not only improve health and our standard of living, it will reduce health care costs and wasteful spending. This section offers numerous options state lawmakers have to achieve these fundamental necessities.

Preventing Loss of Medicaid Drug Rebate Funds for States

Jul 01, 2010

While the new Affordable Health Care law provides a variety of funding opportunities for states, one provision in the health law that could shift billions of dollars from cash-strapped states to the federal government. Under the National Medicaid Drug Rebate Program created by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, drug manufacturers are required to enter into agreements that provide rebates for Medicaid purchased drugs, establishing a 15% minimum level of rebates. Up until now, the rebates were divided between the states and the federal government. But under the new health reform law, a significant portion of the rebates will go solely to Washington beginning this year.
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Maryland E-Health System to Combat Swine Flu Outbreak

Aug 27, 2009

The August heat may be as intense as ever, but government and health officials across the country are preparing for the coming flu season and the possibility that the H1N1 (swine) flu virus could affect half the US population, according to a presidential health panel. In Maryland, state government, public health officials and the state's 46 hospitals have created a statewide computerized system for tracking the disease, which will help government and health officials mobilize a quick response in the event of an outbreak.
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Reforming Sex Education to Prevent Sexually-Transmitted Diseases

Apr 16, 2009

Even as Planned Parenthood, MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation team up in a campaign to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STD), state legislatures are acting to ensure students' access to comprehensive sex education and are rejecting federal funding for failed abstinence-only programs. Half of all sexually active people will have an STD by the age of 25 with 19 million new STD cases occurring each year. These statistics highlight the need for improving youth sex education.
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Addressing Health Inequality with the Economic Recovery Package

Apr 09, 2009

Stimulus funding, like $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start Programs, $1.5 billion for health center improvements, and $8.4 billion for public transit, should be implemented with a clear intent of reducing racial and ethnic health disparities and achieving equitable resource distribution across communities.
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