Mark Blum's Blog

Maryland's Health Reform Milestone

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:09:00 GMT

Health reform passed an important milestone in the State of Maryland, last week, when Governor Martin O’Malley signed state legislation into law that establishes Maryland as a national leader in transforming the way healthcare will be delivered to residents of the state.

Among the provisions of Maryland’s new 2012 health exchange law is authorization for the State’s Health Insurance Exchange Board “to use effective methods such as team-based patient-centered medical care” to reduce costs and improve quality of health care provided through the State exchange.

In Maryland and across the nation, America’s Agenda has advocated transformation from the predominant, fragmented, fee-for-service approach to delivering care that fuels rapid inflation in medical and health insurance costs to a patient-centered, team-based care delivery strategy that has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving care quality and reducing growth in overall healthcare costs.

It is an irony that, while the ACA-created state health insurance exchanges offer an unprecedented opportunity to advance patient-centered, team-based transformation of US health care, they also pose a troubling threat to the future of employment-based health care in America.

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America’s Agenda and NCCMP to Co-Sponsor Workshop at NCCMP Annual Meeting

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:52:00 GMT

America's Agenda: Health Care for All will co-sponsor a workshop entitled "21^st Century Care Delivery strategies that Will Drive Down Taft-Hartley Plan Costs” on September 27 at the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) Annual Conference in Hollywood, Florida. The conference, which runs from September 26 - 28, will bring Taft-Hartley health plan representatives together to discuss strategies for protecting and strengthening multi-employer plans in the new, post-federal reform environment.

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Jointly-Governed Health Plans Step Up to Lead the Kind of Transformation Americans Want

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:37:00 GMT

Over the past several months, America's Agenda President Doug Dority and I have crisscrossed the country, meeting with union and employer leaders from coast to coast... We believe our message is urgent and important to the survival of America's employment-based health insurance system - at least, until a better solution is ready to replace it...

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Labor Seats at the COOP Health Plan Table

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:37:00 GMT

Yesterday I was honored to testify before the Department of HHS Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (COOP) Advisory Board regarding implementation of the federal reform COOP Program in the state exchanges.

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America's Agenda Condemns Assaults on Collective Bargaining

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:16:00 GMT

Bipartisan Health Care Advocate Emphasizes Contribution of Collective Bargaining to Improving Health Coverage for All Americans

WASHINGTON-- America's Agenda, a bipartisan health care reform advocate, expressed solidarity with workers in Wisconsin, Ohio, and nine other states where proposed legislation has threatened collective bargaining rights.

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America's Agenda Thanks AARP of West Virginia for Supporting Team-Based Care

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 21:15:00 GMT

WASHINGTON-- America's Agenda, a nonpartisan group focused on lowering health care costs and improving patient care thanked the AARP of West Virginia in a statement today. "West Virginians should be proud," said America's Agenda Executive Director Mark Blum.More...

Congratulations to a Transformative Leader!

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:12:00 GMT

We’re heading into a new year that holds real promise for accelerating the transformation American health care needs. What better occasion to celebrate the leadership and vision of those remarkable health care providers who are stepping onto the front lines of a movement that is reshaping the way health care is delivered, improving the quality of our care, and demonstrating impressive potential to rein in runaway growth of health costs?

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RED LETTER DAY: Obama Administration Puts Two Health Care Delivery Transformation Building Blocks Into Place

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:57:00 GMT

Today, the Obama Administration put into place two building blocks of what could become a coherent strategy for reining in growth in health costs and improving care quality for all Americans.

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Midterm Voters Challenge Both Parties To Improve Health Reform

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:46:00 GMT

It’s no secret that the electorate is deeply divided over health reform. Exit polls from last week’s midterms showed that 48% of voters supported repeal, while 47% supported either strengthening the law or leaving it as it is. This is hardly a mandate to repeal or replace the 2010 federal health reform.

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Double-Digit Health Insurance Increases Slam Working Families in 2011

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 01:23:00 GMT

New projections are reinforcing expectations that the working family portion of health insurance premiums will rise by double digits, once again, in 2011. As these costs increase, families struggling, already, with wage stagnation and high rates of unemployment will cling even more tenuously to their grasp on a middle class standard of living.

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