Healthcare-Associated Infection: Not on My Watch - Kimberly-Clark Health Care

When someone develops an infection at a hospital or other patient care facility that they did not have prior to treatment, this is referred to as a healthcare-associated (sometimes hospital-acquired) infection (HAI).

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a global crisis affecting both patients and healthcare workers.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at any point in time, 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infections acquired in hospitals.

A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report published in March-April 2007 estimated the number of U.S. deaths from healthcare asociated infections in 2002 at 98,987.

The risk of acquiring healthcare-associated infections in developing countries is 2-20 times higher than in developed countries.

Afflicting thousands of patients every year, HAI often leads to lengthening hospitalization, increasing the likelihood of readmission, and adding sizably to the cost of care per patient.
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Free Webinar for Family Caregivers: How to Prevent Medication Mishaps

The National Family Caregivers Association Presents:

FREE Webinar for Family Caregivers
Bad reactions to medications result in 100,000 deaths a year. Don’t let your loved one become a statistic

If you are caring for a loved one who is:

* Elderly
* Taking multiple medications
* Seeing more than one doctor, orr
* Suffering from multiple illnesses

... your loved one may be at risk. What can a Family Caregiver do? Join us for FREE to find out.

Safe & Sound: How to Prevent Medication Mishaps
Thursday, November 12, 2009
2:00 - 3:00 PM Eastern Time

You can participate solely by telephone or through an on-line web site.
Get More Information/Register

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging Statement on National Family Caregivers Month

Message from Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee on National Family Caregivers Month, November 2009

I join President Obama in celebrating National Family Caregivers month. Every day, in every state and community caregivers assist friends, relatives, and loved ones with daily tasks, including personal care and homemaking as well as more complex health-related interventions like medication administration and wound care. These selfless, dedicated individuals are the backbone of America’s long term care system.

The Administration on Aging (AoA) is firmly committed to supporting family caregivers. Caregivers across the lifespan must have access to services and supports designed to safeguard their health and emotional well being while offering protections against some of the financial burdens often associated with caregiving. Additionally, caregivers must have access to coordinated systems of services and supports designed to meet their needs at the time they arise.

The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), Aging and Disability Resource Centers, and the recent implementation of the Lifespan Respite Care Program have positioned AoA, the Aging Network and the broader home and community-based services network to ensure that caregivers are supported in their daily efforts to keep their loved ones at home, in the community and avoid more costly and restrictive institutional settings. I am committed to working with our Aging Network and other partners at the Federal, state and local levels to improve the quality of life for our nation’s caregivers across the lifespan.

I encourage all of you to participate in the numerous events across the country to celebrate and acknowledge the selfless dedication and commitment of family caregivers.

To read the Presidential proclamation, please visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamations-national-family-caregivers-month

Presidential Proclamation - National Family Caregivers Month | The White House

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NATIONAL FAMILY CAREGIVERS MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

The true strength of the American family finds its roots in an unwavering commitment to care for one another. In difficult times, Americans come together to ensure our loved ones are comfortable and safe. Whether caring for a parent, relative, or child, our Nation's caregivers selflessly devote their time and energy to the well-being of those they look after. During National Family Caregivers Month, we honor the individuals providing essential services to family members who could not otherwise look after themselves.

Caregiver support is at the heart of my Administration's commitment to assisting our Nation's families. Currently, a variety of programs and services offer help and encouragement to family caregivers. The National Family Caregiver Support Program and the Lifespan Respite Care Act include important resources for caregivers of children and adults, with opportunities to receive much-needed assistance and take part in support programs with other families. These programs allow individuals to remain with their families for as long as possible while helping to ensure the wellness of participating care providers.

My Administration's dedication to caregivers is also embodied in our efforts to develop policies to support workers trying to manage their responsibilities on the job and at home. Families are best able to care for their loved ones when they can take time away from work without fear of losing their job or their income. We all have roles to play, including employers, by providing paid leave, flexible work arrangements, and other programs when feasible, to help ensure that caregivers are able to successfully meet their work and household responsibilities.

Every day, family caregivers assist loved ones with tasks ranging from personal care and homemaking, to transportation and financial assistance. As the foundation of America's long-term care system, these individuals give millions of Americans the peace of mind and security that only family can provide.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2009 as National Family Caregivers Month. I encourage all Americans to pay tribute and support those who are caring for their family members, friends, and neighbors in need of assistance.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

Download Printable Copy of the Proclamation

House could vote Saturday on health bill - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

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By Michael O'Brien

The House could hold a rare Saturday vote this weekend to pass its healthcare reform legislation.

An aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that a vote could happen at 6 p.m. on Saturday, a schedule House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) suggested in reports Wednesday afternoon.
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'Very, very close to zero' GOPers will vote for House health bill - TheHill.com

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Republicans will overwhelmingly reject the Democrats' healthcare reform measure when it is reaches the House floor, according to a key lawmaker.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who serves as deputy GOP whip, told The Hill that the number of Republicans supporting the sweeping legislation will be “very, very close to zero.”
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Let’s Talk Health Care: Payment Reform and Unit Costs

by Bruce Bullen in Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform

The major driver of commercial health care premium increases is not the use of health care services, which accounts for less than a third of annual premium increases, but unit costs. In other words, the price of health care is driving up commercial costs more quickly than overutilization of services.
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Ezra Klein - An insurance industry CEO explains why American health care costs so much

by Ezra Klein in the Washington Post

On Friday, I sat down with Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson to talk about health-care reform. The conversation was long and ranging and will take a while to transcribe. But before we really got into the weeds, Halvorson handed me an astonishing packet of charts. The material was put together by the International Federation of Health Plans, which is pretty much what it sounds like: an association of insurance plans in different countries. But it showed something I've never seen before, at least not at this level of detail: prices.

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Download Full Report International Federation of Health Plans 2009 Comparative Price Report Medical and Hospital Fees by Country

Health Populi: CDHP and HDHP Plan Enrollment Still Tiny in 2009

by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn

On one hand, it can be said that enrollment in consumer-directed and high-deductible health plans in 2009 grew by 33% in the past year. On the other hand, the total proportion of Americans enrolled in private plans who was in a CDHP or HDHP was 4%.

While this represents growth by definition, it's instructive to look at the chart and note that 34% of employers did not offer employees an HDHP or CDHP in 2009 -- up from 28%. That is, substantially fewer employers offered a consumer-directed plan this year compared to the previous 3 years this survey has been conducted.
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Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review: The Neutered Public Option—Where’s the Rage?

by Bob Laszewski

The public option contained in the House Democratic health care bill is hardly more than a neutered version of the “robust” public option one House Democrat after another said was a minimum requirement to keep their vote on health care reform. After threatening for months to fall on their swords if they didn’t get the “robust Medicare-like” version, there was nothing but enthusiastic support for the neutered version from almost all Democrats when the bill was unveiled last week.

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Ad Audit: Message Sacrifices Truth About Health Bills And Medicare - Kaiser Health News

AD TITLE:"Greatest Generation"
SPONSOR: The 60 Plus Association
SUMMARY:A conservative advocacy group uses testimony from sympathetic older Americans to warn that a health care overhaul would impair Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly. The ad says older Americans should be shielded from spending cuts because of their great sacrifices for the country. But it's truth that's sacrificed here: the ad exaggerates the impact of proposed Medicare cuts and ignores some improvements in Medicare benefits included in the main Democratic bills before Congress.
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AAHSA Washington Update « The Future of Aging Blog

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excerpts
Health Care Reform

On Oct. 29, the U.S. House of Representatives released the legislative text of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962). On the plus side, the bill contains the CLASS provisions that we’re fighting for, along with an intriguing $6 billion authorized over the next few years for nursing homes with Medicare and Medicaid dually-eligible residents which also meet certain quality requirements. The bill codifies the improvement in Medicare reimbursement for non-therapy ancillaries, which will tend to benefit not-for-profit skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).

Housing Reform

Michelle Norris from National Church Residences did a terrific job on Thursday, testifying before the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development. Her testimony highlighted how our Section 202 reform bill (S. 118) would streamline senior housing development and preservation, combine affordable housing with supportive services and bring the program into the 21st century. Several senators who heard her statement will be instrumental in moving this legislation forward.

Housing and HCBS Appropriations

Our spending bills are still hanging fire. The Transportation/HUD conference report hasn’t been finalized – one rumor has it that House-Senate conferees cannot agree on provisions that would restrict passengers from carrying firearms on Amtrak trains. But we are hopeful that a conference agreement will soon be ready for a final vote in the House and Senate.

We are less optimistic about the Labor/HHS bill that funds Older Americans Act programs, since the bill hasn’t pass Congress on a stand-alone basis in recent memory. We are working to lock in the funding gains passed by the House in July into whatever omnibus spending bill or continuing resolution Congress may pass in December.

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Berkley Estate Tax Bill Would Add Billions to Deficit While Benefiting Only Wealthiest 1 in 500 Estates — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

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By Chuck Marr and Gillian Brunet

A new estate tax bill introduced by Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and others would cost $119 billion more over the first decade (2012-2021) than extending the tax under its current rules as the President has proposed, yet would benefit only the nation’s wealthiest 0.2 percent of estates since they are the only ones subject to the tax under the current rules. In subsequent decades, the Berkley proposal (H.R. 3905) would be even more expensive compared to extending the current estate tax rules; the proposal keeps its cost down in the initial years by phasing in its estate tax cuts over a decade, with its full costs not showing up until after 2019.

Ultimately, the Berkley proposal would increase deficits and debt by nearly as much as a proposal by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), which it mirrors once it is phased in fully.[1] Like the Lincoln-Kyl proposal, the Berkley bill would eventually allow wealthy individuals to pass on $5 million per person — $10 million per couple — to their heirs tax-free and would cut the tax rate that applies to the taxable portion of estates from 45 percent to 35 percent.
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‘Mom Always Liked You Best’ - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

By Paula Span

(excerpts)
The notion that parents cherish all their children equally — or at least say they do — is so entrenched in our culture that colleagues warned Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist at Cornell University embarking on the first of many studies of family favoritism, that his research would prove futile. No mother, they insisted, would admit to caring more for one son or daughter than another.

So much for that. His team’s interviewers, talking to mothers ages 65 to 75 in the Boston area about their adult offspring, found that most were perfectly willing to name favorites.
. . . . . .
One might file this under “Stuff I’d Just as Soon Not Know,” except that the care of the elderly falls mostly to their children and that one child usually shoulders the bulk of the responsibility. Mothers also express clear ideas about whom they want and expect to take on that role, it turns out, so their partiality has consequences.
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Experts Favor Broad Medicare Reforms to Control Costs and Foster Health Care Innovations, Survey Says - The Commonwealth Fund

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Health Care Opinion Leaders Express Strong Support for Allowing HHS to "Fast Track" Payment Pilots and Negotiate Drug Prices; Voice Agreement for Establishing an Independent Medicare Advisory Council with Broad Authority
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Nurses Involvement in Nursing Home Culture Change: Overcoming Barriers, Advancing Opportunities - The Commonwealth Fund

To be successful, "culture change" initiatives—efforts to help nursing homes transform from institutional hospital-like settings to homes that focus on residents' preferences—depend critically on the care provided for and directed by nursing homes' professional nursing staff. While the objectives of culture change and the goals of nursing are compatible in many ways, there are also points of friction—including those stemming from new notions of accountability for resident care and the necessity of new leadership styles. A recent "Issue Paper" from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (New York University College of Nursing), Nurses Involvement in Nursing Home Culture Change: Overcoming Barriers, Advancing Opportunities, explores these obstacles and makes recommendations about nurses' roles and competencies regarding nursing home culture change, as well as recommendations for nursing education. The publication, which resulted from a Commonwealth Fund–sponsored meeting of interdisciplinary experts in culture change and in gerontological nursing convened by the Hartford Institute in collaboration with the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations and the Pioneer Network, is organized in five sections covering: culture change and research supporting culture change; nursing in nursing homes; culture change, nursing practice, and nursing education; recommendations; and next steps.

Read Issue Paper

Pelosi picks up centrist ‘yes’ votes in House - TheHill.com

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By Mike Soraghan

Centrist Democrats in the House are moving toward the “yes” column on healthcare reform, triggering optimism among leadership officials that they will soon have the votes to pass their $894-billion measure.

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Reid reassures the left Lieberman is on board - TheHill.com

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By Alexander Bolton in The Hill

Sen. Joe Lieberman has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter.
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Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review: Saving Health Care--Saving America

By BRIAN KLEPPER, DAVID C. KIBBE, ROBERT LASZEWSKI and ALAIN ENTHOVEN

So far, Congress' response to the health care crisis has been alarmingly disappointing in three ways. First, by willingly accepting enormous sums from health care special interests, our representatives have obligated themselves to their benefactors' interests rather than to those of the American people. More than 3,330 health care lobbyists - six for every member of Congress - contributed more than one-quarter of a billion dollars in the first and second quarters of 2009. A nearly equal amount has been contributed on this issue from non-health care organizations. This exchange of money prompted a Public Citizen lobbyist to comment, "A person can reach no other conclusion than this is a quid pro quo [this for that] activity."

Second, by carefully avoiding reforms of the practices that drive health care's enormous cost growth, Congress pretends to make meaningful change where little is contemplated. For example, current proposals would not rebuild our failing primary care capabilities, which other developed nations depend upon to maintain healthy people at half the cost of our specialist-dominated approach. They fail to advance the easy availability and understandability of information about care quality and costs, so purchasers still cannot identify which professionals and organizations are high or low performers, essential to allowing health care to finally work as a market. They do little to simplify the onerous burden associated with the administration of billing and collections. The proposals continue to favor fee-for-service reimbursement, which rewards the delivery of more products and services, independent of their appropriateness, rather than rewarding results. Policy makers overlook the importance of bipartisan proposals like the Wyden-Bennett Healthy Americans Act that uses the tax system to incentivize consumers to make wiser insurance purchases. And they all but ignore our unpredictable medical malpractice system, which nearly all doctors and hospital executives tell us unjustly encourages them to practice defensively.
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AMA's 7 guiding principles for health system reform-American Medical News

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A message to all physicians from Rebecca J. Patchin, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

Health system reform is moving forward in both the House and the Senate, and we are nearing the home stretch in achieving the improved system that the United States needs.

Now it's up to Congress to work with physicians to find common ground on the proposals that will improve our health care system for both patients and physicians.

We all can agree that the status quo is unacceptable, and we can't afford to squander this opportunity. The AMA is committed to making reform a reality this year and has seven principles guiding our vision and work. They are:
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Smoking bans cut overall heart disease risk - American Medical News

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By Christine S. Moyer, amednews staff

Smoking bans reduce the risk of heart attacks and heart disease associated with even limited exposure to secondhand smoke, says a report from the Institute of Medicine.

The report focused on an analysis of data from 11 different epidemiological studies, which examined changes in heart-attack rates after smoking bans were implemented in U.S. communities, as well as in Canada, Italy and Scotland. Two studies specifically assessed the association between secondhand smoke exposure and heart attacks.
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Higher hospital spending linked to better outcomes - American Medical News

Bucking a widely accepted correlation between health spending and patient outcomes, a recent study finds hospitals that spend more than average may be getting better results.
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Analysis: Public Option Might Play Only Minor Role In Changing Health Care - Kaiser Health News

By Eric Pianin, Mary Agnes Carey and Julie Appleby, KHN Staff Writers

For all the controversy over a government-run insurance option, the program outlined in health overhaul legislation likely would play a minuscule role in efforts to expand health care coverage, according to many health care experts and lawmakers.

Of the 30 million Americans likely to purchase insurance through exchanges created by the legislation, only six million -- or one fifth -- would enroll in a public insurance plan, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House bill. Viewing it another way, the six million using the public option would amount to only two percent of the 282 million Americans under the age of 65 who are projected to have health insurance by 2019, when the legislation is fully implemented.
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Many Details Still Bedevil Democrats In Health Reform Bills - Kaiser Health News

It was the usual partisan squabbling on the Sunday talk shows. Democrats are braced for a significant week ahead, ironing out significant differences in various health reform bills. Kaiser Health News provides this roundup:
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Lieberman Would Choose No Health Care Reform -- Political Wire

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), interviewed on Face the Nation, said that America would be better off with no health care reform bill instead of one that includes a government-run public health insurance option.

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Will Section 508 Be Taken More Seriously?

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from Even Grounds

Just recently, the National Federation of the Blind filed the third Section 508 related complaint in a row. Will this change how seriously Section 508 compliance will be taken?

It is rather frequent that a government agency or a contractor states Section 508 compliance because this is the law. But these statements do not always correct. There is a large number of federal sites and applications which do not meet the mandated Section 508 requirements.

The National Federation of the Blind recently filed complaints against the Department of Education, Social Security Administration, and the Small Business Administration. The first two are known to have one of the most well-known and effective Section 508 programs. It was rather unexpected that in case of a Section 508 complaint, these agencies will come to the spotlight.

While NFB filed a Section 508 complaint, they are primarily monitoring accessibility for visually impaired people. NFB is committed to continue monitoring federal sites, and filing more complaints as necessary if they find issues which interfere with accessibility for people with visual impairment.

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FDL News Desk » Big Pharma Front Group 60 Plus Scaring Seniors With $2M Ad Buy

By: David Dayen

In a new television ad out this week, the group “60 Plus” asserts that seniors would lose access to doctors, treatments, and life-saving drugs if the Democratic health care plan is adopted. The group, with ties to the national GOP and almost fully funded by the pharmaceutical industry, is pumping $2 million dollars into airing the ad in eight states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The ad includes the standard scare tactics about proposed cuts to Medicare “to pay for a plan that could lead to a government takeover of health care.” An older man pleads at the end of the ad, “Don’t make us pay for health care reform by cutting Medicare. We’ve sacrificed enough.” The ad targets individual Senators in those eight states, Democrats and Republicans who are potential swing votes on health care. This is an extension of ads from 60 Plus that started back in August. They’ve also sent out mailers to seniors featuring similar dire warnings.



Not mentioned in the ad is the makeup of the organization 60 Plus, a kind of conservative counter to the AARP. Among their past contributions to the national debate are advocacy against the “death tax” and for “saving Social Security,” which they label as their top priorities. And their website claims that 60 Plus is “a non-partisan seniors advocacy group.” But the ties to national Republicans and industry lobbyists are numerous, as the Center for Media and Democracy’s Sourcewatch has detailed.

According to Sourcewatch, Jim Martin, the President of 60 Plus, has a long affiliation with the Republican Party and “claims to have given then-’Texas Gov. George W. Bush his first political job … way back in 1967.’ ” The PR contact on the press release touting their latest ad is Carl Forti, the former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee, national political director for Mitt Romney’s 2008 Presidential campaign, and the executive VP at FreedomWatch, which has been active in the tea party movement and the anti-health care town hall meetings back in August. Forti now runs the Black Rock Group, which he founded. This Politico article details Forti and Black Rock’s key involvement in trying to exploit a loophole in FEC rules to basically gut campaign finance law and allow “individual corporations to coordinate with no restrictions their own advertising and direct mail attacks on candidates.”
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House Health Reform Bill Expands Coverage and Lowers Health Cost Growth, While Reducing Deficits — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

By Edwin Park, Judith Solomon, Paul N. Van de Water, Sarah Lueck and January Angeles

The comprehensive health reform legislation that House Democratic leaders unveiled on October 29 would make significant progress in three critical areas: expanding health coverage and ensuring that such coverage is affordable, slowing the growth in health care costs, and instituting essential reforms in the health insurance market.

Moreover, the bill’s cost is more than fully offset; that is, the legislation would reduce budget deficits by $104 billion over ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill’s revenues and spending reductions would grow faster than the cost of the coverage provisions, according to CBO, which estimates that the bill would modestly reduce deficits in years after 2019 as well.

Policymakers could further improve the legislation by incorporating, at some stage of the legislative process, a provision to limit the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance such as a modified version of the excise tax on high-cost plans in the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform bill. This would further reduce health care cost growth.[1]

The full House may consider the bill, which merges the three bills approved this summer by the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees, as early as next week. The bill’s highlights include the following:
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Slow Spending, Improve Quality - The Commonwealth Fund

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Commentary on The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey on Health Reform by Gail Wilensky, Senior Fellow at Project HOPE.

With so much attention being given to healthcare reform—which unfortunately seems to have morphed into health insurance reform—it's essential to remember the importance of reforming Medicare as well.

Medicare faces the same problems as the rest of the healthcare sector: unsustainable spending, and patient safety and quality challenges and the need for improved, clinically appropriate outcomes. The major problem that Medicare doesn't confront is the challenge of the uninsured. Medicare thus serves as a clear reminder that, important as it is to achieve coverage for all, universal coverage is far from being the only goal in healthcare reform and is, in fact, one of the easier challenges we face.

The major problem facing Medicare is the need to develop and implement strategies that will not only slow the spending growth rate, but also improve the quality and appropriateness of the care provided to seniors.
. . . .
Slowing spending growth and improving the clinical appropriateness and quality of care provided will involve a complex set of changes that include changing the incentives that currently reward the use of more and more-complex services, and also making available better information about the expected benefits of new technologies for various subgroups of the elderly population. Allowing Medicare to use information about comparative clinical effectiveness in setting its reimbursement policies is one strategy that may help it slow the impact of new technology on spending. Moving Medicare from a delivery system that is dominated by a la carte, fee-for-service physicians—working mainly in small groups of single-specialty physicians unaffiliated with hospitals—to a more integrated delivery system will be even more important, and more complex.

The need to move care delivery toward multispecialty physician groups that are better positioned to treat complex acute-care interventions as well as manage multiple chronic diseases is true for all of healthcare. It is just especially important for Medicare because of the greater use of medical services by the elderly population.
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Don't Take it for Granted - The Commonwealth Fund

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Commentary on The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey on Health Reform by Bruce Vladeck, senior adviser at Nexera.

Just as in 1993, when the architects of health reform initially took Medicare for granted and then scrambled to address beneficiaries' concerns, Washington finds itself caught up in the fog of hysteria, misinformation, anxiety and downright dishonesty that so often afflicts Medicare politics.

By many measures, including beneficiary satisfaction, Medicare works substantially better than any other part of America's health insurance system, so reformers tend to take it for granted. After all, Americans 65 years old and over have essentially had universal coverage for more than 40 years. On the other hand, Medicare's projected future costs terrify budget wonks, and they don't have any good solutions. Further, Medicare beneficiaries vote at a much higher rate than other Americans, but many don’t understand the program very well themselves. So the preconditions for a political meltdown are fully present.

In this context, it's important to start with a few basic truths. The most serious problem with Medicare—which no one wants to talk about—is that its benefits are inadequate. The much criticized "bronze" option in the Senate Finance Committee bill would cover 65% of a household's expected healthcare expenses. Medicare covers less than 60% of beneficiaries' healthcare costs, despite average incomes only half as great as those of the nonelderly. This problem is exacerbated by the accelerating disappearance of retiree health insurance, which filled much of the gap for as many as 40% of beneficiaries little more than a decade ago.
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