A look at the per capita health costs - U.S. compared to other OECD nations in 2000. Of course, since the year 2000 these costs have ballooned even further.

A poignant article in the respected journal, Health Affairs, put it best when it said that “a cycle of unsustainable spending growth followed by fervent cost containment initiatives has been a regular feature of the health care landscape for the past half-century.” As a result, the journal looked at health care spending per capita for thirty countries in the so-called “industrialized” Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) list of countries, all while record numbers of Americans choose to opt out of individual health insurance plans.

In 2002, U.S. citizens spent more than $5,260 per capita for their health care. This represented a 53% premium over any other country in the OECD list. That trend continues to this day, and it is a major catalytic factor in the health care reform movement championed by the Obama administration.

Health Affairs concludes that the two main factors in the high U.S. health care costs are:

• Defensive medicine (which leads to higher diagnostic rates and a hyper-sensitive population of doctors due to the fear of medical malpractice claims), and
• The high rates of emergency care resources vs other industrialized nations. Of course, the article in the journal tends not to oversimplify and cites numerous other potential reasons.

Whatever the case, health care spending has ballooned far beyond that of any other country (as the graph above illustrates). Where the proposed reform will take us from here is anybody’s best guess.

Have you ever pondered what health insurance and healthcare was like throughout your state? Or maybe you and your family are planning a move to another part of the country and want to know what you can expect in terms of health coverage in a state. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is making sleuthing like this a whole lot easier for inquiring minds who want to know. They have created a stellar resource website at statecoverage.org, where you can find statistics for all 50 states. Want to compare the coverage provided by employers in Wisconsin versus the coverage provided by employers around the country? Are you curious about the Medicaid coverage in Oregon?

What Makes this Health Insurance Tool Useful

I’m so impressed with this site’s usability and easy of navigation. I’ve always wanted to live in Oregon, as I have a on of family living there and let’s face it: it’s absolutely beautiful there. But let’s say I wanted to truly make a move there and was worried about what type of health coverage would be available me. Once I open the “State Profiles” page, I’m presented with a map of the United States, broken out into states. I clicked on Oregon, and up popped information that can be useful to everyone, despite how you like your information presented. On the Oregon page, I discovered both graphical representation of data (read: bar graphs) and some cold hard numbers.

If you’re looking at a particular state’s data and wondering just where in the heck these statistics came from, the site does a terrific job of citing their sources. Just click on the “Resources” tab for any given state, and you will see listed any source that data was gathered from, including a link to the exact report. For those of you cynics who don’t like to take things at face value, I think this is valuable addition.

Muddling Through the Insurance Jargon

If you’re at the beginning of your insurance journey, you may be looking at terms like Medicaid or SCHIP and scratching your head. Luckily, State Coverage Initiatives has done all of the information gathering for you. Instead of only providing you with facts and figures with no explanation of terms (leaving you opening countless different windows trying to track down what these terms mean), you can click on “Coverage Strategies” at the top of the page and be given in depth definitions of many of the types of coverage you’ll see talked about on other parts of the site. Also impressive is the readability of the definitions-no confusing, misleading trickery here-they lay everything out for you so that it is easy to understand and digest.

Insurance Resources Galore

One fantastic thing about the internet is that there is a wealth of information to be found on just about any subject. It can be difficult to find a reliable and informative site sometimes, and State Coverage Initiatives seems to be one of the good guys. Once you have gotten the specific state information you are looking for, you may be ready to look into purchasing some type of insurance for yourself. There are so many different plans out there, and they vary drastically by carrier and area, so please visit our health insurance by state section arm yourself with even more information to help you with any insurance decisions you’re facing.

President Obama made a lot of promises in his 2008 Presidential campaign, and many of them were around changes he wanted to see happen in America’s health care and insurance system. Unfortunately, many time politicians will talk the talk in order to get voters to punch their ticket a certain way on election day.

Walking the walk as far as campaign promises doesn’t always happen. Just look at the Bush administration…don’t even get me started. It is refreshing to hear Obama say that he is welcoming ideas on how to reform the health care proposal he created during his campaign, and I am all for a system in which many have a say in ideas to find a solution that works for everyone in the current state of the economy.

But the real question is, especially after hearing President Obama’s State of the Union address: What is the buzz around Obama’s statement of “come one, come all” for hearing opinions on health care, and will it work in creating a just and successful health care system for America?

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Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part series on the controversy surrounding health insurance for same-sex marriage partners.  You can find part 1 here.

Let’s assume that the Defense of Marriage Act (DMA) eventually gets repealed. States that don’t support gay marriage aren’t allowed to deny that other states do? Would this then open up the forum for the Federal Government to acknowledge same-sex marriages? It seems that for Obama to agree with what this appeals court in California is bringing up, the Defense of Marriage Act would have to be repealed. We’re talking about health benefits for federal employees and their partners — and it seems that same-sex partners of federal employees won’t be seeing health benefits any time soon unless the DMA is axed.

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Note from the Author: Before I even begin addressing this interesting piece of news, I would like to add a disclaimer. I greatly respect that there are a variety of opinions and beliefs in this world, and I am sure that our reader base is about as diverse as diverse can get. I mean, everyone cares about health insurance right? I also respect that not everyone is going to agree with my opinion. I realize that the sensitive and largely disputed topic of same-sex marriage usually involves disturbing some sort of beehive. If you choose not to agree with what is to follow, then I encourage you to post your thoughts in the comments section.

Even if you aren’t a resident of the Golden State, you probably heard all of the controversy and buzz around California’s Prop 8 back in November of 2008. The proposition passed by voters denies the rights of same-sex couples to legally get married. For those of us who believe that marriage should be a right for all people, regardless of their sexual preference, this proposition’s passage was incredibly disappointing. Interestingly enough, however, a federal appeals court in California seems like it is trying to redeem the state’s liberal reputation.

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The language barrier for recent immigrants to the United States is taking a toll on how they receive access to and understand their health care options, according to a recent report by Kaiser. This further exemplifies the holes in the United States’ health care system, and raises huge concerns over those who are eligible and paying for health care yet are not receiving what they deserve. What is happening here and how can it be fixed?

Health care and immigration

I can only imagine how frustrating it is to be a newcomer to this country and want to get health care coverage, but not be able to find a single person to help you understand your options. For many who call the help lines for a plan like Medicaid, you may find that you can get instructions in Spanish, but what about the other hundreds of languages that immigrants speak? And what about other options for helping recent immigrants understand their health care options?

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