Tea Party’s gains in the state’s 2010 elections

They have done it with little more than a handshake agreement. Democrats will not die on the sword of bringing Planned Parenthood back into the fold, and Republicans will not put up additional barriers to women’s access to care.

“The major difference is we’re not fighting about it. We’re just doing what’s right for women and the state,” State Representative Sarah Davis, Republican of West University Place, said last month at a Texas Tribune symposium on health care.

There has not been a drawn-out public debate on abortion or women’s health in either chamber this legislative session. None of the 24 abortion-related bills filed have reached the House or Senate floor. And Ms. Davis, the only Republican member of the House Women’s Health Caucus, brokered a bipartisan grand bargain, as lawmakers refer to it, to prevent amendments to the House budget bill that could have jeopardized an agreement to restore women’s health dollars.

For some Republicans, this bargain hinged on the ballot box: Ms. Davis said several of her colleagues had faced blistering attacks after last session’s family-planning cuts — an effort, in part, to drive Planned Parenthood out of business — closed clinics in their districts that were not affiliated with abortion providers.

Ms. Davis, a breast cancer survivor who opposes abortion but will not support legislation she believes interferes with the doctor-patient relationship, said the best way she had found to help low-income women was “to remove emotion” from the debate. The arguments about abortion and Planned Parenthood in 2011 “did not advance the ball,” she said. “In fact, it just threw family planning into a tailspin.”

Bolstered by the Tea Party’s gains in the state’s 2010 elections, last session’s ultraconservative Legislature approved a law requiring women seeking an abortion to have a sonogram and hear a description of the fetus at least 24 hours before the procedure. In a targeted effort to exclude Planned Parenthood and other clinics affiliated with abortion providers from taxpayer-financed programs, lawmakers also cut the state’s family-planning budget by two-thirds.

As a direct result, 117 Texas family-planning clinics stopped receiving state financing and 56 of those clinics closed, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin who are conducting a three-year study to evaluate the Legislature’s policy changes.

The researchers estimate that 144,000 fewer women received health services and 30,000 fewer unintended pregnancies were averted in 2012 than in 2010. The state’s savings from the programs dropped by an estimated $163 million.

“A lot of people really felt they got snookered by some of the people in the pro-life movement about that family-planning issue,” said State Senator Bob Deuell, Republican of Greenville, who has been a strong advocate for restoring family-planning financing for low-income women by way of primary care.

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Health plans develop person-centered plans of care

Health plans develop person-centered plans of care based on patient-specific assessments. Plans have matched care to individual needs, reducing excessive use, improving quality and saving taxpayer dollars.

The article also suggests that plans target enrollment of healthier individuals. However, payments are proportional to each member’s level of care need.

Plans receive higher payments for sicker enrollees and lower payments for healthier enrollees. This payment method is explicitly intended to reduce incentives for selective enrollment. Since January 2012, 46,000 people have joined managed long-term care plans. While no system is perfect, most people have moved smoothly to managed care.

If enrollees disagree with their proposed plan of care, an independent appeals process protects members. Managed long-term care plans have improved care management and quality while reducing costs.

PAUL F. MACIELAK
President and Chief Executive
New York Health Plan Association
Albany, May 2, 2013

To the Editor:

This article and other recent articles offer the public a much-needed understanding of the problems that arise when a new government program is rolled out in haste.

Advocates have repeatedly argued that the implementation of New York’s new Medicaid managed long-term care program is being rushed and have called for a delay. The shameful stories of greed and deception as described in your articles point to the imperative for the state to halt implementation.

State officials must work with advocates and providers to ensure that thoughtful and transparent operations are in place before the plan is foisted upon the vulnerable elderly and the disabled who rely upon it for their health care.

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best term insurance policy

These people have made it their mission, no their duty, to keep on top of the activities and performance of life insurance companies. Organizations like those I send you to from my site depend heavily on A. M. Best and similar organizations to keep them on the right track. They are all rated A+ or better.

There you can find detailed information on term life insurance as well as permanent policies. Let us look at some of the best term insurance policies.
There are three basic types of term policies...all but one have no cash values. The three types are yearly renewable term or increasing premium life insurance, decreasing term and level term life insurance. Each policy was designed to fit a particular need and should be examined thoroughly before you make a purchase...
Increasing premium term life is a one year term policy. The insurance company gives you the option of renewing it each year. Decreasing term is used as mortgage life insurance and is also quite inexpensive. The level term policies can be bought for periods of time from 5 years to 30 years. Some companies have them going up to age 65, age 80 or even age 90. There is, however, an increase in premium for these policies as you get older.
Which policy is the best term insurance policy? This depends on your particular need. A person who is the breadwinner for a family...or at least one of the breadwinners may find either the 20 year term policy, the 25 year term policy or the 30 year term the best term insurance policy for his or her situation. A person with short term needs would probably find the 5 year term or 10 year term would best fit his or her situation.
A fairly new level term life insurance policy is the return of premium term life policy. The difference between this policy and the other level term policies is that at the end of the term period you get back all the money you have paid in. This may sound good but bear in mind that this policy costs more than the regular level premium term policies. Unlike permanent policies you cannot take a loan from your policy if you are in need of cash.
For detailed information on the best term insurance policy click the link below.

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