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What Health Care Reform Means for: The Underinsured
Using results from a questionnaire, we’re looking at how the proposed health care reforms will affect people facing common health care coverage situations.
Advisory Subcommittee to CDC Approves Guidance for Rationing Ventilators
A group of advisers to the CDC moved closer to delivering their guidance on how to apportion ventilators in severe pandemics.
ProPublica Is Hiring a Reporter-Blogger
ProPublica is looking for a reporter-blogger who will follow up on and synthesize investigative journalism by others. We're looking for a journalist who has a critical eye and a knack for daily writing and reporting.
We want an experienced reporter -- you should be able to point to stories you've broken. And just as important, we're looking for somebody who has experience on the Web and is excited about rethinking how serious journalism can be done online.
We don't pretend to have all the answers about how investigative journalism should best be married with the iterative model of blogging. So we'd like to hear about your vision of what the blog should be. Please send us your thoughts and include a sample post. If you've already published a post that you think fits the bill, feel free to send that. Please e-mail all that, along with a resume and three other writing clips, to bloggerjob@propublica.org.
The Stimulus Giveth, and the Stimulus Taketh Away
Today’s roundup of stimulus coverage:
First, in the name of the holiday, the giving.
Food banks and soup kitchens are more stocked than usual this year, thanks to an extra $100 million in resources from the stimulus, on top of the $250 million originally budgeted by the federal government, reports The New York Times. It’s a good thing, too—a recent survey by Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, found that requests for emergency food assistance were up by 30 percent from last year.
Stimulus Spending Now at $220 Billion
The federal government has paid out $220 billion in stimulus dollars, according to the latest numbers from Recovery.gov and the White House (PDF). That figure includes $136 billion in spending and $84 billion in tax cuts. In all, Washington has paid out some 28 percent of the money set aside under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
For a detailed breakdown of stimulus spending by federal agency, see our Stimulus Progress Bar.
Number of Banks on FDIC’s ‘Problem List’ Soars
The FDIC released its quarterly survey of the banking industry today. On Page 3 of the survey, lodged in the middle of a paragraph titled, “Only Three New Charters Were Added in the Third Quarter,” the agency announced the new number of “problem” institutions. The “Problem List” rose from 416 to 552 during the quarter. Total assets of “problem” institutions increased from $299.9 billion to $345.9 billion. Both the number of problem banks and the amount of their assets are at the highest level since the end of 1993, according to the FDIC.
So far this year, 124 FDIC-insured banks have failed. At ProPublica, we’ve been keeping a complete list of failed banks this year, along with the major enforcement actions against them. The banks on the FDIC’s problem list are not named, presumably to prevent a run on them. But the blog Calculated Risk has put together its own list of problem banks, and it names names.
A Stimulus Pool for Small Businesses Runs Dry
Today’s roundup of stimulus coverage:
A pot of stimulus money set aside for small business loans has run out, CNN Money reports. Congress gave the Small Business Administration $375 million to help small businesses get loans in a tough credit market. That money was used to waive the fees usually charged to banks that want the SBA to guarantee loans they make to small businesses. The money also went to raise the cap on how much of the loan the SBA would guarantee, to 90 percent of the loan. Despite the incentives, CNN Money reports that the number of bank loans backed by the SBA in the year that ended Sept. 30 still fell by a third over the previous year.
An organization that describes itself as “the nation’s principal voice for the medical group practice profession” has warned that the government risks “squandering” the billions of stimulus dollars set aside for health information technology. ModernHealthcare.com reports that the Medical Group Management Association sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services warning that “an inappropriate definition of meaningful use and inefficient use of the program will … result in the needless squandering of resources and significant disruption to the nation care system.” Health care providers can qualify for the estimated $34 billion in federal stimulus reimbursements for health IT by showing that they have electronic health-record systems installed, and showing that those systems are being used in a “meaningful manner.” But the government has yet to fully define what that means.
What Health Care Reform Means for: The Underinsured
Using results from a questionnaire we did with American Public Media’s Public Insight Network, we’re looking at how the proposed health care reforms will actually affect people facing common health care coverage situations. See our previous posts on what health care reform means for the uninsured, small businesses, and those enrolled in Medicare programs.
Mary and Mack Kroner
Age: 53, 57 Location: Austin, Texas Work Status: Employed Health Care Status: Underinsured with a high deductible Income: Combined $50,000 per year
Their story:
Mack is a self-employed cab driver and Mary is a self-employed writer; they both pay for their own health insurance. Though together they pay about $600 a month in premiums, they have what Mary Kroner calls “junk insurance.”
Rapidly rising premiums have forced them to increase their deductible every year, and now they have a policy with a $5,000 deductible per illness per year. That means that they’ve been paying essentially all their health care costs out of pocket. Mary pays $100 for her annual mammogram—a must because her sister had breast cancer—but she skips recommended pelvic exams. A recent colonoscopy recommended for Mack after he showed signs of bowel cancer cost them $1,376, roughly half their monthly income.
“We just bite the bullet and don’t attend to things because we can’t afford it,” Mary said.
Advisory Subcommittee to CDC Approves Ethics Guidance for Rationing Ventilators
Health officials have been tackling the difficult question of how to apportion mechanical ventilators in a severe influenza pandemic when the demand far exceeds the availability of the treatment. Today, a prestigious group of advisors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved closer to delivering their guidance.
A subcommittee of independent ethicists approved, with minor changes, what it terms a draft ethical framework to help federal, state, and local policymakers develop guidelines about which patients should receive ventilators. The document, prepared by a group of CDC and non-CDC employees that met for more than two years, will now go to the full advisory committee to the CDC for approval. At today’s meeting, the subcommittee agreed to a request from “CDC leadership” that the document state it would not apply to the current H1N1 or “swine flu” pandemic unless a significantly more severe or widespread strain appeared.
Are Minorities Getting Their Share of the Stimulus Dough?
Today’s roundup of stimulus coverage:
As stimulus money continues to be distributed, minority-owned businesses are feeling overlooked, Time magazine reports. The administration notes that 15 percent of federal contracts have gone to minority businesses. But we reported recently that most of those have gone to Native Americans and only 5 percent have gone to blacks and Hispanics. Time’s Tim Padgett reports that the reason many minority businesses have been overlooked is that states are spending the most money on large, “shovel-ready” projects, which means it tends to go to larger, predominantly white-owned construction contractors. Most money is distributed through states and counties, and Padgett reports that minorities fair best when the funds come through the county.
Stimulus money for crime-fighting has gone to police and sheriff’s departments based on location rather than need, reports USA Today. More than $77 million has been given out by the Justice Department to 200 police agencies, and often the decision disregarded the urgency of their need because of an old law that requires money to be distributed in every state. For example, Houston requested money to hire 260 officers, but got nothing, despite a score of 90.4 on a Justice Department ranking system. But Boise, which scored 58.5, received funding because it was the only applicant from Idaho.
Your Chance to Weigh In on Ventilator Rationing for a Severe Flu Pandemic
On Monday, ordinary Americans get a rare opportunity to weigh in on a life-and-death issue: Who gets access to scarce, life-saving treatments during a disaster?
The public has been invited to participate in a teleconference (PDF) in which advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will discuss ethical guidance they have drawn up for rationing mechanical ventilators in a severe influenza pandemic.
Ongoing Investigations
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Buried Secrets: Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
Dimock, Pa., residents seek to stop Cabot Oil and Gas from drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
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A Psychiatrist Gives High-Risk Meds, Cut-Rate Care
Dr. Michael Reinstein has compiled a worrisome record, and he is trailed by lawsuits and complaints.
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Contractors in Iraq Are Hidden Casualties of War
Civilian contractors face costly and protracted battles to receive care from a federally supervised insurance system.
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Strained by Katrina, Hospital Faced Deadly Choices
A two-year investigation reveals what happened to some patients who died at Memorial Medical Center after Katrina.
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Problem Nurses Stay on the Job as Patients Suffer
The California nursing board can take years to act on complaints of serious misconduct by nurses.
- ★ On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take Back Seat - New York Times
- ★ Calif. Pension Fund Probes Oversight of Hedge Fund Advisers - LA Times
- Gov’t Report: Air Cargo Still Vulnerable to Terrorists - USA Today
- Can U.S. Provide Enough Helicopters to Fight Afghan War? - McClatchy
- Possibly Mentally Disabled Prisoner Faces Execution - Texas Observer
- Despite Pact, Few Blacks at Coast Guard School - AP
- Gov’t Contracting Fraud Hits Disabled Veterans - Miami Herald
- Illinois Bars Flout Smoking Ban - Chicago Tribune
- Toyota to Replace Gas Pedals on 3.8 Million Recalled Vehicles - AP
- Lead, Dangerous Chemicals Found in Toys Despite Law - Washington Post
- After the Hospital, It’s Bankruptcy Court for Many - New York Times
More Links from 11/25 | Browse Category:
Track the progress of the stimulus with our interactive tools:
Stimulus Spending ProgressHow quickly are federal agencies spending? Updated weekly.
Stimulus Contractor DatabaseFind contractors getting stimulus highway funds.
Every taxpayer dollar, every recipient and every program...all translated into English.
Who's getting your taxpayer money? Check out our recipient list.
History of U.S. Gov't Bailouts: See How Past Gov't Bailouts Measured Up
Search for players in the foreign lobbying game in our interactive database, a joint project with the Sunlight Foundation.
What Health Care Reform Means for: Medicare Programs
What Health Care Reform Means for: Small Businesses
What Health Care Reform Means for: The Uninsured
Read documents and information about the 38 Gitmo detainees whose lawsuits seeking freedom have been decided by federal judges. More than 150 similar lawsuits are pending.
Check out our chart of the fallen banks, the federal agency overseeing each one, and the major public enforcement that occurred against the bank prior to its collapse. It’s all sortable.
Is Your State's Unemployment System in Danger? See how your state ranks when it comes to its unemployment system.
Use our ChangeTracker to keep a tab on changes made to White House Web sites. And steal our code to make your own.
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