Kelley Weiss's blog

Health care costs slow in California - what's it mean?

By Kelley Weiss | May 16, 2012

When it comes to health care in California, low cost is not the first thing that comes to mind. But it turns out that the Golden State spends less than most others on health care.

That’s according to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation. California’s per-capita spending on health care is the ninth lowest in the nation.

California’s growth in health care spending is slowing as well. In 2003 it peaked at 9.7 percent; in 2009 spending growth was 4.5 percent, in line with the national average.

Consumer's guide to high-deductible health plans

By Kelley Weiss | May 1, 2012

If you work at a small business and have health insurance, odds are about 50-50 that you’ll have a high-deductible health plan according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

This kind of coverage asks employees to pick up more of the tab for their health care costs. Workers pay out-of-pocket for health care expenses until they reach the deductible. Then the insurance kicks in.

The idea is to make consumers savvier about health care costs by asking them to spend their own money first. At the same time, the employer can save money by shifting more of the costs to the consumer.

Reshuffling Medicare costs, does it add up?

By Kelley Weiss | April 17, 2012

The debate in Washington over how to find savings in the mammoth Medicare program has been going on for years. In its latest incarnation, the agency that assists Medicare in making policy recommendations – the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission or MedPAC – is focusing on out-of-pocket expenses.

MedPAC commissioners have universally approved a plan for Congress now to consider:

--A limit on out-of-pocket costs.

--Combining deductibles for in-patient and outpatient services.

--Creating flat rate “copayments” for certain services, instead of a percentage of the cost of care called “coinsurance.”

--Charging supplemental insurance plans.

Humanitarian group helps give out free medications

By Kelley Weiss | March 30, 2012

Every year thousands of patients get free prescription drugs to manage illnesses ranging from diabetes to heart disease. Pharmaceutical companies donate the medications that are usually set aside for low-income patients who don’t have health insurance.

But this can involve a burdensome paperwork process.

That’s where Damon Taugher, director of the non-profit humanitarian group Direct Relief USA, comes in. His organization has decades of experience getting medical aid to disaster-stricken areas – as in Haiti after the earthquake that hit two years ago.

Taugher says he wanted to apply the same principles to what he calls a domestic health care crisis in the United States.

School health centers grow in California

By Kelley Weiss | March 13, 2012

About 20 years ago California was one of the first states to try a new concept of setting up full-service health clinics on school campuses in underserved areas.

Today – with the help of federal grant money and a growing need for services – these clinics are an integral part of many schools’ attempts to improve public health.

In 2011 California won more than $15.5 million in federal grants under the Affordable Care Act to upgrade existing clinics or open new sites.

The law set aside $200 million dollars to be distributed around the country from 2010-2013. So far, sites in California have received about 15 percent of that funding.

Schools mirror community's health

By Kelley Weiss | February 28, 2012

When I heard that high school students were regularly missing class because cockroaches were lodged in their ears, it was shocking.

This came up in a story I’m working on about school-based health centers. There are nearly 200 around California – the majority in underprivileged areas, where almost all of the students qualify for free lunches and Medi-Cal.

The high school I recently visited in Los Angeles had a full-fledged medical clinic on campus. That’s right – doctors, nurses, medical office equipment, all of it. It’s open to students and community members during the week and on Saturday and provides free primary care, dental and mental health services.

Patient's persistence nearly eliminates $72,000 medical debt

By Kelley Weiss | February 14, 2012

Andy Gee says he never thought he would see his crushing medical debt basically disappear.

We profiled Gee, of San Francisco, as part of a KQED series on medical debt in the fall. When I interviewed him he wasn’t working. And he had trouble sleeping at night because he was so worried about how he would possibly pay off $72,000 in debt to San Francisco General Hospital and the SFGH Medical Group.

He was hit by a car in October 2010 and was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital for emergency surgery. After a six-day hospital stay he was on the hook for $72,000. Gee says the most shocking thing about all of this was that he had health insurance.

State asks group to analyze autism treatments

By Kelley Weiss | February 2, 2012

This story originally aired on KQED Public Radio.

California gang violence is public health threat

By Kelley Weiss | January 31, 2012

Health officials say there’s a deadly threat to young people that most of us wouldn’t guess: murder.

According to the CDC homicide is the second leading cause of death for those between 15-24-years-old.

Overall, these deaths are a relatively small percentage of the country’s total mortality statistics. But public health experts are alarmed that gang violence continues to fuel homicides among young people.

A recently released CDC report studied five cities with high rates of gang murders.

Three of them were in California – Oakland, Long Beach and Los Angeles.

California hospitals share surgery data with each other

By Kelley Weiss | January 20, 2012

When I first heard that some surgeons don’t know how often their patients have major complications or die from a procedure, it was hard to believe. Could it be true that I can get more information about the quality of a flat screen TV or car, than a surgery that can kill me? 

I was told about how many hospitals lack a centralized database to track complications. Beyond that, for the hospitals that do try there isn’t a standardized system to compile and analyze the data.

But patient safety experts say without this information it’s hard for doctors to know how to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

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