State House Call Video: John Graham on the Health Index

John Graham, author of the Index of Health Ownership, talks about StateHouseCall.org and the importance of giving consumers new tools in understanding health care in this video.

Video podcasts are a new feature here on State House Call. Expect us to roll out a few more in the weeks to come.

State House Call Video: Tarren Bragdon on Affordable, Private Insurance

America’s a wealthy country, but our approach to health care makes it hard for people to get health insurance outside of their workplace.

Tarren Bragdon, a health policy analyst who does work for both the Maine Heritage Policy Center and the Empire Center for New York State Policy, talks about the difficulty that residents of Maine and New York face in buying health insurance on their own.

Bragdon comments that he isn’t interested in telling people what insurance they must buy, or even that they must buy it. But, he says, the goal of health care analysts should be to point to ways that they can enable people to buy a private, affordable health insurance plan.

State House Call Video: Beverly Gossage on HSAs in Medicaid

One knock on HSAs is that their usefulness is limited to only a small segement of the population. But in this video clip, State House Call blogger Beverly Gossage explains how HSAs can be useful in Medicaid as well.

State House Call Video: Paul Gessing on Gov. Richardson’s Plan

Gov. Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico), in case you haven’t heard, is running for president. He is building his campaign, in part, on his record as governor. Paul Gessing, president of the of the Rio Grande Foundation, talks about Gov. Richardson’s state record on health care, and the danger to free-market reforms in this video.

State House Call Video: John LaPlante on UAW Health Plan

Recently we’ve been rolling out some video interviews conducted of State House Call bloggers. This week it’s my turn, as I discuss an agreement between auto makers and the United Auto Workers.

The agreement includes a VEBA, which is a relatively new and unusual method of providing health care benefits. Known formally as a voluntary employee beneficiary association, a VEBA gives unions financial responsibility for health care coverage. One hopes that the experience brings a dose of reality, though the UAW chief Ron Gettelfinger still calls for a single-payer health care system.

There’s some question of whether GM and the rest will launch these giant funds with enough financial backing–the VEBA is loaded not just with cash, but other financial instruments.

John E. Murray, a professor at the University of Toledo, warns that “If VEBA members see the trust as the company’s money, little will change in terms of health care spending.” On the other hand, “Should they see it as their own money, as did industrial sickness fund members, GM and the UAW will have produced a remarkably creative solution to a seemingly intractable problem.”