Trade Associations
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from national and international trade associations influencing the debate on federal policies.
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Social Workers and Social Work Scholars Nationwide Call on Congress to Make the Child Tax Credit Permanent and Fully Refundable
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSPol) -- The National Association of Social Workers issued the following news release:
More than 800 individual social workers, social work scholars, researchers, and allied professional organizations have signed on to a letter urging congress to make the current expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) permanent and fully refundable. This call to action comes as congressional leadership determines which elements will be included in the final framework for the Build Back Better (BBB) social investment legislative package currently being negotiated
"In our daily work we see the impacts
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSPol) -- The National Association of Social Workers issued the following news release:
More than 800 individual social workers, social work scholars, researchers, and allied professional organizations have signed on to a letter urging congress to make the current expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) permanent and fully refundable. This call to action comes as congressional leadership determines which elements will be included in the final framework for the Build Back Better (BBB) social investment legislative package currently being negotiated
"In our daily work we see the impactsof economic instability and insufficient income on the lived experiences of children and their families. Poverty is at the core of conditions that social workers address on the front line within communities every day: child neglect, health and mental health disparities, interpersonal violence, homelessness, and more," the letter states.
Social workers understand that without economic security, everything else in life becomes more difficult. Our profession's deep understanding of the foundational impact of poverty on health and well-being inspired social workers from across the country to come together to urge Congress to make the CTC permanent.
Major social work organizations including the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and The Association for Community Organization & Social Action signed-on to the letter. The Grand Challenges for Social Work network on Reducing Extreme Economic Inequality was instrumental in organizing the effort in partnership with other sister organizations and schools of social work.
"The CTC is an investment in the well-being of children and families that cannot be understated. This is our opportunity to reduce human suffering and combat long-standing harms caused by poverty. A permanent CTC policy can significantly improve life opportunities for millions of Americans" Sarah Christa Butts, MSW, Director of Public Policy, National Association of Social Workers
"The expanded CTC has already lifted three to four million children out of poverty, an investment in future well-being". Ensuring the CTC is permanent would be a game-changer to drastically decrease the footprint of child protective services on our most financially disenfranchised children and families, saving millions of dollars by mitigating poor outcomes over the lifetimes of those impacted," Darcey Merritt, PhD, MSW, a faculty member at the New York University Silver School of Social Work and Chair of the Society for Social Work and Research's Social Policy Committee
"Before this expansion, too many families of color were left out. No single policy can undo race-class inequities, but this policy--making the CTC expansion permanent and fully refundable--would be a significant start." Alexis Tsoukalas, MSSA, a social worker from Florida
Such advocacy is linked to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) code of ethics, which calls for social workers to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs. Calling on Congress to keep the CTC falls within this principle, particularly as it relates to advocating for racial equity.
"Making the CTC permanent is a critically important opportunity to offer families the financial stability and resources they need to rear their children and contribute a new generation of well cared for individuals in our society," Mary McKay, PhD, MSW, President of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare
The letter supports other proposals currently under consideration and explains that the CTC would be most powerful in conjunction with expansions in childcare and paid leave. NASW is actively working in coalition with an array of organizational partners to advocate for inclusion of a variety of social investments in BBB to include paid leave, housing, closure of the Medicaid coverage gap, and enhancing access to childcare and educational opportunities.
"The CTC is in place now. Research shows that it is reducing poverty and hunger. This is a remarkable step forward in how our country treats childhood poverty, and withdrawing it would be a mistake," said Jennie Romich, PhD, MA, professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work.
Resources:
The Grand Challenges for Social Work
Initiated by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, the 13 Grand Challenges for Social Work is a groundbreaking initiative to champion social progress powered by science.
NASW Blueprint of Federal Social Policy Priorities
NASW's 2021 Blueprint articulates meaningful actions the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress can take to address the COVID-19 crisis, promote mental and behavioral health, eliminate systemic racism and ensure civil and human rights for all.
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To: The Honorable Chuck Schumer, The Honorable Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, The Honorable Kevin McCarthy, U.S. House of Representatives
Dear Majority Leader Schumer,
Speaker Pelosi,
Minority Leader McConnell, and
Minority Leader McCarthy:
As social workers, social welfare scholars, and allied practitioners and researchers, we the undersigned urge you to make the current expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) permanent and fully refundable.
In our daily work we see the impacts of economic instability and insufficient income on the lived experiences of children and their families. Poverty is at the core of conditions that social workers address on the front line within communities every day: child neglect, health and mental health disparities, interpersonal violence, homelessness, and more. Not having enough money creates stress for parents, which may make them less likely to respond warmly and consistently to their children, and income insecurity - of course - makes parents less able to afford basic needs and child care, much less enriching experiences. Additionally, many lower-paid working Americans see their income fluctuate from week-to-week or month-to-month; creating economic precarity that amplifies the harms of poverty. Poverty in the context of a decentralized and often constrained safety net means eligible families' access to adequate supports such as child care often depends on how policies work where they live.
The ongoing pandemic exacerbates these stressors and inequities, but COVID-19 certainly did not create them. The good news is that we can substantially reduce child poverty and its long term harms - and we can do it with a policy in place today. Just as the Great Depression gave rise to Social Security, our country's most important anti-poverty program, so too should the pandemic give rise to lasting federal investments in American children and families. The expanded CTC has already moved three to four million children out of poverty, and this number is likely to grow as the IRS connects to more newly-eligible families. The time to act is now.
...enhance well-being, especially for the most vulnerable
The expanded and fully refundable CTC will eventually reach over 9 in 10 American children. However, children in lower-income families will benefit the most. This is both a matter of equity and a sound investment. Evidence shows that supporting low-income families, particularly with regular payments, positively impacts maternal mental health, increasing their children's educational and lifetime economic well-being. This investment in our country's children will reduce child welfare expenditures, health care costs for poverty-related health problems, and lower the likelihood of legal system involvement related to financial stressors .
...treat families fairly, regardless of race or ethnicity
Before the recent expansions, the CTC disproportionately benefited White and Asian families. Under the previous version, parents of an estimated 27 million children received reduced or zero credit, including about half of all Black and Latino children, and about half of all children in rural communities. Retaining a fully refundable CTC will more evenly distribute the credit's benefits across children of different races and incomes. While more is needed to close the racial economic divides that have persisted throughout our country's history, making the more equitable CTC permanent is a meaningful disruption to policy systems that reinforce racialized poverty.
...empower families to make their own choices
Families can use their CTC benefit to pay for needs they deem most important: the rent or mortgage, school clothes and supplies, nutritious food, or engaging after-school activities. Indeed, parents report allocating their CTC payments towards immediate needs and expenses. Credits paid as recurring payments throughout the year empower parents to pay their bills on-time, avoid late fees and high interest debt, and reduce the need to borrow money to make ends meet, thereby fostering positive financial wellbeing. A permanent, fully refundable CTC will support families irrespective of where they live and offer flexibility necessary for parents who are also low-wage workers with fluctuating and nonstandard work hours.
...recognize the importance and work of raising children
Finally, by making the CTC available to all families, regardless of current employment, the expanded credit recognizes a truth that all parents know: raising children is work. Making the CTC fully refundable, even for children of parents who are not currently employed, recognizes and supports all parents' efforts. Following the myriad disruptions of the pandemic, families are facing new and difficult choices about whether and how much time parents should spend in the workforce. Evidence suggests that the expanded CTC does not affect parental employment, but it does make families better off.
We further attest that a permanent and fully-refundable child tax credit would ultimately be most powerful in conjunction with other supports currently under debate including but not limited to expanded Pre-K, publicly-supported child care, and paid family leave. However, we see particular urgency around the CTC. Withdrawing it now would likely undo the good it has done, returning millions of Americans and their children back to poverty, food insecurity, and greater day-to-day stress.
In closing, we urge you again to support America's children and families with a permanent, fully refundable, and inclusive CTC.
Signed,
View co-signers at: http://www.socialworkblog.org/wp-content/uploads/Social-Workers-in-Support-of-the-Child-Tax-Credit.pdf
[Category: Sociological]
Occupational Health and Safety Scientists Association Welcomes New OSHA Head
FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, Oct. 27 (TNSPol) -- The American Industrial Hygiene Association issued the following news release:
AIHA, the association for scientists and professionals committed to preserving and ensuring occupational and environmental health and safety in the workplace and community, welcomes the confirmation of Douglas Parker as assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
"AIHA looks forward to working with Mr. Parker towards our shared goal of protecting the health and safety of workers throughout the nation," said AIHA CEO Lawrence D. Sloan.
In his new role,
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FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, Oct. 27 (TNSPol) -- The American Industrial Hygiene Association issued the following news release:
AIHA, the association for scientists and professionals committed to preserving and ensuring occupational and environmental health and safety in the workplace and community, welcomes the confirmation of Douglas Parker as assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
"AIHA looks forward to working with Mr. Parker towards our shared goal of protecting the health and safety of workers throughout the nation," said AIHA CEO Lawrence D. Sloan.
In his new role,Parker will head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Parker was part of Joe Biden's presidential transition team on worker health and safety issues and previously lead California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) for two years.
Under President Barack Obama, Parker also served as deputy assistant secretary for policy for the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
[Category: Engineering]
National Association of Accountable Care Organizations: Using Accountable Care Organization Quality Reporting to Improve Health Equity
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSRep) -- The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations issued the following news release on Oct. 25, 2021:
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NAACOS Recommends Changes to Improve Existing Requirements
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As part of its continued work to develop policy recommendations that improve health equity, the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) today published a white paper that outlines ways Medicare can improve equity in health outcomes using quality improvement requirements in accountable care organizations (ACOs).
As part of all its ACO programs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSRep) -- The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations issued the following news release on Oct. 25, 2021:
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NAACOS Recommends Changes to Improve Existing Requirements
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As part of its continued work to develop policy recommendations that improve health equity, the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS) today published a white paper that outlines ways Medicare can improve equity in health outcomes using quality improvement requirements in accountable care organizations (ACOs).
As part of all its ACO programs, the Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices (CMS) evaluates ACOs on a number of quality measures, such as uses of preventive screening tools and hospital readmissions. But current quality evaluations could be updated to improve health inequity, and the NAACOS paper offers seven concrete recommendations for making that happen. NAACOS has previously published a white paper on better positioning ACOs to address health inequity and social determinants of health (SDOH). These recommendations must be done in a step-wise and thoughtful manner and with the support ACOs need to be successful in these efforts.
The recommendations made in the quality improvement paper are:
* Begin collecting race and ethnicity data in a standardized way to help the deployment of more targeted care coordination and improvement strategies to close equity gaps.
* Adjust patient survey data to begin incorporating equity questions, such as adding a question focused on receiving timely access and culturally appropriate care.
* Incentivize ACOs' use of SDOH screening tools of the ACO's choosing.
Identify a subset of ACO quality measures that could be stratified by race and ethnicity.
* Consider providing incentives for improving quality scores for subpopulations identified as having lower performance based on race and ethnicity categorizations.
* Develop and incorporate into ACO programs quality measures that address health equity at the population-health level.
* Avoid making adjustment to quality benchmarks for race and ethnicity.
"Improving health equity is critical to delivering high-quality care in a cost-effective manner, as some research shows that social drivers of health contribute more significantly to health outcomes than medical care," the paper states. "Social risks and social needs cannot be addressed if they are not adequately measured, tracked, and reported."
"ACOs today are already required to collect and report on lots of data points on how they treat their patients. These requirements can easily be updated to better address health equity," said Clif Gaus, Sc.D., NAACOS president and CEO. "Our recommendations are another example of how CMS can leverage ACOs today to achieve the agency's top administrative priority of improving equity."
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REPORT: https://www.naacos.com/assets/docs/pdf/2021/AddressingEquityinQMsforACOs101921.pdf
[Category: Health Care]
Dr. Anthony Fauci Discusses COVID-19 Challenges, Successes, and Next Steps During Lecture at Virtual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress
CHICAGO, Illinois, Oct. 27 (TNSPol) -- The American College of Surgeons issued the following news release:
"The race is on," Anthony S. Fauci, MD, said while delivering the Martin Memorial Lecture during the opening ceremony of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) virtual Clinical Congress 2021 on Monday. "Namely, the race to get as many people vaccinated as we can, so we can outstrip the virus, which is highly transmissible."
Dr. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, and a
... Show Full Article
CHICAGO, Illinois, Oct. 27 (TNSPol) -- The American College of Surgeons issued the following news release:
"The race is on," Anthony S. Fauci, MD, said while delivering the Martin Memorial Lecture during the opening ceremony of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) virtual Clinical Congress 2021 on Monday. "Namely, the race to get as many people vaccinated as we can, so we can outstrip the virus, which is highly transmissible."
Dr. Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, and amember of the White House COVID-19 Response Team, Washington, D.C.
"We still have about 68 million people in this country who are not vaccinated, and we will prevent another surge if we successfully vaccinate the overwhelming proportion of the population of this country," Dr. Fauci said.
Dr. Fauci began his lecture, which was introduced by ACS Regent Anthony Atala, MD, FACS, a urological surgeon and director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, by recognizing the efforts of surgeons on the frontlines of care. "I thank you all for your tireless and important work during this pandemic," Dr. Fauci said.
He went on to provide an overview of the history of coronaviruses and how scientists were able to build upon what they had learned from previous experience to react quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have known about and been involved with coronavirus research literally for decades before COVID-19," Dr. Fauci said. He discussed the first known experience with a pandemic coronavirus, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (2002-2003) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) (2012-present), before addressing the unique nature of COVID-19.
"With regard to the transmissions [of COVID-19], very uniquely among viruses, at least one-third of the patients who develop infection never develop symptoms at all," Dr. Fauci said. "And, very importantly, between 50 to 60 percent of all SARS-CoV-2 infections are transmitted by someone who is without symptoms-35 percent from pre-symptomatic individuals, 24 percent from individuals who never develop symptoms."
Dr. Fauci also discussed the multiple ways to manage COVID-19, starting with controlling the symptoms, which can be conducted as an outpatient regimen. This stage of treatment can sometimes be followed by end-organ support, which requires hospitalization for mechanical ventilation, dialysis, and other organ system support. He also discussed treatment using antivirals and immunomodulators, two major approaches. "First, target the virus itself, and this generally needs to be done early. There is a drug, Remdesivir, which must be administered intravenously and has been approved by the FDA," he said. He also noted that monoclonal antibodies also have been shown to be highly effective when given early in the course of the disease.
Much of Dr. Fauci's lecture focused on the efficacy of vaccines and the current approach to booster shots. He addressed concerns that COVID-19 vaccines were developed more quickly than previous vaccines by saying, "When SARS-CoV-2 came along, investigators were well-prepared to immediately use the knowledge over the previous several years to develop and apply the precise mutations to stabilize that spike protein in the optimal, prefusion confirmation, which was highly immunogenic. Now, that had to be married with the right vaccine platform, some of which we are familiar with and some of which are new. Originally, we had live, attenuated, and killed vaccines, and now we have platforms like genetic immunization, viral vectors, recombinant proteins, and nanoparticles."
He went on to say the story of mRNA vaccines goes back approximately 16 years when researchers showed that if you modify an mRNA molecule so that it doesn't trigger a key inflammatory pathway, which would nullify its potential as a vaccine, that hurdle could be overcome to pave the way for current vaccine platforms.
"In the United States, now, after literally hundreds of millions of doses have been administered, even in the era of the Delta variant...a person who is fully vaccinated has a reduced risk of infection that is five-fold, a reduced risk of hospitalization that is more than 10-fold, and a reduced risk of death that is more than 10-fold."
As for booster shots, Dr. Fauci said, "In Israel, which is about a month ahead of us with this, it shows that the rate of infection following a boost was lower by 11-fold compared to the non-booster group, and the rate of severe illness was diminished by a factor of almost 20-fold with the booster."
Immunity from the vaccines appears to be waning over time, Dr. Fauci said. He noted that six to eight months after vaccination, effectiveness against infection has diminished, according to the cohort studies that have addressed waning immunity. Further, effectiveness against hospitalization may be waning in some cohorts, as well.
"The real question is going to remain, 'Is the booster shot a commodity-is it sort of a bonus-or is it really necessary?' The thinking now is leaning much more towards the fact that the booster shot may actually be part of the original vaccine regimen," Dr. Fauci said.
He concluded his lecture by addressing the current disparity in vaccine distribution throughout the world: "At the same time as you talk about boosts, you have to talk about the responsibility of getting the rest of the world vaccinated. The United States takes that very seriously," he said.
The Martin Memorial Lecture was established in 1946 to honor Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS, founder of the College and his wife, Isabelle Hollister Martin.
[Category: Medical]
Better Business Bureaus Warning: Don't Get Taken During the 'Fall Classic' by Baseball Card Maker Panini America Inc.
ARLINGTON, Virginia, Oct. 27 (TNSOps) -- Better Business Bureaus issued the following news release:
It's World Series time in a country where trading card interest is at an all-time high. Better Business Bureau of North Central Texas is warning card collectors and traders about Panini America Inc. in Irving, Texas. The company is swinging for the fences and striking out leaving BBB complaints and inquiries unanswered. This company has an "F" rating with the BBB for these failures.
In 2017, BBB notified Panini America of a pattern of complaints alleging the company fails to honor promised fulfillment
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ARLINGTON, Virginia, Oct. 27 (TNSOps) -- Better Business Bureaus issued the following news release:
It's World Series time in a country where trading card interest is at an all-time high. Better Business Bureau of North Central Texas is warning card collectors and traders about Panini America Inc. in Irving, Texas. The company is swinging for the fences and striking out leaving BBB complaints and inquiries unanswered. This company has an "F" rating with the BBB for these failures.
In 2017, BBB notified Panini America of a pattern of complaints alleging the company fails to honor promised fulfillmentand delivery of products after receiving redemption cards from its customers. This pattern of complaints has remained unresolved and BBB has seen a recent spike in complaints of this nature. To date, BBB has processed 237 complaints in the last three years. There has been an additional 20 received this month and are currently pending closure.
Complainants are from 43 states in the US and two Canadian provinces. One Michigan consumer stated, "It was awesome, I was lucky enough to pull an authentic player autograph from a pack. But, when the autograph bleeds on the card ahead of it; now I have 2 damaged cards. Panini won't even talk about it! I've left 4 voicemails and gave them all my information to start a New Panini account. They still ignore me."
Another consumer in Ohio complained to BBB, "I purchased a redemption card and submitted it on their site. It was supposed to take 8-12 weeks to receive my card. It's been over 5 months and have not received a reply to the 6 emails I've sent. Their phone numbers do not work. Their answering machine just hangs up on you. It's the worst customer service I've ever encountered."
"When the BBB is evaluating the trustworthiness of a company, being responsive and honoring promises is critical. Addressing disputes quickly, professionally, and in good faith is necessary in order for consumers to trust a business and in this case the company is not responsive," said Monica Horton, BBB of North Central Texas.
[Category: Business]
Association for Psychological Science: Sex, Drugs, and Genes - Moral Attitudes Share a Genetic Basis
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSJou) -- The Association for Psychological Science issued the following news release:
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Summary: By studying both identical and fraternal twins, researchers suggest that largely the same heredity factors that influence openness to casual sex also influence a person's moral views toward recreational drug use.
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Few hallmarks of the 1960s counterculture stand out like sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll--elements of a "lifestyle" that Life magazine once branded as "antithetical in almost every respect to that of conventional America." Over the decades, as rock music became
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSJou) -- The Association for Psychological Science issued the following news release:
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Summary: By studying both identical and fraternal twins, researchers suggest that largely the same heredity factors that influence openness to casual sex also influence a person's moral views toward recreational drug use.
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Few hallmarks of the 1960s counterculture stand out like sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll--elements of a "lifestyle" that Life magazine once branded as "antithetical in almost every respect to that of conventional America." Over the decades, as rock music becamemore mainstream, public condemnation of casual sex and illicit drugs endured. Why was that? Part of the answer may reside in our genes.
New research published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that there is a common genetic basis underlying a person's disapproval of noncommittal sex and their condemnation of recreational drug use. This research helps psychologists better understand how heredity may relate to some of our deeply held moral values.
"People adopt behaviors and attitudes, including certain moral views, that are advantageous to their own interests," said Annika Karinen, a researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the lead author on the paper. "People tend to associate recreational drug use with noncommitted sex. As such, people who are heavily oriented toward high commitment in sexual relationships morally condemn recreational drugs, as they benefit from environments in which high sexual commitment is the norm."
Past studies have shown that openness to engage in noncommittal sex is partially explained by genes; the rest is explained by the unique environment not shared by siblings.Karinen and her colleagues wanted to study if moral views concerning drug use, which surveys have shown closely correlate with openness to noncommittal sex, were influenced by the same genetic factors.
To tease out hereditary from environmental factors, the researchers surveyed 8,118 Finnish fraternal and identical twins to examine how open they were to recreational drug use and to sex outside of a committed relationship. Participants answered questions that gauged their moral views of situations in which people used recreational drugs, such as at a party or with friends. The participants were also asked questions that evaluated their openness to noncommitted sex.
The researchers then compared fraternal and identical twin pairs to assess the extent to which condemnation of recreational drugs, openness to noncommittal sex, and the relationship between the two was explained by (a) genes, (b) the shared environment--such as growing up in the same household or community, or (c) unique experiences and environments not shared by the twins. The researchers found that moral views concerning both recreational drugs and openness to noncommitted sex are approximately 50% heritable, with the remaining 50% explained by the unique environment.
Furthermore, approximately 75% of the relationship between openness to noncommitted sex and moral views concerning recreational drugs was explained by genetic effects, and the remainder was explained by the unique environment. The researchers also found substantial overlap in the genetic effects underlying both factors--namely, that approximately 40% of the genes underlying openness to noncommitted sex also underlie moral views concerning recreational drugs.
"These findings suggest that the genetic effects that influence openness to noncommitted sex overlap with those that influence moral views concerning recreational drugs," said Karinen. "Important parts of hot-button culture-war issues flow from differences in lifestyle preferences between people, and those differences in lifestyle preferences appear to partly have a genetic basis."
Reference: Karinen, A., Wesselkijk, L., Jern, P., & Tybur, J. (2021). Sex, drugs, and genes: Illuminating the moral condemnation of recreational drugs. Psychological Science, 32(10), 1582-1591. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797621997350
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JOURNAL: Psychological Science https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797621997350
[Category: Psychiatry/Psychology]
American College of Emergency Physicians: New Poll Finds Adults Are Unaware That Insurers Must Cover Emergency Services
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSOps) -- The American College of Emergency Physicians issued the following news release:
A new poll from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and Morning Consult shows that nearly half (45 percent) of adults do not realize that their health insurer must cover the cost of going to the emergency department if they reasonably believe that they are having a medical emergency. This number is alarmingly high, especially when you factor in another recent poll which found that when considering going to the emergency department, nearly seven out of ten people are concerned
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (TNSOps) -- The American College of Emergency Physicians issued the following news release:
A new poll from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and Morning Consult shows that nearly half (45 percent) of adults do not realize that their health insurer must cover the cost of going to the emergency department if they reasonably believe that they are having a medical emergency. This number is alarmingly high, especially when you factor in another recent poll which found that when considering going to the emergency department, nearly seven out of ten people are concernedthat their insurance provider will refuse to cover them.
"In a medical emergency, seconds count," said Gillian Schmitz, MD, FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). "If you really think you're having an emergency, you shouldn't hesitate to seek medical care from your local emergency department."
This patient protection, known as the Prudent Layperson Standard, requires insurers to cover emergency care based on a patient's symptoms, not their final diagnosis. This is a critical distinction as about 90 percent of symptoms overlap between urgent and nonurgent conditions, leaving it nearly impossible for a person with no medical training to determine whether their symptoms are minor or life-threatening before they go to the emergency department.
"Increasing everyone's familiarity of the protections in place to make sure they can promptly seek emergency care anytime they need it will ultimately save lives," said Dr. Schmitz. "No one should die of doubt when there are emergency physicians willing and able to save them."
Together with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, these policies form the bedrock of our nation's health care system safety net and ensure that anyone can seek medical care without delay or concern about their insurance coverage. However, emergency physicians are deeply concerned that when insurance companies violate the Prudent Layperson Standard and refuse to cover emergency care it causes people to second-guess whether to go to the emergency department when they need medical attention.
Insurers continue to find new ways to skirt their obligation to patients and violate federal law. Just this past summer, ACEP led the pushback that forced one of the largest insurance companies to abandon its threat to retroactively denying coverage for emergency care.
"If history is any indication, insurance companies will do everything they can to avoid covering emergency services unless they are stopped," said Dr. Schmitz. "ACEP and its members will continue the fight to hold insurers accountable for their obligations and protect the safety of the millions of people who rely on timely access to emergency care."
[Category: Medical]
