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Article Date: 22 Sep 2006 - 21:00pm (PDT)
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"Federal
Health Policy Response to Hurricane Katrina: What it
Was and What it Could Have Been,"
Journal of the American Medical Association:
In a commentary for JAMA, Jeanne
Lambrew of the George Washington University
School of Public Health and Health Services and
Center for American Progress and Donna Shalala,
former
HHS secretary, examine the response of federal
officials after Hurricane Katrina, praising such
elements of the response as the provision of
emergency services, plans for redesigning
Louisiana's health system and congressional efforts
to provide health insurance to the uninsured.
However, they write that they find three "major
faults" with the federal response: that assistance
was inadequate to meet the need, that the response
was too late and "may have slowed the recovery of
the health system" and that the response
"highlighted flaws in the decision-making process."
They propose "policies that could have resulted in
improved health and health care delivery following
the hurricane," including that the power of the
executive branch could have been used to waive
program rules, redirect funding to retain care
providers in affected areas, redirect funding from
certain programs to others in need and create a
standing panel to oversee health policy resources
during disasters. In addition, they suggest that the
Bush administration and Congress should have used
the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund
to appropriate funds for public health programs,
that Congress create a permanent, emergency Medicaid
authority and that lawmakers and policy makers
examine how to make the U.S. health system
"accessible, affordable and quality-oriented for
all" (Lambrew/Shalala, JAMA, 9/20).
"Reprinted with permission from
http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the
entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the
archives, or sign up for email delivery at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy.
The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published
for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry
J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board
Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights
reserved.
