Health Care

by Channel 2 News staff Thursday, August 20, 2009 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In a poll conducted by Channel 2 News, respondents were asked if the national debate on health care has become too divisive. Here is the official question and results of the 284 people who voted. Do you think the national healthcare debate has become too divisive? Yes 60 % No 40 % All polls conducted by Channel 2 News and KTUU.

by Dan Joling The Associated Press Monday, March 8, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Ex-Gov. Sarah Palin has criticized Canada's health care program, saying the socialized system should be dismantled in favor of free enterprise. But during a speech Saturday in Calgary, Palin acknowledged the irony of her family using medical care in Whitehorse, Yukon, decades ago. Palin was a child in the mid-1960s when her family lived in Skagway, a southeast Alaska town near the Canadian border.

More people want to work in health care and are signing up for higher education to make it happen, according to employment trends discussed at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce’s “Make it Monday” forum this week. It doesn't come as much of a surprise that health care is growing, but in Alaska there is also growing interest in online education. The University of Alaska Anchorage, Charter College, Wayland Baptist University and the University of Phoenix all had representatives at Monday's luncheon.

Federal health care reform legislation took effect Thursday, including provisions that add consumer protections -- but the Alaska Division of Insurance says it will probably be a while until the benefits are implemented. The division says that while the law is now in effect, health-insurance policy holders will see changes when their plans renew. Group insurance plans renew every year -- so if Oct. 1 is your renewal date, that's when the law’s provisions will affect your plan.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski held a roundtable health care reform event Wednesday at the University of Alaska Anchorage to discuss the Affordable Care Act. The event consisted of three panelists and a roomful of people who came together to discuss how the divisive federal law was affecting Alaskans, both in support and opposition of the bill. The roundtable event covered multiple topics, including its effects on everything from small businesses to Alaska real estate, but the topic that had most people talking was the fate of primary care physicians.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, June 8, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Four state senators are asking Gov. Sean Parnell to call a special session to address Denali Kid Care. Parnell vetoed an expansion to the program last Thursday, saying he had just recently learned that Denali Kid Care pays for abortions. Tuesday, Sens. Hollis French, Bettye Davis, Johnny Ellis and Bill Wielechowski asked Parnell to reconsider his decision and call a special session where lawmakers could pass the legislation again.

by Channel 2 News staff Saturday, January 16, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A new report submitted to Gov. Sean Parnell and the Legislature says Alaska's health care problems cannot be fixed overnight. The Alaska Health Care Commission report, "Transforming Health Care in Alaska,"  came together after a year of work and research. It touches on everything from workforce development to the role of the consumer in health care. The commission found four main goals to help Alaska's health care system, including improving access to health care services and affordable coverage; containing costs; assuring high standards of care; and focusing on prevention to control costs.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, August 11, 2009 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In a poll conducted by Channel 2 News, respondents were asked whether they agreed more with Sen. Lisa Murkowski's or Sen. Mark Begich's health care reform position. Here is the official question and results of the 531 people who voted.   Whose position on health care reform do you agree with the most? Sen. Lisa Murkowski   54%                     Sen. Mark Begich          46% All polls conducted by Channel 2 News and KTUU.

by Jackie Bartz Monday, March 22, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It won't be long before the health care bill becomes law. President Barack Obama plans to sign it Tuesday, giving the country near-universal health care coverage for the first time in history. Democrats call it the biggest piece of legislation since the Civil Rights Act.  Republicans say it's unconstitutional. Despite the very public battle over the bill, many Americans are unaware of the specifics when it comes to health care coverage.

AT&T Inc. is launching an aggressive push into wireless health care services. The company will create a new group, AT&T ForHealth, to market and deliver health care products that utilize the company's wireless network. "If we do what we think we're capable of doing, we think we're able to change health care (in) the way ATMs changed banking,"  AT&T's Xavier Williams said. Among the products in development are pill bottles that remind patients via e-mail, text or phone to take their medication.

Thomas Corkran has turned down the Anchorage School Board Position Sunday according to Anchorage Board Member Don Smith. One day earlier, the Anchorage School Board appointed Thomas Corkan to the vacant board seat D. Smith says that Corkran is well qualified for the position and it's a shame that his prior employment has become an issue in taking the position. Corkran was previously employed by Veco.  Corkran now owns his own financial consulting practice and has spent over 25 years participating with Junior Achievement of Alaska.  The school board received 41 applications and interviewed 31 applicants for the position last held by Gretchen Guess.

President Obama's plan for increased gun control has created quite a stir on both the statewide and national stages, with much attention focused on Americans' access to guns -- but controversy has also arisen around its call for new legislation on mental health care. Sen. Mark Begich thinks recruiting more mental health care professionals is one of the keys to making improvements in the nation's mental health care system. "I think we have great practitioners as in those in the field but we don't have enough," Begich said.

The Bean's Cafe board of directors has appointed Joan Fisher as acting Interim Executive Director after the passing of Jim Crockett, the long-term Executive Director, in November. Fisher has worked in the non-profit health care sector for over 30 years, mostly in long-term and primary medical care. She advocated for the poor and vulnerable populations needing affordable and equal health services. Fisher most recently worked at the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center as the Executive Director and Strategic Initiatives Director.

Democrat Senator Mark Begich held a Saturday town hall meeting in Anchorage discussing issues affecting Alaska Natives. The town hall was open to the public and about a hundred people showed up for the event at the Southcentral Foundation in the U-Med district. During the question and answer session, subsistence was a major topic, along with climate change, and the rising cost of food in rural Alaska. Funding for education, including language education for Alaska Native Children, and health care for Alaska Natives were also among the issues that were discussed.

Rep. Don Young voted Monday morning before he and his main challenger, state Rep. Sharon Cissna, had their final debate at an Anchorage Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Young, who's running for his 21st term in Congress since he was first elected in 1973, talked about his experience as part of the reason voters should keep him in Alaska's lone U.S. House seat. Cissna, who often called herself the alternative in this race, says she doesn't want to see the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge opened to development.

Federal officials recommended Wednesday that Alaska health care providers contact more than 840 of their patients in connection with materials from a Masschusetts pharmacy implicated in a deadly multi-state meningitis outbreak. According to a statement from the Department of Health and Social Services' Section of Epidemiology, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made the recommendations over concerns about the sterility of injectable drugs from compounding pharmacy NECC. The suspect compounds, which facilities have received since May 21, are used in connection with procedures including eye and spine surgery.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski held a roundtable health care reform event Wednesday at the University of Alaska Anchorage to discuss the Affordable Care Act. The event consisted of three panelists and a roomful of people who came together to discuss how the divisive federal law was affecting Alaskans, both in support and opposition of the bill. The roundtable event covered multiple topics, including its effects on everything from small businesses to Alaska real estate, but the topic that had most people talking was the fate of primary care physicians.

Alaska's Senators are welcoming an agreement by the Veterans Administration that allows Rural Alaska veterans to receive health care benefits at Native health clinics. A release from Senator Mark Begich's office says the VA, 14 Alaska Native Tribal Health Programs and the Department of Veterans Affairs signed an agreement that allows Alaska Native veterans to get care at participating village clinics. The VA will then reimburse the clinics. Before the veterans had to travel to Anchorage or as far away as Seattle for health care.

Too many Alaska children without health insurance coverage.  That's what drew about 50 people to a rally in downtown Anchorage on Thursday.   They chanted in front of the Legislative Information Office, calling on the governor and state lawmakers to expand the Denali KidCare program, which gives the children of parents, who can't afford  health insurance, access to medical care. Earlier this year, Governor Sean Parnell vetoed Senate Bill 5, which would have made 1,300 more children eligible for the program.  The governor objected to the bill, because it also would have made more money available for abortions.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki was in Alaska for memorial day, and in between ceremonies he took time to talk about the difficulties veterans face in Alaska.  Alaska is home to over 77,000 veterans, which makes it the highest per capita number of veterans in the country.  During a brief press conference, Shinseki told Channel 2 that getting veterans access to health care is his department's priority.  "Certainly veterans...