CRC Health Group Joins Hero Health Hire to Promote Employment of America's Wounded Warriors and Veterans

CUPERTINO, CA--(Marketwire -05/17/12)- CRC Health Group today announced that it has joined Hero Health Hire, a coalition of companies and other entities in the health care industry that are united with the goal of employing wounded warriors and veterans. Launched in Washington, D.C. at a 2011 industry summit that included the U.S. Secretary of Labor, members of Congress, and representatives of a number of government agencies and the military, Hero Health Hire includes companies, associations and hospitals from across the spectrum of health care that collectively employ hundreds of thousands of employees. Each has committed to working to help veterans find and retain jobs in health care.

"It is our privilege and our duty to join this coalition of health care partner organizations, to support our wounded warriors and veteran patriots with employment options within CRC Health Group," said Andy Eckert, CEO of CRC. "We pride ourselves in providing the best quality care to those who are willing to fight for our freedom daily. Our treatment experts do everything possible to ensure our servicemen and women lead ongoing productive lives."

CRC Health Group has TRICARE-certified treatment programs in North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Texas that treat members of the U.S. armed forces and their beneficiaries. Since 1993 these facilities have served over 7,000 beneficiaries.

Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey (Ret), the former National Drug Policy Director and a CRC Health Group senior advisor and board member, stated: "I am proud that CRC, with whom I've worked since I left the White House, has a high priority to help veterans recover from mental health, substance abuse, and PTSD issues, and to hire veterans for positions on the CRC team. There is no more important group in America than our service men and women and veterans, and CRC strongly recognizes this."

This announcement falls on the heels of a recent national conference, "Freedom and Recovery: Integrated Mental Health and Addiction Treatment for Service Members," at which Eckert and General McCaffrey were featured speakers. In a media interview, Eckert acknowledged the benefits of employing veterans on the treatment staff, saying it makes them more relevant to the numerous active duty, veteran and TRICARE beneficiary populations which CRC treats. CRC Health Group actively seeks employees with military experience, posting jobs with employment groups at military installations and with military community partners.

According to Hero Health Hire, each month, tens of thousands of Wounded Warriors, men and women in the military who have been injured or become ill during service, transition out of the military, only to struggle in the civilian workforce. For many, they may be interviewing for a job or writing a resume for the first time, unsure of how military skills and experiences might translate or what accommodations may be needed for transition to a civilian workplace.

The health care industry is considered this nation's fastest growing industry; current estimates are that 30 million people work in this field. These jobs require skilled individuals to help meet multi-generational health care needs. This industry is therefore uniquely positioned to understand and support the unique needs of this nation's veterans and the wounded warriors who return home to face physical and mental health challenges.

Hero Health Hire unites the health care industry with government agencies and the military to understand and eliminate the barriers to employment facing wounded warriors, as well as developing ways to the support them in their transition. Since its inception, Hero Health Hire has recruited additional industry partners representing more than a half million employees with worksites in every U.S. state.

CRC Health Group also just announced that its National Military Programs Liaison, Nancy Evanko, has joined the advisory board for Hero Health Hire, further expanding the synergy between these two entities.

About Hero Health Hire:

Hero Health Hire is a coalition of 30 health care industry leaders employing more than 500,000 Americans in all 50 states and who share the common goal of helping wounded warriors gain employment within health care organizations that are well-suited to their skills and will offer them opportunities for professional, financial and personal stability. For more information, visit www.HeroHealthHire.com

About CRC Health Group:

CRC Health Group is the most comprehensive network of specialized behavioral healthcare services in the nation. CRC offers the largest array of personalized treatment options, allowing individuals, families and professionals to choose the most appropriate treatment setting for their behavioral, addiction, weight management and therapeutic education needs. CRC is committed to making its services widely and easily available, while maintaining a passion for delivering advanced treatment. Since 1995, CRC has been helping individuals and families reclaim and enrich their lives. For more information, visit www.crchealth.com or call (877) 637-6237.

View the original article here

America's health care reform through history

The three days of arguments beginning before the Supreme Court on Monday may mark a turning point in a century of debate over what role the government should play in helping all Americans afford medical care. A look at the issue through the years:

1912:

Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House. It's an idea ahead of its time; health insurance is a rarity and medical fees are relatively low because doctors cannot do much for most patients. But medical breakthroughs are beginning to revolutionize hospitals and drive up costs. Roosevelt loses the race.

1929:

Baylor Hospital in Texas originates group health insurance. Dallas teachers pay 50 cents a month to cover up to 21 days of hospital care per year. The plan grows into Blue Cross.

1932:

After five years of work, doctors, economists and hospital administrators on the independent Committee on the Costs of Medical Care publish their report about the increasing costs of health care and the number of people going untreated. They say health care should be available to all.

1935:

Americans struggle to pay for medical care amid the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance, but decides to push for Social Security first. He never gets the health program passed.

1942:

Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls as part of the nation's emergency response to World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so instead they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which unexpectedly grows into a workplace perk. Workplace plans get a boost the following year when the government says it won't tax employers' contributions to employee health insurance.

1945:

Saying medical care is a right of all Americans, President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine." Truman tries for years but can't get it passed.

1960:

John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress.

1965:

Medicare for people age 65 and older and Medicaid for the poor signed into law. President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats succeeded in creating the kind of landmark health care programs that eluded his predecessors.

1971:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., offers his proposal for a government-run plan to be financed through payroll taxes.

1974:

President Richard Nixon puts forth a plan to cover all Americans through private insurers. Employers would be required to cover their workers and federal subsidies would help others buy insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.

1976:

Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but a deep economic recession helps push it aside.

1986:

Congress passes and President Ronald Reagan signs into law COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health care plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with the worker bearing the cost.

1988:

Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older people upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.

1992:

Helping the uninsured becomes a big issue of the Democratic primaries and spills over into the general election. Democrat Bill Clinton wants to require businesses to provide insurance to their employees, with the government helping everyone else; Republican President George H.W. Bush proposes tax breaks to make it easier to afford insurance.

1993:

Newly elected, Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have insurance. The plan meets strong Republican opposition, divides congressional Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It never gets to a vote in the Democrat-led Senate.

2003:

President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of Johnson's "Great Society" program for seniors.

2008:

Hillary Rodham Clinton makes a sweeping health care plan, including a requirement that everyone have coverage, central to her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Barack Obama, who promotes his own less comprehensive plan.

2009:

Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out a compromise that requires companies other than very small businesses to cover their workers, mandates that everyone have insurance or pay a fine, requires insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions, and assists people who can't afford insurance.

2010:

Congress passes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Obama signs it into law March 23.

View the original article here

Where America's Health Spending Goes

It's an article of faith across the political spectrum in the United States: health spending has accelerated out of control. What you hear less often is the inevitable corollary, that health spending thus ought to be curtailed. (Tell that to a parent whose child has cystic fibrosis.) What's rarely mentioned is that a) health spending is largely voluntary, b) the parts that aren't voluntary are often under the aegis of government agencies that have little incentive to cut costs and c) "health spending" is at best an ambiguous phrase.

How Much?
The New York Times cites a recent Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study which claims that in 2010, Americans spent about $8,000 per capita on healthcare. That's the highest figure listed among the several countries in the study, again with the implicit understanding that the number is somehow too high.

Is it? To draw a comparison, "education spending" is a category that many would argue is underfunded. Tell a typical man on the street that not enough money is being spent on education in this country, and chances are fairly good he'll agree with you. Yet, we're to believe the opposite applies regarding health spending. But isn't health a more fundamental necessity than education? After all, you can't learn when you can't function.

Swaziland wasn't one of the countries included in the OECD study, but it can illustrate a point: it's safe to assume that healthcare spending there is a tiny fraction of what it is in the U.S. Does that mean the Swazis have successfully "reined in" health spending? Far from it. With an abysmal average life expectancy of around 48 years, not to mention that around every 4th adult Swazi is believed to be HIV-positive, the conclusion seems to be that some nations' citizens could afford to spend more on health care. Much more.

But how much more? Or in the case of the U.S., how much less? Ask that same passerby (or a journalist) if health spending in the U.S. is too high and public perception presumes that he'd again answer "yes." Then ask him what a reasonable per capita number for health spending should be, if not $8,000. Make sure you check the box next to "blank stare."

How's It Figured?
There isn't a simple answer, and we've just proven that there's little correlation between dollars spent and benefit rendered. The aforementioned OECD study gives only slight details as to how it calculates its figures, breaking healthcare spending down into four categories: public health and administration, ambulatory, hospitals and nursing homes and pharmaceuticals. So if, say, a perfectly chipper American woman decides to purchase breast implants, she'd be adding to the totals for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th categories: she'll spend money on initial consultations, on the hospital stay for the surgery itself and on promethazine for any post-surgical pain.

And that kind of surgery is a multibillion-dollar industry in the U.S. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery's own literature points out that such discretionary spending is increasing at 9%, annually – more than four times faster than the rate of increase in other health care costs. Still, poorer nations presumably have their laser skin resurfacing and chemical peel expenditures "under control." Only a nation that's already advanced past the rudiments of how to maintain health – with a clean water supply, dentists who recommend fluoride, etc. – can accommodate a market for unnecessary cosmetic surgery.

Insurance
That doesn't mean that the $8,000 per capita figure is necessarily a positive, either. Let's look at how much it costs to keep ourselves insured. Of course there's a tremendous variance among patients, from Olympic decathletes to TV documentary subjects who undergo bariatric surgery, but the average is worth noting. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that an employer-sponsored health insurance policy for a typical individual runs $5,429 a year. That's not even counting user deductibles. And that figure has doubled in the last decade. If an average citizen can pay that much (indirectly via an employer, but still) without ever setting foot in a hospital nor seeing a specialist, is there sufficient incentive to even get insurance? Or ever visit a doctor?

Expenditures
Studies and public perception notwithstanding, there isn't a generic "health spending" account that these dollars go toward, either. Do over-the-counter cough drops count as a health expenditure? The OECD doesn't give a conclusive answer. Emergency surgery for traumatic construction accidents neither does nor should fall into the same category as methadone for heroin users. Better we spend on the former than the latter, but better still if ironworkers don't balance themselves on I-beams hundreds of feet in the air in the first place.

American expenditure on health care follows, more or less, from the principle of limited government: that a nation's taxpayers should only collectively foot the bill for public goods whose benefit is enjoyed by society as a whole, and which private enterprise couldn't reasonably turn a profit on (e.g., roads and armed forces). Healthcare can obviously be provided by the private sector, as a look at any Health Maintenance Organization's balance sheet will tell you. Health itself necessarily differs from person to person – it's pretty much the one thing each of is individually most responsible for – thus making it the ultimate private good.

The Bottom Line
What about the results of that $8,000 per capita? What data would indicate a healthy population, i.e., money well spent? High life expectancy is just one bellwether, but the others are obvious –low obesity, average resting heart rate in the prescribed range, etc. That data is nigh impossible to collect in a nation of 300 million, and it wouldn't count the people who voluntarily reduce the nation's overall health. The same newspaper that cited the OECD study tacitly acknowledges that the money spent on drug and alcohol treatment in the U.S. reaches well into the billions of dollars, too. This would be filed under "voluntary." In a society of people who choose not to abuse drugs, spending on this particular subsection of health care would dwindle to nothing and, one hopes, give the OECD cause to rejoice.

While waiting for per capita health spending in the United States to reach whatever the optimal level is, it might be time to update the old aphorism: a penny of prevention is worth a dollar of cure.

More From Investopedia

View the original article here