What's in Store for Health Care in 2011?

Farewell, 2010. Our national debate over health care and health care systems has been anything but boring, and all evidence points to an even more contentious 2011.

NPR recently posted a story that provides a fitting close to 2010 — it does a good job of summing up our rather colorful attempt at health care reform and hints at what we can expect going into 2011. The audio file only runs a little over five minutes and provides much food for thought.

If you’re more interested in what all of the hullabaloo potentially means for health care IT, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn provides a nice forecast on the iHealthBeat Perspectives blog.

And congrats to the 15 states that received a bonus this year from CMS for their performance in enrolling uninsured children in Medicaid. Read the CMS press release to see if your state is among them and what states had to accomplish in order to qualify. The number of qualifying states is up by five from last year, good news considering how many children are adversely affected in this economy.

As more states move to enroll eligible children in federally-funded programs, California appears to be leading the way to make private insurance accessible and more affordable for children, thus eliminating one of the many budgetary issues the state faces. Will other states follow suit?

Stay tuned. But in the meantime, I want to extend my very best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year. May the surprises down the health care road have happy endings, both for children and all of the people — across multiple industries – that contribute to their care and well being.