Politics on the Hudson

   A new report on the state’s public health plans found that they surpassed national benchmarks on more than 80 percent of quality of care measures, such as diabetes management, childhood immunization, drug therapy for adults with rheumatoid arthritis, breast-cancer screening and mental-health services.

   On childhood immunization, public health plans served 72 percent of eligible children, compared with 66 percent nationwide. Sixty-five percent of eligible women received breast cancer screenings, compared with 50 percent nationwide. Ninety percent of adults with cardiovascular conditions received cholesterol screenings, compared with 76 percent nationwide.

   The plans serve 3.2 million children and adults in the state’s Medicaid managed care program, Family Health Plus and Child Health Plus. The Coalition of New York State Public Health Plans, which released the report, includes nine plans that serve more than two million people. 

   Alayna Shalom of White Plains said she never thought she’d need a public health plan, but she enrolled her children in it last fall because they lost their insurance (their father had lost his job). Continuing to pay for their benefits, an option required by federal law, or paying for insurance through her job would have been too expensive, she said. Shalom’s children are enrolled in the Hudson Health Plan.

   “I am very grateful for the care that my children receive,” Shalom said.