Patt Morrison for Tuesday, September 7, 2010

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

1:06 – 1:30

OPEN

 

 

1:30 - 1:58:30

Employer v. employee: Who pays more for health care?

A new survey conducted by the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust finds that the answer to that question is the employee.  The average worker with a family plan now pays $4,000 a year—a 14% increase from 2009.  That’s the largest yearly increase since they began keeping records in1999.  The average increase for employers this year was zero. According to the survey, employers are passing the rising costs of health care directly on to their employees.  Those costs were once shared equally between the worker and the employer. And while health insurance premiums have gone up 47%, wage increases have risen only 18% since 2005.  Given these tough economic times and the skyrocketing costs of health care, who should carry the load the employee or the employer? 

 

Guests:

Helen Darling, president, National Business Group on Health

SHE CALLS US:

 

• Since 1974 they have been the nation's only non-profit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers' perspective on national health policy issues
• The National Business Group on Health members are primarily Fortune 500 companies and large public sector employers - including the nation's most innovative health care purchasers - who provide health coverage for more than 50 million U.S. workers, retirees, and their families.

 

UNCONFIRMED

Drew Altman, president, Kaiser Family Foundation

CALL HIM @

 

Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:30

Prescribing antipsychotic drugs to young kids: a necessary evil or just evil?

According to a study conducted by Columbia University, the number of kids between the ages of 2 and 5 prescribed antipsychotic drugs doubled between 2000 and 2007. An FDA report indicates that over 500,000 children and teens were on antipsychotic drugs in the United States in 2009. Some doctors believe  medication is necessary for children with severe emotional problems, mood swings, or those afflicted by autism disorder. Others feel the use of antipsychotic drugs could pose very serious health consequences to a child’s developing brain and body. A group of Medicaid doctors recommended more oversight including outside consultations and second opinions before medication is given to very young children. The FDA has also issued warnings, and a Senate panel recently asked the Government Accountability Office to look into the high numbers of foster youths on psychotropic drugs. What’s accounting for the increasing numbers? Is it because doctors are better able to identify and treat mental health issues in children? Or are some parents medicating their children because they are ill-equipped or unable to handle temper tantrums? Or is it because medication is less expensive option to more traditional psychotherapy?

 

Guests:

Mark Olfson, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University

CALL HIM @

 

• The Columbia study recently found a doubling of the rate of prescribing antipsychotic drugs for privately insured 2-to-5 year-olds from 2000 to 2007.  He is lead researcher in the government-financed study.

 

Mary Margaret Gleason, MD FAAP, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Psychiatry & Neurology, Tulane University School of Medicine

CALL HER @

 

• She believes there is no valid reason to give medication to a two-year old.

 

Charles H. Zeanah, a child psychiatrist at Tulane University

CALL HIM @

 

• Sellars Polchow Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Tulane University

 

 

2:30 – 2:39

OPEN

 

 

2:41 – 2:58:30

Inside James Ellroy

Behind noir classics like L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, and American Tabloid is an author, an author who has, for the most part, kept his story relatively private. James Ellroy was 10 when his recently divorced and alcoholic mother hit him. He wished her dead, and three months later, her body was found dumped on the side of the road. The Ellroy believed he had caused her death and has since then searched for redemption and atonement by finding the fabled “one.” In his memoir The Hilliker Curse, James Ellroy describes his shattered childhood, youth, his relationships with women, and his inspiration for writing.

 

Guests:

James Ellroy, crime writer whose works include “L.A. Confidential” and “Blood’s a Rover.”  His latest work is “The Hilliker Curse.”

IN STUDIO

 

 

Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

Southern California Public Radio

NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles

89.3 KPCC-FM | 89.1 KUOR-FM | 90.3 KPCV-FM

626.583.5171, office

415.497.2131, mobile

jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org

www.scpr.org