Burden Bulge

State and local spending for health care is rising significantly. Medicaid accounts for the bulk of those expenditures, especially as the costs of long-term care continue to rise. But according to a recent study published in Health Affairs policy journal, fallout from Medicare Part D, the federal government's prescription drug program, is also contributing to the increase. Private payers are covering fewer health care costs, thus increasing the need for state and local governments to step in. "We are," the study noted, "moving incrementally away from traditional sources of insurance, such as employer-based coverage, to a system comprising more federal and state government-provided health care."

RX AID

Help with meds is on the way in Colorado. A new state law, Colorado Cares Rx, allows the state to negotiate lower prices with drug companies and provide low-cost prescriptions to certain individuals-- those who are not already insured, are not eligible for Medicaid and earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level (about $60,000 for a family of four). The state figures that well over 250,000 people will enroll in the program, which should be up and running by 2008. Each participant will pay a one-time fee of $20 to help offset the cost to the state.

WINE COOLER

In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Penn State is beginning a three-year program that will target dangerous drinking on campus. The state and university will pay $600,000 to fund the program, which will go into effect on 20 different campuses in the Penn State system. Nearly a decade ago, Penn State was one of the first universities in the nation to take steps to reduce student deaths and illness caused by drinking, and this new program will feature many different initiatives including educating students on how much their peers are drinking as compared to the perception of how much they drink, heightened enforcement of illegal or dangerous drinking and a push for faculty members to consider giving more of their exams on Fridays.