Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Budget Deal Will Impact Medicare Hospital Reimbursement Rates
CQ Healthbeat: Medicare, A Long-Term Patient, Gets More Treatment In Budget Law
Medicare, the federal program at the heart of the nation’s fiscal anxieties, played a supporting role in the budget agreement President Barack Obama signed into law Monday. Medicare, starting in 2017, will have to clamp down on hospitals’ payments to recently acquired physicians’ practices. The practices for the most part will no longer qualify for higher rates of Medicare reimbursement than independent physicians do. Hospitals have in recent years been using the acquisition strategy to expand the more lucrative area of Medicare services. (Young, 11/5)
The Detroit Free Press: Rate Freeze On Popular Medigap Plan To Expire Next Year
A five-year rate freeze on two popular, heavily subsidized Medicare plans known as Legacy Medigap that expires next year is raising fears among the plans' more than 205,000 customers that they could face price hikes mid-year. That uncertainty is hitting a high point now, as 1.9 million Michiganders navigate the complicated maze of annual enrollment for Medicare, making potentially life-changing choices in health care coverage through 2016. Enrollment ends Dec. 7 and the Medigap Legacy plans remain an option for now. (Erb, 11/5)
