Is A Competitive Health Care Model All It’s Cracked Up To Be?
The track records of two programs often cited by Republican candidates suggest a more complicated picture.
FAQ: Obama v. Ryan On Controlling Federal Medicare Spending
Here are some questions and answers about the Democratic and Republican approaches to moderating spending on the popular program, which covers 47 million seniors and disabled people.
Medicare Takes Center Stage In Close Pennsylvania Races
Romney’s selection of Ryan as his running mate has energized Democratic faithful in many congressional districts with large numbers of seniors.
FAQ: How Paul Ryan Proposes To Change Medicare
The Republican-controlled House, along party lines, twice approved Ryan’s proposals to overhaul the popular program by giving beneficiaries a set amount of money every year to buy coverage from competing health plans. That is a fundamental shift from today’s program, where the federal government must help pay for every doctor visit and medical service that an individual uses.
2013 Medicare Drug Plan Premiums Will Be Similar To This Year — On Average
UPDATED 1:55 p.m. Aug. 7 Premiums for private Medicare prescription drug plans will be about the same in 2013 as they have been over the past two years, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Based on drug and health plan bids, the average monthly premium for an individual next year will be […]
Bill Frist To GOP Governors: Get Cracking On Exchanges
A former GOP power player is urging Republicans to rethink their rejection of the health law and to implement state insurance exchanges – and to do it now. Bill Frist, a former Republican Senate majority leader and heart transplant surgeon, today argued in a column that state officials should not pass up the opportunity to build […]
How The SCOTUS Medicaid Ruling Could Save Money
The Obama administration doesn’t want states to skip Medicaid expansions, but it could save money.
CBO To Release New Budget Numbers for Health Law Week of July 23
The Congressional Budget Office will release its estimate of the federal budgetary impact of the Supreme Court health law ruling the week of July 23, according to a blog post by CBO Director Doug Elmendorf. “Because such updated projections are the base against which CBO will estimate the budgetary effects of changes in the ACA, […]
Some Employers Waiting Until After Elections To Prepare For Health Law
For one in six employers, the Supreme Court’s health law decision wasn’t enough to convince them to prepare for big changes set to take effect in 2014, according to Mercer, an employer consultant. Mercer surveyed 4,000 employers after the court’s ruling, and found that 16 percent still intended to wait until after the November election to […]
How Many Will Remain Uninsured if States Don’t Expand Medicaid?
Since the Supreme Court ruled that states won’t be required under the health law to expand Medicaid, Washington has been buzzing with estimates about the numbers of poor people who could be left uninsured. But the numbers so far have been inflated, because they included both those who would become eligible for the first time […]
Health Law Deadlines Under Pressure
The Supreme Court ruling shifts the focus to states. But between 20 and 40 may be unable to set up new online insurance markets by fall 2013.
Ruling Puts Pressure On States To Act
The Supreme Court Thursday gave states the option to skip the Medicaid expansion, but the pressure of accepting millions in new federal dollars to pay for coverage for low-income people may be too great.
What’s At Stake For Medicare Beneficiaries In Supreme Court Decision
If the Supreme Court strikes down the health law, 49 million Medicare beneficiaries could lose a variety of benefits that have already kicked in.
GOP Promises Smaller-Scale Health Care Agenda If Court Strikes Down Law
If the court kills part or all of the health law, Republicans will likely wait until after the elections to roll out detailed proposals.
‘Health Reform Bracketology’ Offers Roadmap To ACA’s Future
When is the Supreme Court like the NCAA? When health care consultant Mike Leavitt works up an interactive PDF bracket to lay out many of the possible scenarios that could result from the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the health law, combined with the outcome of November elections. It comes with all the tension and […]
Ex-Medicare Administrator: Premium Support “Is Going To Have To Happen”
Former CMS administrator Thomas Scully urges both parties to take a second look at the premium support model for overhauling Medicare.
Second Guessing Medicare’s Star Rating System
Supporters say the bonus system is improving care for millions of seniors, but critics say it can be a clumsy measure of value and rewards mediocrity.
When Is A Joint Committee Disjointed?
Over the past two weeks, 18 scathing messages hammering the Obama administration on health care matters have been e-mailed to reporters and congressional staff from an address associated with the congressional Joint Economic Committee – a panel of Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate. Isn’t the JEC a bipartisan, bicameral panel that alternates […]
Breaux: Bipartisanship Necessary To Fix Medicare Finances
Louisiana Democrat John B. Breaux left the Senate seven years ago, but old habits die hard. Today he fell back easily into his former role of compromise builder as he stressed the need for political common ground to overhaul Medicare next year. After a House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing to delve into “premium support” models, Breaux held […]
An Even Bleaker Prognosis For Medicare?
If readers can bear the first 276 pages of bad news in the annual Medicare trustees report, released Monday, they will come to several pages in which Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster argues the program’s financial future is even bleaker than what the trustees suggest. Foster acknowledges the trustees did exactly the job they were asked […]
