Automatic Budget Cuts Will Reduce Medicare Payments To Doctors, Providers By $11 Billion
The Obama administration released a report Friday afternoon detailing the automatic cuts that would begin in January as part of deal to raise the debt ceiling made last summer by the administration and Congress, staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports.
A Rare Capitol Hill Sighting: 2 Parties Work Together On Health Care
The rare sound of bipartisanship was heard Tuesday at the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. Panel members from both parties agreed — yes, you read that right, agreed — on bills dealing with clinical laboratories, recovering payments for the Medicare Trust Fund and pediatric research, among others. ”The bills before us prove that it is indeed […]
Ways And Means Subcommittees Take Aim Again At Health Law Provisions
After bashing President Barack Obama’s health law as part of their Tampa convention festivities, House Republicans will focus on the measure once again when they return to Capitol Hill next week. Two Ways and Means subcommittees will hold hearings focused on the Internal Revenue Service’s role in implementing the law’s tax provisions and on the […]
California Pilot Offers Caveats For Moving ‘Dual Eligibles’ To Managed Care
As federal officials evaluate state proposals to move millions of the nation’s poorest and sickest individuals into managed care plans, they might consider a recent report from the California HealthCare Foundation. The report analyzed California’s year-long transition of 240,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities from fee-for-service plans into managed care as part of a […]
FAQ: Decoding The $716 Billion In Medicare Reductions
As the political campaigns tussle over how to handle the program, KHN examines the ongoing debate.
FAQ: Ryan’s Plan Would Make Key Changes In Medicaid, Too
Under Ryan’s plan, the federal share of Medicaid spending would drop sharply as the program becomes a block grant to states, indexed for inflation and population growth.
3 House Republicans Ask For GAO Report On CMS Spending
Three House Ways and Means Committee Republicans have asked the Government Accountability Office to review money spent by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on programs not related to Medicare and Medicaid. In January 2011, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, […]
Rockefeller, MedPAC: Focus Dual Eligibles Overhaul On Care Over Costs
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to overhaul a demonstration project aimed at changing the way millions of individuals who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid receive health care. In a letter to HHS, Rockefeller asked Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to “take immediate steps to halt this initiative as currently structured […]
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.
The law contains a number of provisions that are changing the rules of health care for consumers.
Questions Abound About The Pocketbook Effect Of A Court Decision
Consumers, states and the federal government have much to win — or lose — depending on how the court rules.
Boehner Orders Members To Forget High Fives If Court Strikes Health Law
Just in case House Republicans were planning a series of public chest-bumps, high-fives and keg parties if the Supreme Court decides to strike down all or parts of the health law, House Speaker John Boehner is shutting that down right now. “There will be no spiking of the ball,” Boehner warned Thursday in a memo […]
Catholic Hospital Leader Defends Split With Obama Administration On Contraceptives
Catholic Health Association chief Sister Carol Keehan, a key ally of President Obama on the health law, said last week that the organization could not support a compromise on the free birth control provision of the law.
Poll: 42% Of Women Take Action In Response To Contraception Debates
More than four in 10 women have taken action, such as donating money or trying to change a friend’s opinion, in response to recent controversies over women’s reproductive health issues, according to a new survey. Debates over the Obama administration’s decision to implement the health law’s requirement that health plans cover birth control, state and federal disputes […]
Senate Panel Looks At Innovative Health Care Strategies
No matter how the Supreme Court rules next month on the challenges to the 2010 health care law, there will be a continued focus on making the health care system more efficient, and senators looked at some promising options Wednesday. Witnesses at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing told the panel about […]
Grand-Aides Could Offer ‘Family-Style’ Health Care Help
Assuming the 2010 health law survives its Supreme Court challenge, about 32 million more people are expected to be eligible for coverage in 2014 through the law’s Medicaid expansion or new health insurance exchanges. If the law is struck down, the number of uninsured will continue to increase. With experts warning of physician shortages and […]
Small Pharmacists Seek Big Clout In Negotiating With Benefit Managers
It’s highly unlikely that during a heated election season House Republicans would want to wade into a debate over antitrust law. But that isn’t stopping independent pharmacists from trying. Buoyed by the fact that more than two dozen House GOP members support legislation (HR 1946) that would allow independent pharmacists to band together in negotiating […]
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 […]
House Republicans Find Democratic Allies In IPAB Repeal Effort
Later this month, just as the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the 2010 health law, the House is expected to pass a measure that would repeal an advisory board created in the law to curb Medicare spending if it exceeds specific targets. But the debate is not shaping up like the usual House legislative fight […]
Reid Vows Health Prevention Fund Will Be Replenished, Eventually
Prevention advocates, take heart. The $5 billion cut to the health law’s prevention fund included in a House-Senate conference deal on the “doc fix” will be replenished in the years ahead by design as the fund grows, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday. At a news conference Thursday, Reid said, “We put into law […]
