Medicare will cut payment rates to home health agencies by 2.3 percent in 2012 — the sixth consecutive annual decrease in fees to the industry. The decision, which will lop off an estimated $430 million from the program next year, follows concerns by a congressional advisory panel that the agencies are overpaid. Home health advocates […]
States Are Limiting Medicaid Hospital Coverage In Search For Savings
Hospitals say the burden of cost-cutting falls on them because they’ll be stuck with the bill for care if Medicaid refuses to pay.
State Medicaid Spending Skyrockets
KHN staff writer Phil Galewitz reports that the combination of rising enrollments and the end of federal stimulus funds is forcing a huge spike in state spending on Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor.
Nixon’s HMOs Hold Lessons For Obama’s ACOs
The Obama administration acknowledges its highly touted accountable care organization program will have a modest early impact on the U.S. health system — with only 4 percent of Medicare beneficiaries affected by 2015 Perhaps the Obama White House is taking a lesson from the last time a U.S. president kicked off a major new program designed […]
HHS Releases Final Regulations For ACOs
KHN staff writers Jenny Gold and Phil Galewitz report on the new rule, which will make it easier for health care providers to participate in the new models of delivering health care.
No Health Help for NGA Dues Shirkers
The National Governors Association is a bit of a misnomer these days. Sure, it still represents the interests of governors from all 50 states, but it no longer provides “technical assistance” to four states that have failed to pay their annual dues. Those states — all of which have Republican governors — are Florida, Texas, Idaho and […]
16 States Fall Short On Health Plan Appeal Systems
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia don’t meet new requirements under the federal health law for consumers to appeal health plans’ decisions to a third party, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As a result, by 2012, these states will have to contract with three “independent review organizations” to handle consumers’ […]
Florida Readies Its Own Health Insurance Exchange
But it’s unlike the online marketplace required by the federal health law and draws only tepid support from health plans and insurance agents.
Advisory Panel Says Essential Health Benefits Package Must Be Affordable
The Department of Health and Human Services now must decide what benefits should be required in policies sold through insurance exchanges beginning in 2014.
Administration Scales Back Expansion Of Community Health Centers
Health centers fear they won’t be able to expand fast enough to meet the growing demand from the current uninsured and the influx of people to Medicaid in 2014.
When the potato lobby speaks, it always puts its best spuds forward. Today, at a National Press Club lunchtime briefing to promote the nutritional value of the vegetable, that meant a full bar of baked potatoes, french fries (baked, not fried) and all the requiste trimmings — sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes, spinach and broccoli. Yes, according […]
Forget HMOs And ACOs, Oregon Is Pushing CCOs To Save Medicaid
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, wants to prove his state can contain soaring Medicaid costs without reducing services to recipients or slashing fees to doctors and hospitals. And when he’s done, he wants to apply this same strategy to saving Medicare. Kitzhaber is in Washington this week meeting with top federal health officials about his state’s […]
Florida CHIP Program ‘Treading Water’
Despite the tough economy, Florida’s Children’s Health Insurance Program added just 2,000 children in the year ended June 30, for a growth rate of less than 1 percent. Among school-age kids, the program added just 700 children. Before last year, the Florida CHIP progam was growing by about 8 percent a year. It now has about […]
Parents Fear Health Law Could Derail Autism Coverage
As federal officials draw up their list of requirements for essential health benefits under the overhaul, it’s not clear whether they will include treatment mandates passed by many states.
Survey: ‘Super Committee’ Has Yet To Earn Americans’ Trust
Americans have little faith the bipartisan congressional “super committee” will reduce the federal deficit, according to a survey released Friday. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they either trust the super committee “just a little” or “not at all” to make the right recommendations to cut the deficit, according to the poll by the Kaiser Family […]
Nearly 1 Million Young Adults Get Insurance Under Health Law
Nearly 1 million young adults have gained health coverage this year following the passage of the health overhaul law, which lets them stay on their parents’ insurance up to age 26, according to a federal report released today. The report’s findings show the number of people getting coverage is running ahead of the administration’s estimate […]
In Pennsylvania, It May Really Pay To Be On Medicaid
Pennsylvania is considering paying Medicaid recipients – in some cases as much as $200 – as an incentive to visit higher quality and lower cost hospitals and doctors. Experts say the strategy has never been tried by other states. Gary Alexander, the state’s Medicaid director, said his agency hopes to launch the plan by early […]
The Specifics: How Obama Plans To Cut Health Programs By $320 Billion
Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports that the biggest cut to Medicare requires pharmaceutical companies to lower the rates for low-income beneficiaries.
Medicare Advantage Premiums To Fall 4% Next Year
Administration says dire predictions of damage from the health law have not materialized.
Medicare Advantage Premiums Falling 4% In 2012
For some Medicare beneficiaries, the good times seem to keep rolling along. For seniors enrolled in private Medicare plans, premiums will drop by an average of 4 percent in 2012 while benefits remain stable, Obama administration officials said today. Last year CMS projected an average 1 percent drop in 2011 premiums, but the actual drop was 7 […]
