Administration Unexpectedly Expands Bonus Payments For Medicare Advantage Plans
The Obama administration will spend up to $1.3 billion to extend special payments -- meant to reward top-performing insurers -- to those that score only average ratings.
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The Obama administration will spend up to $1.3 billion to extend special payments -- meant to reward top-performing insurers -- to those that score only average ratings.
The new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation launched Tuesday a series of initiatives aimed at improving care while reducing its cost.
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As Congress returns for its lame-duck session, lawmakers will debate legislation to stop an impending cut in Medicare physician payments.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely GOP contender for the White House in 2012, publicly opposed the law again this week, this time with a preliminary filing supporting a challenge to the overhaul in a Florida court.
Faced with widening deficits, some conservative legislators in Texas and other states explore the "nuclear option" - quitting the state-federal health program for the poor.
But states' increasing use of the private plans is raising questions about whether low-income residents are getting adequate care.
In the aftermath of Republicans' election victories, defenders of the health care law are huddling to thwart GOP efforts to eviscerate the sweeping measure. Groups that back the law aren't likely to coalesce around a single message to increase public support.
An untold number of dialysis patients are injured or die as a result of needle dislodgements, but Medicare rules don't require clinics to report such adverse incidents to outside authorities.
Readers of The Washington Post posed questions about potential taxes on insurance, how to pick a plan and the increase in costs and KHN's Michelle Andrews provided answers.
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