Medicare Experiments To Curb Costs Seldom Implemented on a Broad Scale
Successful demonstration projects are often derailed by objections from hospitals, doctors and other providers --
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Successful demonstration projects are often derailed by objections from hospitals, doctors and other providers --
When Gracie Scarrow, 94, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure she didn't have the money to pay for the care she needed. With her daughter Lela's help, Gracie turned to Medicaid. The program pays for her nursing home, and they couldn't be happier with the care.
The people in Southeastern Kentucky have the poorest health in the country. Yet the area is rich with medical facilities. Health reform bills are unlikely to change much: One doctor says: "We have to transform the way we take care of people."
As part of the economic stimulus, the government offered subsidies so laid-off workers could keep their health insurance. For some, the subsidies are running out.
As a part of our "Are You Covered?" series, KHN and NPR examine how a health overhaul would affect the individual insurance market.
With growing signs that health reform bills would do little to "bend the cost curve," Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., want a bipartisan commission to control future Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs.
Makers of generic drugs say it's unfair to make them pay $460 million to help fund health care overhaul legislation. They warn consumer prices could rise if Congress approves the 10 years of increased Medicaid discounts included in the bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday.
At least 25 million Americans are underinsured - their health benefits don't adequately cover their health costs. The major proposals being debated in Congress would require insurers to provide a minimum set of benefits, which would take care of most patients' needs.
The White House released the first set of this morning's remarks from the health care summit convened by President Barack Obama.
For two families, "gold-plated" health insurance has made a huge difference in the health care they receive. But it's not always the rich who get these benefits, and they worry about what a possible tax on plans would do to their health coverage.
In 1974, President Nixon proposed universal health care, financial assistance for those who needed it and a way to control costs - a plan strikingly similar to those on Capitol Hill now.
The Senate Finance Committee released a press release summarizing the major modifications to the Chariman's Mark.
The real challenge for long-term care reform remains indifference, rather than outright opposition.
The Finance Committee today thwarted efforts by liberal Democrats to include a government-run health insurance option in major health care legislation, as the Senate appears to be dividing into three important camps: those who are solidly behind Chairman Max Baucus, those reluctantly leaning in his direction and a handful of wild cards who will wield great influence. UPDATED
While Washington lawmakers are discussing an expansion of Medicaid, Arizona is having trouble paying for the program at its current level. The state has one of the highest Medicaid rates in the country, with about 1 out of every 5 residents covered by the program for the poor. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
The differing interests and preferences of seniors and near-seniors reflect the perils of incremental reform in reaching universal coverage.
While states and the federal government struggle to update Medicaid though a maze of waiver programs and patches to an increasingly outdated law, their efforts are a little like trying to add disc breaks and electronic ignition to a 1965 Plymouth. It is, in the end, still a 1965 Plymouth.
When 14 year old Prince Jackson was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he was caught in a gray zone: public and private insurance doesn't usually cover the palliative care he desperately needed. But his mother got help from a new program that provides services for seriously ill or dying children.
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