Health On The Hill: Debt Limit Talks Intensify As Deadline Nears
Jackie Judd and KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey discuss what Democrats, Republicans and special interest groups are saying in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.
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Jackie Judd and KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey discuss what Democrats, Republicans and special interest groups are saying in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.
While Democrats are effusive in their praise of Medicare, their silence in response to public attacks on Medicaid has been deafening. All the more important, then, is the study released this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research. It makes the job even easier.
A forthcoming report from the Congressional Budget Office shows that more than two dozen demonstrations projects launched by Medicare and Medicaid over the past decade have failed to stop the upward march of health care costs. But health care policy experts say the findings paint too gloomy a picture.
In this Kaiser Health News video, Michelle Andrews talks about medical loss ratio, the amount of money an insurer must spend on health care as opposed to administrative costs and profits. The ratio could help ensure consumers are getting the most value for their health insurance premium dollars, Andrews says.
But John Castellani, who came to the drugmakers’ lobbying group after the health care debate, also warns officials against further cuts to the industry.
The health care overhaul law calls for an independent board to make recommendations for ways to reduce Medicare payments without cutting benefits or increasing costs to beneficiaries. But Congressmen from both sides of the aisle are growing doubtful that such a board will work.
As awareness of the issue has increased, so has expensive testing.
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