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House Republicans cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other Title X programs, and Senate Democrats tried to restore it. But the Senate Wednesday failed to pass either bill and so the programs, which once had strong bipartisan support, remain a point of contention.
Analysis by advocacy group NAMI finds cuts of $1.8 billion, or about 8 percent of the states’ total budgets, from 2009 through 2011.
President Barack Obama’s surprise signal last week to governors that he was willing to give states some extra flexibility in implementing the law is particularly noteworthy because it offers a useful window into the health law’ s evolving politics and the future bargaining that will likely take place.
This table details 2008 Medicaid spending in each of the nation’s 306 hospital markets.
CMS analysis shows that some regions with high spending levels are below the national average if patient health and special expenses are factored in.
Florida’s annual Medicaid bill runs in the billions – it’s nearly one-third of the state’s budget. As Florida struggles to close a budget shortfall of $4.5 billion, Medicaid is a target for cuts. Often, that means moving Medicaid recipients into managed care.
These new plans cut out insurance policies and offer unlimited access to doctors and nurse practitioners for a modest, set fee.
Federal law does not guarantee beneficiaries under the age of 65 the right to buy Medigap coverage and even when they do qualify for a plan, it is often prohibitively expensive.
Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with KFF’s Jackie Judd about last week’s order by a federal judge in which he stayed his earlier decision striking down the health law, but also ordered the Obama administration to file an appeal. Also, the Senate considers how it will fund the federal government.
A Florida District Court judge issued a stay of his earlier ruling on the health law that found the law unconstitutional, but he ordered the Obama Administration to file an appeal within seven business days. Meanwhile, two different funding approaches to keep the government operating beyond March 18
Despite the rhetoric about compromise, what President Barack Obama actually did when he announced that states would have some flexibility in implementing the health law was give states the option of replacing his law with a single-payer health system three years earlier than it otherwise could have happened.
Although cynics may claim conservative credentials, their view of government is really nothing more than a quarrel about its cost. It brings to mind Oscar Wilde’s immortal phrase, “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The health law directs the FDA this month to issue proposed rules for restaurants and other food vendors to begin providing calorie-count information.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says he will include “aggressive” changes to Medicare in his upcoming budget proposal.
Addressing the current system by which physician payment is determined is a challenge that demands attention beyond the physician community. It will take the influence of businesses and patient advocates who bear the brunt of the nation’s skyrocketing health care costs.
Republican governors are asking Washington for more flexibility regarding how they run their Medicaid programs, saying that Washington puts too many restraints on states.
A raft of studies have come out recently purporting to say how much the health overhaul will cost states. And they reach dramatically different conclusions on the subject.
Republican governors are asking Washington for more flexibility regarding how they run their Medicaid programs, saying that Washington puts too many restraints on states.
Doctors and hospitals raise concerns that reducing eligibility may spur ER crowding and premium increases, but experience in Missouri shows less dire consequences.
What truly undermines the arguments offered by conservative critics is their lack of workable alternative ideas that would achieve the health insurance coverage expansion goals set by the health law.
