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The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released its long-awaited report on recommendations to cope with the national debt, now and into the future, "The Moment of Truth." Seven of the 66 pages concerned health care spending, especially focusing on Medicare.
For years, the state paid private providers who care for people with disabilities to handle their clients' case management. But an 11th-hour change inserted into the budget last session stripped them of that responsibility, giving it instead to quasi-governmental Mental Retardation Authorities - and potentially creating a conflict of interest.
Health economist Uwe Reinhardt critiques the new health care law, talks about cost containment and gives his reasons why a single-payer system health system couldn't work in America.
Medicaid, the state-federal health program that also pays for nearly half of all long-term care services for the frail elderly and younger people with disabilities, is in big trouble.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R- Wis., took the courageous step of going first with a bold plan -- his Roadmap -- to fundamentally restructure the tax and entitlement policies that threaten to push the federal budget past the breaking point. Now others, even some from the other side of the aisle, are joining him in sponsoring similar plans.
Withdrawing from Medicaid would be political suicide. Despite post-election bluster, no governor or legislature will seriously attempt such a maneuver because of the related administrative, economic and organizational difficulties.
Florida Republican leaders said Tuesday they want to overhaul the Medicaid program and don't want the federal government tying their hands. But their message may fall on deaf ears in Washington.
A blue-ribbon bipartisan panel of experts, chaired by former budget director Alice Rivlin and former Sen. Pete Domenici, recommends major changes to the way the government pays for health care.
The new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation launched Tuesday a series of initiatives aimed at improving care while reducing its cost.
Dr. Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is well-liked and known as a passionate advocate for improving the health care system. Some Republicans accuse him of favoring health care rationing - a charge Democrats dismiss as nonsense.
Tomorrow, Dr. Donald Berwick, the adminstrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Finance. Here is an advance copy of his prepared statement.
As budget-weary state officials contemplate dropping out of the Medicaid program, a potentially game-changing question has arisen in Washington: Would poor people who lose coverage get subsidies to buy private coverage?
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 states like Illinois, parents can provide at-home care for children with severe illnesses and Medicaid foots the bill. But the funding disappears the minute they turn 21, forcing families to make a painful choice: Find the money to pay for sometimes exorbitant health care costs or send their children to a nursing home.
Hospitals play an enormous role in the health care system; they're a crucial part of the public health safety net and an important community resource. But they are expensive. Hospital costs make up the largest portion of the health spending in this country.
After years of steady progress, the percentage of 2 year olds in private health plans being immunized dropped last year, while it went up for Medicaid patients.
People who live in long-term care are much more likely to be sent to the hospital, sometimes unnecessarily, which can harm patients and drive up Medicare costs.
The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services' baseline budget request eliminates financing for some disabled people who are waiting to receive services in private homes, group homes or other community settings.
A number of interest groups, state officials and ordinary citizens are seeking to have the health care law struck down in federal court, and action is heating up this week.
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