Health Beat

Medicare Spending Slows: Proof that Providers Can Trim Fat -- Part 3

While no one was looking, Medicare spending quietly began to slow early in 2010. As I explained in Part 1 and Part 2 of this post, from 2000 through 2009, Medicare reimbursements snowballed by an average of 9.7 percent a... Read More...

Published Tue, Sep 06 2011 10:14 AM by Health Beat

Increasing Out-of-Pocket Medicare Costs Is a Misguided Strategy for Deficit Reduction

When it comes to Medicare, a fundamental question still begs an answer: If seniors are forced to use more of their own money to pay for their care, will they scale back on unnecessary doctor visits and other medical services... Read More...

Published Mon, Sep 12 2011 9:55 AM by Health Beat

Poverty, Unemployment Increase…And Can We Talk About The 50 Million Uninsured?

It’s time for a reality check: According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau survey, the number of uninsured Americans rose from 16.1% to 16.3 % of the population in 2010, representing 49.9 million people who have no health coverage. Many... Read More.....

Published Wed, Sep 14 2011 8:05 AM by Health Beat

The Affordable Care Act: Laying Out the Details in One Place

An Itemized List of Savings and Revenues Today, over at The American Prospect, Robert Kuttner makes an important point: “in 2010 Republicans convinced a lot of seniors that the Affordable Care Act would come at the expense of Medicare. In... Read More...

Published Mon, Sep 19 2011 12:38 PM by Health Beat

Obama’s Plan and Medicaid: Promising Structural Changes But Worries About Cost-Shifting to States

In President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan, he makes the following promise: “Most importantly, we can make modest adjustments to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid in a way that does not undermine the fundamental compact they represent to our Nation...

Published Tue, Sep 20 2011 9:53 AM by Health Beat

Medicare and The President’s Plan to Reduce the Deficit—Cuts That Make Sense

Some of the largest cuts in President Obama’s proposed package of Medicare savings actually target areas where Medicare does, in fact, over-spend. Unfortunately, these are the reforms that Congress is least likely to adopt. In each case a powerful lobby...

Published Tue, Sep 20 2011 1:49 PM by Health Beat

Medicare Advantage Grows; But Not Without Government Help

When the health reform bill was passed in 2009, it looked like the end of the gravy chain for Medicare Advantage plans; the privately-run health care plans that are sold to seniors as an alternative to traditional, government fee-for-service Medicare...

Published Fri, Sep 23 2011 9:17 AM by Health Beat

Medicare and the President’s Deficit Reduction Plan: Shifting Costs to Seniors

How Cost-Sharing Leads to More Cost-Sharing: A Slippery Slope President Obama’s newest proposal for reducing the federal deficit would slice Medicare reimbursements to drug-makers, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, home health services and teaching...

Published Mon, Sep 26 2011 7:07 PM by Health Beat

In Survey, Doctors Report Providing “Too Much Care”

According to a new survey, nearly half of primary care physicians believe that their patients are “receiving too much care;” mostly in the form of unnecessary tests and referrals to specialists. More than one-quarter of these doctors believe that they...

Published Wed, Sep 28 2011 2:47 PM by Health Beat

“Useless” (But Needed) -- “A Doctor’s Constant Companion”

From time to time, I cross-post a piece from Pulse: Voices From the Heart of Medicine, an online magazine that uses stories and poems written by patients and health care professionals to talk honestly about giving and receiving medical care.... Read More...

Published Sat, Oct 01 2011 11:42 AM by Health Beat

Court Action Is Necessary To Maintain Medicaid's Integrity

Should private citizens be allowed to sue their state Medicaid programs for imposing rate cuts on doctors and other providers? That’s the question the Supreme Court is currently considering in Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California...

Published Wed, Oct 05 2011 2:29 PM by Health Beat

Health Care Reform: The Next Stage, Part 1

Free Market Competition Cannot Make Heath Care Efficient: Why Health Care Should Be Regulated, Not By Government, but By Science Not a few politicians and pundits continue to believe that free market competition offers the best solution to creating a...

Published Thu, Oct 06 2011 7:04 AM by Health Beat

Medical Industrial Complex Announces $3 Million Campaign to Maim Health Care Reform

A new group that calls itself “Partnership for America” has announced that it will be spending $3 million on a campaign to “freeze, investigate and replace’” the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The “Partnership” didn’t come up with this idea on... Read More...

Published Thu, Oct 06 2011 2:36 PM by Health Beat

Essential Benefits

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said her agency would hold “listening sessions where Americans from across the country” could explain their priorities states have adopted laws requiring insurers to cover specific services...

Published Fri, Oct 07 2011 3:32 PM by Health Beat

Filed under: Medicare, Healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare Reform, National Health Reform

FDA Behind The Curve In Monitoring Safety of Approved Drugs

Over the past decade or so, there have been at least 20 prescription drugs removed from the market, including several cases of high-profile blockbuster drugs that were found to be harmful only after millions of patients had taken them. Vioxx,... Read...

Published Thu, Oct 13 2011 12:13 PM by Health Beat

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