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MEDICAID NEWS FEED

Balancing Access to Experts and Better Pay for Primary Care
Every January, new billing rules and rates go into place for physicians’ services as part of the annual update to Medicare’s Physician Fee Schedule. Dominating DC health policy concerns in this arena are the medical community’s efforts with Congress to address Medicare’s cost-of-living adjuster, known as the “sustainable growth rate” (SGR), which would have lowered 2010 fees across-the-board by 21 percent, if not for a last-minute temporary stay through the end of February. Negotiations with Congress are on-going to provide a long term or multi-year solution—a costly “fix” that I believe is well worth the price to keep physicians in the Medicare program, and seems to have widespread support. Getting much less attention is a unilateral policy pronouncement made by the Cent...
Author : Disruptive Women in Health Care
Publ.Date : Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:00:43 +0100

HHS Bureaucracy Is Not up to the Task
By Tad DeHavenOne aspect of the health care debate that has not been sufficiently addressed is how the Department of Health and Human Services will handle all its new responsibilities given the massive fraud and abuse that already plagues its existing programs. It seems that every week there’s a new report of government health care being bilked. Since what’s reported is typically only what is caught, one can only imagine how much isn’t being caught. Harvard’s Malcolm Sparrow, a top specialist in health care fraud, estimates that up to 20 percent of federal health program budgets are consumed by improper payments, which would be a staggering $150 billion a year for Medicare and Medicaid. New York Times columnist David Leonhardt did raise the question this week of whether the HHS bur...
Author : Cato-at-liberty
Publ.Date : Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:42:55 +0100

Ten Small-Scale Reforms For Pre-existing (Chronic) Conditions
Most proposals for dealing with the problems of pre-existing conditions would completely divorce health insurance premiums from expected health care costs. Yet a policy of trying to force health plans to take enrollees they do not want risks jeopardizing the quality of care they receive. Instead of suppressing the price system, I propose ten ways of dealing with this problem that make greater use of it. In a reformed health care system, the chronically ill along with their doctors, their employers and their insurers should all find lower-cost, higher-quality, more-accessible care in their economic self-interest. 1. Encourage Portable Insurance. In almost every state, employers are not allowed to buy the kind of insurance employees most want and need: Insurance they own and can take with th...
Author : Health Affairs Blog
Publ.Date : Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:59:16 +0100

Requiring Employers To Contribute To Health Coverage For Workers
Almost three out of five Americans under age 65 have employment-based health insurance – but with costs rising, this coverage is under serious pressure. Congress is now finalizing plans to require more employers to contribute to coverage for their workers. The latest Health Policy Brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) examines this issue, known as the employer mandate, and explains how proposed legislation would expand job-based health insurance. Some of the issues the brief discusses: Why major employers as diverse as Walmart and the AFL-CIO have endorsed a proposed employer mandate – and why an equally diverse range of organizations have opposed it. The history of employer mandates and “pay or play” proposals. The differences bet...
Author : Health Affairs Blog
Publ.Date : Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:58:22 +0100

Recession Slowed Health Spending Growth, CMS Analysts Say In Health Affairs
Amid one of the worst economic recessions in recent history, U.S. health spending grew 4.4 percent in 2008, its slowest rate in nearly 50 years. However, overall health spending, which reached $2.3 trillion in 2008 — $7,681 per person — still increased faster than the overall economy, federal analysts reported yesterday in the January issue of the journal Health Affairs. Health spending constituted 16.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), increasing from 15.9 percent the year before. The annual report on health spending is from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The 2008 growth rate CMS reported is the lowest rate of growth in health spending since the federal government started tracking the trend. “Health care spending is usually som...
Author : Health Affairs Blog
Publ.Date : Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:43:01 +0100

The Senate Health-Care Bill: Six Key Numbers
The Senate just passed its version of the health-care bill by a vote of 60-39. Over the next month or so, the Senate and House will try to work out the differences between the bills. Here’s a quick overview of some of the key effects of the Senate bill, based on estimates from CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation for the years 2010-2019. $395 billion in federal spending to expand the number of people covered by Medicaid and CHIP, insurance programs for the poor. $436 billion in federal spending pay for health-insurance exchanges that would largely be used by people who don’t get health insurance through work. Most of that money would be in the form of subsidies for insurance premiums for people earning up to four times the poverty level. $398 billion in new taxes. That incl...
Author : WSJ.com: Health Blog
Publ.Date : Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:08:58 +0100

Medicaid straps state spending
With most states adding an extra million Medicaid recipients to their rolls, how will the financially strapped states that have no money pay for future Medicaid heath care costs? As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture are very complimentary. This results in astounding healing in pain management, addictions to cigarettes and food, and a host of other maladies. Visit drneedles is blogging" at the end of each blog for a complete alphabetical list of all my blog...
Author : Dr. Needles Medical Blogs
Publ.Date : Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:52:00 +0100

This Week in Government Failure
By Tad DeHavenOver at Downsizing Government, we focused on the following issues this week: Central Michigan defeated Troy in the “Bailout Bowl,” but taxpayers are the biggest losers. The 2010 census will pave the way for subsidies to state and local governments. Secure property rights and government support help make U.S. farmland a good investment. But what about the property rights of taxpayers? The federal government’s IT budget increases by $5 billion while Uncle Sam’s private sector counterparts make do with less. New York’s fraud-ridden Medicaid program is a prime example why government involvement in healthcare is part of the problem, not the solution. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Author : Cato-at-liberty
Publ.Date : Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:00:11 +0100

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