Ohio House Passes Budget Without Medicaid Expansion
Red State
April 23, 2013
http://www.redstate.com/jasonahart/2013/04/19/ohio-house-passes-budget-without-medicaid-expansion/
The Ohio House of Representatives passed biennial budget House Bill 59 (HB 59) on April 18 without Governor John Kasich’s proposed Medicaid expansion, calling instead for a separate debate on the issue. There is no deadline for states to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), but promised federal funding tapers off beginning in 2017.
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CMS wants to audit 5% of meaningful use participants
HER Intelligence
April 23, 2013
http://ehrintelligence.com/2013/04/23/cms-wants-to-audit-5-of-meaningful-use-participants/
Five percent of meaningful use hopefuls can expect a pre-payment or post-payment audit in the future, says Robert Anthony, Deputy Director of the HIT Initiatives Group, Office of E-Health Standards and Services at CMS. In an ongoing effort to ensure program integrity and keep an eye on billions of incentive payments made to hundreds of thousands of providers, CMS is ramping up its review program in order to detect inaccuracies and keep providers on track.
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Study predicts rise in healthcare cost growth by 2019
The Hill
April 22, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/295283-study-predicts-rise-in-healthcare-cost-growth-by-2019
A stronger U.S. economy will contribute to a rise in the growth of healthcare costs over the next six years, ending the current record-breaking slowdown, according to a new study. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) predicted that by 2019, annual healthcare cost growth will be closer to historic averages — over 7 percent compared to 3.9 percent between 2009 and 2011.
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Insurers would report ObamaCare taxes under GOP bill
The Hill
April 22, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/295351-insurers-would-report-obamacare-taxes-under-gop-bill
A new bill from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would require health insurers to disclose taxes they pay under ObamaCare to policyholders. In a statement Monday, Cornyn touted the measure as a way to educate consumers about how the Affordable Care Act's benefits are funded. "Texans have the right to know just how much this law is costing them, and this bill would bring much needed transparency to the onslaught of higher costs families will be facing," Cornyn said in a statement.
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We’re getting a very bitter pill with Obamacare
The Olympian
April 22, 2013
http://www.theolympian.com/2013/04/22/2515482/were-getting-a-very-bitter-pill.html
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was touted as the magic elixir — the answer to health care reform. The law is a bitter concoction that we are being forced to sip, swish and swallow. Obamacare will fail, forcing the American people into a single-payer, government system. In the fall of 2009, before the bill’s passage, I attended a health care forum — squished on a bleacher among union bouncers, left of lefts and socialist organizers waving their banners. Any hope of participating in a bipartisan discussion was lost to the giddy shout-out for “free health care!”
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Massive overhaul of W.Va. health system urged
Modern Healthcare
April 21, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130421/INFO/304199983/massive-overhaul-of-w-va-health-system-urged
Few states plow as much money per capita into healthcare as West Virginia, but you wouldn't know it from the results. A new report urges major changes in health services and the government department that helps provide them. "West Virginia is in the midst of a healthcare crisis," the report concluded. "These facts are not due to a lack of effort to address West Virginia's healthcare challenges." Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ordered the audit.
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We still have a health-care spending problem
The Washington Post
April 21, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-still-have-a-health-care-spending-problem/2013/04/21/2e105bbc-a854-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html
With every new report about the recent slowdown in health-care spending there is speculation in the media that the problem of rising health costs has somehow been solved or cut down to size. We have seen this movie before. On a number of occasions in the past several decades we have been led to believe that the challenge of containing the growth in health-care costs has been met. In the mid-1990s, it was the managed-care revolution. That was followed by the managed-care backlash, when the trend line for health-care costs headed back up.
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Uninsured health care workers push for medicaid expansion
Sun Sentinel
April 21, 2013
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/fl-uninsured-health-care-workers-20130421,0,2016657.story
It's an expensive irony: Health care workers who can't afford health insurance, but in Florida that is the plight of some full-time employees of local nursing homes and other smaller or independent health-industry players. As the number of employers in the state who offer health insurance continues to decline—10 percent fewer today, compared to about a decade ago—and the cost of coverage employees must contribute continues to rise, some health care workers say they have been forced to forego health insurance.
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Healing Our Healthcare System
The Huffington Post
April 20, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randi-weingarten/healing-our-healthcare-sy_b_3123310.html
I have yet to see a perfect piece of legislation, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), often referred to as Obamacare, has real flaws. But even at this early stage, its accomplishments are important. Millions of previously uninsured people have gained healthcare coverage; the law has begun to rein in healthcare costs; consumers are starting to realize savings; patients have greater access to preventive care; and carrots and sticks throughout the healthcare industry are spurring moves to improve quality. But key elements of the act have yet to take effect, and this is a vital period to realizing its potential.
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La. lawmakers set to challenge Jindal on Medicaid expansion
Modern Healthcare
April 20, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130420/INFO/304209948/la-lawmakers-set-to-challenge-jindal-on-medicaid-expansion
Nearly a year after Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared that his state wouldn't tap into billions of federal dollars to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program, lawmakers will take their first vote on whether to challenge his stance. Political squabbling over the federal healthcare law championed by President Barack Obama will be the nearly sole focus of Wednesday's House Health and Welfare Committee hearing.
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Voting soon on Michigan bill allowing refusal of health care on moral basis
Detroit Free Press
April 20, 2013
http://www.freep.com/article/20130420/NEWS06/304200086/Michigan-bill-refusal-of-health-care
For 35 years, Michigan law has protected health care providers who refuse to perform an abortion on moral or religious grounds. Hospitals and clinics can't be sued. Doctors and nurses can't lose their jobs for objecting to terminating a pregnancy.
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Boston Bombing Exposes Just How Screwed Up America's Health Care System Is
PolicyMic
April 20, 2013
http://www.policymic.com/articles/36835/boston-bombing-exposes-just-how-screwed-up-america-s-health-care-system-is
Five days ago, Jeffrey Bauman's legs were blown off waiting for his girlfriend at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. When he woke up later in the hospital, his first thoughts were not for himself, but for us all. Unable to speak, he urged the hospital staff to pass him a notepad so he could provide vital information about one of two suspects. His strength of resolve in that moment was what allowed police to identify the suspects and eventually track them down. The survivor's story is both tragic and heroic. On top of the physical and psychological trauma, Jeffrey is also faced with a very hefty hospital bill. The man who helped federal officials crack the case hasn't even fully recovered and he is already being forced to calculate how he will defray the exorbitant cost of his care. As a part-time worker at Costco without any benefits, he's like 1.9% of Massachusetts' residents — he can't afford health care coverage.
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Many overlook value of home health care
The Tennessean
April 20, 2013
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130420/OPINION03/304200021/Many-overlook-value-home-health-care?nclick_check=1
No one wants to go to a hospital, much less stay there. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, we would rather stay at home, living independently. That’s why health care professionals still make house calls. At this very moment, right in your own community, some of your neighbors are quietly receiving health care services at home.
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Pompeo to Baucus: You Wrote this ‘Train Wreck’
CATO
April 19, 2013
http://www.cato.org/blog/pompeo-baucus-you-wrote-train-wreck
Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) is having none of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) trying to dodge responsibility for the coming ObamaCare “train wreck.”
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Bill Bars Health-Care Cost Assistance for Immigrants
The Wall Street Journal
April 19, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324763404578432943192446074.html
Immigrant advocates are upset with a health-care provision of the immigration-overhaul legislation that could force certain immigrants to pay a fee for lacking insurance coverage while excluding them from financial help to buy it. The wrinkle could create the first class of Americans who would face the 2010 Affordable Care Act's penalties without having access to its main benefit. If passed into law, the immigration changes would apply to many of the 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who would have "provisional" status for a decade before becoming eligible for green cards.
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Bipartisan group offers budget plan with $560 billion in health care savings
News Medical
April 19, 2013
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130419/Bipartisan-group-offers-budget-plan-with-24560-billion-in-health-care-savings.aspx
The Bipartisan Policy Center released a new fiscal blueprint on Thursday that includes -- among its 40 recommendations -- significant trims to Medicare and changes that would scrap the current Medicare physician payment formula while also improving the program's coordination of care. Another approach is being advanced by former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, who headed President Barack Obama's fiscal commission.
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Ohio House drops Medicaid expansion from budget
Life Health pro
April 19, 2013
http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2013/04/19/ohio-house-drops-medicaid-expansion-from-budget
A sweeping state budget that would give Ohio residents an income tax cut while scrapping an expansion of Medicaid passed the Republican-controlled House on Thursday after lawmakers agreed to continue discussing health coverage for the poor. The $61.5 billion, two-year budget rewrites Republican Gov. John Kasich's proposals for overhauling the state tax code and drops his plans to extend Medicaid health coverage to thousands more low-income residents.
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Senate narrowing health care choice: Either insure fewer Floridians or take federal money
The Florida Times-Union
April 18, 2013
http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2013-04-18/story/senate-narrowing-health-care-choice-either-insure-fewer-floridians-or
The House and Senate have so far taken separate paths when trying to determine how to expand health insurance to Florida’s lowest-income populations.
The state had the option of taking $51 billion from Washington over the next decade offered under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, to expand the government-run Medicaid program, but legislative leaders rejected that plan.
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OVERNIGHT HEALTH: GOP ObamaCare bill hits a snag
The Hill
April 18, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/294879-overnight-health
Two powerful conservative groups broke with House GOP leaders Thursday to oppose a bill that would increase funding for part of President Obama's healthcare law. The Heritage Foundation and the fiscally conservative Club for Growth both said they oppose the bill, which passed out of a House committee yesterday. The bill would take $4 billion out of the reform law's prevention and public health fund and use the money to bolster high-risk pools for the uninsured. House Republicans say it's a way to help people in need, because the high-risk pools have stopped accepting new patients. But some conservative activists aren't on board.
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Health care providers want faster changes in payments
USA Today
April 18, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/04/14/health-care-providers-pushing-faster-payment-reforms/2074715/
Health care providers are pushing the federal government to scrap the payment plan for medical services, preferring instead one payment for a patient's entire care instead of separate fees for each item. Instead of fee-for-service medicine, in which a provider receives a payment for every test, procedure and visit, providers want the government — or states or private payers — to pay for treatment as a whole. In theory, physicians would provide treatments that have been proven to work but are also cost-effective.
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Health Care Consumers Realize Significant Cost Savings Through Benefits Value Advisor Program
The Wall Street Journal
April 18, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130418-906054.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Consumers who worked with a specially trained customer service champion to help them navigate the health care system were found to make more informed decisions that resulted in significant cost savings, according to data analyzed by Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the nation's largest customer-owned health insurer. HCSC, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, developed the Benefits Value Advisor program to help its members improve their quality of care and achieve cost savings in the overall health care system. A Benefits Value Advisor is a health care expert who uses data, cost estimators, provider-finders and other tools to provide consumers with choices that allow them to maximize their health care benefits.
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It was a good week for health care
Arkansas Times
April 18, 2013
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/it-was-a-good-week-for-health-care/Content?oid=2807745
The Arkansas House voted, 77-23, Tuesday to approve an appropriation bill to pay for a federally-financed expansion of Medicaid health insurance. The Senate was expected to take up the measure on Wednesday. Expanding Medicaid through the so-called "private option" would mean coverage for some 250,000 low-income Arkansans and an economic stimulus worth $1 billion.
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Study: 26M will be eligible for 'game changer' ObamaCare subsidies
The Hill
April 18, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/294743-study-26m-will-be-eligible-for-game-changer-obamacare-subsidies
Nearly 26 million people will be eligible for tax credits next year to help them purchase health insurance through ObamaCare's new state marketplaces, according to a new study. The figures from liberal advocacy group Families USA shed light on the future reach of one of healthcare reform's central provisions.
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Obamacare needs changes, say small business owners (Video)
Examiner
April 18, 2013
http://www.examiner.com/article/obamacare-needs-changes-say-small-business-owners
Yesterday, April 17, the U.S. House of Representatives heard testimony from small business owners and economic experts on how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), better known as Obamacare, is affecting business. Not surprisingly, small businesses say they are being negatively affected by Obamacare, according to Fox Business. When Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) opened the testimony, he cited a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study stating that 75 percent of small businesses expect Obamacare to increase their costs, as well as a study by Newtek Business Services that found 65 percent of small businesses don't have a strategy yet to manage their healthcare costs.
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Yes, You Still Have to Worry About the Uninsured After the Mandate
Becker’s Hospital Review
April 18, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/yes-you-still-have-to-worry-about-the-uninsured-after-the-mandate.html
On Thurs., April 18, three panelists at a session hosted by the Chicago Health Executives Forum discussed the state of healthcare for uninsured and underinsured patients and how the delivery system with adapt to an influx of newly insured patients after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is fully implemented. Raymond J. Swisher, branch manager at the Medicare Advantage Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, moderated the panel and kicked off the session by explaining that many people mistakenly assume the majority of uninsured are healthy 25 years-olds that don't want to fork over money for insurance. Instead, he said, "it's a family of four with two working parents because they can't afford health insurance."
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Insurance tax in healthcare law could cost states $15B
The Hill
April 17, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/taxes-and-fees/294385-insurance-tax-in-healthcare-law-could-cost-states-15-billion
Groups on both sides of the healthcare debate are lobbying Congress to scale back a tax in President Obama's healthcare law that could end up costing the states billions of dollars.
Supporters and opponents of the healthcare law are both eyeing changes to the law's tax on insurance plans, which could cost the states nearly $15 billion.
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State reform update: Ark. Medicaid alternative in spotlight as other states mull similar plans
Modern Healthcare
April 17, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130417/NEWS/304179949/state-reform-update-ark-medicaid-alternative-in-spotlight-as-other
Arkansas lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday night to the governor's plan to use new federal Medicaid funding to buy private coverage in the coming insurance exchanges. The bumpy advance of the unusual proposal is continuing to get notice in other conservative-leaning states. Now it's likely to draw intense federal scrutiny.
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CDC needs balance
Politico
April 17, 2013
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/cdc-could-improve-pitch-with-balance-90220.html
Living with the realities of sequestration and budget-tightening has meant that most federal agencies have to do more with less. Many are paring initiatives down or cutting them entirely to save precious resources for programs that truly make a difference. Yet one government agency is using hundreds of millions of dollars to attack American job creators and Americans’ freedom of choice. Following the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as the stimulus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was allocated taxpayer dollars to award grants for wellness efforts — on its face, a worthy effort. However, these taxpayer funds are being used to run ads attacking and singling out legal American products and industries; attacks that will slow job growth and cost our communities jobs. When the stimulus well runs dry, this practice could continue through various streams of funding identified in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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GOP backs prevention cuts to fund high-risk pool
Modern Healthcare
April 17, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130417/NEWS/304179959/gop-backs-prevention-cuts-to-fund-high-risk-pool
House Republicans moved to divert money from the healthcare reform law's prevention and public health fund to shore up a program the law created to give temporary relief to Americans who can't otherwise afford health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. The committee voted 27 to 20 along party lines to approve H.R. 1549, known as The Helping Sick Americans Now Act. The legislation would fund the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan through the remainder of the year. HHS suspended enrollment in February after the $5 billion appropriated for it ran dry. To pay for re-opening enrollment for the next seven months, the bill would transfer $4 billion from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that Republicans have repeatedly targeted for repeal and criticized as a slush fund for the administration.
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Baucus sees insurance exchange 'train wreck' ahead
Modern Healthcare
April 17, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130417/NEWS/304179968/baucus-fears-insurance-exchange-train-wreck
The primary author of the 2010 healthcare overhaul is worried that the health insurance exchanges planned for launch this year are headed for a “train wreck.” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, said Tuesday that the lack of details provided to him and the amount of confusion he had heard from constituents indicate that the Obama administration will not launch health insurance exchanges in all 50 states on time. One of the key features of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health insurance marketplaces are scheduled to begin enrolling millions of subscribers in private plans beginning Oct. 1.
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Obamacare Reality: Doctor Shortage on the Way
Fox Business
April 17, 2013
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/04/17/obamacare-reality-doctor-shortage-on-way/
With 30 million new people expected to enter the health-care system in 2014 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, experts say a looming doctor shortage isn’t a chance—it’s a fact. “These 30 million new patients have either not gone to the doctor or [have been] going to the emergency room so that is putting pressure into the system. You have a foundational supply and demand shift,” says Mitch Rothschild, CEO of Vitals, a consumer tool physician evaluation company.
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Co-author of Obama health care law sees ‘huge train wreck’ in implementation
The Washington Post
April 17, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/co-author-of-obama-health-care-law-sees-huge-train-wreck-in-implementation/2013/04/17/d839c784-a789-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html
A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Barack Obama’s health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it’s headed for a “train wreck.” “I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told Obama’s health care chief during a routine budget hearing that suddenly turned tense.
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Health Care Report from the States: Florida Medicaid Expansion
The Foundry
April 17, 2013
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/17/health-care-report-from-the-states-florida-medicaid-expansion/
As action to stop Obamacare languishes in Washington, the debate continues at the state level. Heritage is hosting a series of health care reports from our allies in the states to provide an up-close view of state-level action regarding Obamacare. The states play an important role in protecting citizens against this flawed federal health care law–from challenging the health care law before the Supreme Court, to resisting efforts to establish Obamacare exchanges or expand a failing Medicaid program, to offering alternative proposals that will ensure citizens are not left abandoned when the federal law collapses.
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A Prescription for an Ailing Health Care System
The Wall Street Journal
April 17, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130417-910350.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Health care in the United States is "falling short on basic dimensions of quality, outcomes, cost, and equity," report Robert Saunders of the Institute of Medicine and Mark D. Smith of the California HealthCare Foundation in "The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care" in the Spring 2013 edition of Issues in Science and Technology. Although the United States is the world leader in biomedical research and the model of efficiency and productivity in many industries, its health care system fails to produce the results found in Europe and Japan in spite of spending much more. The U.S. health care system is too slow in incorporating new discoveries and sharing data, according to the authors, and a key reason is the lack of effective incentives to encourage providers to make constant improvements. The authors show how changes to the payment system and organizational structure could enable physicians, nurses, and other health care workers to deliver better services and become active participants in a continuously learning health care system. The models for reform can be found in many other sectors of the U.S. economy and in a few pioneering health care providers.
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NYC to Seek New Provider for $6 Billion Health-Care Program
Bloomberg
April 17, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-17/nyc-to-seek-new-provider-for-6-billion-health-care-program.html
New York City will seek a new provider for its $6 billion health-insurance plan that would require workers to pay premiums for the first time, with discounts for participating in wellness programs, Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway said. The proposal, which requires approval by unions, would save about $400 million a year, Holloway said. Contracts have expired with all 300,000 city employees, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said any deal must require workers to start paying for health coverage, a cost Holloway said may rise 32 percent to $8.3 billion by 2018.
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Obama’s Damaging Admission
National Review
April 17, 2013
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/345743/obamas-damaging-admission
Buried deep within President Obama’s $3.77 trillion budget is a tiny little proposal to increase Medicaid spending by $360 million. In a budget as large as this one, $360 million is scarcely worth mentioning. It amounts to less than one-hundredth of one percent of total outlays. But this 0.01 percent is worth mentioning, because it proves the president’s health-care law will not work. While many uninsured patients pay their medical bills, the Medicaid program offers “disproportionate share hospital” payments to hospitals that treat lots of patients who don’t.
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Healthcare Payers Looking for a Solution to Avoid Compliance Penalties
The Wall Street Journal
April 16, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130416-911610.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Healthx reports an increase in inquiries from Health Plans and Third Party Administrators looking to meet compliance standards for CAQH CORE Operating Rules for Eligibility & Claim Status -- CORE II. The Affordable Care Act requires Healthcare Payers to certify to the Department of Health and Human Services that they are CAQH CORE II compliant by December 31, 2013, which has several Healthcare Payers looking for a solution. The Department of Health and Human Services will begin imposing penalties for non-compliance in 2014.
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OVERNIGHT HEALTH: GOP fast-tracks bill to fund ObamaCare program
The Hill
April 16, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/294283-overnight-health
House Republicans are fast-tracking an ObamaCare bill that doesn't involve the word "repeal." A new measure from Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and others would strengthen healthcare reform's troubled Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan (PCIP), a short-term program designed to offer coverage to vulnerable patients before the law's major provisions take effect in 2014. The Obama administration suspended enrollment in the PCIP earlier this year, citing cost concerns. Republicans want to take money from the Affordable Care Act's public and preventive health efforts to keep the plan open through the end of the year.
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Study: Hospital profits soar when surgeries go wrong
The Hill
April 16, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/294293-study-hospital-profits-soar-when-surgeries-go-wrong
Hospitals profit heavily from their own mistakes, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Hospitals make roughly $30,000 more from patients who suffer at least one complication than they do from patients whose procedures go smoothly, the research found. Both Medicare and private insurers foot the bill for longer hospital stays and additional procedures when patients suffer a surgical complication. Those extra payments are lucrative for hospitals, the JAMA study found.
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Health Workforce Not Ready to Handle the Affordable Care Act
Wall Street Journal
April 16, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130416-912061.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
A group representing the nation's academic health centers has issued a report today warning that the country's health workforce has fallen to the back burner of priorities at the exact time there will be an influx of patients entering the health care system. It is estimated that an additional 14 million people will be entering the nation's health system with coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014. "We are at a critical juncture," said Dr. Steven Wartman, President and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers. "As the 2014 deadline for most Americans to have health insurance approaches, the health care workforce is not ready, and we are quickly running out of time."
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Senate panel approves health care incentive
Houston Chronicle
April 16, 2013
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Senate-panel-approves-health-care-incentive-4439615.php
Small Iowa businesses would get a tax break for covering part of their employees' health insurance under a bill advanced by a Senate committee Tuesday. The Senate's Ways and Means committee unanimously approved the plan, which would extend a state tax break to small businesses that already receive a federal tax break for helping cover their employees' health care costs. The legislation will now move to the full Senate.
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President Obama's budget: Impact on health care
Politico
April 16, 2013
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/budget-winners-losers-show-white-house-priorities-90104.html
The health care sector saw some huge gains and losses in last week’s White House budget presented by President Barack Obama. It will not pass the Congress or become law, but the document underscores White House priorities. And if grand bargain negotiations resume this year, the document could become the floor, exciting some health players and making others nervous.
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Making Healthcare Decisions Ahead of Time Brings Peace of Mind to Families
The Wall Street Journal
April 16, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130416-911868.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
It's a trying time for the entire family having to watch a loved one's health decline. It can be even more stressful and confusing when medical decisions must be made, and family members debate healthcare decisions and question who best knows the patient's wishes. Today marks the sixth annual National Healthcare Decisions Day, and Northwestern Medicine(R) experts are encouraging patients to plan ahead, express their wishes and document their healthcare decisions, so there's a plan in place for families to follow. Advanced directives are a free and relatively easy to complete document that can alleviate this stress by making one's wishes clear, so family members may act accordingly. There are two main forms of advanced directives, power of attorney for healthcare and living will. Power of attorney for healthcare names a specific individual designated to make medical decisions on behalf of the patient, whereas a living will spells out what kind of medical treatments and life-sustaining measures physicians should carry out. Doctors rely on these documents only when patients are unable to make decisions due to the severity of their medical condition.
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OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Private Medicaid expansion suffers setback
The Hill
April 15, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicaid/294001-overnight-health-private-medicaid-expansion-suffers-setback
Lawmakers in Arkansas on Monday rejected a controversial approach to the Medicaid expansion in President Obama's healthcare law. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, has proposed a version of the Medicaid expansion that GOP-led states might follow. Rather than directly expanding Medicaid, Beebe wants to move the newly eligible Medicaid population into his state's insurance exchange, where they could shop for private coverage.
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Week ahead: Health officials prepare budget defenses
The Hill
April 15, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/293675-week-ahead-health-officials-prepare-budget-defenses
This week brings a full schedule as top federal health officials head for Capitol Hill to defend their 2014 budget requests. The Senate Finance Committee is also expected to approve Marilyn Tavenner, President Obama’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which would send her nomination to the full Senate.
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Arkansas fails to muster Medicaid compromise seen as U.S. model
Reuters
April 15, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/15/us-usa-medicaid-arkansas-idUSBRE93E16020130415
Arkansas lawmakers rejected on Monday a compromise measure that would have extended health insurance to more of its low-income citizens, turning back what some saw as a possible model for other states also wrestling with opposition to U.S. government expansion plans for Medicaid.
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Obamacare delay could re-ignite Michigan exchange fight
Detroit News
April 14, 2013
http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/04/14/obamacare-delay-could-reignite-health-care-exchange-fight/
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is beginning to realize what then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi meant about the passage of Obamacare: “We have to pass it to see what is in it”. A recent comment by Sebelius that “she did not anticipate how complicated implementing the president’s signature healthcare law would be” suggests the administration is still discovering “what is in it.”
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Three years after passage, the law’s promises are falling apart
New York Post
April 13, 2013
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/lies_of_obamacare_dYCsCHrFn3qNAQCJ0ZTwHJ
We’ve now reached the third anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a k a ObamaCare. The Obama administration celebrated this important milestone by announcing that it was postponing part of the law that was designed to reduce costs for small businesses. Oops.
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Doctor-owned hospitals prosper under health-care law
The Washington Post
April 13, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/doctor-owned-hospitals-prosper-under-health-care-law/2013/04/13/d25888f0-a45a-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html
Doctor-owned hospitals are earning many of the largest bonuses from the federal health law’s new quality programs, even as the law halts their growth. The hospitals, many of which specialize in heart or orthopedic surgeries, have long drawn the ire of federal lawmakers and competitors. They say physicians often direct the best-insured and more lucrative cases to their own facilities, while leaving the most severely ill patients to others. Some researchers say the doctors’ financial interests encourage them to perform more tests and procedures, driving up the cost of care.
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Most Employers Won't Drop Health Care Coverage Because Of Obamacare: Survey
The Huffington Post
April 13, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/13/employers-health-care-coverage-obamacare_n_3076926.html
Despite speculation indicating otherwise, most employers don’t plan to drop workers from their healthcare plans as a result of Obamacare, a new survey finds. Nearly 70 percent of benefit professionals said their companies “definitely will” keep offering coverage to full-time workers next year, when many of the provisions of President Obama’s healthcare reform law take effect, according to a recent survey from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Just one percent of the respondents said their companies definitely wouldn’t be offering health care coverage to full-time workers and two percent said it was “somewhat unlikely.”
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Costs, timeline complicate health care overhaul
Newsday
April 13, 2013
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/costs-timeline-complicate-health-care-overhaul-1.5068616
The $1.3 trillion U.S. health care system overhaul is getting more expensive and will initially accomplish less than intended. Costs for a network of health insurance exchanges, a core part of the Affordable Care Act, have swelled to $4.4 billion for fiscal 2012 and 2013 combined, and will reach $5.7 billion in 2014, according to the budget President Barack Obama sent to Congress last week. That spending would be more than double initial projections, even though less than half the 50 states are participating.
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Majority of employers plan to continue offering health care coverage
Daily Kos
April 13, 2013
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/13/1201091/-Majority-of-employers-plan-to-continue-offering-health-care-nbsp-coverage
Here's another Obamacare myth down the drain. One of the regular warnings you hear from foes of the law is that it will force employers who are providing insurance coverage now to drop it in droves, sending people off to navigate the uncertainties of the health insurance exchanges. Employers, however, say, no, not really.
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Republicans probe PR spending at NIH
The Hill
April 12, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/public-global-health/293621-republicans-probe-pr-spending-at-nih
Leading GOP lawmakers are pushing for information on public relations spending at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) after an editorial criticized an outsize communications budget at one institute. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and six colleagues asked NIH Director Francis Collins to describe how much is spent on PR at the NIH's 27 institutes and centers.
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GOP members question healthcare 'navigators'
The Hill
April 12, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/healthcare/293631-gop-questions-healthcare-navigators
House Republicans want more information about the Obama administration's $54 million grants to help people navigate the new insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. On Friday, six GOP members of the Energy and Commerce Committee wrote a letter asking Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seven questions about the grants, which will allow "navigators" to help consumers shop for healthcare in new insurance exchanges.
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GOP lawmakers suggest Medicare reforms
The Hill
April 11, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/293445-gop-lawmakers-suggest-medicare-reforms
Republicans on a prominent House committee proposed a series of Medicare reforms Thursday, including the much-discussed possibility of unifying the program's deductibles for hospital and medical care. Committee vice chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) described the policies as short-term moves that would significantly strengthen the program without cutting benefits.
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Coalition outlines 'consensus' healthcare reforms
The Hill
April 11, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-insurance/293377-coalition-outlines-consensus-healthcare-reforms
A diverse coalition of healthcare groups released recommendations Thursday that it said could serve as a bipartisan framework for improving the U.S. healthcare system. The coalition recommended changes in the way medical care is paid for, as well as a strong role for innovation at the state level.
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Why Health Care Will Take A Much Bigger Bite Out Of Your Wallet
Forbes
April 11, 2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2013/04/11/why-health-care-will-take-a-much-bigger-bite-out-of-your-wallet/
I suspect most people would say, if asked, that individuals have been paying an increasing share of the cost of health care. They are thinking about the steadily rising premium cost-share percentages, deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance that have been imposed on people with private health insurance over the last 20 years: once upon a time employers simply provided health care, now you get nicked and clipped five different ways as you leave the doctor or pharmacy.
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OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Sebelius heads to Capitol Hill
The Hill
April 11, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/293457-overnight-health
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will head to Capitol Hill on Friday to defend her department's budget request — including $1.5 billion for exchanges that Congress is unlikely to provide. Sebelius is slated to testify before the Ways and Means Committee. It's the first time Sebelius has gone before lawmakers since acknowledging that some people will see their premiums rise because of the healthcare law — an admission that could provide fodder for Republican critics. has also recently said the initial roll-out of the new law has been more difficult than she expected.
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Tracking PPACA in Obama's budget isn't easy
Life Health Pro
April 11, 2013
http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2013/04/11/tracking-ppaca-in-obamas-budget-isnt-easy
Next year is the year the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) goes into high gear, covering millions of uninsured Americans by a mix of private plans and government programs infused with tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money. You'd think there'd be a chapter in the new 2014 budget that lays it all out. Wrong. Well, maybe a table? Wrong again.
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HHS official: Federal exchange making political, technical progress
The Hill
April 11, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/293303-hhs-official-federal-exchange-making-political-technical-progress
Officials in conservative states are committed to making their insurance exchanges work even though they have rejected any role in setting up the new marketplaces, a top Health and Human Services official said Thursday. Gary Cohen, the director of the HHS office overseeing most of the implementation of President Obama's healthcare law, said red-state officials are invested in their exchanges' success.
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What health care overhaul? Tracking costs of Obama’s health law in budget isn’t easy
The Washington Post
April 11, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-health-care-overhaul-tracking-costs-of-obamas-health-law-in-budget-isnt-easy/2013/04/11/75f950ac-a27b-11e2-bd52-614156372695_story.html
Next year is the year President Barack Obama’s signature health care law goes into high gear, covering millions of uninsured Americans by a mix of private plans and government programs infused with tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money. You’d think there’d be a chapter in the new 2014 budget that lays it all out. Wrong.
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Obama budget would open government health plans to same-sex couples
The Hill
April 10, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-insurance/293165-obama-budget-would-open-government-health-plans-to-same-sex-couples
Federal employees would be able to add same-sex couples to their healthcare plans under a provision in President Obama's budget proposal. The budget, released Wednesday, would create a new category of plans within the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) — the marketplace where federal employees choose their healthcare policies.
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Restoring financial flexibility in healthcare
The Hill
April 10, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/292733-restoring-financial-flexibility-in-healthcare
Three years to the day after President Obama signed into law his massive healthcare overhaul, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure to repeal two provisions limiting families’ freedoms. For a brief moment in Washington, politics took a back seat, and the needs of nearly 33 million Americans were addressed.
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CMS To Distribute up to $54M in Grants for ACA Exchange Navigators
California Healthline
April 10, 2013
http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2013/4/10/cms-to-distribute-up-to-54m-in-grants-for-aca-exchange-navigators.aspx
On Tuesday, CMS opened the grant application process to help fund navigators, which will provide guidance to individuals enrolling in the federally run and partnership health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, Modern Healthcare reports.
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CMS' Tavenner Gets Warm Response in Appointment Hearing
Becker’s Hospital Review
April 10, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/news-analysis/cms-tavenner-gets-warm-response-in-appointment-hearing.html
CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner went before the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, which precedes a vote to approve her to hold the cabinet position she's held on an interim basis for over a year. Senators conducting the hearing said they expect to vote on her appointment as early next week, following an amicable response to her performance so far from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. That makes her likely to gain a majority of the full Senate's approval when her appointment comes to a vote, which would make her the first approved head of the agency since Mark McClellan, MD, who served from 2004 until 2006, according to a report by Politico.
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Obama proposes big cuts to healthcare industries, largely spares benefits
The Hill
April 10, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/292959-obama-proposes-big-cuts-to-healthcare-industries-largely-spares-benefits
President Obama's budget proposal includes deep cuts in Medicare payments to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and nursing homes. Obama's budget includes roughly $400 billion in healthcare savings — the vast majority of which come from cuts to healthcare providers, rather than changes in benefits. The pharmaceutical industry would take a hit of nearly $150 billion under Obama's budget. He proposed steep cuts in the prices Medicare pays for prescription drugs, as well as policies that would speed cheaper generic drugs to market more quickly.
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Health care groups want middle ground on Medicaid expansion
Des Moines Register
April 10, 2013
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130410/NEWS10/130410040/Health-care-groups-want-middle-ground-Medicaid-expansion
Interest groups and observers called for a third option on Wednesday in a legislative debate over state-sponsored health care that so far has presented a binary choice between competing plans favored by Democrats and Republicans. Representatives from hospitals and others in the medical field said they favored the funding mechanism included in the Democrats’ preferred plan: an expansion of the existing Medicaid program that would draw down substantial new federal dollars.
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North Dakota Legislature approves Medicaid expansion bill
The Bismarck Tribune
April 9, 2013
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/north-dakota-legislature-approves-medicaid-expansion-bill/article_1d0c898e-a157-11e2-a74e-0019bb2963f4.html
A Medicaid expansion bill is headed to Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s desk after a two-thirds majority of the North Dakota Senate voted in favor of it Tuesday. The vote was 33-14 to pass House Bill 1362, which would authorize the expansion of Medicaid coverage under the federal health care law. The bill also calls for an interim study on the impact of the law and potential alternatives for health care coverage.
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Tavenner Moves Closer to CMS Confirmation
Medpagetoday
April 9, 2013
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/38364
Marilyn Tavenner, acting head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), received bipartisan support at a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, taking her one step closer to becoming the agency's first confirmed administrator in 7 years. CMS hasn't had a confirmed head since Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, left the post in October 2006. McClellan was confirmed in March 2003. Since McClellan left, four acting administrators -- most recently Don Berwick, MD -- have come and gone without the needed confirmation of the Senate.
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Top healthcare nominee garners bipartisan praise
The Hill
April 9, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/292597-top-healthcare-nominee-garners-bipartisan-priase
Republicans lavished praise Tuesday on President Obama's nominee for a key healthcare post. Marilyn Tavenner found broad bipartisan support as the Senate Fiance Committee considered her nomination to lead the Centers for Medicaid Services (CMS) — a post that includes overseeing both entitlement programs as well as implementation of the Affordable Care Act. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) made the trip across the Capitol to introduce Tavenner and support her nomination.
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Tavenner hearing marked by spirit of good will
Modern Healthcare
April 9, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130409/NEWS/304099969/tavenner-hearing-marked-by-spirit-of-goodwill
Amid a generally warm bipartisan welcome today, Marilyn Tavenner fielded questions and concerns over implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from members of the Senate Finance Committee. Much of the partisan rancor that has dominated health policy discussions in Congress since it began considering the ACA in 2009 died away during Tavenner's confirmation hearing as administrator of the CMS. Instead, most members of both parties lavished the acting administrator with praise for the experience she has brought to administering an agency that oversees $820 billion in annual healthcare spending.
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Ohio, Missouri Introduce the Health Care Freedom Act 2.0
CATO
April 9, 2013
http://www.cato.org/blog/ohio-missouri-introduce-health-care-freedom-act-20
Ohio Reps. Ron Young (R-Leroy Twp.) and Andy Thompson (R-Marietta), and Missouri Sen. John Lamping (R-St. Louis County), have introduced legislation—we call it the Health Care Freedom Act 2.0—that would suspend the licenses of insurance carriers who accept federal subsidies through one of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA) health insurance Exchanges. At first glance, that might seem to conflict with or otherwise be preempted by the PPACA. Neither is the case. Instead, the HCFA 2.0 would require the IRS to implement the PPACA as Congress intended.
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Sebelius: PPACA, Antitrust Law in "Constant Tension"
Becker’s Hospital Review
April 9, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/sebelius-ppaca-antitrust-law-in-qconstant-tensionq.html
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said yesterday that certain aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are in "constant tension" with antitrust laws, according to a Thomson Reuters report. During a speaking engagement at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Ms. Sebelius said there is a "tight balance between a coordinated care strategy and a monopoly," according to the report.
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What Does the Future Hold for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers? 6 Observations & Concerns
Becker’s Hospital Review
April 8, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/what-does-the-future-hold-for-hospitals-and-healthcare-providers-6-observations-a-concerns.html?Concerns_=
Hospitals and health systems today are confronted by a number of challenges that could ultimately impact how they deliver care. From reduced reimbursement to increased government scrutiny and anticipated provider shortages, we anticipate the future forecast for these providers will be a cloudy one. Here are six observations on the current climate surrounding hospitals and health systems.
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Health-Care Costs: A State-by-State Comparison
The Wall Street Journal
April 8, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323884304578328173966380066.html?mod=wsj_streaming_stream
Health-care spending in the U.S. averaged $6,815 per person in 2009. But that figure varies significantly across the country, for reasons that go beyond the relative healthiness, or unhealthiness, of residents in each state. The states that spend the most on health care for each resident are mostly in the Northeast. They are led by Massachusetts, a fact several Republicans used to criticize GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 primaries because as governor Mr. Romney had signed the state's health-care overhaul into law.
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Pentagon presses for higher fees for military health care beneficiaries, Congress resists
The Washington Post
April 8, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/pentagon-presses-for-higher-fees-for-military-health-care-beneficiaries-congress-resists/2013/04/08/ae17edce-a021-11e2-bd52-614156372695_story.html
The loud, insistent calls in Washington to rein in the rising costs of Social Security and Medicare ignore a major and expensive entitlement program — the military’s health care system. Despite dire warnings from three defense secretaries about the uncontrollable cost, Congress has repeatedly rebuffed Pentagon efforts to establish higher out-of-pocket fees and enrollment costs for military family and retiree health care as an initial step in addressing a harsh fiscal reality. The cost of military health care has almost tripled since 2001, from $19 billion to $53 billion in 2012, and stands at 10 percent of the entire defense budget.
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OVERNIGHT HEALTH: CMS nominee faces confirmation hearing
The Hill
April 8, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/292433-overnight-health-tavenner-time
Marilyn Tavenner is headed to Capitol Hill tomorrow for a hearing on her nomination to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She's certain to face tough questions, especially from Republican senators, but just the fact that she's receiving a hearing at all raises the prospect of a major healthcare nominee receiving bipartisan support in the Senate.
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CMS pays out nearly $12.7B to date in meaningful use EHR adoption incentives
Healthcare IT News
April 8, 2013
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cms-pays-out-nearing-127b-date-meaningful-use-ehr-adoption-incentives
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports it has paid out nearly $12.7 billion in meaningful use incentive payments through February 2013, according to the latest figures available. The electronic health record adoption incentive program, launched under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has now drawn 264,292 Medicare eligible providers (EPs) to date, including 120,002 Medicaid registrants and 4,299 hospitals, according to CMS.
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Can CMS nominee get bipartisan support? – Governors exploring Medicaid leverage – GOP lawmakers pitch ACA alternatives – HHS official joins lobbying firm
Politico
April 8, 2013
http://www.politico.com/politicopulse/0413/politicopulse10386.html
We don’t get to use the word “bipartisan” much these days in health care, but President Barack Obama’s pick to run CMS could get bipartisan support when the Senate Finance Committee considers her nomination Tuesday. Marilyn Tavenner, who’s been running CMS for more than a year in an acting capacity, hasn’t received vocal opposition from GOP lawmakers — that alone is a big change from when Don Berwick ran the show at CMS. If confirmed, Tavenner would be the agency’s first leader to get through the Senate since 2004. Still, the SFC hearing will be anything but easy. Tavenner should expect some tough questions about ACA implementation and the future of Medicare and Medicaid.
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The Pre-existing Conditions: Buildup to Health Care Reform Bound to Bring Overload of Information
Workforce
April 8, 2013
http://www.workforce.com/article/20130408/NEWS02/130409968/the-pre-existing-conditions-buildup-to-health-care-reform-bound-to
If employers find that explaining benefits to their employees is challenging now, then they should brace themselves for fall enrollment when workers are expected to receive an avalanche of marketing materials from insurers, health insurance exchanges and government agencies in anticipation of health care reform, experts say. In addition to sifting through their own company's benefits plans, employees will also be getting marketing materials from private and state health care exchanges, insurance providers and others who are expected to start peddling their products to consumers as 2014 approaches, says Jennifer Benz, founder of Benz Communications, a San Francisco-based consulting firm. Under the individual mandate of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all Americans will have to purchase health care insurance in 2014.
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Branstad: Health care expansion can be completed during current legislative session
Des Moines Register
April 8, 2013
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130408/NEWS09/130408008/Branstad-Health-care-expansion-can-completed-during-current-legislative-session?nclick_check=1
Gov. Terry Branstad expressed confidence again on Monday that lawmakers could expand health-care options for low-income Iowans during the current legislative session. His optimism follows a suggestion by the speaker of the House, a fellow Republican, that the debate could extend past adjournment into the summer or fall.
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Pentagon struggles with high cost of health care
AP
April 8, 2013
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jP_xpeukIQ2QQG_tvOi1mUOv9-FA?docId=84e654fd01944d318fab921998252b69
The loud, insistent calls in Washington to rein in the rising costs of Social Security and Medicare ignore a major and expensive entitlement program — the military's health care system. Despite dire warnings from three defense secretaries about the uncontrollable cost, Congress has repeatedly rebuffed Pentagon efforts to establish higher out-of-pocket fees and enrollment costs for military family and retiree health care as an initial step in addressing a harsh fiscal reality. The cost of military health care has almost tripled since 2001, from $19 billion to $53 billion in 2012, and stands at 10 percent of the entire defense budget.
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Dementia Will Take Toll on Health-Care Spending
The Wall Street Journal
April 8, 2013
http://stream.wsj.com/story/markets/SS-2-5/SS-2-206499/
The latest news on the cost of dementia, done by the Rand Corporation, highlights the growing burden of health care on government spending and the economy in general. Researchers at Rand, in a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, estimated direct medical costs of treating dementia totaled $109 billion in 2010, more money than was spent on heart disease or cancer. (The Rand estimates are lower than previous estimates done by the Alzheimer’s Association.)
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Some Small Businesses Opt for the Health-Care Penalty
The Wall Street Journal
April 8, 2013
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-206074/
Small-business owners across the U.S. are bracing for the health-care law that kicks in next year, fearing it will increase the cost of providing insurance to employees. But Rick Levi, a business owner in Des Moines, Iowa, is among those considering the government’s escape hatch: paying a penalty to avoid the law’s “employer mandate.”
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Huge test for health law: getting the word out
The Palm Beach Post
April 7, 2013
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/huge-test-for-health-law-getting-the-word-out/nXFZT/
Since the Affordable Care Act was passed into law, health care advocates have thwarted dozens of Republican attempts to repeal it. They have faced down 26 states, including lead challenger Florida, and won at the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet backers face their biggest challenge yet: If millions of uninsured Americans don’t sign up to get health insurance for 2014, the law will fail under its own weight. While there are certainly Americans who have a negative perception of the law, the larger problem is combating ignorance of the provisions that go into effect next year.
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Small businesses find part-time workers adding up to healthcare for all employees
Medcitynews
April 7, 2013
http://medcitynews.com/2013/04/small-businesses-find-part-time-workers-adding-up-to-healthcare-for-employees/
But like many retailers, the company also employs a large number of part-time workers. He employs about 40. And under the Affordable Care Act, the hours of those part-time workers are added up and then divided to crank out a tally called "full-time equivalencies." Turned out, Milano has about 60 full-time equivalencies. As a result, his company will be required beginning in 2014 to offer insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours a week. The insurance plan also must offer a certain level of benefits and can't require workers to contribute more than 9.5 percent of their household income.
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How the feds will know if you have health insurance
NASDAQ
April 7, 2013
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/how-the-feds-will-know-if-you-have-health-insurance-cm234356#ixzz2QHe2xOjL
Starting next year the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require most Americans to have health insurance. That means unless you qualify for an exemption under the law, you'll have to buy a health plan if you don't already have one through work, a government program (such as Medicare or Medicaid) or an individual health plan. If you meet certain income requirements, you could get a tax credit to help you afford coverage. But how will the government know if you have health insurance -- and how much of a penalty will you pay if you don't?
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Helping patients navigate the health care system
CNN
April 6, 2013
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/06/health/patient-navigation-new-field/
Karry Trout's first patient was a 38-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. The patient had waited nearly six months after feeling a lump in her breast to visit the doctor. She had no health insurance. It was Trout's job, as Mason General Hospital's patient navigator, to guide the single mother through treatment and, hopefully, into recovery.
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Ark. House sets health care expansion meeting
San Francisco Chronicle
April 6, 2013
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Ark-House-sets-health-care-expansion-meeting-4414904.php
Arkansas House leaders plan to hold a special meeting on Monday to discuss a Senate-approved proposal to use federal money to purchase health insurance for low-income residents, and the Republican House Speaker said he thinks the plan has enough support to pass.
Speaker Davy Carter said Saturday that he expected the House to approve the health care expansion proposal, although Republican Majority Leader Bruce Westerman says he plans to present a competing measure.
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States Taking Initiative on Dual Eligible Cost Containment
Becker’s Hospital Review
April 5, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/racs-/-icd-9-/-icd-10/states-taking-initiative-on-dual-eligible-cost-containment.html
In an effort to control healthcare costs of the nation's oldest, poorest and often sickest patients, 34 states have implemented or are planning integration programs within the next two years for the so-called dual eligibles who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, according to a report from the AARP. The federal government offers financial incentives for states under certain guidelines to coordinate care for dual eligibles, but some states are knowingly designing cost-cutting programs that will not fully meet the federal criteria. The AARP expressed some surprise at this finding, as the savings will likely benefit CMS more than the states' agencies.
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Judge rejects Calif. governor’s request to end federal court oversight of prison mental health
The Washington Post
April 5, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/judge-rejects-calif-governors-request-to-end-federal-court-oversight-of-prison-mental-health/2013/04/05/f49e194a-9e4f-11e2-9219-51eb8387e8f1_story.html
A federal judge on Friday rejected Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to regain state control of inmates’ mental health care, citing systematic failures to reduce prison suicides, provide timely care and hire enough staff. The decision is a blow to the Democratic governor’s attempts to end nearly two decades of expensive federal lawsuits that influence nearly every aspect of California’s prison system.
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Tens of thousands could be kicked off Medicaid in historically generous states
The Washington Post
April 5, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/health-care-law-could-backfire-for-thousands-on-medicaid/2013/04/06/d04b9dee-9b19-11e2-9bda-edd1a7fb557d_story.html
At a time when most states are preparing to expand their Medicaid programs in line with the new health-care law, tens of thousands of people in states with historically generous Medicaid coverage could soon be kicked off the rolls. In Wisconsin, officials want to to take advantage of the law to shift nearly 100,000 low-income people from the health insurance program for the poor into subsidized private plans.
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