Health Care Policy News
The Same Rotten Rx
If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try, try again. With Plans A, B and C having failed miserably, President Obama yesterday unveiled his latest "new and improved" version of health-care reform. He says that this incarnation "incorporates the best ideas from Democrats and Republicans — including some of the ideas that Republicans offered during the health-care summit." Unfortunately, its fundamental premise remains exactly the same — a government takeover of the health-care system.
South Carolina, Oklahoma And Arkansas Grapple With Medicaid Cuts To Help Balance Budget
States consider major cuts to Medicaid services and reimbursement rates to help fill gaps in the budget.
The Associated Press: "Lawmakers are considering cutting all services for nearly 26,000 people with disabilities as South Carolina tries to plug a $560 million budget hole. Parents say the proposed cuts to day care programs and other services would force them to give up much-needed jobs to stay home and care for their young and adult children." But "[l]awmakers say they have little choice.
Another Plus Month for Health-Care Jobs
The government said this morning that the unemployment rate held at 9.7% in February for the second month in a row. The health-care sector added 12,000 jobs.T hat continues the series of monthly job gains that has made health care an economic bright spot since the start of the recession. Read the latest Bureau of Labor Statististics summary. For February, the subsector for ambulatory health-care services posted the largest runup, adding 6,700 jobs. Nursing and residential-care facilities hired another 4,000, according to the BLS breakdown.
ER docs would get bulletproof lawsuit immunity, under Senate bill
A Senate committee advanced a controversial bill that would give emergency room doctors immunity from major lawsuits – even in cases of gross negligence. Approved on a 5-2 vote in the Health Regulation Committee, the bill would cap damages from lawsuit awards at $200,000 per incident for doctors, nurses and EMS personnel involved in ER cases.
Obama seeks to push healthcare to final vote
Although much uncertainty remains on the path to passage of the legislation, Obama opposed Republican calls to throw out broad bills passed by the House of Representatives and Senate last year and begin again with a more step-by-step approach.Americans are waiting for the administration to lead, Obama said in remarks at the White House backing a muscle tactic known as "reconciliation" as a way of overcoming rock-solid Republican opposition.
Fighting to protect tort reform laws
The movement to enact and preserve effective medical liability caps suffered a high-profile loss when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the state's noneconomic damage cap was unconstitutional. Justices on Feb. 4 said the 2005 law limiting damages to $500,000 for physicians and $1 million for hospitals violated the separation of powers between the Legislature and the judiciary. The Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies and the Illinois State Medical Society jointly had filed a friend-of-the-court brief, urging the court to uphold the cap.
Reid Planning To Start Debate On COBRA, Medicaid Help Extensions
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning to start debate Monday on a bill that would extend COBRA health coverage benefit subsidies for people who have been laid-off. The measure, part of a larger package of expired government programs, also would help states with Medicaid reimbursements.
How Budget Reconciliation Works
Since Democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, some have talked of passing elements of health reform through budget reconciliation. Originally used as a device for easing passage of deficit reduction legislation, reconciliation may also be used to speed approval of other priority legislation calling for tax cuts or tax increases, or funding changes in mandatory entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Reconciliation is a powerful tool in the Senate because a reconciliation bill can pass with 51 votes. Debate is limited to 20 hours, and no filibuster is possible.
This new toolkit from the Alliance for Health Reform explains briefly how reconciliation works, and offers links to resources that go into more detail on subjects such as the “Byrd rule” and the important role of the Senate parliamentarian. Also included are resources tracing the history of reconciliation, and its use for legislation such as welfare reform and the Children’s Health Insurance Program during the Clinton Administration, and President George W. Bush’s tax cuts.
Health Summit Marked By Partisan Rancor
"President Obama held more than six hours of talks Thursday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on ways to salvage health-care reform legislation now stalled in Congress but ran into stiff opposition from GOP members who rejected key provisions and insisted that the effort start again from scratch. At the end ... Obama urged Republicans to 'do a little soul-searching' on measures they would accept to address what he called the core of the problem: covering more than 30 million Americans without health insurance and preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions.
93 percent of Californians would potentially be insured under national health care reform
If national health care reform is enacted, 93 percent of California’s non-elderly population would have access to health insurance – a nearly 13 percentage point increase in statewide coverage – according to a new fact sheet released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. About four million of California’s 6.4 million nonelderly adults and children who were uninsured for all or part of the year in 2007 would directly benefit through the expanded coverage offered by federal health care reform proposals, according to the fact sheet’s author, Shana Alex Lavarreda, the Center’s director of health insurance studies.
White House unveils compromise health care bill
The Obama administration raised the stakes in the health care debate Monday, releasing a new blueprint that seeks to bridge the gap between measures passed by the Senate and House of Representatives last year. If enacted, the president's sweeping compromise plan would constitute the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid more than four decades ago. The White House said it would extend coverage to 31 million Americans.
Medical Insurers Slam Proposed Supervision
The Obama administration's proposal to create a federal body to oversee insurance premiums drew fire Monday from insurers, which contended it would do little to contain spending and could ruin some companies. The plan, which Mr. Obama hopes to include as part of his health-care overhaul, would create a new agency to be called the Health Insurance Rate Authority to review premium increases and block those it deemed unreasonable. That would add federal supervision to a patchwork of state insurance regulators that examine premium increases
Sebelius Issues Sharp Rebuke Against Health Insurance Premium Hikes Across U.S.
News outlets paid close attention to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' release of a new report detailing double-digit insurance premium hikes for individual plans in six states across the country. Her examples included "requests that insurers made to state regulators to raise rates by 56% in Michigan, 24% in Connecticut, 23% in Maine and 20% in Oregon," The Wall Street Journal reports. "With the future of the health overhaul uncertain, the insurance industry finds itself in a delicate position.
No Place To Go: Even Severely Disabled Seniors Would Lose In-Home Care Under Proposed State Budget Cuts
Despite claims that proposed state budget cuts to programs that provide in-home care to disabled senior citizens will not affect those with the highest level of need, a new analysis by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research finds that even severely disabled seniors will experience a total loss of services.
Both sides push health debate myths
To hear President Barack Obama tell it these days, the Oval Office has been wide open to Republicans on health care reform for the past year. And Republicans claim Democrats locked them out of the talks from the get-go, writing hyperpartisan bills that catered to their base. Neither is true.
Medicare pay freeze closer to passage in Congress
Congress took another step toward avoiding a 21.2% cut in Medicare physician payment slated for March 1 when the House passed legislation on Feb. 4 to authorize an increase in the government's debt limit and to implement statutory "pay-as-you-go" provisions. The vote cleared the way for President Obama's signature and will ensure the federal government has the capital necessary to avoid defaulting on its financial obligations.
Mass. Governor Wants to Cap Hospital, Doctor Rate Increases
Now that it’s expanded health-insurance coverage to nearly all of its citizens, Massachusetts is trying to figure out what to do about the rapid rise of health costs. The latest proposal comes from the state’s governor, Deval Patrick, who yesterday proposed a bill that would give the state the power to review — and, in some cases, reject — rate increases by doctors and hospitals.
Hawaii considers medical spending threshold for insurers
The chairs of the state House and Senate Health Committees have introduced bills in their respective chambers regulating the medical-loss ratio, the percentage of every premium that a company spends directly on members' care. The proposed law would mandate an 80% medical-loss ratio for individual and small group products and an 85% ratio for large group policies. Health plans also would be required to report their spending to the state each year
Obama budget freezes physicians' Medicare pay for 10 years
President Obama promised spending freezes during his first State of the Union address, but his $3.8 trillion fiscal 2011 budget request still would protect physicians from Medicare pay cuts and extend enhanced federal support for state Medicaid programs. Obama's proposal, unveiled Feb. 1, sets aside $371 billion over a decade to pay for the cost of preventing Medicare pay cuts under the sustainable growth rate formula. But the funding would only be enough to turn annual reductions into rate freezes, not to fund pay raises.
Can the States Nullify Health Care Reform?
On February 1, Virginia joined 29 other states with pending legislation aimed at limiting, changing, or opposing national health care reforms. Timothy Jost asks, what is going on here?
White House official: Feb. 25 health care meeting to be televised
President Obama's bipartisan meeting on health care reform planned for February 25 will be broadcast live, a senior administration official said Monday. Coverage details were not complete, but the official said the White House expected "the whole thing to be live." The half-day meeting is an attempt by the Obama administration to rescue health care legislation, a top domestic priority for the president.
Tax credits, Medicare fix in Senate jobs bill
The bill, likely to be less costly and more bipartisan than the one passed by the House of Representatives, also extends unemployment benefits and postpones a scheduled 20 percent cut in payments to doctors under the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly. The Senate legislation, which has yet to be formally introduced, faces more than the usual procedural hurdles as a record snowstorm has paralyzed Washington and made it difficult for many lawmakers to get to work.
Obama invites GOP leaders to health care talk
In the first major step to revive his health care agenda after his party's loss of a filibuster-proof Senate majority, President Barack Obama on Sunday invited Republican and Democratic leaders to discuss possible compromises in a televised gathering later this month. Obama's move came amid widespread complaints that efforts so far by him and his Democratic allies in Congress have been too partisan and secretive.
Idaho, Illinois allow external review of insurance denials
New laws in two states, Idaho and Illinois, will give patients the right to an independent review of health insurance benefit denials.Only five states now have no laws mandating external review of denials: Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Health-Care Burden Shifts to U.S. Government as Spending Soars
Health-care spending in the U.S. will almost double in 2019 to $4.5 trillion, or more than 19 percent of the economy, as unemployment and aging baby boomers drive up government costs, economists forecast. Spending already jumped to $2.5 trillion, or 17.3 percent of the economy, in 2009, the economists from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in their yearly estimate, published today in the journal Health Affairs.
Medicaid, CHIP payments to be reviewed by new federal commission
A newly appointed commission will examine how Medicaid physician pay affects access to care by Medicaid patients and those in the Children's Health Insurance Program, among other issues. The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, or MACPAC, will be chaired by Diane Rowland, ScD, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. The U.S. comptroller general appointed the panel's 17 members Dec. 23, 2009
Rangel: Lawmakers writing compromise health bill
Leading lawmakers hoping to revive President Barack Obama's stalled health care overhaul have started writing a compromise bill, but it's unclear when the legislation will be ready for votes, a top House Democrat said Tuesday. The measure would change the massive Senate-approved health bill to what bargainers from the White House, Senate and House agreed to last month, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said in a brief interview.
Medicare pay overhaul heats up as health reform moves to back burner
With a comprehensive health system reform effort effectively on hold after the victory of a Republican Senate candidate in Massachusetts, physician organizations are mobilizing to prevent Medicare doctor payment reform from also becoming a casualty of the altered political landscape on Capitol Hill. The American Medical Association, other physician organizations and seniors groups were hoping to follow health reform passage with a long-term solution to the Medicare physician payment system, which is primed for a 21.2% cut starting March 1.
Focus of health care bill may be changing, officials signal
Democratic efforts to pass a health care bill have stalled a bit, and the immediate focus may be shifting toward health insurance reform instead of quickly trying to pass a comprehensive bill, White House officials signaled Sunday. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, told CNN's "State of the Union" that passing a health care bill was "still inside the five-yard line."
Minnesota Ends Prescription Importation Program
Citing lack of use, the state of Minnesota will end its 6-year-long prescription drug importation program on March 1. Minnesota was the first state to start a prescription drug importation program, which provided Minnesota residents access to cheaper medications from Canadian suppliers through an online pharmacy. Since its launch in January 2004, Minnesota RX Connect has filled 25,000 prescriptions at a savings of $1.7 million. Other states followed with programs of their own, but these sites have since shut down.
Pelosi: House won't support Senate health care bill, at least for now
The Senate health care bill has too many unpopular provisions to win approval from the House at this time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.Pelosi's comment to reporters appeared to dash the chances that Democrats will take the easiest route for passing a health care bill: having the House approve the Senate version unchanged.
Obama urges lawmakers "coalesce" on healthcare deal
Obama acknowledged that voter anger helped carry Republican Scott Brown to a stunning victory in Tuesday's Massachusetts election which has imperiled the president's healthcare effort and the rest of his legislative agenda. "People are angry, they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years," Obama told ABC News on the anniversary of his first year in office.
Hoyer: Senate bill 'better than nothing'
The number-two Democrat in the House said Tuesday that the Senate's version of health care legislation is "better than nothing," and that Democrats are determined to advance some form of their health overhaul regardless of what happens in Massachusetts, where a special election could hand Republicans a crucial 41st Senate seat. Speaking to reporters at his weekly briefing, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) repeatedly ducked questions about the House strategy on health care if Republican Scott Brown upsets Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for the late Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat, a possibility that would give Republicans the power to block another vote on health care in the chamber.
Top Senate Democrat Outlines 'Nuclear Option' Strategy for Health Care
A top Senate Democrat for the first time Tuesday acknowledged that the party is prepared to deal with health care reform by using a controversial legislative tactic known as the "nuclear option" if Republican Scott Brown wins the Massachusetts Senate election. Calling the state's special election "an uphill battle to put it mildly," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said "there are options to still pursue health care" should Democrat Martha Coakley lose to Brown.
California to Set Time Limit to See Doctors
California is poised to become the first state to set time limits for doctors to see patients, the Department of Managed Health Care said. Regulations to be announced Wednesday require family practitioners in health maintenance organizations to see patients seeking an appointment within 10 business days. The deadline for specialists is 15 days. A patient seeking urgent care that does not require prior authorization must see a doctor within 48 hours.
Democrats consider backup plan for health care reform
Faced with the once-unthinkable prospect of losing the Massachusetts Senate race, Democratic officials on Capitol Hill are quietly talking about options for passing health care reform without that critical 60th Senate vote. Top White House aides insist they are not engaging in any talk of contingency plans, because they believe Democrat Martha Coakley will beat Republican Scott Brown in Tuesday's crucial Senate battle.
Organized medicine pushes back on expansions of scope of practice
In 2009, physicians fought a blitz of scope-of-practice expansions by other health professionals on legislative, legal and regulatory fronts.Organized medicine defeated attempts by naturopaths to seek licensure, prevented chiropractors from being able to perform invasive procedures and achieved further regulation of lay midwives. The efforts were among more than 300 scope-related bills the American Medical Association tracked last year
Obama Health Plan’s Success Rides on Cost Curbs
As Democratic Senate and House leaders privately hammer out a final compromise on their competing versions of health-care legislation, the controversies focus on a government-run option and abortion. These are irrelevant to the important decisions that will affect the credibility and sustainability of the measure.
For health care, a frantic ride in the final days
Like a roller-coaster ride on its last twisting turns, President Barack Obama's campaign to remake health care is barreling into final days of breathless suspense and headlong momentum. Democrats, led by Obama himself, are deploying this weekend to salvage an unpredictable Senate race in Massachusetts, while senior White House and congressional staffers in Washington hurry to finish work on cost and coverage options at the heart of the sweeping legislation.
Differences remain over what health care bill will look like
In the three weeks since the Senate passed its version of health care reform, Democratic leaders, the White House and rank-and-file members of Congress have been working behind the scenes to find common ground between the House and Senate bills. Negotiations are expected to pick up as House lawmakers return to Capitol Hill this week. The Senate is back in session next week.
Another Rank Health Care Deal
What happens when the irresistible force of the Democratic urge to tax runs up against the immovable object of Democratic loyalty to the labor unions? Another ugly deal in a health-care bill that already was a grotesquerie of pay offs to favored politicians and interests. The levy in question is a 40 percent excise tax on high-end employer-provided insurance plans that - typically - has been sold as a tax on "the rich." It's called the "Cadillac tax," a name redolent of corporate executives cackling in their Escalades over their cushy benefits.
AP sources: Employer health mandate may be dropped
House and Senate negotiators working on President Barack Obama's health overhaul bill appear likely to drop a proposed income tax increase on high-wage earners and possibly jettison a requirement for large businesses to offer coverage to their employees, Democratic officials said Tuesday. Negotiators are considering extending the Medicare payroll tax, which now applies only to income from wages, to cover some of the investment earnings of couples making more than $250,000 a year, and individuals earning above $200,000.
Medicare cost plans face uncertain future
Under federal law, the more than 20 Medicare cost plans operating in areas deemed to have sufficient competing Medicare Advantage options for beneficiaries must shut down by 2011 or else convert to Medicare Advantage plans themselves. But a December 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office said some insurers are worried about the effects those conversions would have on the program.
Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill
Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress. The built-in "marriage penalty" in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say "I do."
Help for Medicare beneficiaries expands
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will award new grant money to states in 2010 to support community outreach for Medicare beneficiaries. A total of $45 million in grants will be available to the 54 State Health Insurance Assistance Programs, or SHIPs, CMS announced Dec. 16, 2009. States must apply by Feb. 16, and funds will be awarded in April. The agency said the SHIP grants will help states provide more one-on-one counseling to assist beneficiaries with Medicare prescription drug and plan enrollment information.
Obama Presses House Democrats to Back Insurance Tax
President Barack Obama is pressing U.S. House Democrats to drop their opposition to a tax on high- end insurance plans as lawmakers try to craft a final health- care measure by early next month, a Democratic aide said. The president expressed a preference for a Senate proposal to tax so-called Cadillac plans in a meeting yesterday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top party lawmakers, the aide said. The White House meeting came on the eve of a conference call Pelosi plans for 1 p.m. today with House Democrats.
Health Care Spending Rose at Historically Slow Rate in 2008
Health care spending rose to a whopping $2.3 trillion in 2008 -- 16.2 percent of the nation's economy -- but Americans paid less than one-eighth of the total spending out-of-pocket while government and private insurers split the rest, according to a newly released government report. Spending per person totaled $7,681, with individuals paying roughly $912 of that, according to the report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The government and private insurance companies paid for the remaining costs.
Obama, Dems to sidestep GOP on health care
President Obama gave his blessing Tuesday for congressional Democratic leaders to bypass formal House and Senate talks to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources. The two sources told CNN that Obama and Democratic congressional leaders will instead hold informal negotiations to sidestep possible Republican delays of the process, likely shutting out Republicans from talks on the final health care bill.
GOP pushes to air health bill talks
The top House Republican said Wednesday it would be “a disgrace” if Democrats ignored President Barack Obama’s campaign commitment to broadcast negotiations on the health care bill on C-SPAN. “Let’s be clear,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a news release. “Skipping a real, open conference would shut out the American people and break one of President Obama’s signature campaign promises.”
Democrats begin work to finalize health bill
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are embarking on the tough work of ironing out differences between the House and Senate health care legislation with the aim of finalizing a bill quickly as midterm elections loom. "Now is not the time to get stuck on any one point," Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said Tuesday as he headed into a meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders to discuss their priorities for the final bill. "The important thing for us now is to close ranks behind the president and get a bill done."
Medicaid rolls grew 5% in 2008
Medicaid enrollment increased by an average of 4.8% nationally between December 2007 and December 2008 to reach 44.7 million, according to figures compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Six states experienced double-digit increases: Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland and Wisconsin. Wisconsin led all states with a 16.8% enrollment spike in the 12-month period, in part due to an expansion of Medicaid eligibility in BadgerCare Plus in February 2008.
Senate Likely to Have Edge as Democrats Craft Final Health Bill
Senate Democrats will have the upper hand as U.S. lawmakers return to Washington this month to confront the last major hurdle in the effort to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. With Democrats in both chambers under pressure to craft compromise legislation, the biggest areas of contention are the different taxes the House and Senate chose to fund their bills, how strictly to bar federal money for abortion and whether to create a government-run program to compete with private insurers.
In Health Bill for Everyone, Provisions for a Few
Early versions of the Senate’s far-reaching health care bill said that small businesses with fewer than 50 workers would not be penalized if they failed to provide insurance. That was before labor unions in the construction industry went to work and persuaded Senate leaders to insert five paragraphs.
13 state AGs threaten suit over health care deal.
Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska's political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday. "We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed," South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the 12 other attorneys general wrote in the letter to be sent Wednesday night to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients
The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little. More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman.
The not-so-sweet side of closing 'doughnut hole'
Six years after Congress added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Democrats in the House and Senate are poised to make a central change that they and most older Americans have wanted all along: getting rid of a quirk that forces millions of elderly patients with especially high expenses for medicine to pay for much of it on their own. The closing of an unusual gap in Medicare drug coverage -- a gap that Republicans had, when they controlled Capitol Hill and the White House, insisted was needed for the government to be able to afford the program
Despite Subsidy, Cobra's Bite Still Stings for Many
The government is expanding a massive safety net to help the unemployed buy health insurance, but millions of people can't access the aid because of the way the program was designed. As a cornerstone of the economic stimulus plan, the administration of President Barack Obama allocated $25 billion to pay 65% of health-insurance premiums for workers laid off this year. Earlier this month, Congress extended the program for people laid off through February 2010 and expanded the aid to 15 months from nine.
Top House Democrats Signal Willingness to Drop Government Insurance Plan
Two House Democrats who favor a government insurance plan, a central element of health care legislation passed in their chamber, acknowledged Sunday it might have to be sacrificed as negotiators work out a final agreement with the Senate. Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and one who had appealed to President Barack Obama not to yield on the so-called public plan, set out conditions for yielding himself.
Report outlines why and how often insurers rescinded coverage
A committee of the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners has released a draft report detailing rescission rates and practices of major insurers across the country between 2004 and 2008. The report comes on the heels of criticism from members of Congress, and years of state regulatory investigations and fines stemming from alleged improper rescissions of individual health policies. The NAIC received data from 49 companies that collectively cover 80% of the individual insurance market. Those companies reported revoking a total of 27,246 policies between 2004 and 2008, at an average rate of 3.7 rescissions for every 1,000 policies issued.
Next step: Turn two health care bills into one
The Senate on Thursday passed its version of the health care bill, inching the country closer to the biggest expansion of medical coverage since Medicare was enacted more than four decades ago. Senate Democrats declared victory after the 60-39 party line vote, but one of the most complicated tasks is still ahead. A conference committee must reconcile the differences -- notably a public option, how to pay for the plan that emerges, and coverage for abortion -- and merge them into one.
Medicare physician pay cut delayed until March
President Obama has signed legislation that would prevent a 21.2% Medicare payment cut from taking place Jan. 1 by freezing physician rates for two months. The temporary patch, which expires after Feb. 28, 2010, is intended to give Congress additional time to craft a more lasting solution to the doctor pay problem. It piggybacked on the fiscal 2010 appropriations bill for the Defense Dept., which helps fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The White House announced Dec. 21 that the president had signed the legislation.
Senate approves health care reform bill
The Senate passed a $871 billion health care reform bill Thursday morning, handing President Obama a Christmas Eve victory on his top domestic priority. The bill passed in a 60-39 party line vote after months of heated partisan debate. Every member of the Democratic caucus backed the measure; every Republican opposed it.
Special deals, carve-outs keep health care afloat
Democrats call it compromise. Republicans call it bribery. But both sides agree that special deals are why the Senate is on track to pass a health care bill by Christmas. It wasn't clear whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had the support needed to move ahead with his chamber's health care bill until Sen. Ben Nelson, the last Democratic holdout, had a change of heart this weekend.
Democrats put health care bill on brink of passage
Democrats pushed sweeping health care legislation to the brink of Senate passage Wednesday, crushing a year-end Republican filibuster against President Barack Obama's call to remake the nation's health care system. The 60-39 vote marked the third time in as many days Democrats have posted a supermajority needed to advance the legislation.
Special deals, carve-outs keep health care afloat
Democrats call it compromise. Republicans call it bribery. But both sides agree that special deals are why the Senate is on track to pass a health care bill by Christmas. It wasn't clear whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had the support needed to move ahead with his chamber's health care bill until Sen. Ben Nelson, the last Democratic holdout, had a change of heart this weekend.
Final Senate vote on health care set for Thursday morning
The Senate will hold its final vote on a sweeping health care bill Thursday morning under an agreement that Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Tuesday. The vote had been expected on the night of Christmas Eve due to Republican delay tactics to hold off the measure. Reid has insisted it be passed before Christmas. Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, decided on a timetable to vote on the health care bill and an extension of the federal debt limit on Thursday morning.
Businesses Brace for Health Bill's Costs
Companies are alarmed at potentially costly provisions in the Senate health-care bill, many of which they hope will be scrapped during a final round of negotiations early next year. A scramble to massage the hefty measure, instead of pushing to kill it, reflects the view of many in the business community that a sweeping remake of the U.S. health-care system now appears inevitable. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among a few big business groups calling for Congress to scrap the overhaul effort.
Changes in Senate Bill Give Democrats Little Wiggle Room for House Compromises
The Senate is preparing for another key vote early Tuesday morning on Democratic health insurance reform, putting it one step closer to a final vote on Christmas eve and leaving fewer opportunities for alterations before it reaches President Obama's desk. Finalizing the bill also comes much to the chagrin of Republicans who say President Obama broke campaign pledges by accepting the package.
Medicare use, spending found to vary across country
Regional variations in the use of Medicare services across the U.S. do not directly translate to regional variations in spending, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission noted in a Dec. 1 study. "The two should not be confused," MedPAC stated in the report compiled for Congress, which has been focused on reining in Medicare spending as it attempts to pass comprehensive health system reform.
Emanuel Tests Limits of His Persuasion in Health-Care Overhaul
When Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler saw that health-care legislation unveiled by House Democratic leaders in October threatened to squeeze drugmakers’ profits, he got on the phone with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Kindler was upset that the House measure would require pharmaceutical companies to forgo $140 billion in revenue over 10 years, said a person familiar with the discussion. He wanted assurance from Emanuel that the White House would honor an agreement to limit the drugmakers’ cost to $80 billion. The deal held.
Kansas liability cap faces high court challenge
Kansas' stable medical liability climate could come unhinged if a long-standing cap on noneconomic damages is overturned, state physicians warned. A constitutional challenge to the $250,000 cap, which applies to all personal injury cases, stands before the state Supreme Court after justices heard oral arguments on Oct. 29. The case stems from a $759,000 jury verdict in 2006 to Amy C. Miller, who underwent an oophorectomy that allegedly went awry. The physician involved denied any wrongdoing. A trial judge later reduced the award to the state's cap.
Obama Presses Senators to Defy Past, Vote Health Bill
President Barack Obama and top Democrats said they are on the verge of passing the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health-care system in four decades after making last-minute changes to win over holdouts. “We are on the precipice of an achievement that’s eluded Congresses and presidents for generations,” Obama said yesterday after meeting with Senate Democrats. The bill includes “the most significant reforms to our health-care system since the passage of Medicare.”
Passage of Senate Health Care Bill Could Hinge on Abortion Funding
With Sen. Joe Lieberman apparently on board the health care reform train and the public option off the table, Senate Democrats are turning their attention to what could be the last remaining hurdle to passing a bill out of their chamber -- abortion funding. The abortion issue, and to a lesser extent Medicare cuts, remain major points of contention as at least one Democratic senator -- Ben Nelson of Nebraska -- indicated he'd break from party lines to strike down the sweeping legislation if the bill does not toughen restrictions to ensure taxpayer dollars don't fund
Obama: Health reform at ‘precipice’ of passage
Prodded by President Barack Obama, Senate Democrats won tentative backing from one holdout and worked intensely to satisfy another Tuesday as they grappled with the last, lingering disputes blocking passage of health care legislation by Christmas. Despite the push, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska remained publicly uncommitted — even after a private meeting with Obama.
Window closing for healthcare reform: Biden
Biden was speaking just hours before Democratic lawmakers were to meet at the White House with President Barack Obama, who is pressing them to reach agreement and pass a bill on his signature domestic policy issue. Obama has invested much of his political capital in trying to get the Democratic-controlled Congress to pass a healthcare bill by the end of the year. The bill has been passed by the House of Representatives, but Democrats have struggled to win the 60 votes they need in the Senate.
McCain Takes Center Stage in Health Fight
Sen. John McCain kept a relatively low profile for months after he lost the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama. Those days are over. In the health-care battle, the Arizona Republican has suddenly emerged as the John McCain of old -- a vigorous political combatant. He has publicly hammered Democratic proposals, engaged in heated exchanges on the Senate floor and lent his voice to automated telephone calls pressuring Democratic senators in Arkansas, Colorado and Nebraska on their looming health-care votes.
Lieberman a major problem for Senate Democrats on health care
A few weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said colleague Joe Lieberman was the least of his problems in passing a health care bill. Today, Lieberman has emerged as the main obstacle to Reid's efforts to get a health care bill through the Senate before Christmas, if ever. An independent from Connecticut who sits with the Democratic caucus, Lieberman ratcheted up his public opposition to the bill Sunday.
McCain Charges Democrats Pandering to Drugmakers on Import Ban
Senate Republicans accused Democrats of pandering to the pharmaceutical industry and putting off a vote on a bipartisan plan to allow the importation of cheaper medicines from Canada and other nations. Arizona Senator John McCain, the Republicans’ 2008 presidential nominee, said Democrats were protecting a deal President Barack Obama struck with drugmakers in June to win support for an overhaul of the U.S. health-care system. The proposal would be an amendment to that legislation.
Upcoming HIPAA changes catching some unaware
Some hospitals and others that will be impacted by changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act don't know that rule changes are set to go into effect in 2010, a recent survey found. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conducted a survey of 150 hospital information technology executives and 26 business associate firms.
Inside the MedPAC meeting, where the tough cost calls get made
Anyone in the Washington area who wants a glimpse of what the future of American health care will increasingly look like if health-care reform legislation passes can head over to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Thursday or Friday for the big MedPAC meeting. Haven't heard of MedPAC? Well, you might soon. It's the 17-member commission that advises Congress on Medicare -- most notably, recommending payments rates to hospitals and other medical providers
Pelosi backs expansion of Medicare in Senate plan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced support for one element of the tentative accord -- to expand Medicare, the government health insurance program for those age 65 or older. "There's certainly a great deal of appeal about putting people 55 and older on Medicare," Pelosi told reporters as the Senate conducted its 11th day of debate on sweeping legislation. "That is something that people in the House have advocated for years," Pelosi said.
Obama Praises Senate Deal on Health Bill
A new agreement by Senate Democrats on legislation to overhaul U.S. health care got a blessing Wednesday from the White House."The Senate made critical progress last night," President Barack Obama said at White House event announcing funding for community health care. He praised lawmakers for striking a deal that would scale back a government-run insurance plan and expand Medicare to some people ages 55 to 64.
Health reform bills would set approval path for generic biologics
The two national health system reform bills would provide a first-ever approval process for generic biopharmaceuticals. But the bills also would give more protection to original biologic drugs than that supported by the Federal Trade Commission and proposed by President Obama's 2010 budget. Both the House-adopted health system reform bill and the Senate measure under debate would give brand-name manufacturers of biologic drugs at least 12 years before a competitor could introduce generic versions of the medications.
Senate rejects abortion measure in health bill
Democratic Senator Ben Nelson's amendment to tighten the bill's restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortions, identical to a provision approved by the House of Representatives last month, was killed on a 54-45 vote. Without the abortion language, Nelson had threatened he would not back the final healthcare bill when it came to a vote. If he followed through, Democrats would be one vote short of the 60 they need to pass the measure.
Medical lawsuit limits favored by public
Physicians and other tort reform advocates say an Associated Press poll released Nov. 19 shows the public agrees that limiting medical liability lawsuits is key to successfully overhauling the health care system. The nationwide survey by the news organization showed that 54% of Americans favor limits on such lawsuits, while 32% opposed such measures (surveys.ap.org/data/gfk/ap-stanford-rwj%20healthcare%20topline%20final_nov18%20edits.pdf).
Health-Care Bill Breakthrough Eludes Senate After Week of Work
Seven days of debate that stretched through the weekend have left Senate Democrats no closer to passing legislation to overhaul the U.S. health-care system. The lawmakers today plan to debate limits on the use of federal funds for abortion, a major issue dividing Democrats along with whether to create a new government-run insurance program. Behind closed doors, senators working on their own and with Majority Leader Harry Reid are finding compromise elusive.
