The $1.9 trillion covid relief bill expands subsidies for private insurance plans. That will lighten the burden on consumers, but it locks taxpayers into yet more support for the health care industry.
Category: Medicare
March 30 Web Event: Unsung Heroes: The Crucial Role – and Tenuous Circumstances – of Home Care Workers During the Pandemic
Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers continued to report to work and provide vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their o…
Democrats Eye Medicare Negotiations to Lower Drug Prices
Progressive and conservative Democratic lawmakers, as well as President Joe Biden, are in favor of authorizing federal officials to negotiate with drugmakers over what Medicare pays for at least some of the most expensive brand-name drugs and to base those prices on the drugs’ clinical benefits. Such a measure could put Republicans in the uncomfortable position of opposing an idea that most voters from both parties generally support.
Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill
A Trump administration Medicare rule will push some hospital patients into a Catch-22: The government says several hundred procedures no longer need to be done in a hospital, but it did not approve them to be performed elsewhere. So patients will still need to use a hospital while not officially admitted — and may be charged more out-of-pocket for the care.
Under New Cost-Cutting Medicare Rule, Same Surgery, Same Place, Different Bill
A Trump administration Medicare rule will push some hospital patients into a Catch-22: The government says several hundred procedures no longer need to be done in a hospital, but it did not approve them to be performed elsewhere. So patients will still need to use a hospital while not officially admitted — and may be charged more out-of-pocket for the care.
Is it time to consider social determinants of health in Medicare payments?
Eta was a 76-year-old woman with a recent heart attack in and out of the hospital over the last several months. Her course had been complicated by social determinants of health, in that she lacked reliable transportation for necessary follow-up, had un…
Analysis: Spending on Health Care Would Drop by an Estimated $352 Billion in 2021 if Private Insurance Used Medicare Rates to Reimburse Hospitals and Other Health Care Providers
Total health care spending for people with private health insurance would be an estimated $352 billion lower in 2021 if private insurers used Medicare rates to pay hospitals and other health care providers, rather than the substantially higher rates th…
Limiting Private Insurance Reimbursement to Medicare Rates Would Reduce Health Spending by About $350 Billion in 2021
This analysis estimates the total annual reduction in health care spending by employers and privately insured individuals that would result from having private insurers reimburse hospitals and other health care providers at Medicare rates. In total, we…
Countless Homebound Patients Still Wait for Covid Vaccine Despite Seniors’ Priority
Health organizations have begun sending doctors and nurses to apartment buildings and private homes to vaccinate homebound seniors, but the efforts are slow and spotty.
Montana’s Health Policy MVP Takes Her Playbook on the Road
Marilyn Bartlett, credited with saving Montana’s state employee health plan millions of dollars, is a busy consultant now, as states, counties and big businesses try to use her playbook to bring down hospital costs.
