Health Reform Hub Issues
Issues :: Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP
Addicted to the Physician Payment "Fix"
Bryan E. Dowd
American Enterprise Institute, 11/09/09
Congressional mismanagement of Medicare is a bipartisan project in which Democrats and Republicans set aside the rancor of party politics and ideological differences and work hand in hand to run the program into the ground. The latest attempts to "fix" physician payments by replacing a sizeable cut in Medicare fees with a small increase provide the evidence. Read more... Medicare Advantage 2010 Data Spotlight: Plan Availability and Premiums
Kaiser Family Foundation, 11/09/09
This data spotlight examines changes in the availability and premiums of private Medicare Advantage options for Medicare beneficiaries in 2010 as the annual open enrollment period begins. While the number of plans available in 2010 declined somewhat from 2009, the analysis finds that Medicare beneficiaries on average have 33 Medicare Advantage plans to choose from. For Medicare Advantage enrollees who stay in the same plan in 2010, monthly premiums will increase by 32 percent on average, with a steeper 78 percent average increase for enrollees in private fee-for-service plans who do not switch plans. Read more... Medicaid: The Forgotten Issue in Health Reform
Robert B. Helms
American Enterprise Institute, 11/06/09
Current health reform legislation under consideration in Congress fails to address adequately fundamental flaws in the Medicaid program. Medicaid provides health care for the poorest and most severely disabled members of our society, and improving its quality should be a top priority. Instead of making simple reforms to the way federal funds are distributed for Medicaid, current health care legislation only seeks to expand the program. The present growth of federal expenditures on Medicaid is not sustainable, however. In order to ensure that the people who most need assistance for health care continue to receive it, Congress should be making fundamental reforms to the Medicaid program first. Read more... AARP's Tacit Endorsement of Medicare Cuts Line Its Pockets, But Shortchanges Seniors
Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute
Chicago Tribune, 11/05/09
Clearly something must be up with AARP. Why else would the nation’s largest lobbying organization, sworn to protect the interests of senior citizens, watch silently as Congress plans to cut Medicare spending by $400 billion to pay for its health reform legislation? Could it be that the interests of seniors and AARP are not exactly aligned? Read more... Here's An Idea: Why Not Reform Medicaid First?
Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute
The Washington Examiner, 11/05/09
In its efforts to expand access to health insurance, Congress is planning to add millions more people to Medicaid -- already the largest health plan in the country. The government has controlled Medicaid for nearly 45 years, and the program has enormous problems with cost, quality, and access. Rather than expanding Medicaid, Congress should start by reforming it -- now. Read more... Profit and Fraud
Jeffrey H. Anderson, Pacific Research Institute
The Weekly Standard, 11/04/09
According to 60 Minutes, cocaine trafficking has now given way to Medicare fraud as the number-one illicit enterprise in South Florida. Both 60 Minutes and the Washington Post report that nationwide Medicare fraud now costs American taxpayers $60 billion a year. Read more... Federalization of Medicaid: Health Reform Bill Would Reduce State Authority
Dennis G. Smith
The Heritage Foundation, 11/04/09
Medicaid is designed to be a partnership between the states and the federal government. In the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and again in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, states won additional flexibility to run Medicaid and its companion program, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Read more... Medicare Experiments To Curb Costs Seldom Implemented on a Broad Scale
Christopher Weaver and Kate Steadman
Kaiser Health News, 11/03/09
The Democratic health reform legislation comes studded with cautious plans to test proposals reining in Medicare costs. But history suggests that even if the experiments are successful, the odds aren't high that their lessons will be applied to the entire program. Read more... Changing the Doctor Payment Scheme
Scott Gottlieb, M.D., American Enterprise Institute
Forbes.com, 11/03/09
The Obama health reform plan, embodied most clearly in a bill now before the Senate, rests on a fiscal deception when it comes to the way Medicare pays America's doctors. Right now, Medicare pays fixed fees based on a formula that assigns a certain number of work "units" to each of Medicare's 7,500 billable doctor services. These values derive largely from the "intensity" of the work doctors perform, so seemingly more demanding procedures like surgeries are paid much better than routine, primary care counseling. Read more... Bring Market Prices to Medicare
Robert F. Coulam, Roger Feldman, and Bryan E. Dowd
American Enterprise Institute, 11/09
Medicare is quickly approaching insolvency, in part because the program pays too much for the services it provides. In Bring Market Prices to Medicare, Robert F. Coulam, Roger Feldman, and Bryan E. Dowd propose a groundbreaking solution: Use market-based arrangements to set prices for Medicare plans. The authors contend that the federal government should pay only the cost of the most economical health plan in each market area. Read more...
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