In an important paper the Galen Institute is releasing today, Senior Fellow Doug Badger examines the role that employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) plays in the larger U.S. health sector and offers considerations for policymakers contemplating replacing ESI with government-financed coverage. In “Replacing Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance with Government-Financed … [Read more...] about Replacing Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance with Government-Financed Coverage: Considerations for Policymakers
Medicare
One Week At CMS: Steps Toward Transformative Changes
by Grace-Marie Turner — The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services is continuing the drumbeat of modernizing the two gargantuan programs it runs to generate more accountability, greater transparency, and provide better value for both patients and taxpayers. Administrator Seema Verma announced on Thursday a new proposed rule that would bring more accountability into “Accountable” Care … [Read more...] about One Week At CMS: Steps Toward Transformative Changes
CMS Needs to Fix Payment Policies For Clinical Labs
Congress ordered the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to come up with a new payment system for the more than 400 million clinical laboratory tests that Medicare pays for each year so that prices would be more closely aligned with those paid by private insurers. But the new system relies on data that are not broadly representative of market rates, putting access to clinical … [Read more...] about CMS Needs to Fix Payment Policies For Clinical Labs
Can Medicare Pay Market Rates?
A Surgical Approach To High Prescription Drug Prices
President Trump’s plan to lower prescription drug costs uses a surgeon’s scalpel to address a range of issues, offering nearly 30 policy recommendations to modernize payment policies, weed out counter-productive regulations, improve price transparency, and expand competitive price negotiations. The plan reflects the complexity of the industry and the regulatory system that governs government … [Read more...] about A Surgical Approach To High Prescription Drug Prices
Rescuing seniors and Part D from Congress
President Trump delivered a major speech to describe steps his administration is taking to address the high cost of prescription drugs. Congress should be called on to fix two problems with the federal government’s largest prescription drug program: Medicare Part D. That program has made prescription medicines more affordable for millions of seniors, offering them broad coverage choices while … [Read more...] about Rescuing seniors and Part D from Congress
Health Policy Consensus Group Calls For Renewability Of Short-Term Health Plan
Thirty-nine health policy experts and representatives of a broad cross-section of organizations joined in signing a comment letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding its proposed rule on Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance. They argue that the Obama administration exerted “regulatory overreach” in limiting the sale of short-term policies to 90 days and prohibiting … [Read more...] about Health Policy Consensus Group Calls For Renewability Of Short-Term Health Plan
Resetting the Scoreboard: Why CBO Should Abandon Its Flawed Analysis of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
One of the impediments to repealing and replacing Obamacare has been a belief by the Congressional Budget Office that substantial federal savings will be achieved by innovative demonstration projects in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program called for under the law. The CBO bases this conclusion about these savings not on analyses of projects that have been undertaken but … [Read more...] about Resetting the Scoreboard: Why CBO Should Abandon Its Flawed Analysis of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation