The cost of health care is on everyone’s mind, so it’s nice to have good news to report: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported yesterday that average beneficiary premiums for the standard Medicare drug benefit will increase by just $3 a month in 2009, to $28. That is 37% lower than the $44 a month that legislators estimated seniors would pay this year when the Medicare … [Read more...] about Cost, Cost, Cost
Summer Shorts
Health policy news isn't exactly beach reading, so we've decided to offer a series of short items just to keep you current… Not Too NICE: Our colleague Philip Stevens of the International Policy Network in London alerted us to an article in this morning's Times that offers fair warning to those who want to create a new government body to determine the effectiveness and … [Read more...] about Summer Shorts
Slowly, Slowly
The Senate Finance Committee got to the heart of the issue during a hearing yesterday on "Health Benefits in the Tax Code: The Right Incentives." Three prominent economists were in solidarity in targeting the tax treatment of health insurance as key to health reform. The value of the subsidy for job-based health insurance was a whopping $245 billion in 2007, according to Eward Kleinbard, … [Read more...] about Slowly, Slowly
A Crystal Ball?
House action on changes to government health programs this year foretell more sweeping changes that are likely to come next year if Democrats make expected gains in the November elections. First example: Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, plans to introduce a bill soon that will extend price controls in the Medicaid program to some private Medicare … [Read more...] about A Crystal Ball?
High Stakes
Sen. Barack Obama this week announced a plan designed to help businesses afford health insurance, but the ideas would perpetuate today's problems and add new bureaucracy in the process. Small businesses would get refundable tax credits to offset 50% of the amount they pay for health insurance for their workers and have the government take over a portion of the catastrophic costs of high-cost … [Read more...] about High Stakes
Outside the Box
There really wasn't a controversy about whether to delay Medicare's scheduled cuts in physician fees, but you'd never know it from reading about this issue in the mainstream media over the last month. Both sides wanted to undo the cuts, but the real debate was over how to pay for the "fix" since the cuts were built into the federal budget. The leadership's solution was to … [Read more...] about Outside the Box
Paperwork Would Impede Health Reform
An abbreviated version was published in The Des Moines Register on July 5, 2008 Nearly 98,000 Iowans with health insurance that's compatible with a health savings account could get slapped with new paperwork requirements from Congress. Created in 2004, HSAs are a proven way to make insurance more affordable and to give people more control over their health spending. Unfortunately, some … [Read more...] about Paperwork Would Impede Health Reform
Paperwork Would Impede Health Reform
An abbreviated version was published in The Des Moines Register on July 5, 2008 Nearly 98,000 Iowans with health insurance that's compatible with a health savings account could get slapped with new paperwork requirements from Congress. Created in 2004, HSAs are a proven way to make insurance more affordable and to give people more control over their health spending. Unfortunately, some … [Read more...] about Paperwork Would Impede Health Reform