A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is a high-level look at the pros and cons of changing the current mix of public and private health care financing to a system paid for entirely by the government. It did not include cost estimates of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation or its House counterpart, but...National News
Becker's summarizes three ways they will be hurt.
The list from Becker's Hospital CFO Report:
1. The tax bill will repeal the ACA's individual insurance mandate. This will cause the uninsured population to rise and raise uncompensated care costs, which will negatively affect healthcare organizations' operating margins and cash...Arizona News
2 million children could lose their health coverage in January if CHIP funding is not restored.
This according to a study by Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families.
The study indicated several states are operating off dwindling financial reserves while some are nearing full exhaustion of...
Value-based payment arrangements have found lower spending growth extremely challenging.
Dartmouth Institute Professors Valerie Lewis, Elliott Fisher, and Carrie Colla, in a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine offer four explanations -- two economic and two organizational - as to why the nearly 1,000...
US District Judge Vince Chhabria refused Wednesday to block President Trump’s order to end government subsidies required by the Affordable Care Act.
Trump said earlier this month that his administration would stop making monthly payments to insurers that reimburse them for reducing out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and...National News
Cost-sharing reductions in flux with enrollment beginning in 9 days.
Consumers are getting very mixed messages about what premiums may look like. President Trump has declared an end to the subsidies (CSR) to lower premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. He has gone on to declare the ACA dead in a White House press conference last...National News
“This bill creates a true public option, which I believe we should have passed with the Affordable Care Act,” says Senator Michael Bennett (R-CO).
U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Tim Kaine of Virginia, both Democrats, on Tuesday introduced legislation to create a government-run health insurance plan that would eventually...National News
What can be seen is the Trump Administration placing hurdles to success.
Advocates say the Health and Human Services Department has done more to suppress the number of people signing up than to boost it. HHS has slashed grants to groups that help consumers get insurance coverage, for example. It also has cut the enrollment period in...National News
"Today is an historic day. Along with 14 co-sponsors, I was proud to introduce Medicare-for-all, single-payer health care legislation in the U.S. Senate."
Sanders has long been an advocate to the fundamental change in healthcare financing. Along the way, other Democratic senators have joined in. Here is a quote from his...
The first of four hearings seeking perspective and advice from outside the Beltway was held today.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at the beginning of the hearing he hoped to reach consensus on “a small, bipartisan, stabilization bill” by the end of next...
A new direction may surface in the Affordable Care Act debates.
There may be three sources of energy after the stalled Senate "Repeal & Replace" activity. Two members of the Senate HELP Committee, the House-based Problem Solvers Caucus and governors led by Kasich and Hickenlooper.
We will see how it all plays out as Congress...National News
MACRA gives incentives to physicians to provide the best and most efficient care.
Providers participating in Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APM) may receive incentive payments. To be considered an Advanced APM, a group's participants must use certified electronic health record technology, the group must pay for covered...National News
"Don't make things worse" is the message from Thompson, Leavitt and Sibelius.
Tommy Thompson and Mike Leavitt served as Health and Human Services Secretary under George W. Bush and Kathleen Sibelius had the post under Barack Obama. They all assert that immediate stability for the individual insurance market is critically...National News
Moody's Investor Services notes 2016 expenses grew faster than revenues.
“Tighter margins will weigh on the sector going forward as reimbursement pressures and expenses increase.”
After years of cost containment, annual expense growth of 7.2% widely outpaced annual revenue growth of 6.0%.
Pension funding gaps...National News
Restrictions to be waived in the joint replacement model.
Stakeholders convinced CMS that the costs of email interaction was not covered by other sources and did entail additional costs to deliver telehealth services such as maintaining the telecommunications equipment, software and security.
Researchers in Wisconsin caution that...National News
In 2008, 58 percent opposed. Latest survey shows 56 percent support.
Merritt Hawkins, a physician recruitment firm, surveyed 1033 responding physicians August 3. Red tape, billing and paperwork distractions were cited as negatives in the current system. The trend to fewer physicians owning practices also may also play a...Arizona News
The filing is at odds with the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association position.
The assertion of the AzHHA is that the cost to its hospital members is less than the benefit they receive from having fewer patients show up at their doors without insurance, whose bills would have to be written off as bad debt.
Green Valley...Arizona News
The tightly contested BCRA pending in the US Senate gives heightened significance to how U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake will vote.
The junior senator from Arizona has not signaled how he will vote on the now-struggling Better Care Reconciliation Act. Uncertainty among Senate Republicans and poll numbers showing falling support for the repeal...National News
Forty economists, including six Nobel laureates, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) outlining their opposition.
“At a time when economic change is making life more difficult for all but the relatively well-to-do, denying people to access health insurance is a giant step in the wrong direction,” the...White Papers, E books, Reports and more
The first report in a series of five on health inequality in the U.S.
The report examines how America's healthcare system may intensify the disparity of health outcomes between wealthy and poor.
"The life expectancy of the wealthiest Americans now exceeds that of the poorest by 10-15 years," Samuel L Dickman MD, David U Himmelstein MD...